Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1897-03-25
DRINKING in MANY AGES.
An Interesting Lecture on tho History
of Alcohol

An Interesting Lecture ON tho History
of Alcohol
AT the Natural History Museum
Charles h. Pellew, of Columbia Uni
versity, delivered the first of an inter-
estlng series Of popular lectures upon
alcohol last night. His subject was
THE History Of Alcohol and began
by explaining the universal prevalence
Of stimulating or narcotic drugs as
showing the universal craving of man
kind for something to hide the trials
and troubles Of life. He spoke briefly
about the early beverages Of the an
cient Hindoos and Chinese, and then
illustrated the drinking habits Of the
ancient Egyptians with curious col
lection OF lantern slides. The habits
and customs Of ancient Greece came
next, and the worship Of the great god
Dionysus, or Bacchus, was illustrated
by some splendid photographs OF
vases, statues and bas-reliefs. Their
wine was drunk diluted, never stronger
than half water, and frequently with
two. four or even fifteen parts of the
milder fluid. Mention was made Of the
curious nature Of their wines, the ad-
mixture Of honey and spices, or rosln
and turpentine, even of salt water, and
the question OF fermented and infer
mentCd wines among them and the an
Client Hebrews The use Of wine among
the more hardy and less civilized Mace
domains was less refined, and the ex-
ploits Of Philip and his son Alexander
rivalled the tales told by the most ar
dent proAibltionist. AT the feast given
by Alexander at the tomb Of Cyrus, a
prize was offered for the boldest
drinker, and the victor Promachus,
credited with fourteen quarts of wine,
died in three days time from the effects
Of his debauch, along with some fifty OF
his competitors. Early Rome was de-
scribed as painfully temperate, espe-
cially for the fair sex, who were SEN
fenced to death for touching wine. It
was sad to hear that kissing on the
mouth was invented by the Roman
husband to test his wifes abstinence
from the wine cask. Later, however,
after Greece and the East were con-
quered, wine flowed freely, and the
later republicans We'd with the sub
Jects Of the early emperors in gross
and unbrldled drunkenness
The capacity of the Roman must
have been considerable, for citizen
was knighted by the Emperor Claudius
under the title of Tricongius, or three
gallon man." such having been sim
gle draught of his.
New-England came in for touch
from the lecturer, 1t was somewhat
surprising to heart that, in the first
call for supplies sent home by the
Plymouth Bay colonists, the famous
appeal headed by minister's" there
were, along with requests for barley
rye and wheat, for seed, and stores o.
fruit trees, petition for "vynt
plantes" and for "hop-rootes." Tit
minister, Mr. Higglnson, was duly sen
in 1928, and his ship was Furnished
with "45 tuns Deere, tuns canarie, q
gallons aqua vitae and only tuns 0
water.
The lecture closed with a short de
scription of the last century, charac
terized by the growth and development
of the temperance movement. Som,
fine illustrations were given from
Cruikshank's powerful plates OF "Thc
Bottle" and a comparison of the drink
ing habits of both the educated and un
educated classes Of the present day al
compared with those Of hundred Of
even fifty years ago showed the grea
advance of the present civilization.