Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1832-05-02
WEDNESDAY, MAY Q, 1882.


the American Temperance Society, addressed to
heads of families, on the subject Of Temperance,
we were forcibly struck with the suboined obser-
vatons and OpiD'eas. They should be extensive
~ disseminated and read
Saws an eminent physician, Reuben d. Mus.
sey, President Of the New Hampshire Medical
Association, and Professor of Anatomy and Sur.
gerry in Dartmouth College, ''What is the Sc
cret Of this witchery, which strong drink exerts
over the whole man? Twill try to tell you. AZ
ter being received into the stomach, it is sucked
sp by absorbent vessels, IS carriednto the blood,
and circulates through the lungs, muscles aad
brain; aud doubtless, through every organ OF the
body. Not blood vessel, however minute, not
a thread of nerve in the whole animal machine,
escapes its influence. And what is the nature of
that influence? 1t dlsturbs the functions of fe .
"On every organ they touch" says another
eminent phvsicIan, Ebenezer Alden, NJ. d. of
Massachusetts, ''ardent spirits operate as poi
son. No where in the human body are they al.
lowed even Judgement, until the vital powers
are su far Frustrated that they canno, be removed
They are hurried on from one organ to another,
making their course with irregularity of action
and disturbance Of function; until at last, as a
common enemy. they taken up by the EN-.
unctories, scavengers of the system, and uncere-
mnnieusly excluded When, by decay of orga.
mic vgor this process ceases, the work OF destruc-
ton is drawing to a close; and the last gimmer-
iugs Of life are soon extinguished. To Ean in
health, there is no such thing as temperate use
of ardent spirits. Ia any quantity, they are an
enemy to the human constitution. Their infu-
ence upon the physical organs Is untavorable to
health and life. They produce weakness, not
strensth sickness, not health; death, and no, life"
And saws the physician before referred to,
Does healthy laboring man need a'cohols No
more than he needs arsenic, corrosive sabimate,
or opium. The experiment has been made a
thousand times; and the result is well known,
namely, that more can be accomplished in month,
or year, under the influence of simple, nourish
ing food and discriminating drinks, than through
the aid Of alcohol"
Sir Ashley Cooper. Of England, states that spi-
rits and poisons are synonymous terms. And
DR.. Daniel Drake, Of Ohio, speaks of them as
deadly poison, and mentions a number of cases..
in which the use OF them had proved mortal. In
view Of which he says, ''Ardent spirits are a
great quickener and disturber of the animal sys-
TEN; a warm and irritating poison; in moderate
doses impartins an unnatural excitement; IN ex-
cessive draughts suddenly extinguishng lie; thus
resembling, in their effects, number Of delete
rious vegetable substances, such as stramorium,
hemlock, the prussic acid and opium, which we
label as poisons
And Dr. Samuel Emlin, late secretary of the
College Of Physicians and Surgeons Of Philadel-
pha, remarks. 1--WE should not ADM; o. the pO-
palar. reasoning as applicable here, that the abuse
Of a thing is argument against its use. All use
Of ardent spirits q. c. as a drink) is an aOuse.-
They are mischevous under all circumstances.
DIR. Cheyne. of London, states that they are most
like opium in their nature, and most like arsenic
in their deleterious effects. Aud DIR. Fank de-
clares that their tendency, even when used mo-
derately. is to induce disease, premature old age,
and death; and DIR. Trotter, that in human life,
no cause Of disease has wide range. SO
large share as the Of spirituous liquors; and
that more than half Of all the sudden deaths are
occasioned by them DIR. Harris states that the
moderate use of spirituous liquors has destroyed
many who were never drunk; and DR.. Kirk gives
il as his opinion that such men as were never con-
sidered Incorporate, by daily regular drinking,
have often shortened life more than twenty years
And that the respectable use of this poison kills
more men than even drunkenness itself DIR.
Wilson gives il as his opinion that the use Of sp-
rit IN large cities causes more diseases than con.
Hned air, unwholesome exhalarion, and the COM
bined influence of ali other evils
And saws that celebrated physician, Dr.. Cheyne,
of Dublin. Ireland, after thirty years. extensive
practice aud observation, /" Let ten young men
begin at twenty -one years ofase to use but one
glass of two ounces day, and never increase
the quantity. nine out Of ten of those young men
will shorten lite more than ten years." Medi
cal writer's throughout the world testify that ar
dent spirit is poison. which cannot be used
without injury; which causes disease; and which
shortens human life. And these testimonies of
phv sicans are abundantly confirmed by facts
Let any cast his thoughts around him, and
reckon up the number Of his acquaintance that
have been killed by il within the last twenty
years. To Portsmouth, n. H, 81 persons were
killed by it year. In Salem, Mass 181 deaths,
20 we're occasoned by the use of strong drink. Of
o. adult deaths IN New; Haven, Conn. more than
so, according to the opinion Of the Medical AS
sociation, were occasioned BY intemperance.-
In New-Brunswick, N. ]. Of 81 adult deaths,
more than one third were occasioned in the same
way. And Of 4292 deaths in Philadelphia. 700
-, is.st more than one i'm seven, are stated by |