Arkansas weekly mansion., 1884-02-09
THE SUPPOSED UTILITY OF ALCO-
HOI.

publlc sentiment IN Regard 10 inc sup
| posed utility of alcohol.
Sixty years ago the use of alcoholic
liquors was supposed to be a necessity
| in order to health. One of the first
| questions raised, when the reform be-
| gan, was whether ii would be possible
| for men to maintain good health if they
! desistcd from their use entirely. ltwas
| supposed to be necessary often to re-
| sort to them. They held complete sway
| in all fields of labor. and no man was
| supposed to be of much value in the
| field or shop, as a laborcr. without
| them: and it was held to be impossible
| to withstand severe heat or cold with
| cut their aid. They filled 4 large place
| in mnf,7'in me0ica, and were freely re-
| sorted to for every kind of illness, as 4
sovereign remedy.
The quaint supcrStitions of ThcOricus
in the ancient Hollingshcd chronicles
over!apped the first quarter OF the pres
| ent century, ,ascribing to alcoholic drinks
the following remarkable virtues: 1T
| slOwcth age; it strengthcncth youth; 1T
| helpcth digestion: it cutteth phlegm;
it abandoncth melancholy; it relisheth
the heart; it lighteneth the mind; it
Guickcneth the spirits; it curcth the
| hvdupsia; it hcaleth the stranGurie; it
pounccth the stone: it eXpellcth the
| gravel: it puttcth away vcntosity; it
| keepeth and preservcth the head from
whirling, the tongue from lisping. the
| mouth from snaiflinr. the teeth from
! ol,att,tlnT ana the throat from rattlIng;
| it kccpcth the wrasen from sitting, the
stomach from wambling and the heart
| from swelling; it keepcth the hands
| from shvcring, the sincwS from shrink
ing, the veins from crumbling, the
bones from aching and the marrow
| from soaking
Sixty to eighty years ago public senti-
ment had advanced a little, and but
| little. beyond these slperstitions of the
| olden times, in regard to the virtues of
| alcohol. Thirty years ago an old man
approaching his ninctieth birthday
said: "a kind Providence and good
| New England rum have spared my life
so long ''Black strap made of rum
| and molasSeS, or a rum sweat were in
| dispensable remedies for a cold Rum,
seasoned with cherries, protected
| against cold 'Rum, made nutritious
with milk, prepared for the maternal
office; and under the Greek name of
Parcroric rum, doubly poisoned with
| opium, quieted the infants cries.
| Females or valctudinari:lns, courtcd
| an appetite with mcdhcatcd rum, dis
gui>ed under the chastc name of Hex
| hams Tncture' or .Stoughton $
| Elixir.'' In some sections of the cOun-
try it was customary to take whisky
| favored with mint soon after waking in
| the morning: and SO csSentia! was it re-
gardcd to health that scarcely any
person of any age or sex was exempt
| from it.
Can alcoholic drinks be safely dis
| pcnscd with was a question seriously
| and conscicntior,~1y pondcrcd when this
reform was in its incipient stages.
| Even DR.. Benjamin Rush was some
| time in settling this point; others We're
longer still in reaching n conclusion.
To dispense with them altogether, it
| was felt, would make men weak and
puny the sure victims of exhaustion
and disease. These ideas were current.
| These mi>chicvous delusions, relies of
darker ages, have now been dislelled
from, muttudrs of intelligent minds.
| Low great the change, How seldom we
meet such notions now, only among
| ckward-'ookin people, who are un-
parionably lettering behind the march
| of mind, held back by the subtle delu-
sion of appetite.
AS early as 1850 the use of alcoholic
bcvcra -cs bad hccn condemned by the
| best medical authorities in Great Brit
ain and the United States, as not only
| needless. but positively iniuri Dus Pri-
|
| OnStratcd t. be a poison in a healthy
body. Two thousand of the best med
ical and surgical gentlemen in Great
| Brit ain dcclarcd over their signatures,
that ''thc most perfect health is com
| patiblc with total abstinence from all
in,oNi ating beverages and that .'to-
tai and universal abstinence from such
beverages would greatly contribute to
the health. prosperity and happiness 5
OF the human race One hundred
| and Twenty-Five of the first phvsi-
| clans in New York City united in de-
| claring that ..alcohol should be classed
! with other powerful drugs, and when
| prescribed incidentally. it should be
with conscientious caution and grave
sense of responsibility Soon after
the publication of these views AN article
appeared in the " Westminster RerieU ad-
vocating alcohol as food. Some French
| investigators, however, of a high rank,
| quickly exploded this perniciou, theory.
| and the Westminster u ReCteU magnanl-
mously retracted it. Ex-Governor An
| drew, before a Legislative Committee
| of Massachusetts,, with a great array OF
learning, reasserted the theory that
| alcohol is food, or leasatt an ass milator
o. food, and the effect of it has been a
reaction of sentiment in some circles OF
society But the battle has been fought
over again, and the demonstrations OF
the ripest science are against alcohol at
all as a bcv erage, and also as a medicine,
except in exceedingly rare cases In
the language of the Sanitary editor
| of the I17aependeaat: Every gain in
sanitary knowledge and in the--study OF
the conditions of perfect health tends to