The star of the north. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1849-1866, 1857-02-04

moi always smooth sailing, unembarassed
by winds, breakers or tides, which are un-
favorable.
Here is tobacco chewing or smoking pa
tient. Perhaps he has used his tobacco 40
years, till he is fairly mithsidaled by it.
Had you called on him few days before
he called on you, and after kindly inquiring
about his health, had you suggested, with
ever so much modesty and moderation, the
necessity of change in his habits, he
would doubtless have told you sarcastically,
80, | have used the poisonous creature
half lifetime, and am not injured by it
yet" And had you labored with him two
hours, or even whole day, to convince
him Of his error, your labor might have
been wholly in vain. But now he is sick
not merely little sick, but severely So
His nervous system is prostrated, as well as
his muscular powers. Does he know how
much greater the prostration is for having
benumbed his nervous system with filthy
narcotic, every day, for one hundred and
fifty thousand successive days? There is
great irritation and tenderness about the
region of the liver; with seasons of nausea,
and perhaps vomiting; does he know how
much more severe his bilious affection is
in consequence of having narcotized his
system daily for almost half a century q
Constipation, alternated, perhaps, with oc.
caslonal diarrhRa, is another troublesome
symptom; does he know how much of this
is owing TO his long use of tobacco! In
short, he has been using medicine daily
for if tobacco is not medicine, pray what
is ?-tor forty years or more ; and now does
he expect other medicine, such as his ply
sician may think it needful to prescribe, will
have its wonted effect! Is there no danger
of having his disease aggravated, rather
than relieved, by the administration of new
medicine? Does he not know, that 10 ply
sician in the world, however skilful he may
be, can so apporion his doses to the case
OF an individual who has, for many long
years, been dosing or drugging himself, till
he has either become mithsidaed, or has
passed beyond the mount of mithsidation
TO the gulf of cachexy or general prostra-
ton and helplessness, which lies beyond it!
And does he not know,-for ii not, his ply
sician, if he is man who is worthy Of the
name, knows it quite too well that all ac-
tive medicine is like sword with two
edges, which cannot be used in the vital
domain without doing execution in some
way! for if it does not cut in one direction,
it does in another.
Here is patient who has used alcohol
all his lifetime. Pyrhaps, indeed, that life
is as yet but short one. He is hardly 35
years of age; yet his constitution is as much
impaired as tina, of many people at sixty.
True, he was never intoxicated, lie would
have shuddered, always, at the thought of a
lurking suspicion of this sort in any human
mind. But he has drank his dram at five
O'Clock, ere rising; at eleven o'clock, as a
preparation for dinner; and at four o'clock
in The afternoon, as steadily and as certain
ly as these seasons have REQUIRED, till his
system is poisoned through every pore and
fibre. And yet, till lately, he has scarcely
felt pain. Now, a host of exciting causes,
as so many igniting sparks, have kindled
into flame all the latent predispositions
to disease, which long, but persevering
course of transgression had induced. lie
realizes, Just now,-did he but realize it,
the full import of the saying of Solomon
Because sentence against all evil work is
not executed speedily, therefore the heart
of the sons Of men is fully set on them to
do evil"
But what can be done with him! AS
surely as alcohol has circulated through
every pore Of his system for twenty of thir-
ty years, just so surely has he been poison
ed, as said before, at every pore. The
mucous membranes, in particular, are pois-
oned. For proof OF this, you have but to
lay open his alimentaTy canal, or his bron-
chial tubes, and what do you see but hol-
low passages as red as fire-indced, on fire
that is, in state of sub-inhammaton Now
in these circumstances what can medicine
do? or if any thing in any shape, l0hat shall
it be, and in what shopet No living medi.
cal man, be he wise as the wisest of the
present or the past, can tell, He can guess,
and perhaps little better than those who
have neither studied the human constitu.
tion nor the nature or power of medicine
But he must guess, still i, is only guessing
in such circumstances. Is here no difficult
ty in the practice of medicine!
Here is female patient. She has lived
twenty years, it may be more, for have
seen women,-married women at least
who were over twenty But young as she
is, she is full Of disease, and would gladly
be freed from at least part of it. What is
to be done? We must look well 10 the
causes of her suffering. She has neither
drunk spirits, nor used tobacco. recall
she has done both. She has drunk spirits,
alcohol, whenever she has drunk cider,
beer, ale, or wine. All fermented drinks con.
tain more or less of alcohol; and Though
she would not for the world have drank dis
titled spirits, she has not hesitated, occasions
ally, 10 drink termented drinks, ,-,cine, with
| H. L r.