The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1889-01-04
w. c. T. u

The music which these little gray cells
play is the substance of our life, mind,
soul! II their healthy normal action is
disturbed or stopped it is all up with rs,
as far rs We can pretend to be rational,
moral, or responsible beings. hlcohol,
when in the blood, is carried by it directly
to these gray cells, for they are fed con-
stantly by the blood. Then what occurs?
Let us consider how these wonderful cells
are constituted, and we shall see.
When alcohol gets into the blood, it
does and must ssgo to the head" millions
Of little cells at once undergo explosions;
the play OF the regular, Divine world
music is stopped by an unnatural intruder
which knocks the instrument out OF time
and out of tune at once. The soul is thus
stricken down in its citadel; the motor
nerves have only d~isorderly messages to
carry, or stand motionless and paralyzed.
What is the RESULT The most complex
organism, the human body, is no longer
under orderly or rational control. The
little nerves that held the gateways Of the
blood at the end of the arteries let go
their hold. for they are paralyzed! The
blood rushes to the face and flushes it.
The heart has a torrent of blood poured
upon it, and beats and flutters. The limbs
move without will or purpose. The tongue
moves wildly and incoherently; the truth
is told in wine, because mental order and
10 " M a,;ln - LOT
loose, but yet are inlpotent, as Shakespeare
describes in the Porter Scene in Macbeth.
The head aches, throbs, and is finally ION
fire. with these explosions. The next
day after the drink it aches with soreness
while the blood brings up its kindly nour-
ishing elements to rebuild the cells and to
renew the healthy music-which is our
soul-to take the place of the wild orgie of
this devil in the brain. You know too
well this story of drunkenness. 1t is too
common to need a description Of the stages
which lead to death by delirium tremens,
if happily kidney trouble Or some infam-
matory disease does not anticipate that
most terrible OF deaths.
NOT A BIT OF IT DESIRABLE
Well, you may say, taken in small guam
titles, or occasionally, it may have some
good effects. When science discovered
the true nature of alcohol. as above ex-
planned, it gave a decisive No! to every
question of this kind. Doctors Benjamin
w. Richardson, Willard Parker, w. IL.
Draper and thousands of other distinguish
ed physicians, express the true verdict
when they say, in the words OF the latter,
.Alcohel is our worst enemy; always bale
FIJI, more or less. in its effects"
WHY FORCE SHOULD BE USED.
Alcohol leaves it's victim perfectly de-
fenseless. He is not moral agent at all,
but simply a diseased ~lunatic; and must
be so treated, by force, if necessary, until
by means of proper nourishment, and a
new and healthy environment, a new
brain can be built up which will sustain a
will and a moral sense. To this eud the
medical profession should distinctly direct
their treatment. In these respects that
profession nave very much to atone for
sins OF omission aud commission They
have done and are nov doing more than
any other profession to sustain among the
people the fatal illusion that some good
comes from drinking alcohol.
Whea we were boys, the doctors trav-
elled with lancet, calomel and blisters.
Bleed first and die afterward, was their
heroic treatment. Now they travel with
three %poisons; alcohol, morphine and quiz
nine; but the worst Of these is alcohol.
They can be made to drop this poison, as
they did the lancet, when intelligent peo-
pie refuse to be poisoned, as they refused
to be bled to death.
The clergy are next in fault, in allowing
alcohol to be used in the sacrament; and
in not practising and intoxicating total alb
s%tinence as the very foundation and the in
dispensable condition Of any real moral or
religious life. Think of a morality or u
religion without a will!
WHAT ARE o GOING TO Do IT?
Lastly: The lawyers and statesmen have
plain duties under this new view of the old
poison. To use poisons. or to sell or adj
minister them, to injure or to destroy life,
was a crime at common Law. But alcohol,
in its moderate use, was so Elusive and
treacherous that it was not really then
known or considered to be q poison in
that sense. Now we know better: we
know that it is always a deceiver and a
brain-destroyer, and the common law
should apply to it as to the worst of poi
sons for such it is. It's manufacture,
sale and use as beverage, or for a bever-
age, should be %outlawed, prescribed. and
prohibited, in the same way that the sale
of arsenic as a food should be and is. It
should be regarded as property, and be
sold, only as a poison; and should always
be so labelled, when sold, under heavy
penalties, as is the case with arsenic and
other recognized poisons. Now, the dis
tiller and seller of alcoholic drinks has the
protection of the law in slowly and cruelty
numbering his fellow beings with this poi
son. The law should drop from under
these makers and vendors of poison at
once, so that they could not collect a bill
for it, nor contract for it, nor lawfully sell
it, any more than they could smallpox