The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1890-09-26
KILLING ANIMALCULES,
A Remedy That Is Infinitely Worse Thar
the Evil.

the EVIL.
The following item has been goina
the rounds of the papers:
'Mr. Thomas Helsop, of Birming
ham, Eng, possesses such keenness OF
vision that he is called the living
microscope He will not drink water
| because he can see the animal life ir
| it, but drinks whisky, etc"
Probably if he keeps on drinking
| plenty of whisky and no water he
will be able to see animal life, ;
such as snakes, on dry ground. But
Substantially the same claim is made in
seemingly scientific announcements OF
various malt WHISTLES" and other intox.
icants. People are urged to put little
| in every cup of water they drink, and to
use it even for their little children, tc
destroy the animal life" or the dis,
ease germs" We could give numerou,
| instances of this, were it not for help
| ing the liquors with free advertising.
the question, especially as entering
the home and the nursery, seemed to us
so important that we submitted it tc
that accomplished scientist, DIR. Felix
L. Oswald, and received from him the
following reply:
l. Will an admiXture of alcoholic
| liquors destroy infliSorial life as found
in impure water land, for that, in any
water exposed to moderately warm
atmosphere for a couple of hours)?
1t will. To deny it would be deny.
ing the fact that alcohol is poison.
Any strong poison can be used as dis.
infectant and antiseptic for the dcstruc.
ton Of organic life-germs or the pre-.
ventiOn of their development. Arsenic
is thus used by taXidermists, alcohol by
collectors of geological curiOsites a
toad picked in brandy can be preserved
for years: maggots and microbes that
would otherwise promptly inaugurate a
process of putrefaction know better than
| to touch viands served in sauce of yir
| uient narcotics.
.. But, can articles of food and drink
be improved by such admixtures? SIS
it not right, even duty" to use lit.
tie antiseptic alcohol, not only for our
selves, but for our wives and children:
We might as we'll undertake to keer
off gnats by drenching our night-shirts
with vitriol. We might as well recon-.
mend Il plan of eXpurgating flies by fill
ing our parlors with cloIds of arsenic
fumes. The veEder of alcoholic disin.
fectantS proposes to obviate possible.
and mostly trifiing trouble, by inviting
us to run a serious and almost ineyita
bic risk. He recommends a remedy in.
finitely worse than the evil. The organ
ism of normal human being will pro-
tect itself against an intinitude O
microscopic disease-germs; our lungs
our digestive organs, eliminate mvriads
of-almoSt nipreSent-microbeS ir
the course of summer day. Nature
has provided abundant safeguards
against natural perils. Alcohol, on the
other hand, even in small doses, infiicts
q positive and unavoidable injury, and,
moreover, the alcohol habit, like every
poison-vice, is prOgreSSire; few drops,
administered once week for medic
inal purposes" will soon beget crav-
ing for daily drams-with beneficial re-
suits limited to the pocket of the nos.
trum vendor.
In other words, the advertisers 0.
malt whiskies," 'bitters," ETC., pro
pose 70 exercise comparatively harm,
less microscopic imps with the aid of Q
Beelzebub almost sure to summon seven
times seven able bodied accomplices.
There is better way of dealing with
infusorial microbes.
The question as to the prophylactic
value of alcoholic febrifuges Is Bit
ter's etc, etc. turns upon an exactly
analogous dilemma. The cure is worse
than the evil, and Since alcohol. IN the
long run, tends to weaken the disease.
resisting power of the system, and can
not be mixed with all articles of food
and drink nor with the atmospheric air)
is, after all, apt to prove no cure at all.
Dram-drinkers succumb to numberless
disorders that spare total abstainers.-
Better Day.