Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1876-01-29
ALCOHOLIC EBRIETT.
INashvllle American.l


The fact that bills have been intro
Quoted In Congress looking for an In
Vestigation into the mannfacture afand
traffic in alcoholic spirits, gives point |
TO a discussion which took place ia /
New York before the National Tenn
perance Society. The main address OF
the occasiyn was made by DIR. ELISHA
Harris, on The Influence of Alcoholic
Ebriefy upon the Value and Length OF
Human Life.
DIR. Harris, Ia his Introductory re-
marks said he would speak. not strict
ly from the temperance standpoint
but from the unbiased and unprecedented
one of medical science. We give the
salient points of his address, which
was remarkably interesting in view Of
the statements and statistics given
He said that the bold assertion of
Scripture that the drunkard shall not
live out half his days, still remained
undenied aud unchallenged He pro-
posed not to discuss inebriety gener-
ally, but only alcoholic inebriety,
which was altogether different from
that produced by opium. These could
be no doubt, he said, that 10 many ca
ses alcoholic stimulants were taken
incidentally, but there was great dan
ger that those who so took them were
| deceived into accepting the effect OF
stimulant as vital force, and the prac-
| ti,e was persisted in from an honest
belief of its judicious character. The
result was that periods of extreme de-
pressioa ensued, cOmlng0nce month,
once week, or perhaps, in extreme
cases, once day, and an immense I'M
crease Of the stimulant was necessary
to overcome this deadly lowering of
/ the system. This doctor then went i'm
| to the medical methods Of testing the
value of alcohol upon the action of the
heart as an accelerator of the vital
force. He detailed the experiments
Of Dr. Parks and another surgeon up
on the heart of stout, healthy adult,
who was dosed with alcohol in guam
titles gradually increased day by day.
These were continued until the hearts
pulsations were increased to such
degree that the experiments were
brought to close BY this that or
gan was compelled to toll through the
spur of alcohol 10 the same extent that
would have been forced upon it by
the muscular exertion of lifting TWEEN
ty-one tons to a height of one foot.
The depressions thai followed the Pc
RODS of acceleration were identical
with those produced by extremely ex-
tremely exhausting muscular labor,
and were accompanied with loss of
appetite and desire of sleep.
The continued effect of alcoholic
inebriety was then taken UP. The
best and most unprecedented observ-
ers, he said, were agreed that families
of irebriates developed forms of ner-
vous and brain diseases which could
only be referred to the habits of drink
ing of the parent. DIR. Magnus Huss,
of Stockholm, declared that drinking
produced partial atrophy of the brain,
which was handed down to the chill
dren. The brain was then too small
for its bony case, aud lunacy was the
result The same fact had been OBJ
served in the lunatics of Massachu-
J sets. In France, DIR. Morel had OBJ
served the same result of diminished
brains, through several generations,
leading to imbecility, homicidal insan-
ity, idiocy,. and final extinction. He
showed, moreover, that remedial art
was powerless to deal with the suf-
VIM 1uHCflCCQ SuCA
infrmities from self-indulgent progen-
itors, and here physiological science
stood hand in hand with the religious
. and moral influences that were direct
, ed against the practice of alcoholic in
ebriety From this point he progress
ed to the question of the shortening of
, human life by drinking, and gave some
tables contrasting the value of temper
e ate lives according to the insurance
table of English companies. what
was true of the English inebriates was
so in an increased degree Of Ameri-
cans, since there were dangerous quail
, tiles in whisky which were absent in
beer. But careful inquiry had devel-
oped the fact that there were indica-
tons of a decrease in the deaths caused
by drunkenness, both by Individual
) restraint and an Improvement of gen.
e eral morality, owing to the deeper i'm
pressions of the religious obligations
! of intemperance. In truth, there was
a general understanding of the peri
lous effect of stimulants upon the ner-
vous system, even when inebriety
stopped short of excessive and habit.
ual drunkenness And from this he
argued that the way to overcome this
evil was in this direction, and not in
any appeal TO the State or Central
Government