The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1890-09-12
TEMPERANCE NOTES.
The Action of Alcohol Is That of a Dis.
turbsr and Destroyer.
OF NO EARTHLY USE.

1uO <AcLlOn OF AlcOhOl Is That OF Dis
turbsr and Destroyer.
True science is the voice of nature.
What nature says must be right If al
cohol is really poison. nature will not
alter her laws because we are ignorant
or prejudiced, and regard it as a food.
What does nature say as to the relation
of alcohol to the human body?
Food is required to supply two great
wants of the body. The first great want
of the body is material for its structure;
the second is fuel to maintain its tenn
perature. The simplest action we can
perform, even a thought passing through
the mind, occasions the wearing away
of some tissue of the body. The body
is being constantly worn down and
must be constantly built up. This pro-
cess can go on only when the body is
kept at its natural temperature of about
% degrees. Nature supplies the two
wants by providing two kinds of food.
The one kind is called heterogeneous, and
supplies all the substances of which the
body is composed. The other kind is
called non-nitrogenous or respiratory
foods, which are burnt up in the body
to maintain its temperature. The egg
is type of all the food in nature. The
white, or albumen, is the material for
building; the yelk is the fuel for
warmth. The body has one other
want. 1t requires solvent by which
the food can be liquefied and carried to
every part of the body. For this pur-
pose nature supplies but one fluid, and
that is water.
Now, nature having supplied these
two kinds of food for the two great
wants how can they be made available
for the body's use? The answer is:
They must all be converted into
blood" No food can be used in the
body, either for building up its struc-
ture or maintaining its temperature
nntil it has been converted into blood
Bearing this fact in mind, we shall be
prepared to judge whether alcohol
can be of use in sustaining the human
body.
Carbonate of lime and chloride of
sodium Common salt) are constituent
parts of the blood, and become part of
the substance of the body They are,
therefore, foods. Arsenic is not con-
stituent of the blood, and can never be-
come part of the body. Therefore it is
not food. Alcohol is just as truly
rs arsenic foreign substance which
can never be changed into blood nor
become part of the body. III support Of
this the highest medical authorities
may be quoted
Dr. Edward Smith, F. r. S, England:
"Alcohol is not true food, and it
neither warns nor sustains the body
by the elements of which it is COM
posed"
Licbig: Beer wine, spirits, etc, fur
nish no element capable OF entering
into the composition of the blood, mus
cular fiber or any part which is the seat
OF vital principle"
DR.. T.. X. Chambers: SIT is clear
that we must cease to regard alcohol as
in any sense an element, inasmuch as it
goes out as it goes in, and does not, so
far as we know, leave any of it's sub
stance behind it,
Many such testimonies from high
scientific authorities may be quoted to
prove that alcohol is substance entire
ly foreign to the human body, and can
never become a constituent part of it.
building up the body with alcohol is a
pure delusion. Various parts of the
body require starch, sugar, lime or
iron, but no part ever requires alcohol.
To dream of building up the body with
alcohol is as irrational as to attempt to
build a brick house with smoke. A
further revelation of science, the result
of most careful observation and expert
ment. is the following: Tile action of
alcohol in the human system as taCarlaby
that 0fG djsturJer and Il destroyer.
There is no part of the body that it
does not lnjure. 1t influences every
membrane, it initiates every tissue, and
deadens every nerve. 1t also affects the
chemical composition of the blood and
other fluids-a most serious matter. 1t
precipitates the pepsin of the gastric
Juice. and it Injuries the corpuscles in
the blood. Unlike food, which builds
up, alcohol always pulls down. 1t burns
and destroys every structure with which
it comes in contact. 1t also interferes
with the healthy performance OF every
function, its presence everywhere in
the body causing excitement. and neces-
stating extra work in every organ for
its expulsion. 1t passes out of the sys-
tenn as it went in; but its passage
through the system calls for increased
action of the heart and other organs,
and this increased action to expel the
poison is fatally mistaken for increased
strength.
While it initiates and destroys, aico-
hol also prevents the creation of new
blood and the proper assimilation of
food. 1t also retains in the system the
waste matter that nature would expel,
thus preventing those changes on which
the health and life of the body depend
In support of every one of these state
ments the opinions of the highest med
ical and scientific authorities may be
quoted. Let me briefly present the con-
trast which science establishes between
food and alcohol.
Food is changed into blood and used
to build up the body; alcohol never is.
Foods such as oils and sugars warm the
body; alcohol never does. For the cir
culation by which the prepared food is