St. Paul daily globe., 1890-02-03
ROUGH ON WHISKY.
DR.. Arthur Gillette on the
Physical Effects Of Al
cohol.
Radical Changes That Are
Made in the Human
System.
There Need Be No Surprise
Why the Brain Is Dis
eaSed.
The Principal Cause Of Insan-
ity Is the Inebriaey Of
Parents.

The usual bl-weekly rally of the Cru
saders' Temperance society was held
yesterday afternooni in Cretin hall. The
building was filed to overfowing, over
800 hundred persons being present. The
principal feature was the paper read by
DR.. A. j. Gillette, entitled THE Effects
of Alcohol on the Human System" He
said:
infer from former addresses that I
am to speak TO you upon the physical
effects of alcohol. To create a dividing
line between the moral and physical
effects is the most difficult part to do,
for the physical effects seem to blend
right into the moral, a sort of dove
failing process: in fact. / believe | can
prove by physiological process that they
are both direct effects of alcohol on the
system. Alcohol causes first a COM
plete physical change, and complete
physical change must of necessity cause
complete moral change. You know
how great a change occurs in the nat
ural progress of life from childhood to
manhood-a physical, a moral change
physical and moral growth. On the
contrary, alcohol, as ] shall attempt to
show, causes a real
CHANGE IN THE TISSUE,
so that when you carefully investiga tie
the form of a once man now saturated
with alcohol he is truly 'but shadow
of his former SELF" If you apply alco-
hOl to the skin and do not allow it to
evapOrate it will cause a local inflam-
nation, swelling, tenderness, red
! ness. 1t this is fact when applied to
the skin, which you know is we'll ac-
customed to sudden changes of heat and
cold, imagine its effects upon the in
| ternal membranes of the body. When
| applied to to the tongue it Immediately
because of its great affinity for water
| gathers all the watery portions of the
saliva, leaving the lips parched and dry.
| We know that about twO-thirdS of the
blood in the body is water, and, as you
already know, blood is the nutritious
| part of the system, and the watery por
| tion of the blood is what keeps the nu-
tritiouS
! PORTION IN SOLUTION,
| thus enabling the circulatory system to
carry this material to the portion of the
body which REQUIRES food. You can at
once see what bankrupt condition the
| poor body is IN when the sot is saturated
with whisky. You may say: ''B ut you
are giving US the effects of alcohol when
taken in large Doses" | am only deal
ing with facts to-day, not ''ifs" nor
| the end is if you ever touched this
damnable stuff. / have told you what
occurs as soon SIS the alcohol touches
] the tongue and lips. 1t has the same
effect upon the throat, and more when
| it reaches the stomach, for it not only
| infiames the stomach walls, but here it
again takes up the watery portions of
| the gastric juices, produces an unusual
| flow of this fluid, interfereS with di-
! geS ton,
CAUSES A CHRONIC,
| or what is known to the physicians. an
J alcoholic Inflammation of the stomach,
which is almost an iacurable disease,
and incurable unless the patient abb
stains from the use of alcohol. After it
| has ruined the main organ of digestion,
the next vital portion of the human
| economy it attacks is the liver, causing
| almost complete change in the liver
| cells, until finally this organ becomes
| smaller and hardened and its functions
are destroyed. 1t also interfereS with
| the functions of the inteStineS. The
kidneys are also obliged to succumb to
| the deadly foe, and lose their power to
carry on the work for which the ever
wise Creator intended them. Expert
menters all agree in this, that not more
than 16 per cent of the alcohol taken
can be found in the eXcreta; the greater
| portion disappears in the system, save a
small per cent which the
LUNGS THROW OUT,
and when you happen to be so unforlun-
ate as to collide with the breath of an
| individual which smells of LIQUOR, re-
member this, the alcohol which you de-
tect has been the rounds of the body by
way of the circulatory system, and when
the blood reaches the lungs to be puri-
| fed, it is then you get the odor of
| whisky. You see how the stomach,
| liver, intestines and kidneys are affected.
A greater change occurs in the great
organ of life, the heart. The heart is
muscular organ, powerfully and deli
cately arranged, yet very sympathetic,
and the slightest deviation from the
normal of any portion of our system, be
as remote as it may, will cause decided
and sudden change in the heart. If this
is true you can plainly see what con-
dition it must be in after the radical
change
IN THE VITALS
| which l have just enumerated. But
there is a still greater transformation,
wis.,: The usual muscular tissue of the
heart is replaced by that of fatty tissue,
leaving this organ frail, weakened, and
unable to propel the blood which car
rieS the food to the wasting body. If
all this transpires, are you surprised
that the brain is diseased? At first
sense of well being pervades the body,
general eXhileratlOn, ideas flow rap
| idly, there is a lack of coordination:
that is they think faster than they talk,
or are unable to say even what theythink.
| Having lost control of the lips and
| tongue, their ideas are confused, mental
hallucination and even temporary in
| sanity may result. This state is fol-
| lowed by depression, sleep, coma and
even death. The investigations of Schu-
| linus reveal the fact that alcohol in
duceS complete change in the nerve
cells, discoyerable by microscope. Do
| you wonder that the drunkard
LOSES ALL PRIDE
! of manhood, forgets all his early teach
| ings? The hereditary effects of alcohol
are sad and impressive. DIR. Connolly
| and DIR. Carpenter have limited and
| pointed out the relationship of drink to
! certain forms of hereditary diseases.
! We know now as certainly as possible
! that the thoroughly inebriate man or
| woman having children impress those
| children distinctly with the disease
| which springs from the use of this par
ticular agent. And here we have DIR.
| Mason again coming forward and tell
! ing US 1.-THE inebriety of parents should
be regarded as one predisposing cause
| the principal cause of insanity is the in
| ebriety of parents. Ninety-two of 1l6
eases in our asylum have such parent
| age. Think of that. If anything will
impress the mind more solemnly than
another it is this. Another argument
used by some is that If alcohol is
SUCH a DEADLY FOE
! why is it that we find so many of our
! prominent men using it? 70 begin with
l deny the assertion. No truly great
man or good man uses it, 1t is true a
| great many men have been made promi-
nent who INDUCED in this agent. but
they have been made prominent through
| the political influence of this agent, not
by their own true merit, but through
| politics, which are rotten. as rule, to
| the very core. Their leader is the dis
tillery, their counsel the brewery, and
their constituents the saloon; and he
= 41ac nnrf, oh Ia.