The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1891-03-26

tor, and gradually pour alcohol upon it
until 100 parts of tincture are obtained"
Philadelphia Times.
HIS sEMI-ANNUAL SPREE.
The Systematic Drinking Habit of Chi
cagO Man.
Speaking of men who drink" said
the business man with the highly
colored nose, reminds me of an in
cident which occurred when was do
ing business in a little city in Illinois
l was single footer those days-no
wife or ties, you know-and lived in
rooms downtown. was always out
early, and about five o'clock one morn.
ing was parading about the deserted
streets looking up lost appetite when
ran upon an elegantly dressed
stranger: Can you point out place
where 1 can get something to eat?' he
asked. told him thought he'd have
to defer any gastronomic feats for
few hours unless he could put up with
some break-o' day places whose moral
tone could in no wise be sponsor for.
I can stand it without eating he re-
Piled, but I must have drink Some
thing interested me in the man and
took him up to my room, where 1 al
ways keep a little very good whisky
for medicinal purposes. On the way he
said: You'll excuse me, I know, but
will you please tell me the name of this
town. was a little surprised, but
told him. The fact is he continued,
and I may as well tell you, I'm on
spree. I'm a periodical drunkard.
Twice a year, in the spring and fall,
I'm bound to take a month off and get
drunk. I keep drunk until I'm so sick I
can't drink, and that takes about four
weeks. l live in Chicago and have
money enough and a social position that
makes me very sensitive about having
any acquaintance see me in this condi-
ton. So the first thing do when I be-
gin to drink is to take bottle and
train and ride all night and get off at
the first town as soon as it becomes
light. That's how came here. I will
now remain here and pursue my drink
ing OF course l advised him against
it, but felt at the time it was no USE
We went together and hunted him a
good, quiet hotel, and got him room
on the second floor. reflected that if
he was going to be drunk a month he
would not care to be elm bling three or
four flights of stairs to his room; and
then again it reduced the chances of
breaking his happy neck to the mini
mum. bid him good-by at the hotel,
and he promised now and then to issue
me private bulletin of how his drunk
progressed. That afternoon about four
o'clock got a note from him. 1t ran
as follows:
my Dear Sir am grateful for the interest
you took in me this morning. 1 intended, when
you left. to remain in your lovely little city and
do my drinking this time. 1 find, however, that
your pleasing acquaintance which formed
this morning, is in my present purpose, a great
drawback. cannot get drunk in your city now
that know you with that feeling of freedom
and ease absolutely necessary to my perfect
happiness will therefore bid you adieu 1
leave this town by this evening train and will
continue my debauch one nights ride further
l shall guard against forming any friend
ships and look forward to delightful time.
Respectfully, SMITH
THAT was the last of that wine-bib-
Der l ever saw" said the business man
with the rich red nose, nor did l ever
hear of him again. But somehow" he
continued, closing his story with sigh,
II always felt he must be mighty
good fellow. City Star.
EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL.
It Is Productive of Mental and Physical
Degradation.
DR.. Lewis D. Mason, of the Inebriate
asylum, Fort Hamilton, N. Y, discuss
ing the etiology of dipsomania and the
heredity of alcoholic inebriety, deter
mines as facts that alcoholism in pro-
genitors will produce physical and
mental degradation in their descend
ants, with the disorders that arise from.
defective nerve organization; and all
grades of mental weakening, from
slight enfeeblement of intellect to in
sanity and complete ldiocy; and that
the laws regulating these changes are
similar to those that govern congenital
degenerative changes from other
causes. The offspring of the confirmed
drunkard will inherit either the orig
inal vice or ''some of it's countless
protean transformations" In another
paper-on pathological changes in
chronic alcoholism-Dr. Mason exhibits
alcohol as modifying the serum and the
anatom ical elements of the blood, be-
sides being an irritant and directly pro-
ducing modification and degeneration
of tissue, and therefore as being more
evidently a disease-producing agent.
Contrasting the little progress that has
been made in the study of the pathology
of chronic alcoholism and of the dis
eases incident to alcoholism with the
great advance that has been achieved
in knowledge of microbic diseases, he
adds: ''Alcohol has not any microbe,
but the grand total of it's mortality will
exceed the combined effect of all the
bacteria that have ever passed the mi
croscopic field or developed in the cult
ure-tube of the bacteriologist. The
subject is now, however, beginning to
receive some of the attention it de-
serves. Popular Science Monthly.