The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-08-20
BIG DRINKS OF WHISKY.
HALF A PINT AT GJLP HAS BEEN
KNOWN TO KILL.

DOwn-Sontetthes
Followed, and Sometimes the
Foolish Bettor Became MaudIin
Drunk-How the Nerve Centers
Are Pnralyxed.
From the Chicago Tribune.
1t is the opinion of Chicago bartend-
ers that Ralph Allen, the Fort Sheridan
recruit who won a wager by taking
pint of raw whisky at a gulp the other
day, could have won the sum in any
ordinary barroom by making the guam
tity only half pint.
In the opinion of DR.. N. S. Davis, the
veteran practitioner, who has made al
coholism the subject of years of study,
the fact that Allen went to the guard
house instead of the undertaker's seems
to partake of something akin to the
thing commonly referred to as "a dis
pensation of Providence"
Half as much whisky as Allen took
has killed many a mainland especially
many young men who have not at
tanned their growth" said DR.. Davis.
81 shall watch with interest to see If
the man dies from it.
ITO one unfamiliar with the work
ings of alcohol such a gulp of whisky
is not appreciated. A pint of whisky
drank inside of an hour is vastly diff
ferent in it's effects to pint swallowed
at one drink. Just as soon as alcohol
is taken into the system the body be-
gins to make efforts to throw off the
poison. Most of it is exhaled from the
body with the breath; much of it pass
es on into the lower digestive appar-
atus, and it is even said that it exudes
from the body through the pores.
THE salvation of the drunkard of
course, lies in the manner in which
alcohol effects the nerve centers in the
brain. Else the first time a man took
whisky enough to intoxicate he would
die on the spot quicker than from a
dose Of arsenic.
Eject of Drink.
Take a man who is drinking whisky
and observe him. The effect of the
drink is upon the higher faculties, and
it's first influence is to tell upon a mans
sense of reserve and his regard for the
proprieties.
after the first drink his tongue is
loosened; he talks more gliby than be-
fore. With the second drink his re-
serve is gone and his talk probably
borders on the indiscreet. At the third
drink. If he be in congenial company.
he may want to dance, and at the
fourth he is satisfied that he is the
best dancer in the house.
Just when he would prove the fact
! somebody is likely to prevent it, and
he becomes offended. With equal con-
viction he announces that he can whip
any one man in the house, and with
the succeeding drink he does some
sparring to give weight to his utter
ance. He begins to lose control of his
muscles, however, and when he has
sunk into such a degree of uncon-
seriousness that he can be reused only
by physical effort, that last dim men
tai conviction is that he can whip any
three or four men in the house. In that
state, with all the higher nerve CEN
tcrs paralyzed and the motor centers
| controlling his limb movements be-
| numbed, he mercifully for himself, falls
asleep. Had it been possible for him
| to have gone on to another one or two
drinks. the centers of circulation and
respiration, at the top of the spinal
ccrd would have been paralyzed kill
| ing him more quickly than arsenic
would have done. From ten minutes to
one hour is the period to which a man
may die from too much whisky, while
man taking arsenic may live from
four to twenty-four hours.
Sometimes Kills Children.
"As to how much whisky is a deadly
| dose depends a good deal upon the size
of a man and the quantity of blood in
his body A drink of whisky that
grown man may take safely will kill
child, and on an average in this coun-
try four or five children a year are
killed in this way by finding whisky
and drinking from bottle or glass In
such death there is no pain; the per-
son simply drops into Inconsistencies
and his breath gets weaker and weak
err until finally it stops altogether"
OF the two men at Seymour, Iowa,
who almost simultaneously with Allen
at Fort Sheridan tried to get drunk by
drinking 100 bottles of lemon extract,
dying in great agony, DR.. Davis said:
From the fact that the men drank
the stuff | should say the alcohol used
as preservative for the lemon TEMPT
ed them. But as the men died in agony
l should say that the citric acid from
the lemon had combined as an irritant
poison to kill the men. Otherwise, how
ever, 20 Oounces of alcohol are enough
to Kill two ordinary men. Ten to thirty
grains of citric acid are a dose for an
adult. however, so that probably the
acid alone in the 100 bottles mikht have
killed the men.
las to alcoholic liquors, II hardly will
be disputed that the teetotaler class
lives longer than does the class of even
moderate drinkers. The recent action
of an American insurance company in
favoring teetotalers with smaller prem
iums recognizes this as fact, and in
London, where for forty years a life
company has put total abstainers and
moderate drinkers in separate classes.
the returns for years have shown that
the abstainers live from ten to fifteen
years longer than do even the moder-
ate drinkers"
Drinks Growing Smaller.
According to saloon men in Chicago
the size of drinks of straight whisky
has been growing smaller in the last
twenty-five years. Two-finger drinks
arc much more common than those
measured by three fingers or by a
thumb and finger encircling the rim
of the glass, and increasing its capac-
ity by fourth.
Not only are the drinks smaller"
said the proprietor of a saloon in
Adams street, near La Sale, but IN
most cases If you hand out 100 proof
whisky to a customer he will kick be-
cause it is too strong.
The time was when nothing less
than 100 proof spirits could be sold.
Now everything is blended whisky, and
you may buy 90 proof
whisky as such and sell it. Some