St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1879-03-21
Alcohol and the Human Brain.
BY JOSEPH COOK.

treated the subject of alcohol and its
effect on the human brain. In his pre-
lude on current events he said-(among
other things)-this about
THE SABBATH SCHOOL.
The most effective International soci-
ETY. of our time is the Sabbath school.
AS an antidote to socialism and many
other modern diseases there is nothing
more priceless than the union of the
young people of all lands under the
moulding hapds of Christians worthy of
the name, and for the study of religious
truth. The international Sabbath school
lessons are weaving nations into unity
and creating a spirit which practically
makes one body of all Evangelical de-
nominations. What | want is the word
Regeneration uttered early as the COM
mencement of temperance reform, and
uttered by the International power OF
the church, so that the whisper of sci
ence on this theme may be heard aronnGF
the globe. There are many ways of
grasping IA vine on Il trellis work. You
may seize the tendril here, or the grape
cluster there, but your better way is to
lay hold of the vine by the trunk near
the earth, if yoR would secure at once
all its branches. There are three great
words in the Temperance Reform !:
Legislation, Abstinence, Regeneration.
If understand the theme at all, only
lie has hold of the trunk of the vine of
reform who seizes upon personal regen
Grafton as his central idea.
The church that does most for the
child will have most influence with the
family. Seize upon any corner of the
web of society and draw 1t out of its
tangles and you will ultimately draw
out of tangles every part of the web of
the world. But the corner from which
the tangles unravel the most easily we
call the child. The Sabbath school is
the graphing hook between the loyal
under the Supreme TheOcracy and the
disloyal | should be able to expel So
cialism from the world If | could bring
men and women at large in society into
Gods house every Sunday and persuade
them TO give up their wills to God in
total self-surrender The short way
out of socialism is through Nazareth.
THE TEMPERANCE ADDRESS.
Subsequently Mr.. Cook gave lengthy
lecture on temperance, in which he an
alyzed the human brain, the stomach,
blood, nerves, and gave the effect of
alcoholic stimulants upon these organs,
especially upon the brain. He was as
sisted by illustrations and explanations
| by DR.. Geo. b. Hartman, whose mi
croscopical experiments were thrown
upon canvas before the audience. Af-
ter an exhaustive lecture, covering ev-
cry point of his subject-which we can
not print, as it copyrighted Cook
closed as follows:
1t is to be remembered that by the
law of local affinity the dose of alcohol
is not ditfused throughout the system,
but is concentrated in its chief effects
upon II single organ. When "a mas
| drinks moderately, though the effects
might he minute if dispersed through
the whole body, yet they may be pow
erful when most of them are gathered
upon the brain. They may be danger
Gus when turned upon the intellect, and
even fatal when concentrated upon the
primal guiding powers of mind-reasOn
and moral sense. 1t is not to the whole
body that Il moderate glass goes; it is
chiefly to the most important part-the
brain and not to the whole brain, but
to its most important part-the seat of
the higher mental and moral powers ::
and not to these powers at large, but to
their helmsman and captain-ReasOn
and Conscience.
''Ship ahoy! All aboard Let your
one shot come" shouts the sailor to the
pirate craft. Now one shot will not
shiver big ships timbers much, but
suppose that this one ball were to strike
the captain through the heart and the
helmsman through the skull and that
there are none to fill their posts, it
would be Il terrible shot indeed. Mod
crate drinking is a charmed ball from a
pirate craft. Ii does not lodge in the
beams ends. 1t cuts no mast. 1t shiv-
ers no plank between wind and water.
| 1t strikes no sailor or under officer, but
with magic course it seeks the heart of
the captain and the arms of the helms
man, and it always hits. Their leaders
dead, and none to take their place, the
crew are powerless against the enemy
| Thunders another broadside from pirate
Alcohol, and what is the effect 2 Every
bail is charmed not one of the crew is
killed, but every one becomes mad and
raises mutiny. Commanders dead, they
are free. Thunders another broadside
from the pirate, and the charmed balls
complete their work. The mutinous
crew rage with insanity. Captain Con
science and Steersman Reason are pick
ed up, and, lest their corpses should
offend the crazy sailors, pitched over
board. Then RACES Jack Lust from one
| and of fb., Cl,i,, 70 thn ~ hot
tar, Midshipman Courage, who, in his
right mind, was the bravest defender
of the ship, now wheels the cannon
against his own friends and rakes the
deck with red-hot grape until every
mast tOtters with shot holes. The care
full stewards, seamen Friendship and
Parental Love, whose exertions have
always heretofore provided the crew
seasOnably with food and drink, now
refuse to cook, furnish no meals, unhead
the water casks, waste the provisions
and break the ships crockery. The
vessel has wheeled into the trough of
the sea; a black shadow approaches
swiftly over the waters, and the COM
pass and helm are deserted. That
specializing mate, Love of Money, who,
If sober, would see the danger and Or
der every rag down from iib to main
sail and make the ship scud under bare
poles before the black squall, now, on
the contrary, orders up every sail and
spreads every thread of canvas. The
rising storm whistles in the rigging,
but he does not hear it. That black
shadow on the water is swiftly nearing.
He does not see it. In the trough of
the sea the ship rocks like cookie
shell. He does not feel it. Yonder be-