Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1878-02-01

buE Is alcohol OF vine foOd nutEt-
ticus Some psychologists tell q no.
| do not believe Ghem. am fully saGs
isfed Of The nutrient power Of wine and
alcohol alone, under some Conditions, or
more especially In conjunction with
other pabula." Stimnlants. DR.. Duck
worth continues. are net necessary 10
healthy and weII-ied people, leading
what mar be called normal lives. To
them they are luxury, MT necessarily
pernicious. But how many people per-
aiseently lead normal iivesf He II not
prepared 10 say that little good beer i
80 verv Talnable addition - tue pl-
ten sxant fare and coarse iood of w0fk.
ing people. or that il may not fairly be
taken to counteract, as II viii, the many
sources OF depression 10 which such
people are inevitably exposed in Great
Britain. III they cannot get good beer,
then the Legislature is in fault. Med
icaI men may fairly tell the healthy,
robust, weIl-fed and well-housed TO give
up stImulants if they can maintain their
health without them. Total abstainers
are generally large eaters, and the ulti-
mate textural effects OF excess IN eating
or drinking iFany. may not be very dis
similar. 81 think il is proved" says
DR.. DuckYoFth, "that The addition OF q
little alcoholic food to q meal secures
more moderate ingestIon OF solids and
where il agrees, which il does not al
ways, promotes more satisfactory IN
digestion of them. But large number
OF persons suffering chiefly from dys-
pepsia or insomnia are better without
stimulants of any kind. A daily allow
ance of alcohol Is wrong, more to-day
and less to marrow may be needed or
instinctively called for. The rational
individual must honestly and conscIen-
tiously find out for himself what the
special needs of his system are: and
where right minded Christian indl-
vidual is in earnest in such q matter,
and has proper control over his APP
petite, he j. not likely to 60 far wrong
LII the matter OF stimulants. s..
Medical men should urge teetotalism
upon the nervous class of druBkards,
persons who are careless and selt-in-
dulgent, or who by their lives or calling
are much in the way OF drink. 81 am
confident" Dr.. Duckworth says, that
as body our profession is unanimous
in condemning the modern American
habit OF taking odd glasses Of stimulants
al all hours, and laments the grievcus
multiplication of the means of crafty
ing this mischievous custom, for truly
the conduct of masses of young business
men in our cities and large towns in this
respect is becoming disgEacetul, and the
practice is fast gaining in other circles
and communities. Our countrymen OF
these classes have no excuse for this,
for they are all well-led and have liquors
with their meals in addition to their
hourly drains. while Americans, who
are notoriously the worst dietItians in
the civilized world, are water drinkers
at meantimes."
No serious results, in DR.. Duck
worth's opinion, follow the sudden cut
ting off of stimulants from hard drinkers
or delirium tremens patients.
As 10 teetotal societies he says!
81 believe that mission against the
drinking habits Of all classes and COM
munities, conducted upon principles of
total abstinence, is hopeless one to
embark Upon. It is simply to fight the
air. Little can, in the nature of things,
come of it. A crusade against our
grievously prevalent intemperance ''
conducted on principles OF true modera-
ton and sobriety, is a very different
matter. / fatty refuse to be be-
lieve that the broad stream of common
sense aud legitimate freedom in this, or
any other like matter, has flowed for
centuries in a wrong channel, and that
we alone in our day are called upon not
only to divert but to dam 1t up for all
future time"
DR.. Duckworth, however, does not
decfy but spplauds mobile example of
total abstention from strong drinks set
by the clergy and Others In CONSPICUOUS
positions" We, as body" he says,
'rare at all events unable 10 resist the
evidence they bear to the effect that
their principles alone in many cases
enable them TO reclaim drunkards and
achieve results that would otherwise be
impossible"