The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1885-09-26
TEMPERANCE READING.
DR.. RUSH.

writer in the Union Signal, in the fore
front of many historic movements. In
IVA as a member of the Provincial
Assembly of Pennsylvania, he moved
the first resolution in favor of American
independence. Two years later, June
%, 1916, he was appointed Chairman of
the Committee on Independence, and
on the Fourth of July following, rs q
member of the Continental Congress,
he appended his name to the immortal
declaration. He was one of the
originators of the b bic Society and
drafted its first constitution.
Such n man could not witness I'M
moved the ravages of intemperance.
''He saw all of its evils and never tired
of raising his voice against it." He
viewed it from every standpoint, as a
physician, a patriot and a Christian,
and his whole soul was stirred within
him. Thus stirred he wrote the famous
essay, early in 1885. THIS was followed
by a series on the same general topic:
the effect of ardent spirits on the human
system. These were widely copied,
! one authority says, into all the news
papers in America. They attracted
great attention and eXerted such an in
tluence Tor good that, according to
/ Hildreth, the historian, at the Philadel-
/ phia celebration of the Fourth of July.
/ 1897, which had the added dignity of
also celebrating the adoption of the
/ Federal Constitution, ardent spirits
were excluded from the entertainment.
He died April 10, 1913, but
the good he did was not entered
with his bones.' His essays were
scattered everywhere, the seed thus
sown sprang and bore fruit abundant
ly. Some of this seed terminated in
Litchfeld, Conn, and fruited in the
first Temperance Society known in
/ America. In 1889. nineteen years ear
lier than the formation of similar
society in Saratoga County, New York,
over two hundred most respectable
farmers of Litchheld formed them
selves into ian association to dis
courage the use OF spirituous liquors. "
From other seed, sown by the same
hand, grew the Massachu etts Society
for the Suppression OF the Liquor Traf-
tic."
The following extracts are taken
from his celebrated essay, first pub
lished in 1888:
1t belongs to the history of drunkenness to
! remark that its parOXysms occur like the
| parOXysms of many diseases, at certain
periods, and after longer or shorter inter
walls. They often beg with annual, and
gradually increase in their frequency until
they appear in quarterly, monthly, weekly,
and QuOtidian or da ly periods. Finally, they
afford scarcely any marks of REMISSION either
during the day or night. There was Citi-
zen Of PHI ladciph.a many years ago IN whom
drunkenness appeared in this prOtractcd
form. In speak ny of him to one OF his
neighbors, | said; Does he not sometimes
get drunk You mean said his neigh
Dor " is be not sometimes sober
1t is further remarkable that drunkenness
resembles certain hereditary, family and con.
tag Gus disease. have once known ii to de
scend from a father to four or five Of his
children. ! have seen three, and once four
brothers, who were born OF sober ancestors,
affected by t. and nave heaIG of its spread
ing through whole family composed of
members not or glnaly related to each other
Let us next attend TO the chronic effects of
ardent spirits upon the body and mind. In
the body they dispose TO every form OF acute
disease; they moreover excite fevers in per
sons prediSposed to them, from other causes
This has been remarked in all the yellow
fevers which have visited the cities OF the
United States. Hard drinkers seldom escape
! and rarely recover from them The following
7 discusses are Ilt usual consequences OF the
hab.tual use of ardent spr Is. viz:
l. A decay of appetite, sickness at stomach
. distractions OF the liver The fable of
Prometheus, ON whose liver vulture was
said to prey constantly as Il punishment fOl
his stealing fire from heaven, was intended ia
illustrate the painful effects of ardent spirits
upon that organ OF the dy.
3 JaundiCc and drOpsy of the various cavi-
ties of the body.
4 Hoarseness and husky cough, often
terminating i'll consumption.
D. Diabetes.
g. Redness and cruptions on various parts
of the body. They generally begin on tic
nose and after extending all over the face
sometimes descend to the limbs in the form
OF leprOSy.
T. A fetid breath.
s. Epilepsy
g. Gout in all its various forms.
Lastly, madness. DIR. Waters, while acting
as the apOthccary Of the Pennsylvan HO,pi-
tai, assured me that in one-thrd of the pa
tients confined by this terrible disease, it had
been induced by ardent spirits.
Most of the diseases which have been emu.
merated are Of mortal nature. They arc
more certainly induced, and terminate more
speedily in death, when spirits are taken in
such quantities, and at such times, as to pro
duce frequent intoXication; but it may serve
to remove an error with which some intern
perate people console themselves to remark
that ardent spirits often bring on fatal dis
eases without producing drunkenness | have
known many persons destroyed by them who
were never completely intoxicated during the
whole course of their lives The solitary in
stances of longevity which are now and then
met with in hard drinkers no more disproVt
the deadly effects of ardent spirits than the
| solitary instances of recovcries from appar
ent death by drowning prove that there is nc
| danger to life from a human body lying an
hour or two under water.
The body, after its death from the use OF
distilled spirits, exhibits by dssect on certain
appearances which are of peculiar nature
The tibers of the stomach and bowels are con
tracted; abcesses, gangrene and scrrhi are
| found in the VScera. The bronchial vessels
are contracted-the blood vessels and tendons
in many parts of the body are more or less
orsted, and even the hair of the head pos
sesses Il crispncsS which renders it less Valua.
bic to wigmakcrs than the hair of sober PEG
pie.
Not less destructive are the effects of ardent
spirits upon the human mind. They impair
the memory, deblitate the understanding and
pervert the moral faculties 1t was probabl,
from observing these effects of intRmperancS
in drinking upon the mind, that u law was
formerly passed in Spain which excluded
drunkards from being witnesses in court Of
just ce. But the demoralizng effects of dis
tlled spirits do not stop here. They produce
not only falsehood, but fraud, theft, uncean
illness and murder Like the demoniac men
toned in the New Testament their name il
Legion for they convey into the soul u hos
of vices and or mes
Thus we see poverty and misery, crimes and
intamy, diseases and death, are all the natura
and usual consequences of the Incorporate
use of ardent spirits.
/ have classed death among the conse
quenCes of hard drinking. But it is not deatt
from the immediate hand of the Deity, MOI
from any of the instruments of it which were
created by Him. II is death from suicide
{ Yes, thou poor degraded creature, who arr