New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-08-08

the parent and nurse Of every kind Of immortality
and crime This is the cloven foot which, during
Thousands of years, has ide entitled alcohol under what
ever name or disguise has assumed &c the enemy oil
man. II is Ibis property which prevents the healthy
movements Of Life, which has made al the milIloos
upon millions Of drunkards who have gone down 10
premature grave.
And vet The culture of the grape and It's manuiac-
ture into wine-wine Of which Plny says the practice
/ OF drinking increases The desire-wine which made
/ the " Bacchanas OF Greece Kissing, oy-word
ard term Of repIoach 70 this dsy-wlne whose use
made Alexander az notorious q crunkard az he was a
soldier-wine which made the drunkenness OF later
Rome uroyerhial ard afforded unbOunded scope FOR
the burning sarcasm Of her saiirsts-wlne winch IN
the cups OF Capua weakened Hannibal more than the
leeiOns Of TIE Consul-wine which has cast down
knos and ernperors patrarchs and priests, prophets
and phIosoIbers-this riHe II recommended as cure
for the worlds iniemI
There il but one remedy. L is ToTL ABsTISEScE
from al that cGn infoxicGte If alcoholic drinks are
ever called for in prosiration or disease let them be
taker ONLY under the direction OF an intelligent and
conscientious physician, who will watch their effects
as be would those OF arsenic or strychnine
Alcoholic drinks enieeble the muscles and nerves,
kndle an artificial and destructive appetite, create
Grease and shorten life render strong minds imOecue
and mad dissolve the ties and endeermenis Of the
family circle and of social life, and draw darK ana
endless eclipse over the light OF iuturi'y.
II there be q single protested lover of the human
family who can ake intoxicating drinks without lear
OF injury of apIeue which may result IN lheul
peranCe let him consider well whether an apostle h1ed
the standard of Christian duty too high, or everest
mated the force Of example il embodenng the weak
and wavering 70 violate conscience when be declared
that II is good neither TO eat teeh nor to drnA vine
nor anything by which my broiher stumoetn, OF Is
offended or is made weak.
II take wine occasionally, as beverage, and
thereby single individual il influenced TO lay ASIDE
If scruples til he is in the habit OF daily incorporate
drinking, | am holden in the guilt of having made
him drunkard. go
Wherefore If wine make my brother TO offend will
drink no more wine while the world siandeih, lest /
make my brother 10 offend. X. ID. MvssEf.
jane -, 1850
Since writing the above have received from my
esteemed friend DIR. A. A. Hayes, whose chemical
knowledge We may confidently assert Is "a great as
that Of any man in our country his opinion IN relation
TO the chemical action OF alcohol of which give On
abstract below.
Vudiluted alcohol consists of
equivalents Of carbon
hydrogen
oxygen.
This substance, in It's undiued state, introduced into
the stomach causes DEATH and Is ranked by ToXcoO-
/ qists among the narcoto-acrd posons. In diluted
state mixed with from one 10 eight times ITS volume
NJ water IL reprC senis the active principle OF nearly
all the alcoholic liquors. Leaving out OF view the
volatile aromatic OILS, tie sugar, the vegetable matter
&c of the distilled and fermented liquors. We have to
consider the mixed yapOr OF alcohol and water ex-
/ baiDo in the bocy at the temperature of 9s' Fab.
either as q gas or dissolved in fluids, undergoes a
ranid change resulting in the formation OF aldehyde
! Which consists OF
equivalents of carbon
HYDROGEN
d" - oxygen.
This substance is the uniform produc. OF the eA'
rosure Of the mixed vGpor OF alcohol and water, IN
contact with extended and porous surfaces, TO the
smallest quantity of oxygen the alcohohc 'apo' Gun
combine with at o. F. ,.,
no evidence of tte production II tic system OU-
tanned bv Ducheck and others is sustained by appro-
pirate chemical experiments A alconol coHusa1S'
he tissues and gulates the BLOOD II does not prob
ably pass into The circulation land Ia experiments
which seem TO show it, existence in the blood, &C,
al5ehy de wss probably mistaken for alcohol which II
very nearly rosembles.l Aldehyde boils at ~ F.
and therefore exists in the system only as vapori
CAPABLE If restrained of exertng high tension lts
affinity for oxygen is very strong and by the union OF
one of its equivalents Of hydrogen with oxygen "ate
is formed and the substance il changed to aceous 9e'd
Probably tn oxidation il carried only one step infhe
/ IN the body AID ACETIc ACID IL formed.
The heat produced by the combination oil oxygeI
with the hydrogen of alcoholic vapor ls not ne y
quantity gained from special food Tor respiration
but il is heat from s0Hrce, substituted J0T me hea
Which roud hare been obtained from another source
AZ this view is substGntiaied by the experiments
careful observers, it should take the place OF mere
theories which in experimental science are OF htu
value.
If this view of Dr. Hayes IL correct, = viii be seer
/ why drinking divers require more oxygen Than temp
crate ones The aldehyde sooner extracts from th'
air by which they surrounded, its lie-gylng prin
cipe, and q lew supply IL demanded.-R d. W.