Morning journal and courier., 1883-09-10
New Remedy for Drunkenness.
SOberlY Intoxicated and DrunkenIy Temperate.

SOberlY Intoxicated and Drunkenly Temperate.
 From the London Telegraph.l At last 8 platform appears to have been found upon which the Blue Ribbon army and the habitual drunkard can meet and shake hands. It is the kola nut. Hitherto SenR-
 tors have legislated, orators harangued, and
 the church preached and prayed as if dunk epness were one thing and temperance an-
 other; as if intoxication and teetotslism must remain antagouistic forces. This has,
 indeed, been among the popular errors of civilization for many centuries, but the be lief is happily past. Science claims another
 triumph, and Sir Wilfrid Lawson and the
 owners of the gin palace can now sit down to-
 gether In harmony, and consent, over the mutual glass, to let bygones be bygones. Senators can withdraw their too hastS meas- drink and the circumspection of his hours of wilful inebriation the orator, following the example of high authority and most illustr1- ous precedent, may plead that 8 construction mot obviously inherent" has been placed upon his public uttersnces; while the pastor may find in this latest discovery of botanical enterprise an overriding dispensation which accommodates itself to the infirmities of wesk-minded and erring humanity. For here, actually on sale in London, is a nut, "a harmless, necessary" nut, which routs all previous impressions on the subject of in toxication which takes the thorn from the rose, and gives the honey-bag to the SCOT pion; which straightens the terturous latch key of the drunkard, and yet leads innocence by the hand through the 'tdreamlands of in- ebriation :" which makes that which was not to be, and that which could not to have pow CT which aoolishes all necessity for social leagues against the &end of alcohol; which sweeps away the boundaries between the so- ber and the besotted, and smiles, as if in the fitness of virtuous achievement, at the li- censed victualler and the teetotaller embrae ing one another with kiss of peace. It is, indeed, 8 wonderful berry, if half be true that is said of it, and exceeds in it's virtues the amethysts and toadstones of antiquity. The former could only cure drunkenness, while the latter could only insure abstinence. But the kola nut does both at once, for it lets the whole world get sobsrly intoxicated together and allows them to be drunkenly temperate. If the immoderate toper eat it ] before he gets sodden with strong drink he can never become unfit to join the ladies. '' 1 Or if he delay eating it until the worst has overtaken him he is restored at once to 8 condition of sobriety. So, at any rate, say l those who would have us believe in it.
 What authority, however, have the pro- prietors for claiming such advantageous qualities for their berry? It is claimed for 1t that, like many other nuts and herbs, 1t
 has the property of staying the appetite for a long period. The mate, for instance. is a leaf upon which the Peruvians can travel for as long as three days without other food
 solid or liquid. Moreover. infused in water, it gives to the deeoction bitter taste that resembles tea or coffee in very much the same degree as boiled brown paper might do. i Further, MT. Papefo," whose name is not | familiar to us says that the kola nut, if eat | en at the same time that alcoholic drinks are
 being imbibed, will absolutely prevent the
 latter from having any effect at all while
 .sthe negroes" are, 'it appears" in the habit I of using their valuable discovery ''as reme- i dy for drunkenness"