The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1890-06-12
TEMPERANCE NOTES.

TEMPERANCE NOTES.
EFFECTS or ALCOHOL.
Even the Moderate Consumption Of In
toxicsnts Il Decidedly Harmful.
The hrst question we are led to ask
is, whether in the course of the varia-
ton from the natural standard of vital
actions which follow the action Of alco-
hol to and through any degree, any
good. useful or necessary thing has
been done? The admitted answer to
this question must on all sides be, that
after the effects of the first degree have
been obtained, no good thing can have
been done, while some amount of evil
may have been effected. 1t is indeed
accepted now by all authorities that the
phenomena of alcoholism manifested in
the primary and stimulating periods of
it's action are the only phenomena that
can be productive Of service These are
the phenomena of stimulation, and as
they are, we'll defined, we can study
| them one by one, and ask their value.
l. There are the phenomena of quick
ened circulation Of the blood and quickened
motion Of the heart Is that good? 1t
may be good to call a languidly-acting
heart into more vigorous motion, but to
do this with the rest of the body in re-
pose, by means of On internal stimulant,
is certainly very bad practice. The
heart. that wants to be called into more
action requires invigoration by reasona-
| BILE exercise in which the other muscles
of the body can share, not by exercise
in which it alone is engaged. The heart
stimulated alone, soon begins to feel
the habitual necessity of the special
stimulant, and, learning, in time, to de-
pend upon its artificial support, lives,
as it were, upon that support, and be-
coming over-active and out of harmony
| with the rest of the organs of
the body so long as it is supplied with
its stimulant, fails in the most lament
able manner If by any accident its
| stimulant be withdrawn. Here is the
reason why even so-called temperate
consum ers of alcohol feel so acutely at
first the withdrawal of alcohol. They
feel as if they had lost blood, and num-
bers who try to abstain are driven back
from the trial of abstinence, because
they have not the resolution to perse-
we're until the heart learns to work
without the artificial spur to it's action.
The spur all through is deceptive and
bad It takes the place of exercise
without performing the proper duty. 1t
produces arrangement just bordering
on disease of the heart; it often lays the
foundation of actual disease of that Or
gan, and it leads to inactivity of other
functions of the body and to general in
| aptitude for the active duties of life I'M
| til stimulant has been taken. We
can not, therefore, count this part of the
| action of alcohol as good action.
2. There is the phenomenon of aecrmth
induced by the primary action of alco-
hol. Is that good? This warmth is al
ways ephemeral, and is always fol-
lowed by corresponding fall of tenn
perature. 1t is like the temporarily in
creased heat of a fire under the action
| of the bellows; it quickens the glow,
but it does not sustain the steady burn
ing of the fire. On the contrary, it
| really causes the fire to burn out more
quickly without adding grain to the
fuel. 1t is impossible, consequently,
| to attach any value to alcohol as
warmer. 1t is positively cooler of
the blood and tissues, and combined
| with cold it expedites in the most de-
terminate manner, as my researches on
the action. of alcohol on pigeons showed,
| the fatal effects of extreme cold. The
experiences of Arctic voyagers have
proved the same in man.
3. THERE'S experienced in those who
are accustomed to alcohol sense of
strength after taking it, and of frmness
which seems to be good preparation
for acts requiring precision, strength or
| endurance. Is that good? To those
Tho rely on the assurance given in this
| way by alcohol, this is considered not
! only as good but as necessity. The
best that can be truly said of it, how
ever, is that it is an acquired good, an
| acquired necessity. In itself it is bad,
| because the greatest benefits which it
confers are poor indeed when compared
with the precision, the strength and
the endurance which is experienced by
those who, being untouched by the
habit of relying on wine, are accus-
toned to depend purely on natural
I agencies for their maintenance of vital
labors. In a word, it may be accepted
with absolute certainty that whenever
a person habituated to alcohol feels
that he is unable to perform any work
which he wishes to perform unless he
resorts to alcohol for assistance, is so
far under it's influence for evil as to be
in positive danger from it, and from it's
interference with his natural vitality.
Summing up all the effects produced
by alcohol during the primary and least
hurtful stage of it's action, there is no
effect Srom it that can be pronounced
either good or necessary for the healthy
body; no effect that can not be supplied
by more natural and better means; that
is to say, by the aid of natural food and
drink, neither of which alcohol can
claim to be.-B. w. Richardson, NJ. D.,
F. &. s.. in n. Y. Voice.
THE INNER FOUNTAIN.