The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1878-06-09
Msrnns s+., and Catholic Messenger.
pubfln Nation. May 10.

behind 1t which give It valid claim &
iDstant and anxious attention from tn
public. The drink question, we need no
say, 10 parely social. Whether, and when
. man shall take glass of beer, or q glasi
of punch, seems to be just as much hi
business, and the business of nobody else
No whether be shsll eat the right sort Of
food ut his dinner, or 60 without haDne
Aets Of men must be judged by their con
sequences, and such is the pass to which
3hings have come through excessive general
Rse of Intoxicating drinks, that this quee
tion, purely social in its nature although b
il be, stands ut present in the forefront of
political agitation, and nothing that hap
pe1s-a terrible murder, . sensational case
IN the courts, q calamity of tragic scope,
. great struggle between capital and labor,
or even the imminence of q war-can drive
jt for day from the public mind. A Je-
Jome in tbe desert, . Simeon on the pillar
bop, . Selkirk on his lonely isle, man cut
of by all circumstances from oil direct
knowledge of life, would be able to see for
himself why the drink question 10 80 ur-
geat, II he could now and then get news
paper into his hands. "The abstract and
brief chronicle Of the time" would tell him
all hesad and terrible story. In murders and
in suicides, in public broils, in domestic
quarrels, in husbands dishooored, in wives
deserted, in families left desolate, in char
aetezs cast away, in the steady spread of
vice and crime, Of pauperism and Iupacy,
IN sermons from the pulpit, and in speeches
nom tho bench-in these, and through
many another chanRel, the thoughtful re-
eiuse would discover why the evil of drink
30 overehadows life. His attention, like
cur own, might be peremptorily arrested
when he found the ply ysician's voice joined
10 that of the judge and the preacher for
the medical profession loves to keep to the
beaten track, and doctors have sucb good
reasons for being agreeable to all people
HAT sense of sovereign duty alone could |
drive them on to promulgate disagreeable |
and startling truths.
Among the eminent medical men W ho have |
Aeiped to eplighten the public on the use |
and abuse of alcohol is DR. w. B. Carpen-
ie7, most distinguished practitioner, and |
likewise = vigilant and skillful pioneer in |
the dark and d fiicult path of medical pro-
g1ess. De lectured few nights since to
1he medical society of London on the sub
leet os alcoholic drinks-that is to say, all
1hose liquors in common use, in the com
position of which alcohol finds a place,
The very way in which the lecturer stated
Ais subject at the outset is quite enough to
atRItle thoughtful mind. He spoke of al
cOholic drinks "as diets, rs medicines. and
- poisons." Speaking frat of them as
diets, he emphatically refused to class
them among the necessaries of life, because
people who mover make use of alcohol in
any form never show any signs of evil
BON the abstinence. Thoee drinks, then,
hey are luxuries, and, after carefully ex-
lrnining the nature of their effects upon
he heat of the body, the power of lite
nuAcles, and the energy of it's nerves, the
1ese ths speaker would cay for them was
hat possibly they might, when very mod !!
'7Ately consumed, be useful, without dan
|eE, a. luxury. On the other hand, he !
fSelaTed that the habitual use Of strong ]
fIink, even in diluted form, for the pur 9
sSaa of enabling the drinker to do more I
sorK, OF, indeed, for SDy uIpose, or on
ny pTetext whatever, must necessarily J
Sas 20 evil Tesults; that when more than q
8s part of alcohol to fire hundred of water I
xlSsS In the body-ln any part of the =
neulation-hArm cannot but come of it o
IA that the frequent occurrence of this
} responsible for many diseases-for dys-
epsia first of all, for acute neuralgia, for o
y gteris iu families, for many kinds of go e
allied rheumatism, for disorders of the e
Alch gives rise to an irresistible craving q
y strong drink, reduces men to the con.
itiOn of hAbitual drunkards, kills their
over Of self control, destroys their diges- 3
10 functions, loads their Systems with Q
s1tfnl deposits, acts with terrible ferce &
. Sheir membranes, and so subjugates
10 victim that he must be put under II
sstTAint to effect o cure. DR.. Carpenter 8
1inks there is no safety in the hRbitual u
% Of alcohol, unless in the form of light
tns or Of weak beer. In certain kinds q
fever, aud in the decay of the powers
life in aged persons, he would admit
the use of alcohol as q medicine, bat 4
, carefully limits the use of it to these Q!
sses; and it ought to be clearly known q
at the doctor, and not the would-be q
is the judge. In the third place, t.
:. Carpenter says, "the poisonous nature II
alcohol in large and continuous doses o
y never been doubted" And the closing N
oFds of the lecture, summing up its en- n
re research, deserve q lasting place in a
reTy mind. "AlcOhOl, in any of its forms, o.
sy be . good medicine, but it IS bad II
OE, and it's action as q poison is visible Ii
DOng all ranks of society" Il
!n Ireland more especially, where the CT
ink in common use is Intensely. alco- a.
Die, these words Of DR.. Carpenters may b
sM be taken to heart. There is many a.
cent Irishman who INDUCES in what he iz
lls his "social glass" as matter of =.
bit, who is insensibly growing fond of
and will declare by and by that he al
do IL I'll