The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-02-06
Why Intoxicants
Destroy the
Body.
WHAT AUTHORITIES
SAY ON SUBJECT
A Writer to the Advertiser Gives
Exhaustive Reasons for
TeetotaIism.

, E0 ASoAth VI the people Is the Su-
preme law. Shakespeare says,
ignorance Is the curse of God: and
knowledge the wing wherewIth we fly
to heaven" Another, who lived long
oetore aim, a poet, prophet, a seer. a
King, said of wisdom and understanding
The merchandise of it Is better than
the merchandise of silver, and the gain
thereor than fine gold. She Is more pre-
cious than rubies: and all the things
thou canst desire are not to be compared
unto her. Length of days Is in her right
hand; and In her left riches and honor.
Her ways are ways OF pieasantness and
all her paths are peace. She is tree
OF lie to them that lay hold upon her,
and happy is every one that retaineth
her." It needs not, Mr. Editor that ono
be sentimental enthusiast to appreciate
the beauty and truth of the words quot
ed; common sense avows their wisdom
and their worth.
To those who hold places of trust tn
those in whose hands ofttimes the gut
dance OF men and women's lives are
confidently placed, and the care of their
health committed-that health that Is so
priceless boon, so frequently lost and
sometimes SO hard to regain-I say to
isuch leaders and guiders, the above
words should be of special value
1t appears not little remarkable that
to specially educated men, uncertainty
as to the recognized qualities of meth
ylated spirits should be so pronounced.
Methyhc alcohol, known also as pyrox-
vic or wood spirit is, together with
Iethyilc alcohol, poisonous. According,
4 however to so high an authority as the
nf I
lcohol, methylic alcohol is less Injurious
than ethylic, the latter being the spirit
lending it's characteristics to intoxicat-
ing beverages. and why the .former
should be stamped as poisonous, and the
equally powerful drug that gives poten-
Icy to beer, wine and spirits be more
tleniently dealt with appears hard to I'M
Iderstand.
| Some short time since a vendor of
methylic alcohol was reported as say
| ing, There are moral reasons as well
as business why I do not want to do
this Il. e., to selD. I consider methylat-
ed alcohol far worse than pure spirits.
land regard the sale of it as selling poi
son." On another occasion and more re-
Gently he was reported as saying he con-
sidered 1t "inimical to human life" At
meeting of the Board of Health re-
ported in the Advertiser December 9th
! last the president is said to have stated.
I
pointed to investigate the question as to
whether the spirits had toxic elements"
have We, sir, in our small community
specialists likely to overturn the judg-
ment of such toxicologists as Profess
sor Christison, Pereira, Dr. Taylor. Pro-
lessor Orfila and other authorities of
equal note, by whom alcohol Is pro-
nounced an "acrid poison?" The high
est chemical authorities on the produc-
ton of wine, Drs. Thudicum and Dupre.
deliberately state that "AlcohoI Is a pof-
/, son even in small doses" Dr. O'Gormaa
undian Medical Service) says This
lproduct (alcohoD of the saccharomyces
cerevisia is similar to other toxines
elaborated by other enzymic micro-or-
ganisms and like them causes.
on introduction into the tissues. local
lied LESSONS by chemical irritation and
general toxic Effects The same au-
thority declares alcohol to be power
full protoplasmic or tissue poison act
ing primarily on the cellular elements.
just as opium. mercury, phosphorus and
arsenic Its action as classified by
chemists and Psychologists Is that of a
Observation-Disclosures poison"
The "Deutschen Medicinischen Woch
enschrfft,' one of the most authorita-
tive medical periodicals, saws editorial
", THE views concerning the action of
alcohol upon human metabolism have
essentially changed within a short
time, and speaks of the poisonous ac-
ton of alcohol upon the albumen Of the
cells"
Professor Hall of the Northwestern
University Medical School, in an adj
dress recently made before the Chicago
Academy of Sciences, declared alcohol
to be "a poisonous exeretion (of bacte-
ria) which is never beneficial to the
healthy BODY
Let me now, sir, quote from "Bacte-
ria" by George Newman, Md, FRS.
tEdin.), D-PH. Camb.) and demonstra-
tor OF hacteriology in Kings College,
LONDON. He says, speaking of the toxin /
OF the Saccharonyces Cerevisia. alcohol. !
as being infmfcal to their own reproduc- I
ton, 1t has become indeed a poison, and /
as we nave already mentioned a neces-
sary condition for the action of a fer /
inent is the absence of poisonous sub
stances"
These extremely interesting and highly
important facts throw a flood of light
upon the reasons why insurance COM
panles are enabled to issue bonuses to
total abstaining insurers of, on an aver
age, 20 to "a per cent higher than to
moderate drinkers. The scientific rea-
son Tor TINS was not known, but sixty
years practical business experience has
shown that the life of the total alb
stafner from alcoholic beverages is large
Iy safer for insurance purposes than the
restricted drinkers
These facts, Mr.. Editor, recall to mind
another instance where the action of
bacteria was the cause of striking eff
fects and conditions. not understoos ar
even dreamt of. I alIude to the we'll |,
known properties of peas and beans as
renovators of poor soils. For two thou
sand years the fact was known and act
ed upon, and Varro, the Roman scholar
and writer, who died A D. %, advised
ms contemporaries of the valuable prop
critics of the plants alluded to II was
however, reserved for Hellriegal, few
years since. to give to the world the
true cause of the beneficent action NAM
ed. 1t is now common knowledge that
the advantages SO long known to accrue
from the culture and blowing IN of peas
and beans arise from the presence of
certain bacteria which gather free nitro
gen from the air and deliver 1t in fixed