National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-05-04
azpt r 70 Na. szroHl1Ea orAtooHo1.

Beecher, which are we'll csleu1sted. n NOT IN
tended, 70 Uphold ana encourage the use Of In
toxicating drinks for al who cisim them to be
for their physical health, debility OF disability.
Truth, Justice and humanity demand that such
palpable absurdities and inexcusabie fncousis-
tsnciss, smanating from such source, should be
confuted, regardless Of the motives and cIrcum.
stances which prompted them; and, With your
kind permission, offer me following reply:
The extracts read rs follows: aAs to liquor H.
self he did not consider It at all times and under
all circumstances Injurious. A healthy man aid not
need y and was better on without It; but sll men
were not healthy. The idea on which the great
Temperance reform began thirty years ago, that
air liquor was Of itself poison. had been under
mined BY science. But thsrs were those who
went even further than this. and pronounced
stimulants to BE- bad. A man who endssyorsd to
carry out their precepts you'd b I'm dangsr Of
starvation. The fact was that stimulants, In cer-
tain eases, and, In moderate quantities, were nm
questionably Of benefit toathe physical health.
Il was untrue ossy that the reaction was equal
10 the exultation produced BY the use Of alcohoI.
He had two rules to offer. rst, don't drink at all;
second, II you must drink, let it be Of the right
kind, and under the right circumstance -
Although some OF these assertions are as vague
as they are untrue, vet Il does not require great
stretch Of discernment, for those who know the
circumstances which called them forth, to under
stand them; but II would seem that he and thou
sands OF others think alcohol to DO good crea-
ture OF God for some persons, and is necessary,
and quite Indispensable, as smsdicine. This idea,
and It's prescription and use for that purpose, Is
the main stumbling block to the progress OF total
aostinence and the speedy humiliation Of this
greatest scourge and curse or the world, and as i
am q regular graduate OF the old and reformed
schools OF medicine, and have practiced the heal
ing art In all forms OF disease for more than thirty
years without the use Of that or any other pol
sons-and with what success I am willing that
others should decide-and have taken great pains
to inform myself upon this momontous subject,
consider Ii an imperative duty to raise my feeble
voice against so gigantic an evil and such erronc-
Gus views as above stated, and will endeavos TODD
so upon general consistent and scientific prinei-
Piles by first showing the effects that alcohol has
upon the different parts Of the human system, and
then the proper definition Of science, OF poisons
of medicines, Of stimulants, irritants and narcot-
les, of health, disease and physician; and then
show why some use alcohol and all other poisons
as medicines, and why reject them as such.
Space Will not allow me to do anything like
justice to the great Importance of this subject If
had the ability to do so. but will try to make
1t as plain and comprehensive as possible. Prof
Smith and many other irst-elass authorities say
that alcohol coagulates, or curdles and thickens
the fluids Of the body, and corrugates or contract
| and wrinkle the solids. 1t constantly contracts
the extremities Of the nerves Il touches and de-
| priyes them Of sense and motion. In o moderate
| dose It produces high state OF excitement both
Of body and mind, which Is followed by proper
Tomato langour; and II considerable Is used, o
pulsery or apoplc1y follows, which frequently
| ends In death. Drs. Beaumont and Sewell, Of
Washington. d. u, who had greater opportuni-
| ties than probably any other men living to OBJ
serve the effects of food, medicine, alcohol and
other poIsons upon the human stomach and
| other organs Of the system by looking daily into
the stomach Of one Lieut.. Martin through Q hole
| or opening into It, and from more than hundred
dissections Of drunkards under most all circum-
stances for over sixty years. and they say IL Is
true that alcohol Is . poison, forever ct war with
mans nature, and In all its forms and degrees Of
strength produces irritation Of the stomach,
which Is liable 70 result In Inflammation, ulcera-
ton and mortihcation-a thickening and indura-
tion OF its coats; and finally, scIrrhus cancer and
other organic affections, &C. The bowels become
infamed, thickened, sore, liberated and mort.
fed, the same Is the stomach.
It produces certain and speedy effect upon the
liver. Its secretions often become changed from
bright yellow to green or black, and from . thin
fluid TO o substance resembling tar, which often
leads to calculy or gall stones, and is often en-
lsrged to twice its natural size and influence, and
1
| It inhames burns and diseases them, and bringi
on Bright's disease dabetis, gravel, cronic inha-
\ nation, SC. Il also affects the heart most
seriously and fatally. One ease In my mind.
eye was an old topper who took o glass Of raw
whisky and fell dead, and on examination thu
heart was spasmodically contracted and the
blood oil squeezed out Of It. Another while un
der the excitement Of Q public speech, fell dead;
his heart was cramped and pinched down to thu
smallest space and his blood loaded with alcohol
The heart in trying to get rid Of alcohol throw.
too much blood to the brain and this inlamel
and enlsrges It, which, If acute, is followed By
furious delirium. So you see where delirium ire.
| mems comes from; the nerve becomes inhamed
/ and then raralyzed, and the heart ceases to beat
DR.. Armstrong, Of England, and forty others
have reported the same facts, which are perfectl,
apparent to all careful observers; and paralysis
and apoplexy are often produced in the same way
The lungs IRE also affected In throwing of Thu
poison by the breath, which produces fatal bron
chitis and consumption. Alcohol impoyerishe
the blood, and changes hard, solid muscle to fat
which is known as fatty degsneracy, and is gen
eral arrangement Of the whole system. DR.
Sewell enumerates some OF the forms Of dIseas,
produced BY alcohol, viz, dyspepsia, jaundice
| emaciatiou, corpulency, dropsy, ulcers, rheumat
ism, govt tremors, palsy, hysteria, epilepsy, le;h
argy, apoplexy, melancholy, Madness deliriun
tremens and premature old age. Kings "Ameri
can Dispensatory, says: "Alcohol occasions intox
ication, nervous arrangement, loss Of appetite
mental imbecility, dyspepsia. undeyratated liver
GRANULAR disease q the kidneys, paralysis, mania
apoplexy and death" Woods American Dis
rem, Of Boston; Mott, of New York; Horner an,
Gross, of Philadelphia; Flint, Of New York
Broussais, of France; Cooper, Of Philadelphia
and many others confirm the statements Of King
Wood and SewelI. DR.. Ogls found in one hun
dred and forty-three post-mortems OF drunkard
over one hundred with softening and fatty degen
eracy Of the heart, and other organs affected a
stated by DR.. Sewell. DR.. Markham. editor o
u.s. "British Medical Journal" says: "Alcohol /!
not FOOD, u. simply r..eo.!c Irritant," Pre-!
Leham. the great chemist, lys alcohol does rs
contribute anything toward maintaining LIE.
Prof Higginbotham, Of the Royal College o
England, after sixty years practice, says alcoho
has no specific effect on any organ OF the body 70
the cure Of disease. On the contrary, It produce
disease. Every disease is aggravated by II, an,
consider It impious In any medical man sayinl
that any constitution requires alcoholic stimulous
and that it is an irritant and narcotic poison 1
selfevident II burns, irritates and inhame
every organ It touches. It does not contain an,
OF the elements Of food, and does not pfoduc
bone muscle, blood, brain or any part OF the body
but Is an absolute injury to all parts. 1t dissolve
the juices Of the body and binders and prevent
digestion. When alcohol Is taken into the stom
ach the largest part takes the natural open chan
mel out Of the stomach into the heart and through
the arteries directly to every part of the body
brain. This initiates and exctes It into q create
and morbid activity. Now an important idea Is
that as the arteries are much larger In the organ
Of the lower part OF the head and the blood thick
ened, those organs are affected most by Il, viz:
desire to drink, to attack, and wants to break
burn, steal rob, QUARREL kill, &C., because those
are the lower organs and are more affected than
/ the higher ones, where the arteries are smaller
| and more remote. This is an insane passion OF
mania, 90 common to inebriety. Wilkes Booth
| dare not murder one OF the noblest, best and
| greatest men OF modern times until he had taker
two extra drinks Of liquid fire an distilled damns
ton, called brandy.
Now, candid and Intelligent reader, from whal
has been shown, land We have been obliged to be
brief,) 10 this alcohol good creature Of God Il
It natural, necessary and wholesome stimulant
Mr.. Beecher says 90. win It support and sustain
life and prevent starvation Only by robbing the
innocent women and children Of their daily bread.
Is It benefit TO the physical health In certain
casesf Has e been shown By science that &c Il
not poisonf Mr.. Beeeher says 50, and who dares
| deny what MT. Besehsr ssysH have only TO say
in this matter that II he is as deficient in his In
strnctions for our future comfort happiness and