The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1892-12-15

"1Io UAeEo uOt III nature generous
amount of active regeneration strug-
CLING to counterfeit and eliminate the
poison. -. ..--s ~. -
Alcohol. being a foreign poisonous
element, even when great, diluted, as
in beer, whicA contains from five to
eight per cent, of it, does not assimi-
late like food, but taxes natu1.. with ex-
trasexertion to expel the intruder, which
Is partly elected through the lungs or
breath, but mostly through the pores
of the skin aud through the kidneys,
which become more or less infamed,
and therefore INSTRUCTED by couges-
ton; but enough of the poison will
linger in the system to aggravate any
disease to which the drinker is LIABLE.
and hasten fatal termination.
This specific action of alcohol, whila
producing a general disturbance of and
injury to all the vital organs, is
especially detrimental to the brain,
which is composed of numerous minute
cells. of a gray, fatty substance, with
large proportion of water. Alcohol
has strong affinity for water; and
when taken in the stomach, being very
volatile, a portion of it goes Immediate
~ toward the brain, and disturbs the
finely arranged nerve-fbers and blood
vessels SO as to impair their ability to
nourish this fatty substance. In this
way it renders the brain incapable of
continuous logical thought or action,
and the man is said to be more or less
drunk" which is another way of say
ing that the mans brain is para]yzed,
or parched with Inflammation and con-
gestion.
This effect can be tested by putting
drop of alcohol on the tongue; the
smarting, singing sensation proves
that it is parched by the alcohol's
eagerness to absorb or get at the water
in the tongue; and this irritating effect
is the same on all the organs of the
body, besides producing craving
thirst.
A continuous use of alcoholic bcver-
ages produces results that are IRENE
.diable. After numerous attacks on the
brain and other sensitive organs, q
chronic change takes place in the vic
tim of alcohol. which manifests itself
in all the mans actions and character
He generally becomes morose and stu
pid, with tendency to paroxvsms Of
violence, and sometimes idiotic hilarity.
His will power is sluggish or nearly
gone, and he is left to be controlled al
most entirely by his animal passions,
which are closely allied to criminal in
sanity Besides, an ever-increasing
longing is engendered for more of the
fiery liquid to crafty the cravings Of
an Unsuitable Appetite; and other symp-
toms follow, such as diseased fatty
degeneration, a bloated body, slug
gish action of tho liver and kidneys,
accompanied by a red, or inflamed skin,
and sometimes by offensive eruptions
which can be plainly traced to alco-
holic poisoning.
Many of these indications and symp-
toms of poisoned, diseased body
| would horrify drinkers were they suffi-
GENTLY aroused, or were they anxious
or willing to believe the facts as they
develop themselves in their experience,
or could they realize that they transmit
to their posterity a hereditary faint
that is too horrible to contemplate. But
the truth comes to their impaired
brains through SO many insidious probs
lens of prejudice, habit ana appetite,
and they are so euticed by the pleasur-
able. exciting sensations, that they find
difficulty in tracing the poisonous eff
fects directly to the amount of alcohol
they consume, and so are constantly
cheating and fiattering themselves into
conviction that they can use these
poisonous beverages with impunity.
Hence the poor victims of alcohol pois-
oning, prompted by an imperious thirst,
go on and on, until finally chronic de-
lirium or dementia takes possession of
the brain, or death itself, through some
ordinary or extraordinary disease
brought on or actively developed by al
coholic poisoning, closes the scene.
This. is especially true when they are
attacked by cholera, or other infectious
diseases. The certain victims are al
ways those whose systems are impreg-
mated with Embellishments