Polynesian., 1852-09-04

that the Scandinavian warriors in the hall
of Odin, drank wine out of the skulls of thei
enemies; but we must not infer that wine wa
in general use among these northern nations
The northern serfs or peasantry got mona O
it. 1t was luxury beyond their reach
Practically the drinking of it was an aristo
cratic privilege, and was so much improve,
by the supper crust" Of society, in the mid
die ages, as to have associated high life will
riotous excess Hence the old English say
ing applied to any one who had drank too
freely, that he was ''as drunk as q lord
as ifit was the privilege Of men of rank to b,
more drunk than men of low degree. Al
Improved state of society has since made alb
solute drunkenness disgraceful in the upper
ranks, but the conventional forms connected
with wine drinking by our Gothic, Saxon
and Celtic ancestors centuries ago, yet re
tain strong hold among us. Choice wine:
are even now considered by many to be in
dispensable to elegant hospitality Without
them, the richest viands are to some insipid
and the highest colloqvial powers dull and un-
interesting. A reform in this matter is the
old custom of drinking healths, or pledging
sentiments, or toasts in wine is deemed to be
connected with good society. To effect this
reform united action and wholesome example
are requisite, and none can contribute more
efectually TO this end than wives and moth
ers
Malt liquors after awhile came into general
use among our European ancestors, and the
vulgar herd could get nearly as drunk, and
quite as stupid, on beer, as their masters
were crazy on wine, so that poverty was no
longer a security for temperance. But it was
not until alcohol was brought into a more
concentrated form by distiling that its infer
nal energy was fully brought to bear on man.
kind. The process of distilling it was, how
ever, known for several hundred years before
any one thought Of drinking it in that form,
or perhaps before many knew that it was
the identical substance which constituted the
intoxicating principle in wine and other
liquors.
The art of distillation is thought by some
to have been known to the Chinese earlier
than to other nations, but we have no con-
elusive evidence that alcohol was extracted
from fermented liquors till it was done by
an Arabian chemist, upwards ofnine hundred
years ago, in search of universal solvent
by which to extract gold from other metals !;
and it fortunately continued to be used for
no more effective purpose till Arnoldus de
Villa, Spanish physician, in the 13tK CEN
tury, began its use medicine. His dis
ciple, Raymond Tully, who died in 1916, ad-
opted de Villa practice, and its medical use
increased and extended until it spread over
a great part of Europe. Judging from its
immediate effects, it was thought to increase
life, and was thence called aqua rita, or
water of life. 1t should have been called
aqua morris, or water of death-yet so pow
erful was lis influence to deceive men that
Theoricus, as stated in Hollingshead -
Chronicles, wrote in the 10th century, as
treatise upon its wonderful sanative power
He says: =" 1t sloweth age it strengthened
&c youth il helpeth digestion it cutteth
'' fiegme it abandoneth melancholie; it rel
's sheth the heart; it enlighteneth the mind;
'' it quickeneth the spirits it cureth the hy
SO dropsie it healeth the strangurie IT
Sc pounceth the stone; it expelleth the grav
90 ell; it puffeth away ventositie; 1t keePeth
80 and preserveth the head from whirling, the
'' eyes from dazzling; the tong from lisping,
SO the mouth from snoffling, the teeth from
SO chattering and the throat from rafting; it
20 keepeth the weason from stiffiing, the stom-
- ach from wombIing, and the heart from
's swelling: il keepeth the hands from shiver-
90 ing. the sinews from shrinking, the veins
Sc from crumbling, the bones from aching and
'' the marrow from soaking"
Il may be doubled whether any puffer of
patent medicines at the present day can go
much ahead of this. Theoricus must have
given his marrow a pretty etfectuai soaking
with his loved medicine when he ascribcd SO
many virtues to it.
Alcohol, in the Arabian language, is said
TO be the name of one fit impalpabe powder,
with which the women used TO paint their
faces, a increase their beauty. Why it was
applied to the intoxicating fluid is not ex--
planned Perhaps it was used as a cosmetic
for the same purpose. However, this may
have been, the fluid has etained the name
among chemists to this day, and 1t may be
remarked that multitude of faces have been
painted by it, without generally adding much
to their beauty The rouge has too much OF
a purple tinge, and is apt to suffuse the nose
more highly than the cheek, which is not the
rule for the toilet.
Alcohol is rarely, if ever, made entirely
pure. Being first extracted from wine, IT was
called spirits of wine, and by this name has
been used in the arts. You all know it is
highly combustible, and will burn even in
brandy, gin, &C., which are nearly half
water, fourth proof spirit being, l think,
about 81 per cent. Of alcohol.
Now that its nature has been analiZed by
chemists, and its effects upon the human sys-
EN- carefully examined by physicians and
ply ysiologists, it is classed with henbane,
deadly night-shade, tobacco, hemlock, op,,
um, arsenic, &c., all of which may be used
Is medicines in minute quantities, but none
IF them as aliment without injury more or
ess fatal according to the quantity taken into
he stomach.
Rv the ordinary process of distillation the