The Portland daily press., 1883-07-11

The "beer question" has become very i'm
portant factor OF the temperance problem. BY
the term "beer" is meant porter, stout ale,
lager beer and beer. as these are all made
from malt or barley, and are practically the
same, alcohol being the essential ingredient In
all. 1t has two classes among the advocates
for Its use, one who contend that It should
Dc used as tonic or medicine that it helps di-
gestion, makes fat, produces sleep, and con-
tains nourishment. The other, that beer occu-
pies the medium position between ardent
spirits and water, and that if the sale of it was
not prohibited the temperance cause would be
greatly promoted. To answer all of the argu-
ments in favor of the use OF beer, in detail,
would take more space than our column will
permit. We will, therefore, quote standard
authority ON each of the points mentioned.
DIR. N. S. Davis, Professor in Chicago Medical
College, says:-Alcohol is in no sense a stimu-
liant or tonic, either at the beginning, middle
or end of its effects, as is generally supposed,
but asserts direct sedatiye effect upon nerve
sensibility, by which the mind becomes less
conscious of outward impressions of any kind
whether of heat, cold. WEAKNESS, weakness or
PAIN
Beer aids digestion.
A glass of beer is supposed to stimulate the
stomach to an increased secretion of the gastric
juice, and thereby assists digestion. If this
were SO, two glasses of beer should cause the
stomach to secret double the quantity. That
this is not SO has been proved by experiment by
DR.. Beaumont. The only influence of alcohol
upon the. stomach is that OF simple irritant
Alcohol taken in small quantities. or largely
diluted as in the form of beer, causes the stom-
ach gradually to lose its tone, and make ii de-
pend upon artificial stimulants. If you habit
aally give an organ assistance it will at last
come to trust to that assistance, and refuse to
work without it. Persons SO accustomed to the
artificial stimulants cry out, II can't eat my
dinner without beer, because the stomach says
cont go without"
Beer makes fat.
When the amount of the alcohol taken is
small but regularly repeated, as in the daily
use of wine and beer, the diminished supply OF
oxygen to the tissues, coupled with the moder-
ate relaxation OF waste, encourages the accum-
ulation of unoxydated materials in the form OF
inert fat. This causes increased weight and
bulk, with corresponding decrease of activity
and endurance, and if continued until past the
middle period of life, ends in fatty degenera-
tions in the coats of the vessels of the brain,
in the heart, the liver and the kidneys. by
which the natural duration of life is shortened
by ten or fifteen years. (Proi. N. S. Davs)
Beer produces sleep.
An English doctor, writing about sleep and
sleeplessness, observes that the state that mar
cotics produce is not sleep. The nerve centers
are sufficiently paralyzed to produce uncon-
sciousless. The state of inaction which is
brought about by natural sleep is very different
from that which is produced by paralysis OF
any degree. In sleep the brain rests, it is
quiet and reduced in size But the action of
alcohol is to send blood to the brain and make
it engorge, to paralyze its action, and so make
the man forgetful. (Dr. B. W. Richardson
Persons who depend upon alcohol in any form
to produce sleep find that the quantity must
gradually be increased, till at last state OF
stupor Or intoxication is necessary before the
coveted sleep is obtained.
Many persons are bsguiled into the use OF
beer on account of its so-cslled nonrishing
qualities. The components Of malt liquors are
water, alcohol, gummy extract of malt OF
barley, and little acetic acid. The barley is
first converted into malt, which is afterwards
ground, mashed, brewed and fermented. Prof
Lieley, the chemist, afirms that the whole
process Of brewing is to get rid of the nitrogen
Gus blood-forming elements of the grain, to
transmute the useful sugar into alcohol. Dr.
Lees says there is more nourishment in three
penny brown loaf than there is TO be found in
barrel of Allsop's ale containing 365 gallons,
and costing e35.
Prof. Leibig, great chemist, says:-"As
much flour as can lie on the point of table
knife is more nutritious than eight quarts of
the best Bayarian beer; person who is able to
consume two gallons OF beer daily for a whole
year obtains the nutriment of five pound LOAF
of bread or three pounds of meat"
Beer temperance beverage" will be
considered next week.
Sir Henry Thompson, an eminent English
physician, says:-"I have no hesitation in at
tribating q large portion of the most painful
and dangerous maladies which come under nv
notice, as well as those which every medical
man has TO treat, to the ordinary and daily use
of fermented drinks taken moderately
Many persons who do not believe in sstip-
"
defend the use of beer and other intoxicants in
connection with their meals, under the i'm
preston that somehow digestion is thereby
promoted. Commenting upon this practice,
the Physiological Recorder says:-"It is now
conceded physiological fact that ardent spir-
its, in every shape and form, from small beer
to alcohol at 100 per cent, impede and impair
digestion, and are adverse to the whele alimen-
tary process. -. The idea that liquor aids d.
gestion is both erroneous and absurd; for so
far from that. it weakens the nerves, stultifies
the brain, covers the heart and materially in
jures the whole human organism "The con-
slant use OF beer is found to produce a species
of degeneration of all the organism, profound
and deep-seated. Fatty deposits, diminished
circulation, conditions of congestion and per-
version of functional activities, local infan-
nations of both the liver and the kidneys are
constantly present. In appearance the
beer drinker may be the picture of health, bat
in reality he is most incapable of resisting dis
ease. A slight injury, severe cold, or shock TO
the body or mind will commonly provoke acute
disease, ending fatally Compared with ine-
bristes who use differeu1 nrms OF alcohol, he
is more incurable and mo- Generally diseased"
Lionel s. Beale, Physician to Kings College
Hospital, says:-"Alcohol does not act as food;
it does not nourish tissues; it may diminish
waste by altering the consistence and chemical
properties of fluids and solids. 1t cuts snort
the life of rapidly growing cells, or causes them
to live more slowly"
Maine Dental Society.
The eighteenth annual session of the Maine