Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1856-02-06
CcoSrINuED FROM LAST WEEK.

entJfc basis Of Prohibition-By Rrofessor
e. L. Youmans, Of Brooklyn, n. T.
CONTINUED FROM LAST WEEK
Liquor Produces Settled Mental Deranqe-
ment.
The use of alcohol not only engenders
these special forms of delirium and mania, !,
but is the most active of all the sources of |
settled mental arrangement Dr. Beck,
in enumerating the causes of insanity, /
mentions first repeated intoxication," and
the statistics of lunatic asylums show that
from ten to twenty, and in spme caseskeyen
ffty per cent, Of ali THE cases recd6rded, {
were directly traceable to the use of Alec |
holic Liquors Predisposition to insanity,
as is we'll known, is hereditary Conditions
of nervous weakness and brain disease are
transmissible; and so, too, is the peculiar
condition of the nervous and .cerebral sys,
tenn of the drunkard. It is fact of terri
bic import that the inebaiate transmits to
his offspring that peculiarly disordered state
of the nervous mechanism which causes a
craving for the stimulant-he bequeaths
ready-made constitutional appetite for al
coholic poison. The habitual drunkard
also transmits to his children strong ten
denotes to insanity or idiocy. In a report on
idiocy, made by DR.. Howe to the Legisla-
ture Of Massachusetts, we find the follow
ing astounding statement: The habits of
the parents of three hundred of the idiots
were learned and hundred and forty. five,
or nearly one half, are reported as known
to be habitual drunkards" Such parents,
it is affirmed, "give a lax constitution to
their children, who are consequently def
cient in bodily and vital energy, and pre-.
disposed by their very organization to have
cravings for alcoholic stimulants. Many
of these children are feeble and live ir.
regularly. Having lower vitality, they
feel the want of some stimulation If
they pursue the course of their fathers,
which they have more temptation to follow
and less power to avoid than the children
OF the temperate, they add to their heredi-
tary weakness and increase the tendency to
idlocy In their constitutions and this they
leave to their children after them"
H0'o Liquor acts IN Small Quantities.
1t is thus that alcohol becomes a cause of
endless evil. Bv its influence as a material
substance upon the material brain, it poisons
the fountains of action, so that obliquity OF
conduct and every form of debasement
Wretchedness and crime, are The natural and
expected consequences. 1t is the inyeterate
in man. In ali its hdbeassa 1otgR,e aha
in every quantity, it is the potent adversary
Of the mind. When alcoholic mixtures are
drunk, the very first effect that we perceive
is a pers erted action Of the mental faculties
A small quantity does not finish the work
but begins it. 1t is the quality of wheat te
nourish the body, but small amount vii
not completely produce this effect, ror ever
| protect from starvation still. the nature o
all wheat, and every grain Of it, is to nour
i>h and strengthen. So also with Alcohol
a small quantity may not SO poision the brai
as to overthrow the intellectual fabric; still
such are its essential nature and tendency il
every form and every drop. Its in!oadin!
effects upon the mind are not restrained t
the employment Of excessive quantities the
follow from It's common use. There is muc
said about the inofensiveness Of liquo
when taken in trifing amount; but all tn
is little applicable to general practice. Pc,
pie do not take liquors in in6uitesinal dose
} They drink them to produce specific ar
: positive alcoholic effect, and they demar
: and use enough for that purpose. Whatev
may be said about favor aroma fru
ness body nutrment,' or other second
! ry properties Of Intoxicating liquors, if ale
a hol be absent, it is mocke,y to offer these
o substitution. We must bear in mind, tn
l. when a small portion of liquor is taken
Il glass of wine-it is not mingled with I
e mass of the blood and lost in tie gene
s. system. This result is forbidden by the l.
T. Of local affinity. The Alcohol is drawn out
g the circulation into the nervous tissues, a
s the single dose, therefore, ceases to be ins
W nifcant. Although minute when comp
D ed with the whole body, it becomes power
u when concentrated upon a siugle organ
10 In the quantity, therefore, necessary TO p
y duce the agreeable exhilaralng and stimu
a effect, for which it is used, Alcohol SO
e. ranges brain action, as to violate the hasr
ne ny Of the mind. The feelings beco
s excited and the temper irritable, so that
~ individual is easily touched and provo
to acts Of Improperly and violence, by CAT
- which. under other circumstances, would
be unheeded. Long before the speech thick
nd and the motions faI'er, there is a 6rin!
RS irascible passions, which lead to the c
mission of numberless offences from
edged utterances that wound the spiri
ITO honicidal ihrusts, that destroy the body.
90 No other such Grim producer.
mt From the first point OF mental disson;
eat onward through ali the stages ofintoxica
500 mania and madness, become more and I
deeply developed, until the man disapp
the and the demon takes his place. The CHI
me- is one, as / have explained, that multi
bot his vicious and criminal capacities. 1t is
Iou universal testimony of those who have
ous the most dealings with the perpetratoI
you CRIME -Juuges' ponce magistrates sue
re- iailors, prison wardens and others
from four-6fths tonine-tenths of all the C
the committed in society, is done under th
md fuence of Alcoholic Liquors. In the e.
Lrs of the mischief and the completeness OF
and ruin they work upon the human chars
vout these liquids are supereminent anon
she the discovered products of art or natu
that There are other agents beside Alcohol, '
.rty. when introduced into the human system
ert special action upon the nervous ii
man and brain, and through these upon the
fan. Among such is the Opium, which has
I'd OF compared to Alcohol, in its physiologie
ms Of fuences but, while it is perhaps equa
yes ductive and insidious, there is this
ngi tant difference in its efects-alcoho!ic