The Potter journal and news item. [volume] (Coudersport, Pa.) 1872-1874, 1873-10-01
From the Keystone Good Tempar.
MALT LIQUORS.-Their Nature
and Effect.

MALT LIQUORS.-Their Nature
and Effect.
There is consumed annually in the
United States not less than 44.572.I8S
gallons of the strongest alcohol that
can be made, Of which I2,Ol4.953
gallons are drank in the form Of malt
liquors.
1t is not the alcohol alone in ale
and beer that makes them hurtful.
for the malt liquors of this country
do not undergo perfect fermentation,
so that after they are drank a slight
fermentation takes place, which in
jures the stomach, especially of per-
sons having weak digestive organs.
Again, beer, ale, and particularly por-
ter, have their narcotic power greatly
increased by the bitters, that are ne
Cessary to their preservation, which
by long usage Injuries the nerves of
the stomach, causing dyspepsia, etc.
Malt liquor drinkers are prone to apo
plexy and palsy.
In health the nervous system is
neither too active nor dCpressed-th
circulation Of the blood is in the con-
dition best adapted for carrying on
the process Of waste and nutrition.
Malt liquors act directly upon the
circulation and nervous system by I'M
duly stimulating and then depressing
it, which is decidedly injurious. Ev-
cry physician Of much experience
among the laboring classes, or those
who drink large quantities of malt
liquors, such as teamsters and other
outdoor workers, must have observed
that, though they may be large men.
and capable Of great physical exer-
tions while in open air, yet they are
not in q condition Of real vigOr, for
they break before they are far adj
vanced in years, even if they do not
fall victims to diseases and injuries,
that appeared at first of the most
tritiing character. The regular users
ofmalt liquors are the unhealthy
class Of drinkers, for a very slight
injury or a simple disease often
proves fatal. "A conspicuous Lon
don bccr-drinker," says DR.. Grinrod,
"is all one vital part. He wears his
heart upon his sleeve bare to a death
wound, even from a rusty nail or the
claw Of cat" The worst patients in
the MetropolitOn hospital are the
London draymen. Though they are
apparently models of health and
strength, yet if one Of them receives
a serious injury, it is nearly always
necessary to amputate in order to
give him the most distant chance Of
life. The draymen have the unlimit-
ed privilege Of the brewery cellar.
Sir Ashley Cooper was called to a
drayman. He was a powerful, fresh
colOred, hearty-looking man, who
had suffered an injury in his finger
from a small splinter of a stave.
The wound, though trifing, suppur-
ated. He opened the small abcess
with his lancet. He found, on retir-
ing, lie had left his lancet. Return
ing for it, he found the man in a dy-
INC condition. The man died in a
short time.
DR.. Gordon says, ''The moment
beer-drinkers are attacked with acute
diseases, they are not able to bear
depletion. and die" DR.. Edwards
saws of beer-drinkers, .'Their diseases
are always of a dangerous character
and in case Of accident they can
never undergo even the most trifing
operation with the security Of the
temperate. They most invariably
die under it, DR.. Bachan says,
'Malt liquors render the blood shy
and unfit for circulation; hence pro-