The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1897-06-26

An interesting Lec,,nr OF the Histors
az Aicohc

An interesting Lso,rr Of the Hi,tors
a. Aicoho
At the Natural History Museum
Charles %. Pellew. OF Columbia Uni
yersity. delivered the frst OF an inter
.esting 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 HE. 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 rosin
and turpentine, even Of salt water, and
the question OF fermented and unfer-
mented wines among them and the an
cient 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
riyalled the tales told by the most ar
dent prohibitionist At the feast given
/ by Alexander at the tomb OF Cyrus, a
prize was offered for the boldest
drlnker. 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
bis competitors Early Rome was de-
scribed as painfully temperate, espe-
cially for the fair sex who were sem
fenced to death for touching wine. 1t
was sad to hear that kissing on the
mouth was invented by the Roman
husband to test his wife's 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 a sin
gle draugbt Of his.
New-England came in for a touch
from the lecturer. lt was somewhat
surprising to heart that, in the first
call for supplies sent home by the
Plymouth Bay colonists the famous
appeal headed by ministers" there
were, along with requests for barley.
rye and wheat. for seed, and stores Of
fruit trees, a petition for "vyne
plantes" and for "hop-rootes." The
minister. Mr. Higginson, was duly sent
in 1923, and his ship was furnished
with "45 tuns beere, tuns canarie, 20
gallons aqua vitae" and only tuns Of
water.
The lecture closed with a short de-
scrlptlon OF the last century, charac-
terized by the growth and development
Of the temperance movement. Some
fine illustrations were given from
Cruikshank's powerful plates OF THE
Bottle, and comparison OF the drink
Ing habits OF both the educated and un-
educated classes OF the present day as
compared with those Of hundred or
even fifty years ago showed the great
advance Of the present civilization.