Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-06-22
MODERATE DRINKING,
A Cleyer Defense Made Out by an
English Physician.
HOW ALCOHOL HELPS HUMANITY
10 Round the Corners and Plane Away the
ASperities of Life.
ADVICE FOR ALL WHO TAKE A DROP

DR.. Robert Farquharson has an interest.
ing plea for moderate drinking in Black
Vcood The main points are given herewith;
We have the highest respect for the advo.
Gates oftemperance reform, and il they are
sometimes Just shade supersaturated with
the consciousness of superior virtue, they
are generally good people, and wish others
to be the same. But indications are in the
air that they may occasionally push their
zeal beyond the bounds of discretion, and
bring about a reactive tendency which may
damage the cause. 1t must have taken a
good deal of provocatIon to make an ad-
ranced and popular writer of the day pen
these words: ga rabid temperance advo-
cate, for the same reason, is often the poor
est of creatures, fourishing on a single vir-
tue, and quite oblivious that his temperance
is making a worse man of him, and not a
better" The force of this condemnation by
Prof Drummond, in "The Changed Life, /"
depends on the word "rabid," and we
gladly admit that those who have Joined a
crusade against one of the worst enemies of
the human race are usually penetrated with
enthusiasm for the success of their mission,
and do their work with all due charity and
what the evils are which they are trying to
overcome-how excess in strong drink fills
our prisons and lunatic asylums and hospi-
tails and workhouses, and sweeps down body
and mind into one dark abyss of ruln-we
can hardly blame them for trying to snap
this DEVILS chain of fascinating indulgence,
even at the expense OF some irritation and
unpOpularity.
We should be sorry to say word that
could chill the enthusiasm of the apostles
OF total abstinence, or lessen the effect
which their words produce; but at the same
time we are bound to look at the other side
of the shield, and argue in favor of our own
views; and believing, as we do, that good
case can be made out for those who ''take
little wine for their stomachs' sake, we
shall invite them to sit down at table with
us, and have quiet symposium over one or
two of your columns But let US first
make this frank admission to our teetotal
friends.
Young Folk Better Without Alcohol.
As an eminent physician remarked, when
q stump orator was describing the condition
of two geraniums, one of which was
watered in the ordinary way, and adver-
tised its virtuous principles by an exuber-
ant freshness of blossom and leaf, while the
second became an involuntary topper, and
had been dosed with alcohol into premature
decay, Eyes, if 1 were geranium should
prefer water But then / am not gera-
MUM" The nearer we can approach to the
healthy existence of plant, or wild ami
NAL in its prime, the more does the neces-
sity for drink diminish awav to a vanishing
point Children and Young people up to
manhood, under normal constitutional con-
ditions, are far better without any; and the
argument in favor of its habitual use rests
on the specialties of the highly strung and
unnatural mode of lite which many of us
are obliged to lead. We must take our
selves as we are, artificial products of an
artificial age, often depressed, and worried,
eating bad food badly cooked, breathing bad
air, and crushed down by money difficult
ties. 1t is at these times, when responsible
ties are around us, and the troubles of the
world begin to close in over our heads, that
q cheering glass, in strict moderation and
at carefully selected times. is of real use
and can be defended both by physiology
and common sense.
Under what conditions, then,
should our prescription be carried out, and
how can we defend a practice which has
raised against it such a mass of plausible
reasoning and respectable sentiment?
Argument for Moderation.
In The first place, we directly traverse the
arguments of our opponents against moder-
alton, because they are founded on total
misconception of the physiological action
of alcohol. Complex and antagonistie as
these often are, no Jekylls and Hvdes were
ever more sharply contrasted than two sets
of people placed at either end of the scale.
A moderate dose has some stimulant effect,
and may send the pulse up by few beats,
and remove the faintness of fatigue. Gen.
orally and more benefcially, however. it |
soothes and rests, and brings consoling quiet |
into the routine of life But when the |
quantity is increased, we all know too well |
from observation, if not from experience, !
what happens. The skin glows; confusing |
ideas flash through the brain, and try |
to make themselves heard in thickened |
and incoherent speech; the gait becomes |
ata1le, and to staggering succeeds paralysis, |
and to excitement comatose sleep, which |
gradually deepens into apopIexy and death. |
What, then, are the limits of safety in the |
use of drug which can thus range from a |
harmless stimulant up to a true narcotic |
poison?
How are we to define moderation? What |
is one mans meat may be another's poison, |
and the quantity OF wine or spirit which |
can reasonably be allowed to the first, NAV
amount to intemperance in the second. We |
are generally told that two ounces of al |
cohol or its equivalent should not |
be exceeded under ordinary circum-
stances; but even this may be too
much for some people, and in a
general wav we would advise every
one with sufficient self-restraint to regulate
his own proper quantity for himself There
is no doubt that many apparent patterns of
moderation are really the victims of excess
in a small way, because they sometimes feel |
depressed after meals, or rise in the morn /
ing with dry tongue, or headache, or a
general sensation of "seediness," to use /
their own phrase. Sometimes it happens
that these and other dyspeptic troubles 80
invariably follow anything. in the way of |
stimulant that it has to be given up alto
gether; and this is just one of those things
which the sufferer, by reflection and obser-
vation, and the process of reasoning by ex- |
clusior, must diagnose for himself.
Must Study the Action Of Alcohol
Every one, speaking generally, must also
choose the kind of liquor that suits him |
best. Doctors can of course instruct him
what to do when he is ill, or con-
valescent, or when they know the speciali-
ties of his constitution; but in nine cases
out of ten the man himself understands the
outs and ins of his stomach, and can ar
range his scheme of solid and liquid diet to
conciliate his tyrant. Thus we find that
whilst beer is the favorite beverage of
many, and is specially believed in bv the
workingman, it makes some of us heavy
and unfit for work, and we shake our heads
sadly when we see it on the table. Port
wine suits most old people, and weakly in
valids and convalescents, and withered chill
dren flourish under it; bet the gouty man
knows by the pricking of his toes that he is
safer out of the room when bottle of it is
produced, Burgundy is the king of wines,