Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1899-01-27
TEMPERANCE COLUMN
CONDUCTED BY THE ADDISON
COUNTY |. o. G. T.


Expert Testimony on Alcohol - Article
Fourth.
The testimony tf one of the most ex-
pert of experts, on this subject. comes
from England. The witness Is Sir Ben.
jamin Ward Richardson, NJ. d. He was.
at one time, president of the Medical
Society of London. He was also Eel
low of the Royal College of Physicians.
etc.. man of great scholarly ability and
a recognized leader of medical science.
He was asked by the British Medical as
ISOLATION to study the action of alcohol
and of other chemical bodies. He hai
very favorable opportunities for such
study and his experiments with alcohol
covered a period of about three years.
After his investigation of this matter,
he gave himself for years to the temper.
ance work of total abstinence, both in
lecturing and writing. 1t was not, with
him, matter of sentiment merely, but a
matter of accurate knowledge at first
hand. His sentiment grew out of his
knowledge.
DR.. Richardson's own account of his
experience is as follows. II am record
ing a matter of history-of personal
history-un this question when | say
that |, for one, had no thought of alco-
hol except as food. | thought it
warmed us, thought it gave additional
strength, | thought it enabled us to en-
dure mental and bodily fatigue, thought,
it cheered the heart and lifted up the
mind into greater activity. But It so
happened that was asked to study the
action of alcohol along with whole
series Of chemical bodies, and to investi-
gate their bearing in relation to each
other. And so took alcohol from the
shelf Of my laboratory, as / might any
other drug or chemical there, and | asked
it, in the course of experiments extend
ing over long period, What do you
do" asked it, DO you warm the ami
nal body when you are taken into it?
The reply came invariably, Il do not, ex-
cept as a mere flush of surface excite
ment. There is, in fact, no warming, but
on the contrary, an effect of cooling and
chilling the body Then turned
round to it in another direction, and
asked it, DO you give muscular
strength | test it by the most rigid
analysis and experiment can adopt. |
test muscular power under the influence
of it in various forms and degrees. and
its reply is, i give no muscular strength
| turn to its effect upon the organs of the
body, and find that while it expedites
the hearts action it reduces toDicity;
- ~.
the same reply-lhat is to say. find the
nervous system more quickly worn out
under the influence of this agent than if
none of it is taken at all. | ask it, Can
you build up any of the tissues of the
body? The answer again is in the
negative. Il can build nothing. If do
anything add fatty matter to the body;
but that is a destructive agent, piercing
the tissues, destroying their powers,
and making them less active in their
work Finally, | sum it all up. | find
it to be an agent that gives no strength,
that reduces the tone of the blood-ves-
sells and heart, that reduces the nervous
power, that builds up no tissues, can be
of no use to me or any other animal as a
substance for food. On that side of the
question my mind is made up-that this
agent, in the most moderate quantity, is
perfectly useless for any of the cOndi-
tons of life to which men are subjected.
except under the most exceptional con-
ditions, which none but skilled observ-
ers need declare
One of the greatest hospitals in the
world is the London hospital. For years
Sir Andrew Clark was at the head of
this institution. He had abundant OPP
portunity for studying the effects of al
cOhol. He said this about it: 81 re-
peat to you as a result of long continued
and careful thought, that health is not a
state which can in any sense be bene-
fitted by alcohol. 1t can bear it some
times without obvious injury, but be
benefited by it-never." So can man
endure cold, or blow on the head, or
grief. without any obvious injury, but
he is injured, altho' his system throws 1t
of and he cannot point to the injurious
marks. According to DR.. Richardson.
a man is Injured Just according to the
amount of alcohol or alcoholic drinks,
he gets into his system. The only ex-
ceptions are those rare circumstances
which only skilled physician can de-
termine.
DR.. Richardson had a large medical
practice extending through many years;
not simply family practice but hospital
practice The result of his experience
in practice with alcohol and without it,
is given by him in the following words;
1--WE have learned that alcohol is drug,
and that even as drug it ought to be
used in disease with the utmost care.
We have not refused it absolutely. At
the Temperance hospital lin Londonl we
have had it tried some seventeen times
in some twenty-five years, without any
traceably benefit on any of these few
occasions; and we have confidently
found how to do without It altogether.
For my part, | have never once adj
ministered it in the hospital, nor any
substitute in its place, and | have an
OF cot icf in Of ha