Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1878-12-20

NAV search the air we breathe, ana you
will not find it; you may search the
wide ocean, and fathom its depths, and
you cannot find alcohol there; again,
you may examine the entire animal
kingdom, and you cannot find 1t there,
and stin again, you may look to the
mineral kingdom, and search the earth
from center to circumference, and it is
not to be found there; you may search
| the whole vegetable kingdom, and it is
not to be found, except in such vegeta-
| bles as contain saccharine matter. or
starch, which is convertible into sugar;
and it is only by chemical change, or
if you please a rotting process, by which
the natural property of the vegetable
is deeomposed and certain quantities
OF carbon, hydrogen and oxygen
take their place, which compose
alcohol, hence it is found in all of the
vinous and fermented liquors; such as
our ales and elders, from to 8 per
cent; in all of our wines from to p
per cent; and of course in all of the
distilled liquors, such as the whiskies
and brandies, from 80 to 81 per cent.
Alcohol when pure is colorless and
/ n1OLllH COAlUuEllUlCs dAO uAlAlABAC Al
all quantities of water. Alcohol is a
narcotic as well as an arterial stimu-
liant; alcohol congeals only al very
| low temperature; alcohol is used in the
mechanical arts, and sometimes is use
full as a medicine. Alcohol is indi-
gestible in the human stomach. The
/ manner in which alcohol affects the
physical system is by being taken into
the stomach, where it is conducted by
| the absorbents into tle veins and car
ried to the heart, from whence it is sent
again through the arteries to the ex-
tremities, and so on around and around
until it passes out by the outlets and
excretions of the body. Owing to its
stimulating or irritating property it in
creases the hearts action, acceler-
ates the pulse, and exhilerates and
invigorates the physical system. In
its travels it comes in contact
with the nerves, producing its
narcotizing effects upon the whole nerv-
Gus system; hence it has the double
effect of being an irritator as well as a
deadener of sensibility.
Perhaps 1 ought to state that all
stimulants only borrow from the system
that which they can never return, so
that a stimulating treatment, in the
long run, is a losing one. And it is
characteristic of all narcotic stimulants
that continual increase in quantity is
required to produce the sensation
sought for by the patient. Now alcohol
very especially works in this way, by
its benumbing effect upon the nervous
system, as well as the wear and tear
upon the physical structure generally.
So far 1 have been speaking of alcohol
in small or what is called medical
doses. And let me state here that this
stimulant is so treacherOuS and irregu-
lar in its action that it is very uncertain
and unsafe as a remedy in disease, to
say nothing of the danger of generating
a drunkard's appetite in our patient,
consequently not so beneficial as many
drinking doctors and other pretty good
sort of folks would have us think.
1 am very much pestered and sur
prised at people, who fancy themselves
good temperance and Christian men, to
say nothing of those who are in the
habit of drinking, by their inquiries
whether it would not be good to have a
little brandy or some whisky for this,
that, or some other disease; or, if they
should be too strong, would not little
good wine be excellentfor the stomach's
sake, and they will run down the cata-
logue of liquors to the nasty, dirty,
sinking, bitter, yeast and hop ale, and
tell that some hypochondriacal man
used kegs of it and it helped him, or
some women troubled with the unmen-
tionables had it recommended by some
doctor that was exceedingly skillful,
and it always helped her, and there is
always a servant at our hand if it is
thought needful to have some of any of
the above articles.
Now Just let me state here, that in
stead of alcohol being necessary in
ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, as
used to supposed, that in ninety-nine
cases out of hundred it is not needed
in any form whatever. When alcohol is
taken in larger or what we may call
beverage doses. we find more marked
results, with a flushed face, redness of
the eyes, with symptoms of the mind
being off its balance, and by taking still
larger or Genealogical doses, in a short
time all the former symptoms are OBJ
servable in a greater degree with a
livid or pale face, frothing of the mouth
phrenzy, delirium, stertorous breathing
and insensibility or coma with the gem
eral appearance of apoplexy. And
this is what the people used to call be-
ing drunk. But nowadays we call
man drunk in proportion, as he leans
toward that point. Now if we were to
examine a drunken person at this
period, we would find the mucous coat
ing of the stomach much enlarged or
inffiamed, and from the fact that alco-
cohol is indigestible and it is carried
through the entire system, it produces
more or less irritation; but still further
from its narcotic or paralizing effect