Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1879-06-28

into the composition of blood, muscular
fiber or any part which is the seat of the
vital principle The idea that it builds
up the system is false idea. .at war with
every fact OF science. The idea, that beer
IS food, that it is nutritious, must be
abandoned. Chemical analysis has de-
monstrated its utter falsity by reveal
ing the fact that there is no nutritive
principle in it at all.
But the question is asked, is not lager
beer good fer sick people. or those who
have weak digestive powers? Does it
not stimulate the stomach and .
PROMOTE DIGESTION ....
The great DR.. Liebig will answer
these questions also. l read from his
"Animai Chemistry" page 80, lin the
action OF the gastric juice on the food,
no other element takes q share, except
the oxygen OF the atmosphere, and the
elements OF water" Ii lager beer pro-
notes digestion 1t is the 80 per cent. OF
water in it, that does the work and not
the per cent. of alcohol nor the per
cent. OF gum, nor the per cent. of 9th er
ingredients; would prefer pure water
without the hurtful ingredients of lager
beer mixed with it. Again says Baron
Liebig on page 40: "All substances
which can arrest the phenomena of fer
mentation and putreiaction In liquids
also arrest digestion when taken into the
stomach" Now we know that there is
nothing that will do this equal to alco-
hol, therefore the alcohol in beer, when
taken into the stomach must, of necessi-
ty, interfere with the process of diges-
tion. Lager beer. according to its
strength, contains from 5 to 8 per cent.
of alcohol. Ale contains about the same,
wine contains. according to its strength. i.
from 10 to 20 per cent. of alcohol, while
whisky contains from 80 to 60 per cent.
Now, actual experiment has demon
strated that finely minced beef, put in
gastric juice mixed with water, will be
perfectly digested in ten hours, while
the same, mixed with gastric juice and
alcohol, in ten hours is unchanged. and
the pepsin, which is the digestive fer
ment of the gastric juice. is preclpitated
and digestion is impossible. The same
put in gastric juice and wine, at theend
of SIX hours is partly loosened, bu. at
the end of ten hours is indigestible; the
pepsln is precipitated and digestion is
impossible. We see from these facts.
demonstrated by actual experiment, that
THE AMOUNT OF ALCOHOL
In lager beer is sufficient to materially
interfere with the process of digestion
this very interference calls for larger
amount OF beer and thus the difficulty
increases, without the unfortunate vic
tim knowing what is really the cause of
his trouble But perhaps the objector
may say: "Beer must be healthy, for
men who use it get tat - 1t is true beer
makes men fat. but it does not do SO by
any healthy process. The alcohol it
contains enters the blood and prevents
the coagulation of the fbrine of the
blood, and that which ought to make
muscle, bone and sinew is deposited in
the form OF fat, which is only draft on
the vitality of the drinker until he be-
comes SO tat his eyes not only "stand
out with fatness" but he dies of fatness.
DIR. VIM. B. Carpenter, one OF the great
est living medical physiologlsts. in his
treatise on alcohol, It's use and abuse IN
sickness and health, brings out these
facts fully.
But" says the objector, s.there is
not enough alcohol in lager beer to hurt
the drinker have shown that by actual
analysis lager beer contains from five to
eight or nearly eight per cent. of alco-
hol. Now, those who drink freely will
get from one to three glasses of pure
alcohol in day; and one glass of pure
alcohol in day is enough to do terrible
mischief to the physical and mental
man. Let no beer drinker be deceived,
under the most favorable circumstances,
tor every twenty glasses of beer he
takes he gets one glass of pure alcohol,
while those who use the stronger beer
get one glsss of pure alcohol for every
thirteen glasses OF beer.
But President Rueter takes the ground
that beer is temperance drink. He
says: 1T will be found that every
brewery ard every saloon helps to loos-
en- the grasp which alcohol has on a
country where distilled liquors are habit
ually drank, and the people will be
WEANED FROM STRONG DRINK
in proportion as the use of beer extends.
Good, wholesome beer, at moderate
cost, Is the best panacea yet discovered
for lntemperance as national vice."
One OF the notices adorning the hall
where the association met reads thus |:
Lager beer, the beverage OF our coun-
try. a true apostle OF temperance" J"
Now, we ask, is this true? Common
sense, common observation and the facts
OF history show that the very reverse is
true. Common, sense, confirmed by
universal observation, tells us that the
use of milder stimulants always leads to
the use of stronger ones. In ordinary
health, no one needs stimulants of any
kind, and their use creates diseased
condition of the system which demands
larger amount or u stronger kind of
stimulant. This is fact OF universal
experience and observation. No one
knows this fact better than those engaged
in the beer traffic. The young man who
begins with one glass OF beer day will
soon want two. and then three. and then
lour, and then five, until he cannot get
beer enough to stimulate him. and then
he wants something stronger. The same
is true in regard to the use of wine. The
milder kinds lead to the use of the
stronger, and those to the use of brandy
or whisky. This has ever been the case
and must ever be so. Either the guam
tity must be increased or the quality
must be made stronger. This is law
or demand of the use of stlmulants and
that which makes the use of alcoholic
stlmulants, even of the mildest forms.
so TERRIBLY DANGEROUS.
Once begun the demand is ever increas-
ing, both IN strength and quantity. This
fact is SO universal and palpable that /
wonder that the advocates of the SUBJ
stitution OF wine and beer for the strong
er forms of alcoholic stimulants do not
feel their cheeks blush with the tinoe of
conscious hypocrisy every time they
utter such sophistry. The whole history
OF the use OF alcoholic stinlulants, from
the day that wine was first manufactured
down to this very evening, establishes
the same fact. Before the process of
dlstillation was invented or discovered
the native who manufactured wine be-
came involved fearfully in the vice and
crime of drunkenness, and the constant
study OF the wine drinkers was to find
out how to make their VINE more stimu.
latlng. This they did, as our modern
liquor manufacturers and dealers do, by
drugging it to increase Its Intoxicating
power. From the days of the jewish
kings down to the present time in every
wine producing country on the face OF
the earth this has been the case, and it
is so not by accident. but by law mex
oraole. which makes an ever increasing