Delaware weekly Republican. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1841-188?, 1857-07-02
INTEREsTING SCIENTIFIC DATA.

| late reply to Professor Laycock. Let them
not be overlooked, but attentively considered /
by every reader.
The learned gentleman CDR. Laycock) whose
opinions am about to answer, states &C That 4
a drunkard is a man who habitually impairs Il
his mental and bodily powers by the use of Il
poisonous drinks, the effective constituent of /
which is chemical compound known as al
chohol." This statement is perfectly in ac-
cordance with scientific facts and experience
but as the learned gentleman has not stated /
these facts, and as they form the basis of my /
argument, shall now proceed to lay them /
before you. There is an important fluid in the X
mouth called the saliva; it is not only neces-
sary for lubricating the mouth, facilitating |
speech, assisting in the mastication and swal- |
lowing ofthe food, but it also plays most inn |
portant part in the digestion of the food thus |
you will at once perceive that its healthy con-
dition is a matter OF great Importance. In |
hsalth the saliva is always slightly acid. Take |
piece of bibulous paper rendered blue by |
the boiled juice of red cabbage, moisten |
piece of it with the saliva of healthy person, |
it Immediately becomes Redeemed by the acid |
of the saliva. Then give that person a couple |
of glasses of wine, or an equivalent quantity |
of any other alcoholic drink; let him wash his |
mouth out thoroughly. In four minutes after |
let him test the saliva again with the blue sail
va paper, and you will find that, instead of be- |
coming red, it is colored green How is this ! |
1t is because the poison alchohol in the wine |
has so altered, so poisoned the blood even in |
that short time, that the saliva formed from it
is changed to a condition the very opposite of
what it ought to be for it has become alkaline
instead of acid, and no two things in nature
are more opposite than an acid and an alkali.
Again, you have seen persons hold spirits in
their mouths to allay toothache. Well, hold
mouthfnl Of spirits there for five minutes you
| feel it burn severely. Inspect the mouth, you
see that it is violently inlamed. Hold it ten
I rain l.sa-
| tic bandage then over the PERSONS eyes, and
give him water, vinegar, milk, and sena. He
is incapable Of distinguishing the one from the
Other for alchohol is not only violent irri-
tant, but also narcotic and in these expert
ments it has not only inhamed and blistsred
the mouth, but it has also paralyzed, for the
time being, the nerves OF taste and common
| sensation.
| Let u5 now trace its further internal progress
The stomach pours out fluid into itself dur
ing digestion, called the gastric juice this is
the true agent of digestion. 1t is this fluid
which dissolves and digests the food, and with
out which digestion, and consequently life,
would be impossible. 1t is Il clear and trans.
parent fluid, very similar to water in appear
ance. Well, take some of it, and add little
alcohol, whiskey for instance, it Immediately
becomes Opaque and muddy, and white mat
ter falls to the bottom, which is called pepsin,
and which pepsin is the chief agent in diges-
| III ohuit, tne JAlCc ~ uestrOSeu.--
| AS proof of which, take two glass test tubes,
| put into each a small piece of beef, and cover
| it over with fresh gastric juice; into one of
them put also little alcohol; place both tubes
in water bath, and keep them at tempera-
tnre of from 9S to 100 for four hours you will
then find that the beef in the pure gastric
juice is changed into q grayish white fluid, ex-
actly the same as You find in animals killed
about the time digestion is completed while
that to which the alcohol was added is entire.
ly unchanged, save being somewhat shriyeled
A perfectly healthy man feels that he has Q
r stomach, and it is only when disease severe
and persistent that, as rule, pain is felt. How
/ mischieyous, then, is the taking of alcoholic
drinks, particularly during meals how utterl,
/ absurd the popular delnsion, that they assist Of
A promote digestion and how attrocious tn
# quackery of prescribing these drinks for sucl
i purpose. So much is this the case, that Pro
fessor Todd and Bowman, in their great an,
d standard work, g The Physiological Anato
IL my of Man." declare Sc that were these drink
D not rapidly absorbed from the stomach,
would be utterly impossible that digestion
y could go on in those who use Them" An
p where, then, do they go when absorbed from
10 the stomaehf They pass into the blood.
4, shall not describe all the mischief they do t,
he that most important fluid. Suffice it to say
* that alcohol rohs tho blood of its oxygen, low
or ers the temperature, below its healthy and ma
n tnral standard, and causes the retention OF
CdTDUDlC uClu, ana ueghylnQ. etfete organic
~ matter in that fluid.
Take piece of paper, dip it in spirits, and
N hold IT in the flame OF gas, or candle the pa
A. per will not burn, or he in the least injured
at until all the alcohol is burned of; pet gun
H. set fire to it, and the powder will not eyplud
III until all the alcohal is burned off. Why i
h. this 1t is because alcohol has such grea
10 affinity, attraction, for the oxygen of the air
&c (without which nothing, generally speaking
L can burn,) that paper and gunpowder, even
d cannot get supply until the alcohol is exhaus
p ted. The very same takes place in the blood
II The oxygen of the air which we continual,
l. breathe, Is constantly burning the charcoal O
c the starch, sugar, and oily matters taken in a,
: 1000, and, mark this we'll, also the effete Of
il worn-out matter of our systems, the refuse o
the wear and tear OF our bodies thus serving
/ the double purpose of keeping up the heart Of
the animal frame and preparing the waste mat
ter Tor being thrown oil by the lungs, kidneys
( skin, and the bowels. Now alcohol, to great
! extent prevents all this as long as it remains
t within us. Dayy performed the following ex-
perlments: Take q delicate thermometer, place
the bulb under the tongue Of healthy per-
son, shut the mouth and raise the head, you
Will find that tho mercury rises about 98 ; take
II out and give two glasses of wine, or an
equivalent quantity of any other Intoxicating
drink, and in four minutes replace it as before
you will find that the mercury has fallen, and
now perceive the mischievous deusion of be-
lieying that these drinks warm you or ortify
you against the low temperature the fact he
ing that they do the very reverse, as the uni
versal experience of our Artic voyagers has
( amply testified. But it is to the brain that al
cohol flies. 1t is remarkable fact that few, i
any, poisons act upon the whole body eacf
selects, as ii were, its own particular organ
Thus arsenic principally attacks the stomach
and bowels; digitalis, the heart; strychnine
the spinal marrow; and alcohol is peculiarl,
and emphaticaly brain pc ION. Now, tn,
brain is the organ of the mind. But alcoho
not only attacks the brain and the mind
affects particular portions of the brain, ant
hence particular faculties of the mind, in diff
r erent ways. Thus, all observation proves tina
it weakens the will, confuses and perverts th
) intellectual powers, Diminishing conscientious
9 ness, cautiousness, and the other moral senti
: ments, while il at the same time intensifes TIN
imagination, and goads on the mere anima
/ propensities to mastery and domination owe
. all.
. But there is another most important consid
: Grafton in regard to the effects Of these drink
# upon the brain and mind of man. All society
= all civilization, all government, depend upo
@ and must be founded and upheld by health
action of the brain and mind of man idiot
and insane persons have and can exercise n
ii social and political rights. For government
( then, to draw revenue from, and license tn
: sale of these brain-poisonlng, mind pervertin
liquids, is a virtual abandonment of therllegiti
. mate functions, and deadly blow at the yer
i basis of their own authority. 1t is at once
folly and farceto say that the legislature ough
4 not or must not interfere with these poisonou
liquids they do interfere with them they ar
forced TO interfere with them the insanity
, ( nauncpisn1 nrinna unI 0thpr avila