Litchfield enquirer., 1874-02-26
THE DELusloNs or DRINK.


 THE DELUsloNs OF DRINK.
 King Solomon has the credit of being the wisest man that ever lived: and he declared that he who is deceived by wine, the mocker, and strong drink, the raging, IS not wise. The delusions of drink are as old as drink itself, and are as prevalent now as In Solomon's time. There are men who honestly believe that alcoholic drink is good for them; yet there is not one of them who would touch it except as 8 prescribed medicine if 1t were not for its pleasant taste. The delusion touch Ing Its healthfulness grows out of the de- sire to justify an appetite which may either be natural or acquired. If man likes whlskey or wine, he likes to think 1t IS good for him, and he will take some pains to prove that it is so, both to him. self and others.
 Now, alcohol IS pure stimulant There IS not so much nutriment in it as there is in chip. It never added anything to the permanent forces of life, and never can add anything. Its momentary 1nten- slficatlon of force Is a permanent abstrac- tlon of force from the drinkers capital stock. All artificial excitants bring ex- haustlon. The physicians know this, and the simplest mans reason is quite capa- ble of experiencing it. If any man supposes that daily drink, even in small quantities, is conducive to his health he Is deluded. T. he possess a sluggish tenn perament, he may be able to carry his burden without much apparent harm, but burden 1t is, and burden it will always be.
 After man has continued moderate drinking long enough, then comes a change-a demand for more drink. The old quantity does not suffice. The pow CTS which have been insensibly under mined, clamor, under the pressure of bus mess, for increased stimulation. It is ap- pl1ed, and the machine starts off grandly; the man feels strong, his form grows portly, and he works under constant pressure. Now he is in a condition of great danger, but the delusion is upon him that he Is in no danger at all. At last, however. drink begirs to take the place of food. His appetite grows feeble and titful. He lives on his drink, and, of course, there Is but one end to this-yiz.: death! 1t may come suddenly, through the collapse of all hls powers, or through paralysis, or 1t may come slowly through atrophy and emaciation. His friends see that he IS killing himself, but he cannot see 1t all He walks in delusion from his early manhood to his death.
 A few weeks ago one of our city physi- clans publicly read paper on the drink ing habits of women. It was thought tul paper, based on competent knowl- edge of facts. It ought to have been of great use to those women of the city who are exposed to the dangers It portrayed, and especially to those who have acquired the habits it condemned. Soon afterward there appeared in the columns of daily paper Q protest from writer who ought to be a good deal more intelligent than he lss against the doctors conclusions. The health and physique of the beer drinking Englishwoman were placed over against the health and physique of the r-drinking American woman, to the disadvantage of the latter. The man IS deluded. It is not year since Sir Hen " Thompson, one of the most eminent medical men in Eng1and,-a man notori- ously beyond the reach of any purely Christian considerations declared against the beer-drinking of England on strictly sanitary grounds. Our ltterateur de clares that the Englishwoman can out walk her American sister That depends entirely upon the period of life when the task IS undertaken. The typical English woman who has stood by the beer diet until she is more than forty years old, is too fat to walk anywhere easily out of doors, or gracefully within.
 During our late civil war this matter of drinking for health's sake was thorougly tried. A stock of experience and ohser- vation was acquired that ought to have lasted for century. Again and again, thousands and thousands of times, was it proved that the man who drank nothing was the better man. He endured more. he fought better, he came out of the war healthier than the man who drank. Noth- ing IS more easily demonstrable than that the liquor used by the two armies, among officers anG men alike, was an unmitigat- ei curse to them. It disturbed the brains and vitiated the councils of the officers. and debilitated and demoralized the men. Yet all the time the delusion among off, cers and men was, that there was both comfort and help in whiskey.
 The delusions of drink are numberless. but there is one of them which stands in the way of reform so decidedly that it calls for decided treatment. We allude to the notion that 1t Is a nice thing to drink nice liquors or wines at one's home. to offer them to ones friends, and to make them minister to good fellowship at every social gathering, while it is very differs ent thing to drink bad liquor, in bad places, and in large quantities. A man full of good wine feels that he has right to look with contempt upon the Irishman who is full of bad whiskey. It is not long time since the election of professor in British university was opposed solely on the ground that he neither drank wine nor offered it to his friends; and when. by small majority, his election was eff fected, the other professors decided not to recognize him socially. There are thus two men whom these sticklers for wine de- spise-viz.: the man who gets drunk on bad liquor, and the man who drinks no liquor at all. Indeed, they regard the latter with hatred or contempt which they do not feel for the poor drunkard. The absolute animosity with which many men in society regard one who is consci- entiously opposed to wine-drinking. could only spring from delusiOn in regard to the real nature of their own habits. The sensitiveness of these people on this sub iect, however, shows that they suspect the delusion of which they are the vic tims. They claim to be on the side of temperance. They deprecate drunken