The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-10-23 00:00:00

TEMPERANCE VERSUS TEETOTALISM

A Mr. Rowbotham has delivered a lecture in the Hall of
Science, City-road, London, upon " Death, and the uses of
wine, ale, and other fermented liquors." The lecturer com-
menced by adverting to the universal law of self-love, and
the desire of preserving life, which is manifested in all or-
ganised beings, and in man pre-eminently, whose desires
are constantly directed not only to the greatest attainable
longevity in his present state, but to immortality hereafter.
In all animals an instinctive avoidance of death was as in-
variably manifested as the love of pleasure. From this
topic he passed to an inquiry as to what is death? and he
came to the conclusion that natural death is, in animals, the
hardening, or ossification of the whole system, by which the
functions of life are terminated. Every animal, and man
amongst the rest, commences life in a fluid state. In in-
fancy the bones themselves have little solidity—in youth no
more than is necessary for the firm support of the body—as
age advances the substance of tae bone becomes more com-
pact—the progress of ossification extends to the other parts
of the system—the muscular fibre becomes rigid, and par-
takes of the osseous character—the nerves stiffen, and lose
their energy and sensibility—the vessels thicken in the sub-
stance, and the blood thickening at the same time, ceases at
length altogether to circulate. This general ossification is
that natural death, which is called death from old age.
Hence naturally arires the question, what is the cause of
ossification ? And upon a chemical analysts of the bones,
it was found that the osseous structure was composed of the
following elements :
Carbonate of lime
Phosphate of lime
Gelatine
Fluate of calcium .
Phosphate of magnesia
Soda l. 2

Nthrber of parts lO2. 6
The bony fabric is formed from the gradual deposition of
the matter contained in this table. This is deposited from
the blood, as it circulates through the system, and the blood
is composed of 784 palls in 1000 fluid, and 216 solid. The
solid parts consist of fibrin, gelatine, albumen, ozmazome,
phosphates of lime and magnesia, sulphates of potass and
soda, and ammonia. Chemists are not exactly agreed on
the proportions of these elements, in consequence of the
difficulty of finding the blood in the same state in different
individuals, or in the same individual at different times.
But these are the general elements, and the food from which
the blood is replenished must contain them. Hence it fol-
lows that the food which contains the greatest quantity of
the earthy matters—the carbonates, phosphates, and fluate
—will promote ossification, and therefore shorten life the
most rapidly ; whilst that which, conveying the nutriment
necessary to support the animal fabric, conveying into the
system, at the same time, the least quantity of earthy deposit
for ossification, is that best calculated to prolong life, and
to maintain the animal functions in their vigour. It was
impossible to fix limits to the period to which life might he
prolonged by a practical and undeviating attention to these
principles. In judging of the proposition, that man could
live for centuries, it ought to be borne in mind that time is
altogether a human idea. Eternity has no parts, and in
nature there is no such thing as old age. If old age and
death arise from the deposit of earthy matter in the animal
system, it should be found that the individuals and nations
which partook the least of those kinds of food which con-
tained such matter, live the longest ; and the fact is so. It
is found by a careful analysis of the various kinds of food
used by man, that in 2,5001bs

llb of earthy matter

Of fruit there is
Of tnrnips. carrots, &c.,
• and eggs, there are .• S
Of cabbages, greens, &c. • 6
Of fish
Of animal food (average) '2O
Of barley. 65
Of peas B5
Of potatoes... .......
Of beans. .. . lB5
Of wheat. 220 !
Now it is related by Plutarch, that the ancient Britons, who
fed upon fruits, roots, and fish, attained great age, and re-
tained their vigour and activity beyond 100 years. Their
food contained a small proportion of earthy matter, and
maintained a fluid state of the system. The lecturer also
cited several authorities as to the longevity of the New
Zealanders and others whose food consisted of those mate-
rials which contain the least of the earthy elements, and
not of wheat, &c. But in opposition to those facts it was
insisted that not only was wheat the best kind of nutriment,
but that spring water was the best drink for man. Now it
was ascertained that spring water contained so much of the
ossifying and (therefore) life-shortening principle, that a
man drinking only spring water for forty years, would in
that time take into his system enough of earthy matter to
form a marble statue as large as himself. (A laugh.) It
was only by the power which the secreting organs possessed
of throwing off the largest portion of deleterious matter, that
the spring water drinker did not become a pillar of stone in
forty years.

THE POP DUTY.—EAST RETFORD, OCT. 15.—At the
present time, when considerable doubt exists as to the amount
of duty which the present year's crop of hops is likely to real-
ise, and when speculation is afloat as to the quantity of new
ones which can be brought into the market, perhaps the
amount to be paid by the North Clays will be a curiosity for
those in the trade to be acquainted with. For our own part
we must confess, that small as it is, it is rather more than we
had anticipated, which may be accounted for by the weather
towards the close of the season being so favourable and genial,
as well as the growers being determined to pick every hop
,which
was producedwhether it was good, bad, or indifferent,
Such being the case, although the amount can have no sensi-
ble effect upon the market, we take to ourselves some little
credit for making it known. It amounts to the enormous
sum of £O4 18s! being rather more than one-seventieth part
grownbathe year 1837.