The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1891-09-03

TEMPERANCE NOTES.
4. DANGERS Of Alc oAoL
valaabis Te.titoo ny Of Leading Phy.iciat,s
/ Il and Ghemista. 50
It is day Of conventions, and we'll
It may be. They are not always the
deliberate expression uf private i1dR.
inent or public opinion and do not all
ways Formulate the best methods Of
dealing with great themes: but they
do give expression to the opinions OF
expressive men and women, some Of
whom have great thoughts and great
experiences, and others of whom have
an individuality, an originality, or 3
radicalism that is worth being thrown
into the great cauldron Of the press TO
he boiled SO rs to be evaporated, subj.
mated OF exploded DUST now the
temperance conventions DIRE on hand.
and we'll they may be. Besides that at
Saratoga, there are unusual notices of
other like gatherings. and the subject
is being more discussed by doctors,
divincs and statesmen than ever before.
Men like Chauncy Depew cannot pass
It over when they speak Of the country
and its perils. In his grand speech 1t
Woodstock, he says:
1--WE have the peril bf the saloon;
but we will overcome it. The saloon
destroys eighty Thousand youths year:
1t sends them to drunkarl's grave:
but we will control II. Because we
have not yet found the way is simply
an incentive to the genius of the
American people, for the governm cnt
to find the way"
AS it was once with slavery the way
is dark but the nation that is rid of the
first will not cease pleading with God
and for man until works meet for re-
pentance appear. A progress is made
when we come to realize that life itself
with all it means for health, for home,
for country, is in peril.
The individual man has need as never
before to inquire what alcohol does
with the body; the head Of the home as
to what 1t does with his family, and
the statesmen whist it does with the
mere industrial and manual ability of
its people. If only it can be known
how far it is a destructive force, the
law of self-preservat;on will assert it.
self. The great voice of the nation
will be heard saying we cannot give
over our people to self destruction.
There has for good while been the
admission that the drunkard is out of
health, that he is q factor of invalidity
for himself and for posterity; but it is
of later years that the facts in evidence
have accumulated; that moderate
drinking, also. is the bane of health.
In saying this, we are at once con.
fronted with the statement that Mr.. A,
and Mr.. b, hearty old men, have al.
ways used their wine, just as when
alcohol is shown to be foodless, we are
pointed to this or that old topper who
seems to have lived and thrived on the
bottle. Neither in the one case or ME
other does this prove anything, since
we need to know what has happened
to ten thousand, and not what has hap
pened to few among the ten thou
sand.
There are favors and juices and
ethereal oils and slight appetiz:ng
and pleasure-giving effect from alcohol
thus combined which will ever lead to
its use, in spite of the general fact that
alcohol is injurious. That is no reason
why the world should not know how
threatening to health always, and in
furious generally, alcoholic liquors are
even in so-callcd moderation. The testi-
monies of such physicians as Dickinson,
Harley, Draper and a host of others who
study medicines and foods therapeutic
ally, must be allowed to have their
full weight Outside all questions of
home and of me rails. the physical harm
being done by beer is appalling. Even
Germany has been compelled to raise
its voice against it. Binz, who-~is an
advocate for alcohol as an economic
factor in sickness, expresses his pro-
found conviction of the terrible evil
it Is inflicting on the health
of the nation. There is no one CON-
mon error of diet that is so pronounced
in its results. Out from amid other in
dulgences it can be singled by the
symptoms in diseases and by organic
changes. The dead room or the post
mortem tells many tale of a short
encd or embarrassed life which has
never been told by single lapse into
intoxication or BY what has been re-
cognized as an excess. 1t is true thai
there are laws of adjustment, and that
a certain degree of federation is estab-
lished in many cases. But it is also
true that this process often gives in.
ternal without external marks. A jury
of medical men to-day cannot be found
who will not say that the healthy man
is better off without alcohol than with
it. If SO, this at once puts it in the
category of medicines. AS such it
should be the subject for prescription
under the most rigid restrictions.
The medical profession is now called
upon to put itself definitely on the side
Of restraint as never before. We are
glad that Prof. w. r. Davis has initia-
ted movement for national medical
temperance organization which among
other things will, from professional
as well as ethical standpoint, urge the
physicians to be more circumspect and
technical in advising the use of fer
mented or distilled liquors as medi-
cines, and more pronounced in their
:utterances in disapproval of beer
drenchings and other forms of popular
drinking: If only for the body we
plead, the profession must come to the
front in this behalf The appeal ought
to be especially strong, since no class
sees more of evil results in the hos
pitfalls, the infirmaries and the tene-
ments of the poor. Have we not as
physicians far more power to let in de-
tense of bodies and so aid those who
are urging the perils to mind to NOR
ais, to homes, and to all that concerns
social and national life?-Independent
DRINKING PROFESSIONALS.
Inebrlety and Its Effects Among Medical
Men.
From time to time circumstances re-
mind us that the disease of inebriety