The Portage County Democrat. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1860-02-08

4
result of the ANALYSIS viz: ssA&
First sample fdark) 55 per cent alcoholic
spirits By volume. Al per cent by weight
specific gravity 0.945. The tests indicate
Sulphuric Acid Nitric Acid. Nitric Ether,
Prussic Acid. Guinea Pepper. and an abund
ance Of Fusil Oil Base-com mon whisky:
not one drop of wine. - ae.ae
Second sample (pale) 81 per cent alcoholic
spirits by volume. 40 per cent by weight; spe.
ci6c gravity o 945 This article has the same
deliberations as the FIRST, bnt in greater abun.
dance, with the addition of Cafchac. Remark
Most yillaiaous connections ss s5ss, g
As matter of course these articles OF lio.
uors could hot be sold without a violation Of
the liquor law consequently, / condemned
them. They were purchased on four months
time The purchaser Immediately notified the
New York iperchaot of the character and
quality ofthe goods. and directed him to- send
for them; but, instead of sending for them
he waited till the notes became due, and brot
suit 10 our court of Common Pleas /, anal
yzsd the liquors in the presence Of conrt and
jury, showed them satisfactorily that they were
the pernicious. poisonous and villainous liquors
which had represented them to be, and the
defendant gained his case triumphantty I; and
Mr.. New York merchant vanished before /
could get a States warrant, or he would now
be learning an honest mode of making aiiving
at one Of our State Institutions in Column US.
was appointed to the Office Of Chemical
Inspector. on the nineteenth day of March,
1855. Since then have made upwards of
six hundred inspections Of stores. and lots of
liquorsaof every variety, and positively aassert
that ninety per cent. Of all that I have anal,
yzed were adulterated whistle most psrnicious
and poisonous Ingredients. The business of
inspecting against the will of men who are
only governed BY motives of cupidity, i have
found an uphill business. j have hadgmore
iaiOing, more squabbling and quarreling, with
unprincipled things bearing the shape and
form of men made after Gods image, since /
have been engaged in the capacity of ILspec-
tor, than had during a half century before.
You may think have heard it thunder some;
well, SO have. am sixty-six years old
bnt in all my recollection j have not heard
thunder that had the same effect on my ner.
vous system, nor anything else to effect my
sympathetic nerves so much as the. sad effects
of irnbibing the miserable concoctions sold in
our markets under the character of healthy
beverage, with which Cocktails, Brany Smash.
es, Mint Juleps, &c. &c, are concocted, and
which sent nineteen young men, all under thirty
years old, and all sons of our most respectable
citizens, to premature grave, during the
winter previous to my appointment, some Of
whom bad not been drinking three months -
Not only young men, but many old men of
our city, who were not considered drunkards, (
died, during the same winter. The horrid death
of the drunkard with the deieriam fremens!
These facts indueedlme to accept the upthaDk.
tul appoint ment. Since my. appointment, I
have, as physician to the Probate Court ex.
amined upwards of four hundred insane cases,
two-thirds of which number became insane
from drinking the poisonous liquors sold at
the doggeries and taverns of opr city, and
country Many of them were boys of from
nineteen to twenty years of age. some of fswhom
we're sboring under On hereditary tsiut---and
perhaps in many of them the mental derang.
nent would never have been developed, had
they not drank of these poisonous decoctioDs.
One boy seventeen years of age, the principal
support of widowed mother and little sis
ter, Was induced, on the fourth of July, 1855,
70 drink some beer, and from the beer went to
me horrible rot-gut phisky kept in the low
ioggeries Of our city. They all got drunk.
md the boy referred to became hopelessly and
ncurably insane. and is yet in the Insane
Asylum at Dayton. In examining the case
or the purpose Of getting all the antecedeuta
With it. learned that the grandfather Of the
10Y died insane. l think the probability is
together in favor of the idea that the insan.
ty never would have been developed in this
ase, had DOT these poisoned admixtures acted
s powerful exeitant cause. szld 81
called at grocery-store one day, where
quor is also kept A couple of irishmen
anne in while was there, and called for some
'hisky /; and the frst drank, and the moment
e drank. the tears flowed freely. while be at
be same time caught his breath like one fsuF-
'cated or strangling. When hecould speak
e said to his companion, Och. Michael, but
his is warming to the sthomaeh T--Micha
rank, and went through like coatoFtious,
ith the remark. tWouldat it be foiue In q
'wld frohsty morning p asaz E
After they had drank. I asked the landlord
pour me out little in tumbler; in which
dipped slip of litmus paper. which vas no
oner wet than it put on scarlet hue. I
ent to my Office. got my instruments, and
'amned it. found il had seventeen per
Mt alcoholic spirits by weight, when should
i've had forty per cent to be proof and the
ference in percentage made up BY SuIphu-
J Acid. Red Pepper, PelitoFy. Costic Pot.
50 and Brucine. one of the salts Of Nucis
Dmic@, commonly called .Nax Vomiea.-
ie pint Of such liquor would kill the strong.
man. / had the manufacturer indicted
{ by such vilainy he has become wealthy,
! never have, owing TO some defect 10 the
'. been able to bring that case to q 6nal
ae. & FR Ss@
Yours. Respectfully.
HTRAM COX NJ. D.
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