The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1876-04-11
WOMANS TEMPERANCE COL
UMN.
Alcohol.


same. In cider or in beer, or 10 wine,
there is the same doceiver and destroyer
alcohol. OF every cup, be it more or
less strong, we may, with Shakespeare
say: "The ingredient is devil"
However fancifully and beautifully
concealed, this fiery poison mingles in
every dram, and no mask can disarm it
from its malevolent work, when once it
enters the blood, flies through the circu.
lation, rushes into the brain, and burns
its way along the mucus surfaces, and the
capillary vessels.
Its mission is that of sword Of death,
cutting every way, and every time lsnc-
ing the vitality, and reducing il at some
point.
"with myrtle and rose,
Entwine IL for the stroke"
and the result is the same. II matters
little to q man, when he has been MUIR
dered, aud is expiring, to know. when it
is too late to avert his fate, that the deed
was performed with polished instrument
and in very skillful and genteel manner.
Alcohol. then, is the murderer whose
evil work we are seeking to expose, I'm.
der whatever name that work is being
done.
II cider contains from seven to ten per
cent. of alcohol, it only requires that two
or three times as much be drank, to in.
duce the same effect, if not worse effect,
than is produced by drinking whisky or
brandy. The same is true Of beer. which
contains from FIVE to fifteen per cent,
and of wine, which contains from eight to
twenty. Eve per cent. Of alcohol.
Let US follow the scientific investiga-
tion of this poison, then, little farther.
and trace its relations to some Of the dis
eases which it either produces or aggra.
Yates, when used.
ALCOHOLIC DYSPEPSIA.
Dwelling upon this. Dr. Richardson
says:
"Of all the systems Of organs that suf-
fer under this sustained excitement and
paralysis, two are injured most determin-
ately, viz, the digestive and the nervous.
The stomach, unable to produce in proper
quantity the natural digestive fluid, and
also unable to absorb the food which it
may imperfectly digest, is in constant
anxiety and irritation. 1t is oppressed
with the sense Of nausea; it is oppressed
with the sense of emptiness and prostra-
tion it is oppressed with the sense Of
distension it is oppressed with a loath
ing for food +; and it is teased with crav-
ing for more drink. Thus there is en-.
gendered o permanent disorder, which,
for politeness' sake, is called dyspepsia
and for which different remedies are Of
ten sought but never found. Anti.biious
f pills-whatever they mean-Seidlitz pow.
ders, effervescing waters and all that
pbarmacop@ia of aids to further indiges.
ton, in which the afflicted who nurse their
own disease so literally and innocently
indulge, are tried in vain. l do not
strain a syllable when | state that the
worst forms of confirmed indigestion Or
iginate in the practice that is here ex.
, planned By this practice all the func-
. tions are vitiated, the skin at one moment
/. is flushed and perspiring, at the next ia
pale, cold and olammy, and every other
socreting structure is equally discompos.
:, ed"
DR.. Chalmers, an eminent English
physician, speaking of this subject Of d.
gestion, and the damage which alcohol
does to the stomach, remarks:
r Il have never known man who wal
il forenoon tippler, even though he never
got drunk in his life, without condition
Of stomach which most infalli5lY shorten
! ed his days"
:. Upon this same subject Of digestion
|" DR.. Dundas Thompson, another celebrat
ed authority, says:
/. at is a remarkable fact, that alcohol
/ when added to the digestive fluid, pro
IS duces white precipitate, so that the flu
id is no longer capable of digesting ami
NAL or vegetable table matter. This pre-
=, cipltation is the coagulation Of the pepsi,'
+ an essential element of the gastric juice.
" Professors Todd and Bowman, in thei
work on "the physiology and anatomy @
y man." tell US the same thing:
" "The use of alcoholic stimulants ais
10 retards digestion by cosgulating the pep
IT sin, and thereby interfering with its &C
tion: Were it not that wine and spirit
10 are rapidly absorbed, the introduction q
ID these into the stomach, III any quantit,
r. would be . complete bar to the digestio
,e of the food, as the pepsin would be pre-
cipitated from solution ~ quickly as
was formed by the stomach.
u "Were alcoholic drinks not rapidly al
Y, sorbed from the stomach, it would be u
II terly impossible that digestion could 6
S' on in those who use them !"
~ DR.. Letson has said
"Nearly all the illness Of ny adult pi
n. tients, and most of the cases of sudds
SO deaths, are occasioned by the practice {
a taking glass of brandy and water aft'
SO dinner"
he DR.. Henry Monroe, Of England. test
fies. that
,. "The only influence Of alcohol in II
!. stomach is that Of an irritant.'
=. DR.. Hitchcock. President of the Mict
~ ~ igan Board Of Health, says:
~, "Alcohol is not food 1t forms l
- part Of the 6brine. albumen, and caseil
out Of which all the tissues are organize
he nor Of the fat, starch and sugar which
,m chiefly used to generate heat in the bod
nd Neither does it in any way aid in the
om gestion of food but, on the contrary, Il
,ur presence of it in the stomach rstards
inpedes digestion by precipitatiug Il
active agent in that function, viz, Il
or. pepsin. These facts have been fully c
N" tablished by many eminent Psychologists
An