Litchfield enquirer., 1847-05-06
TIE PROCESS BY WHICH ALCoA
 HOL CAUSES DEATH.
nn rrrar1n EDWARDS, D. D.

trapsLaTSRt, NLd Ctuld NeSee '"' .e .,cohol as We spe the colcr Of m,ns' t,ccs every man Light answer this ques$ f inn for himself. He would have peculiar il. uoons,raticn that alcohol is poison, and tha, the drinking If il. is violation or rou,ral and moral laws. IL has no rourishn,ent ia it. The digestive organs
 unno, decompOse it or turn it into blood' flesh, bones, or anything by which the human body is nourished. strengthened and supported. When swallowed goes into the stomach, the common receptacle of fmd. This is a delicate ard pr'nc'pa' organ, and its state affects the ""o'e tody. lis inner coat in healthy cons clifton is slightly tinged with reddish ccl,r. The blood vessels which spread o yer h are exceedingly numerous md y e, go exceedingly small that the naked eye canno, discern them. They give 10 il n delicate reddish hue, like the delicate tinge on the cheek of healthy child Alcohol, when it touches that delicate or gan, irritates the surface, and produce 8 through the medium of the nerves, a tin" sling sensation. This sensation is a note of alarm O warning 10 the system, that m enemy has invaded it. The hears' that great sentinel, starts anew and throws additional forces on to the invaded spot in order to prct,ct it. The blood in great CT quantity ,and with greater force, rush es into those little vessels till, by and by. if the process be continued, they become enlarged, 60 that you can see them
 spreading out all over the inner surface
 of the stomach in thousands of ramitica-
 ,ons, like the branches of a tree. The surface becomes inflated and becomes
 black. The blood settles the coats be- come ihickened; ulcers begin to form and spread out, till, if the process is con- tinued and increased, as in the case of iho drunkard, the whole inner coat of fthat fundamental organ puts on the appear nnce ef modification, and becomes in color like the back of . chimney. Not unfrcquently cancers are formed. and the whole surface becomes one com> mon gore.
 The sy stem Is not nourished; the organs become diseased, ,illthe body itself is lit orally little else than mass of pusrsfac- ,ion. S,ys the late Thomas Sswall, M. D., Professor af Pathology, and the Prac
 ,ice of Medicine in Columbia College, D. C.- Alcohol Is a poison. forever 0, war with mans nature and in all it's forms and degrees of strength, produces irrisas ton of the stomach which is liable 70 re- suit in inflammation, Liberation, and mor~ tification ; a thicken ng and indnratiou of its coats and finally schirrhus, cancer and other organic affections. It may bs asse rted with confidence that no one whe indulges habi,ually in the use of alcohol
 ic drinks whether in the form, of wine ol
 more ardent drinks, possesses a healthy s,omach.' That beautiful network of
 blood vessels, which was invisible in the healthy >tomacb, being excited by alcohol, becomes dilated and extended with blood, visible and distinct. This efEee, is produced upon the well known law of the animal economy, that an irri- tant applied to sensitive texture of'he body induces an increased flow cf blood to the part. The mucous or inner coat of the stomach is sensitive membrane, and is subject 10 this law. A practical illustration of this principle is shown by . reference to the humaa eye. If a few drops of alcohol be brought in cen.acs with the delicate coats of tho eye. the fine vessels which were before invisible become dstended with blood, and are easily seen. If this operation be repeats cd as the temperate drinkcr takes slco' hol. the vessels become habiiually in- creased il. size, and distended with blood. So with the s,omach. Besides" the mu- cous coa, of .he stomach becomes s"ften' cd. And these changes occur in the ssm> perats drinker, as well as in the confirm cd drupkard." The consequence is. tant the stom., necessarily becomes until'ed to diges, food, and the whole system suf- fers. ...-s..t.
 From the stomach tho alcohol, un> changed, is .aken up by the absorbent vessels And carried into the ,Slood' that great rptacis and common carrier of nourishn,ent. Whh that. it is circulat- cd through the system, till as nuisance it is seized upon by the emune,ories, th" seavengsrs, and thrown of. But it was alcohol. a subtle and irritating poison. when taken into tho stsmach, and il is the same when sucked up by the absorben. vessels and carried into the blood l, is alcehoi in the heart, in the lungs, In the arteries. in the br ain, in the nerves and sissurss and flores of the whole body and it is alcohol when, having passed ,hro'