Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1832-05-02

States cease to use it. that nearly half the sick
| ness Of the country would cease" And said an
| aged physician in the same state. after forty
| years. extensive practice, Half the men, eve
~ year, who die of fevers, might recover, had
they had not been in the habit of using ardent
spirit. Many a man. down for weeks with
| fever, had he not used ardent spirit, would not
have been confined to his house a day. lie
| might have felt slight headache: but little
fasting would have removed the difficulty, and
the man been well. And many man who was
never intoxicated, when visited with fever,
might be raised up as well as not, were it not
for that state Of the system which daily moder-
ate drinking occasions, who now IN spite of all
that can be done sinks down and dies" No
man but physician knows how powerfully fe-
vers are increased. and how fatally the best re-.
medies are counteracted, even by the daily mo-
derate use Of spirits. An aged physician in
MARYLAND states that when the fever breaks out
there, the men that do not use ardent spirit are
not half as likely as others to have it; and when
they DO have it, that they are ten times as likely
| to recover. In the island Of Key West, on the
coast Of Florida, it was at one time remarkably
sickly, and many died of fever. But it was
found that those who died were in every case
addicted to the habitual use of ardent spirit
The quantity used was afterwards diminished
more than nine tenths, and The inhabitants were
remarkably healthy.s
gentleman of great responsibility from The
South states that those who fall Victims in South
ern climes, are almost invariably those who in
duige in the free use of ardent spirit. DR.. Nose
", after long residence IN the West Indies, de-
clares, ct that persons who drink nothing but cold
water, or make it their principal drink. are but
little affected by tropical climates; that they
dergo the greatest fatigue without inconveni-
ence, aud not so subject as others to dan
gerous diseases" And Dr. Bell, that srum,
when used even moderately, always diminishes the
strength and readers men more susceptible OF dis
ease; and that we might as well throw oil into
house, the roof of which was on fire, in order to
prevent the flames from extending 10 the inside,
as 10 pour ardent spirits into the stomach to les
sen the effect of hot sun upon the skin" of
II persons found dead in different regions of
country, g., according to the coroners' inquests.
were occasoned by strong drink. Nine tenths
Of those who die suddenly after the drinking Of
cold water, are those who have been addicted to
the free use of ardent spirit. That draught of
cold water, or that exposure to the sun, which
man who uses no ardent spirit will bear without
inconvenience and without danger, will often kill
the man who uses it. And in many places.
more than four fiffhs of those who have died Of
cholera, that pestilence which is now sweeping
over Europe. and threatens also to visit our cOun-
try, were persons who had been addicted to the
free use of strong drink. So that whether we
look at the nature Of ardent spirit its effects,
at the testimony of physicians or at facts, we are
shown that it is poison, destructive Of human
health and life; aud the men who use it as a
drink take a course which tends to shorten life
from ten to fifty years. And no man can take it
without running the awful hazard Of coming. by
bis own agency, to premature grave. And from
bills Immortality, kept extensively, examined by
physicians Of the first emnencc, il is estimated
that this has actually been the case in the United
States, with more than $4,000 in year. And
who cannot recollect among them numbers of his
own acquaintance. and perhaps of his relatives
or intimate friends!
Address Of Judge Cranch, Fourth Report Of
the American Temperance Society. p 81.
We find the following remarks, relative to a
bill before Congress, which provides for the pre-.
paration Of code of laws for the District of Co.
lumbia. in the Pennsylvania Inquirer
A number of bills were reported in the House
Of Representatives short time since, relative to
the District Of Columbia. Some of them were
ieve were not acted upon. Among the bills re-
ported, we observed one which we deem of ma.
tional importance-lt was TO appoint commission
ers to prepare general code of laws for The Dis.
trict. What was the fate of this particular bill,
we know not, but the suggestion is one that may
lead to the most beneficial results. An opportu-
nifty is afforded by it, to exhibit the advantages
that will arise from abolishng aud reforming those
provisions OF the common and statute law, which
are at variance with our own institutions, and
behind the enlightened spirit of the age The
penal law too especially that applicable to crimes
falling under the jurisdiction Of the courts OF the
United States, requires thorough investigation,
not only in relation to the offences themselves,
but also as regards the mode of procedure against
them, and the penalties to be inflicted for their
commits 0n.
If we are not mistaken, a system of this sort
was prepared and submitted some wears since to
the Senate, by Mr.. Livingston, the present Sc
cretary of State. Unfortunately, however, it |
was not accompanied with an introductory re-