The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1901-01-17

IT'S EFFEors UPON STOMACH, LIVER
AND KIDNEYS.

!
/ Upon the stomach the continued prac-
tice of drinking, whether In large or
small quantities, invariably produces
an Inflammation and n catarrh, writes
! John G.. Coyle, NJ. D., In Father Math-
ew Herald. Soon the drinker cannot
eat in the morning and at that time
feels disgust for food. These are the
first symptoms OF alcoholic catarrh of
| the stomach. To acquire the necessary
l appetite the drinber has recourse to
the poison itself and takes drink or
two I'm the morning before breakfast,
/ thus gaining apparent relief, but In re-
ality only adding fuel to the fame al
ready burning.
No sooner does the stomach begin to
rebel against the poison thrust into It
than the liver exhibits the commence
ment of disease which yearly causes
thousands of deaths. Under the irrita-
tion of the alcohol the liver begins to
enlarge slowly and gradually to grow
harder. Eventually 1t will contract
again and become much smaller than
in natural health. This condition Is
called cirrhosls. SO hard and rough
does the liver become that one of the
names applied to this disease Is hob
nailed liver" Cirrhosls of the liver,
once established, is incurable and the
announcement of its presence In an in
dlvidual Is the pronouncement of the
sentence Of death.
SO, too, the kidneys. undergoing re-
peated irritation from the alcoholic va
pors in the blood, yield to the insidious
poison and become chronically nfam-
ed, like the liver. but In this case the
disease is known as nephrltis. or
Bright's disease of the kidneys, so
named from Bright, the man who first
described 1t. The fearful picture Of
this disease is well known to you all
the limbs and body swollen from the
dropsy, the distorted features. the fear
full convulsions which terrlfy the
household are matters of everyday
knowledge. Brights disease is occa-
sionally produced by other causes than
alcohol. but for one such case there are
80 the direct result of the practice of
drinking.
The entire nervous system from brain
to finger tips suffers from the alcoholic
poison. 1t Is the acute saturation. or
overwhelming of the brain and nerves.
that we commonly describe as drunk
enness. But as in the case of the stom-
ach, liver and kidneys. drunkenness is
never necessary to produce the worst
effects of the alcoholic habit. 1t is the
steady drinking. the daily habit of a
few drinks, which produces the worst
effects. 1t Is often the individual who
/ wa never drunk in his life. but drank
little every day, who dies directly as
a result of such practice. The more or
/ less constant saturation of the brain
and nerve cells in the alcoholic fumes
changes their structure. makes the per-
son more irritable, more easily depress-
ed. less responsible and less fitted for
labor and the duties of life.
Therefore when human being with
out necessity or for purposes of mere
qualification introduces into his body
the drug known as alcohol. whether In
the shape of the mild or strong liquors.
ne voluntarily places within his system
every tissue in his body. which cor
rupts his manhood. which puts to waste
the fruits of his labor, which renders
him less fit for life. which degrades his
family, which is an incentive to crime,
which threatens him with the loss of
reason, which entails misery and mis-
fortune upon those dependent upon
him, which leads him away from his
Creator to the path of destruction and
brings upon him and his unborn gen
erations the wrath of the Almighty.
Against this array of consequences,
which follow as surely as II night the
day, what can be offered in extenua-
ton? Against this endless march of
woe there stands but the fleeting pleas
ure of a brief enjoyment; against an
eternity Of punishment there is but a
moment of forgetfulness.
Oh. you, the daily witnesses of the
awful consequences of the habit of
drunkenness, lift up your hearts and
stand against this evil! To the specter
whose shadow threatens the peace of
home and the welfare of the body ar
ray solid front of faith and courage
Not by striving to.pass restrictive laws
may good be accomplished, for legisla-
tlon does not alter the human passions;
not by coudemning the traffic can the
evil be cured, for there is none TO sell
unless there be those who buy. But by
education In the direful consequences
of drinking, by the daily lesson that 1t
Is a curse whose maledictions have no
end, by the cultivation of the will to re-
sist the temptation to drink, by the
avoidance Of the scenes of drinking
and the company of those who proffer
the temptation-by these means. and
by these alone. may the evil of drunk
enness be lessened. its danger 10 the
race averted and it's menace to the
peace of the soul avoided
May the cause of temperance, under
the guidance of earnest bodies of men,
like temperance guilds, grow and in
crease, ard with faith erect and firm
hearts LET us unite TO destroy the one
habit most lnimical to our strength as
men and to our hopes of eternai peace.
EnRIand's Black Spots.
Late English criminal statistics show
that Glamorgan. after Monmouth. is
the blackest county in the island for
the number of ItR crimes I'm pronortion