DRUGS, MEDICINES AND MAN

This is a purely clinical and pharmacological discussion of the various drugs in use today and the changes in bodily functions they produce. Whenever present- their disadvantages as well as benefits are indicated. Nicotine, and its wide-ranging effect on the brain, nervous and circulatory system; purgatives; drugs used in the treatment of heart and blood pressure; alcohol and the cures for alcoholism; anesthetics; the drugs of addiction (pain killers and sleep inducers); tranquilizers, energizers and hallucinogens; cortisone, antibiotics, for thyroid and Insulin for diabetes, the (few) anti-cancer drugs, even poisons, are described in their uses and abuses. There is also a chapter on the doctor-patient relationship, and the ethical side-effects of the placebo, etc. A plainspoken, purely didactic presentation which permits no lighter illustrative material as a palliative for the popular market.