The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1871-04-28

tant. @ Do
In ordinary conditions Of health,
apart from any special call upon the
vital energies, In persons takinga reason
able amount Of mental and physical ex-
crcisc, and enjoying an equally reasona.
BILE amount OF rest, there Is no actual ne.
cessity for taking stimulants Of any kind;
but In civilized countries II Is so univer.
sally customary to take stimulants in more
or less moderate quantities, that 1t is now
looked upon rs q natural habit. .v
There is no hAbitwhiCh Is so disposed
TO grow upon one rs that Of drinking.
Even water'drinking, apparently so harm
less, becomes. with some people, u most
perniCiOus habit: they cannot exert them
selves in any way without drinking wa
ter; they are regularly in the habit Of
drinking many glasses Of water daily be.
tween meals. This habit is an injurious
ono; it greatly weakens digestive power
hastens waste, and very probably tends
10 produce corpulenCy. ! Unfortunately,
however, water-drinking is far less fro
quent a habit than beer.drinking, which,
in quantities very far short oiintOxication,
is much more injurious. Bywater.drink-
ing we dilute our tissues, by beer.drinking
we communicate them; yet how very COM
mon it is to meet with people who never
miss the opportunity Of taking glass Of
beer-independently of that which they
take ut meal times { When train stops,
or coach changes horses, they rush
to the counter; at RACES, fairs, cricket
matches, they take sundry glasses. We
constantly meet such men: they are what
Is called temperate, frequently highly in
dustrious and intellectual. Tho physi-
clan often meets them; they come
under his notice at about middle age,
miserable hypochondriacs, Sulfsripg from
oil kinds Of Indigestion, gouty Da liver
disorders; and would be astonished to
know that years have been taken off their
lives principally by the effects of n habit
they have acquired so gradually, and re-
gard so lightly.
A still more dangerous habit than the
last, acquired in the same gradual mNn-
ner, and INDUCED in often with the
same ignorance Of its results, Is that
of taking small quantities, Of spirits,
either meat" or with little water,
at intervals during the day--what Is vul-
carly called shipping" This habit Is
most common with c0acltdrivers, hack
men; and conductors. They are not
drunkards, though in too many instances
they ultimately become so.
We have often sat by the side oil tue
driver Of a coach, n merry fellow, well.
known all along tho road, exchanging
word or o joke with every one. Tic stops
some five or six times in course Of fl.
teen miles, and usually has small glass
OF spirits each time; he commonly calls
Tor glass of.gin and water cold, with u
defiant emphasis on the lust word, as If
10 say, am none OF your fiery liquor
drinkers" Poor fellow! lie Is irremedi.
ably damaging his health, rs surely rs. If
lie chose the most ardent liquor distilled,
but perhaps more slowly. The physician
again meets these men; they die in hospi.
tIls oil liver and kidney diseases. The i'm.
mediate, ora least the primary, reason
for indulging in this habit is the false idea
that ut Keeps the cold out" whereas 1t has
proved that spirits, thong they tempo.
rarily cause sensation Of warmth, actu.
ally lower temperature, and hence it Is
that the unlucky "nippcrs" have so often
to renew their stimulant. This habit Is
also largely INDUCED in by women, and
becomes even moro fatal 10 them than 1t
docs to men. g.. w.
Wehave too frequently seen the mis-.
cries Of debasement, disease, and I'm.
timely death brought on by this habit,
not TO feel responsibility In dealing with
the topic. A very few words will suffice
upon the effects Of alcohol taken in intoxi.
eating quantities, 1ntoxicAtiun il a tom.
porary insanity, which Is in Itself crlmi.
nal, inASmuch as 1t Is voluntarily induced
hence II Is regarded in law rs no extenua-
ton Of crime, It is "a arrangement OF the
functions orthe mind, and, as these arc in
some way connected with those of the
brain, It seems probable that ii is by act.
ing on this organ that the spirits when
taken into the stomach occasion DEATH"
DrunkNrds Often become seized with a
peculiar deliriunl, called dtlirium trctnenS,
from the nervous agitation with which
Il is accompanied. We will not pause 10
describe this terrible disease, which often
terminates in sudden death.
Numerous cases Of spontaneous com.
bustion have been placed on record, and
are firmly believed In by many; some
have even been described With great
minutenGss; and an eminent italian ply
slcian and medical iurist relates the pho.
nomena which occur in this accident.
There is no doubt that corpulent spirit
drinkers arc unusually cOmbustible, and
might be more readily set ON fire than
others; but there Is no evidence TO prove
that they could ever catch fire spOntanG-
Ously. ms '.
One Of the effects of alcohol is TO ii.
mlnish the tissue change going on natural.
ly in the body; and 1t might be argued
that this effect can only be salutary and
useful in persons who work hard and
havo but scanty food. This Il IN impor-
tant use Of alcohol as q drug in some ex-
haustlng disorders Of short duration, from
which, by keeping the patient alive for q
sllUTL lIIue VUIkcT1 III IL euhUlSu u IL"
cover, while it stimulants are withheld,
no must die exhausted before tho COM
plant in its natural course has worked
itself out; but we are here guided
by n definite knowledge Of
the natural course oil acute
diseases, and by alcohol sustain the
patient, and, as It were, restrain tho raw.
ages of tho fire within certain limits
compatible with life until It has burnt
itself out. .p E.-al
In health it is different. There is an
exact correlation in the human body be.
tween the forces supplied to it in the
shape Of food, the chemical processes that
go on within 1t, rs oxidation, waste, and
nutrition, and the vital forces, muscle
force, nerve force, mental force, which
are exhibited in the thinking, acting man,
and some Of which. NERVE force react up.
on the functions Of his body and regulate
them. Oxidation is the great means by
which the active forces of the human
body are set free, &. o. warmth, muscular