Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1895-03-14
CASTOR OIL A JAG PRODUCER.
|'faranine, Il erosenc aud Cod Liver Oils Also
producg InfoxIcation.

'faraiiine, X erosene aud Cod Liver Oils Also
Produce In;oxlcation.
In the usual acceptation of the term
intoxication, or Drunkenness, or ine-
briety-for they all mean practically
the same thing-is referred to the ex-
cessive use of alcoholic beverages in
one form or another Norman Kerr,
the highest English authority on the
subject, has pointed ont, however, that
there are a great many things besides
alcohol which produce intoxcation,
and that alcoholic inebriety is not so
dangerous or deleterious in its effects
as some other kinds of intoXication.
DR.. Kerr enumerates among the things
that '"hake drunk come" as the In
dian expresses it, ether, cocaine, eau
de cologne, iodine, opium, hasheesh,
paraffine, kerosene and even such SEEM
ingly innocuous substances as cod
liver oil and castor oil. 1t would seem
almost incredible that there could be
such a thing as kerosene inebriety or
cod-liver-oil intoxication, but the rec
ords of scientific research, as set forth
by DR.. Kerr, are not to be disputed.
The fact seems to be that overindul-
gence in any one of the numerous sub
stances known generically as paratrip-
ties begets cumulative appetite, and
that this is accompanied in time by
functional. arrangement, and worse
still, by a slackening and weakening
~, El,o,. rNnn nOffan nd 10
while less injurious to most people
than alcohol or opium or ether, serve
to illustrate the familiar saying that
the appetite grows by what itfeeds on.
The tobacco habit, the coffee habit,
the tea habit may grow on one until
what was once want may become
an actual need, aud each is as neces-
sary to the comfort if not the health
of the devotee as food itself.
In the discussion of all these ques-
tions science is. at a disadvantage be-
cause, first, no two human beings are
exactly the same at different times.
One man may drink almost numberless
drinks and evince no sign of intoXica-
ton, while another will become maud
| lin at the smell of a cork out of a
whisky bottle. Then, to the man of
clear head and strong digestion, to
whom liquor is usually almost as
water, may find himself in condition
where n single glass of wine will upset
him. Science cannot deal with such
contradictory conditions. One thing
| seems certa'n-that the human race, SO
long as its records have been kept, has
always found ways and means to i'm
pose upon itself the condition which
we call drunkenness. The theory and
| process of fermentation, and even OF
distillation, has certainly been known
for thousands of years, and men, at
least since the days of Noah, have con
'tinued to pat in their mouths the
enemy that steals away their brains
Happily the average of intoxication, al
least in. all civilized countries, is de
creasing. Drunkenness has gone out
of fashion, and while prohibition hal
not won the day, moderation and TEN
| perancc have achieved a noble victory
There will be just as many ways Q.
getting drunk as ever, and modern sci
ence may discover new ones, but there
will not be so many people to intoxi
cate themselves as there were in the
times to which we refer as the ''goot
old days." when abstinence from intox
icants was deemed evidence of physca
and mental weakness or folly.-SaI
Francisco Chronicle.