The weekly echo. [volume] (Lake Charles, Parish of Calcasieu, La.) 1868-1876, 1876-03-16
ALCOnOL.
m. y,,yee,,re of rs Abttse Upon TIE PGtHt
aud length Of Lie.


aud Length of Life.
DIR. Elisha Harris, in lecture before
the National Temperance Society of the
United states, on the Influence OF
alcohol ebriety upon the value and
length of human lives" said he should
not strain single point to suit the pre-
conceived notions which the most preju-
diced may hold on the subject Of alco-
boIic drinks. Even medical men do not
always appreciate the full value OF facts
falling under their notice. The old and
bold assertion that the drunkard shall
not live out half his days" remains true
after 1000 years Of quotation. There
are two ways of estimating the value OF
hnman life, two standards of measure
ment. First, the daily life and ability,
the health from day to day, and the
power that possession of health gives to
work and, secondly, the duration OF
life, or longevity. Any excessive wear
and tear is sure to work prejudicially to
both these standards, and great mis-
take is made and great damage incurred
by mistaking alcoholic stimulation tor
healthy yigor. The proof of this sub
iect rests no longer on mere OPINION
The actual physical effect of alcohol as
stimulant can be registered as the pull
sations of the heart ore recorded. DIR,
Parks has spent much time on this
problem, and in a perfectly healthy SOL
der he found the labor per diem OF the
human heart as equal to the lifting OF
122 tons one foot high. To this man
two ounces of alcohol were given the
first day, and the increased work thrown
on the heart was fifteen and a half TOMS
and the last day of the eight through
which the experiment the extra effort
was twenty-four tons, and this increased
action was followed by reaction, de-
preston. Should the system have this
stimulus?
DIR. S. G. Howe after careful investi-
cation concludes that twO-thirds of all
the imbeciles in the Massachusetts asy-
Iums are so by reason of the inebriety OF
the parents. Medical men are beginning
to find that this inebriety is beginning
to entail miseries that all the resources
of social science and medicine cannot
fully overcome. In Great Britain statis-
tics show that between the ages Of twenty
and thirty the chance of living for the
whole population is forty.four years,
while for the incorporate the expectation
is fifteen and one-half years. Between
thirty and. forty years the general ex-
pectatiOn is thirty-six years, while for
the Incorporate it is thirteen years. Be-
tween forty and fifty years the average
expectation is twenty-eight years, while
the drinkers expectation is eleven and
a half years, and so on. The application
of these figures in American life is tc
our disadvantage. Our whisky isquickel
than the English beer. The best medi
cal talent to-day is labOring to have al
cohol placed on proper basis and tc
check its indiscriminate use. The old
topers are a special class. They live be-
cause they do nothing else but make 6
speciality of their old toperism. Take
figures. Say one thousand young mer
twenty years old, and drinkers, but not
drunkards, and then take another one
thousand men of equal age, abstainers
The complement of life given them tC
spare or spend, waste or save, will in the
end make a difference of twenty-eight
thousand years. The statistical differ
ence from a long series of observation
makes this figure for single life twenty
eight years eight months. What is the
worth in money of this loss to the world
In Europe and England especially, il
the upper classes the drinking habit
have changed. Medical men are taking
the matter where it properly belongs
into their own hands.
FREAKS OF JURIEs.-The Dublil
Standard gives this description of tn
proceedings of jury in Ireland whicl
NAV nossibly throw some light ON thos