The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1890-06-14
TEMPERANCE NOTES.
NATURE OE ALCOHOL.
Even the Modeeate Consumption of In
: toxicants Is Decidedly Harmful

Even the Modeeate Consumption of In
; toxicants Is Decidedly Harmful.
The first 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
its 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 9pick
eaed circulatiOa erthe blood and quicksned
motion Of tile 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 an 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 tho 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
a. nj Nd iy,+ TO In-
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Stimulant be withdrawn.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
consumers 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 its action.
The spur all through is deceptive and
bad. 1t 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 arcrmM
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 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 a grain to the
fuel. 1t is impossible, consequently,
to attach any value to alcohol as a
warmer. 1t is positively a 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.
> s. There is experienced in those who
are accustomed to alcohol sense of
strength after taking it, and of frn1neSs
which seems to be a good preparation
for acts requiring precision, strength or
endurance. Is that good? To those
who rely on the assurance given in this
way by alcohol, this is considered not
only as good but as a 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
agencies for their maintenance of vital
labors In 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 its 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 its action, there is no
effect from 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.,
+. r. S.. in N. Y. Voice.
THE TRUE ELIXIR.