The daily national Whig. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1847-1849, 1849-05-04


aud nefves--those seats and organs Of his
volitions and sensations; Uniniormed and
ignorant savages and barbarians drink them
selves to death, frthe pleasure, as they sup
pose, Of increasing life. The fumes or
amell of alcohol intoxicate Do these fumes
Weld nourishment; That they do not, may
be known from the fact Of their constituent
parts when compared with those OF common
atmosphere. In the latter the proportion OF
hydrogen gas to oxygen gas is as one to
eight Of nine parts, while in the former, It IS
as three to one of four parts.
All the passions, when stimulated become
stiInulatory--the benevolent and the malev-
client, the virtuous and the vicious; but in
no case, do they ntoxicate like alcohol, nor
effect the voluntary functions in the same
manner and degree. Extacy and swoon,
in highly excited states Of joy and grief, Of
hope and despair, are not analogous to al
coholic intoxieation upon the musculaIsystem,
in relation to the ihsensible crisis. The con-
fusion of feeling, in this case, seems to be al
together peculiar Ito the drunkard. The
phenomenon has no exact parallel. All sense
or consciousness Of gravity seems to be lost.
The body falls without any power OF resis-
lance, and, when PROSTATE and enable to
rise, il any power Of action remains, at
tempts are made TO seize and hold fast, az
from seeming apprehension Of falling up
wards. The extacy Of enthusiasm runs not
into unconquerable habits, after the manner
Of this intoxication. Instead Of destroying
volition so effectually,it often requires the
aid of the viii to perpetuate it.
1t will now be proper to keep IN view the
Total Abstinence plan, showing the reasons
for it and anticipating the objections to it.
Intoxicating drinks, Of which alcohol forms
a part, we have shown, are not necessary
to health or life. We have also shown, that
alcohol is not natural, but an artificial pro-
duction. The sugar, the fruits, the grain,
which are subjected to fermentation, produce,
in their uufermented state, no symptoms OF
intoxication. But, when by the process Of Vi
nous fermentation, the new creation is COM
pleted, the sugary form disappears. Nomat-
ter or substance, having any affinity TO any
of the component parts Of animal flesh, can
be extracted from alcohol, either mechani-
cally, chemically, or by natural digestion.
Most of the intoxicating qualities of alcohol
are neutralized by the disease, when given
as a medicine, as in typhus fever and in
cholera. Alcohol differs from table salt, and
the condiments generally, and also from to-
bacco. The specific action Of the latter on
the involuntary glands, is well known.
| Ii we could assign no reason for wholly
abstaining from any thing not at all necessa-
ry, would there be any improperly in our
wholly abstaining from such thing But,
as alcohol deranges and suspends and may
finally ruin ourvoluntary powers and functions
and so may render us incapable Of morality,
these become so many reasons why we should
wholly abstain from it. II cannot be said Of
alcohol, as it is Of some other things, that il
is necessary evil. There are excuses and
vicious customs, in which total abstinence
cannot be resorted to as corrective In
proper use Of food and raiment are instances.
No one would think Of total abstinence from
food as cure for gluttony, or Of the disuse
Of clothing, to correct the love fine clothes.
Alcohol is not necessary in the sense offate
or DEGREES. 1t makes no part Of anyof the
Interchangeable laws OF nature, II does not
approach US, enter into us, and act upon us,
as water or air or electricity, or as heat or
cold. It is external to us and we are
Independent Of it, 1t is not like contagi-
Gus or infectious disease, nor is it like MAS
mata.
Now, man, above all animals, is endowed
with freedom of will. He has an inherent
power Of self-denial, that is, he may control
his will by reason or by motives drawn from
beyond himself and the time and place in
which he exists. He may oppose causes, DIFF
fering from each in their nature and charac-
ter, as spiritual to temporal or divine to hu-
man. Inclinations and temptations to drink
intoxicating liquor may be denied the phys
ical ability Of self-denial, before the liquor
is drunk, being unimpaired by it. In the al
cohol, he has set before him principle Of
knowledge of good and evil he cannot
know the evil OF intoxication, without know.
ing the loss Of the good Of sober mind
There is good to be lost and an evil to be
gained experimentally in yielding to the in.
4 clination or tie temptation. This good ant
evil cannot be united, So self-denial was
necessary in the state Of paradisaical limo,
cence. There was, in effect, total absti-
hence pledge in the garden Of Eden. All
the world commend good habits, but all the
world are not agreed, how they should b.
formed, nor how they shonld be preserved
Can they be formed or preserved, with
ourself-denial Would il not be well te
examine the question Of total abstinence
in reference 10 self-denial Where will bs
the crisis Of this attempt' Wilt be, in tbs
abstaihing from all but little, or in abstain
ing from that little The idea Of leaving
ofby degrees, by little and little, is perhaps
more mechanical than moral The putting
Of shot in glass, each time its contents
are drunk, until the glass should be filled with
shot and thus all liquor be excluded, would
certainly be very low degree Of self-deni-
al. Is the little that is drunk, intended 10 in
toxicate or not Ifthe former, where is the
self-deuial '--if the latter, why drink il,
i In this argument, the fact must be kept