The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1893-02-01

1OSt or young mel nave SGdrUo On q sooot
and industrious career. under three years
influence of prohibition. The drink bill Of
the two Dakotas dropped off seventy per
cent. the very first year and has been grow
ing materially less ever since, and no one
has been the poorer thereby but the saloon
keepers brewers and distillers. Dakota
Farmer.
THE EFFECTS OF ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES.
Alcohol being the product of the decom-
position of grape-juice, corn, malt, apples,
or other starchy substances, is therefore the
enemy Of life, the very ashes OF death, writes
W. J. Demorest, President Of the National
Anti. Nuisance League.
Scientists agree In placing alcohol among
the most irritant, virulent and deadly
poisons to animal life. A small quantity
taken pure will paralize the nerve centers,
and kill Instantly.
The ordinary effect of alcohol is to irritate
and parch the mucus membranes Of the in
testines, and paralyzs the nerves. When
taken into tho system, either In the form OF
whisky, handy, beer, cordials, or in light
wines etc., It's poisonous effects, while so
e1hilarating as to be very fascinating, are
deleterious to all the nerve tissues and hbers
Of the body, that a general arrangement OF
all the vital organs inevitably follows.
The effects Of alcohol contained in
these beverages finds its way to the lungs
and arteries which are connected with heart
and they become more or less congested and
paralyzed by the poison, and incapable OF
rightly performing their ordinary functions;
and this burning or corroding effect com.
mences with the smallest quantity OF alcohol
taken in the system. Therefore there is no
such thing as moderation" in the use OF
alcoholic beverages: the poison in them is
always active in its deadly mission, and goes
on all through the body.
The result on the heart and brain is es.
pecially noticeable, as these organs are very
sensitive and are so retardedin their opera
tions that disease and death would rapidly
ensue were there not in nature generous
amount Of active recuperation struggling to
counteract and eliminate the poison.
Alcohol, being foreign, poisonous ele-
ment, even wnen greatly diluted. as in beer.
which contains from Ave to eight per cent.
of it, does not assimilate like food, but taxes
nature with extra exertion to expel the in.
truder, which is partly elected through the
lungs or breath and mostly through the
pores of the skin and through the kidneys,
which are more or less infamed, and there
fore obstructsd by congestion. Enough OF
the poison will inger in the system to az.
gravate any disease to which the drinker is
liable, and hasten fatal termination.
This specific action Of alcohol, while pro.
all the vital organs, is especially true of the
brain, which is composed Of numerous mi.
mute cells, Of a gray, fatty substance, sur
rounded by limpid fluid. Alcohol has q
strong amnity for water; and when taken
in the stomach, being very volatile, q por.
tion of it goes Immediately towards the
brain, and disturbs the finely arranged
nerve-fbers so as to impair their ability to
nourish this fatty substance, and 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 ts
another way, Of saying that the mans
brain Is poisoned, or parched with infamma'
ton and congestion.
This effect can be tested by putting q
drop Of alcohol on the tongue: the smarting,
stinging sensation proves that it is parched
by the alcohofs eagerness to absorb or get
at the water in the tongue. and this irritst.
ing effect is the same on all the organs OF
the body, besides producing craving
thirst.
A continuous use of alcoholic beverages
produces. results that are irremediable
After numerous attacks on the brain and
other sensitive organs, q chronic change
takes place in the victim of alcohol, which
.
character.
He generally becomes moross aud stupid,
with tendency to paroxysms of violence,
and sometimes idiotic hilarity. his will
power Is sluggish or nearly gone, and he is
left to be controlled almost entirely by his
animal passions, which are closely allied to
criminal insanity. Besides, an ever-increas-
ing longing Is engendered for more of the
fiery liquid to crafty the cravings Of an in
satlable appetite, and other symptoms fol-
low, such as diseased fatty degeneration, a
bloated bo1y, sluggish action Of the liver
and kidneys, accompanied by a red or in.
famed skin, and sometimes by offensive
eruptions which can be plainly traced to al.
coholic poisoning.
Many Of these indications and symptoms
of poisoned, diseased body would horrify
drinkers were they sufficiently aroused, or
were they anxious or willing to believe the
facts as they develop themselves in their ex-
perience, or could they realize that they
transmit to their posterity hereditary taint
that is too horrible to contemplate. But the
truth comes to their impaired brains through
so many insidious problems Of prejudica,
habit and appetite, and they are so enticed
by the pleasurable exciting sensations that
they find difficulty in tracing the poisonous
effects directly to the amount OF alcohol
they consume, and 80 are constantly cheat
ing and fattering themselves into convic-
tion that they can use these poisonous bev-
erages with impunity. Hence the
poor victims of alcoholic poisoning.
prompted by an imperious thirst 60 on and
on, until finally chronic delirium or demen-
tia takes possession Of the brain, or death
itself, through some ordinary or extraordin-
ary disease brought on or actively developed
by alcoholic poisoning, closes the scene. This
is especially true when they are attacked by
cholera or other infectious diseases. The
certain victims are always those whose sys-
TENS are impregnated with alcohol.
Even when taken as a medicine, alcoholic
beverages frequently produce results far
practice, both in this country and Europe.
has proved the great benefits Of an entire
exclusion Of this poison as remedy, other
agents being used, which are quite as effi.
cient, but not followed by the paralyzing or
SIMPLIFYING effects Of alcohoPs corrosive poi
son.
Alcohol, in its action on animal matter, is
somewhat analogous to arsenic, morphine,
or strychnine; it tends to suspsnd decay in
dead matter, and in live bodies it paralyzes
or infames with congestion, in this way
showing that 1t is the active enemy OF all
life. or death in disguise.
We put snakes and other animals, and
sometimes dead men. into alcohol, to pre-
vent animalcule or microbes in the dead
bodies from generating or living on the
starchy substances contained in them; so all
actual life in the bodies is suspended. But
certain disintegration and death in its most
active form is produced by the corroson Of
alcohol in living bodies, and in this way it
proves itself to be an acrid, deadly poison to
human life.
More than 1000 years ago the results Of
alcohol on the body were compared to the
bite Of serpent and the stinging Of an
adder; and alcohol has not changed its