The Brookhaven leader., 1884-03-20
DANGER OF MODERATE DRINKERS.

DANGER OF MODERATE DRINKERS.
The man who never was drunk in his
life, who is respectable member of So
ciety, and vet is moderate user of al
cohol, is nevertheless laying up for
himself a quantity of material which
ought not to remain in his system, and
which is interfering with the healthy
performance of some one or more func-
tions. 1t is sufficient to deprive him
of his right to the retention OF his facul-
ties in his old age, as well as lead ng to
blocks in the circulation through the
affected organs, which bring on disease
at disa greeable and inconvcnient times.
Healthy physiological change is inter
fered with, and pathological change is
established, for | hold that every cell
which does not freely interchange the
debris wh ;ch is the result of its ordinary
action, and which keeps that debris
is commencing a pathological state
which is disease. The line between the
two conditions is somewhere. | con-
tend that it commences As soon as the
interference with cell action is greater
than the power of repair, and very
moderate dose of alcohol daily will not
be long in most instances before it COM
mences a pathological change some
where. But it is not only with cell
action, as evidenced by altered endos-
nose, that alcohol interferes with nu-
triton. Its action is shown in its in
tlueucc upon the gastric juice; it pre-
cpitates the peptOnes which are neces-
sary for digestion. renders them in
active, and deprives the stomach of a
portion of its digestive power. 1t is
true that its paralyzing influence on the
blood vessels gorges the mucous men,
brane with more blood. and leads to
fresh secretion of gastric juice, and
with it more of the peptones, but surely
it can not be the right course to dam
age an organ for the purpose of in
creasing its action. To congest its
vessels must be a damage which if
persevered in will certainly lead
to dyspepsia, and all its concomitants,
instead OF helping tie digestive power.
1t may be right for y special purpose
to do this. but to continue to do it is to
whip the tired horse too long. But it
not only precipitates the peptones- OF
the stomach, but it coagulates the al
bumen of the food, rendering it less di-
gestible; it alters the fibrine so that the
most important ingredients for the pro-
duction of force are made less capable
of assimilation; and yet, in spite of
these manifest disadvantages, alcoholic
liquors continue to be used by sensible
men, and even by men highly educated
in physiological knowledge, but who
decline to carry out physiological and
patholog cal facts to their legitimate
conclusion. They are only in the same
Christians, they forget the preccpts of
our faith when they see that those pre-
ceptS are antagonistic to their worldly
interest; or else they have never
thought seriously upon the teachings
of physiology in connection with the
daily use of alcoholic liquors. Just as
so-called Christians have never recOg-
nized the antagonism of faith in the
Gospel with their daily habits of life.
They either do not know or they do not
recognize the fact that they are level
ing downward their powers of life, that
they are reducing them to lower
capacity for puriticat.on, or to dimin-
ished ability to resist evil influences.
They say that liquor does them good,
and that they feel tie better for its use.
The very confession that they feel all
the better for it shows that there is q
fault in their system which is already
bearing fruit. To those l would say
most earnestly: Face the mischief.
The natural tendency which is inherent
in the human economy to revert to
health should be allowed full sway.
Let the defective organ get up to the
level of the rest of the body. and do
not bring all down to the level of the
weak one.
When men or women aver that alco-
hol is necessity to them. and that they
get on better with it than without it,
they are using it for the purpose of ex-
tinguishing the danger signal which
Nature is exhibiting. This is revealed
to them by the feeling which arises
when they do not take il. This is a
warning that they are damaged already,
and that it is high time for them to
make an effort to recover themselves. /
am satisfied by an experience which has
neither been too limited, either by time
or numbers, that no possible evil to
their bodily health will ever arise from
the action, if it be guided by common
sense and good judgment.
The human body is not unlike to a
great city. There are sewers, furnaces,
fires and water supply; chimneys, roads
aud deposits of fuel and food. If the