The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1902-11-13
THE GREAT DESTROYER
SOME STARTLING FACTS ABOUT
THE VICE OF iNTEMPERANcE.
II 10 tho Power OF ssif-Controi which 10
First Paraiyzed by Aicchoi-How the
Crave For 1t is Fully Developed -
Moral Faculties Finally Disabled.

Moral Faculties Finally Disabled.
The highest pinnacle in a mans moral
nature Is the power to control or inhibit
the suggestions or inclinations OF his lower
self.
1t is this power Of inhibition or self-con.
troll that Is first paralyzed by alcohol, and
the paralysis is apparent at the earliest
stage of alcoholic ingestion. A man who
has just come under the influence of
moderate quantity OF alcohol is at once no.
ticed to lose his reserve, his self-restraint,
his discretion
next tor OF brain cells goes, while the frat
tier remains functionless throughout, still
more and more saturated with its poison.
His moral Judgment becomes duled, and
more of his self-control is given up.
Another tier is paralyzed and some mo-
tor centres are gone; still, N harmony
with the law that the nerve cells are made
functionless in the inverse order of devel-
opment. the highest and last developed suf-
ferng first and most.
During all this time the lower centres
(incuding those governing the animal pas
sions) are in a state of over-aetivity.
Another tier goes, and the mind is
blank. Paralysis of all the higher centres
is complete; the victim becomes insensi-
BILE; the muscular power of the limbs gives
way, and profound anesthesia results.
II the alcoholic dose has been large, and
still another tier paralyzed. the respiratory
function is lost. and the heart whose CEN
tire is first developed, soon ceases to beat.
Thus at the stage of complete intoxica.
ton all the higher centres-moral, mental
and motor-are paralyzed; the nerve cen
tres are bathed in blood saturated with al
cohol, and sureharged with waste products,
which the exhausted circuatory system
and reduced vitality are not able to elm
mate.
Now. disregarding the incidental acc.
holic diseases of the viscera, such as cirrcn
sis, ETC.. this brief description of an attack
of acu5e alcoholism is an accurate epitom"
of a career of chronic alcoholism. Chronic
alcoholism is simply an attack of acute u
| toxcation spread over a number of years
instead of a number Of hours.
The cunning hand of man has manufac-
tured beverage which has the peculiar
property of giving an evanescent buoyancy
OF spirits and vivacity OF thought, and OF
placed it ready TO his lips in tempting and
alluring variety
1t is not unnatural that men to satisfy
thirst should accept this tempting potion,
unconscious OF the fact that though plens-
ant to the palate in the end it stingeth
like serpent and biteth like an adder.
But few men at first realize the power of
alcohol TO beget an ungovernable craving
for itself. and we can readily believe that
no drunkard ever lived who did not at
one time boast that he could take 1t or
leave it alone"
The first element in the crave, then, is
the simple desire for liquid; the next ele-
ment arises out Of the discovery Of the
power that alcohol has of producing pleas.
urable feelings, e1altation of ideas, and OF
banishng cares and ills; third element
in the crave is force Of habit; fourth is
the desire TO relieve the depression follow.
ing a previous ingestion, and the fifth and
most powerful and pitiable is the loss oi
self-control which comes sooner or later
from alcoholic paresis or paralysis of the
highest brain centres.
The crave is not fully developed and ire
sstible until this highest tier, first and
most degenerated alike in acute and chronic
states, is paralyzed and destroyed.
The victim has now diseased brain,
and to fine him or punish him in any way
is worse than useless-his inebriety, at first
a vice, has become disease. because OF
the alcoholic degeneration Of his brain
cells.
Later in the degenerative process the
other layers go, and judgment, perception,
and the higher intellectual. as well as the
higher moral. faculties are deranged, unsta.
BILE. or altogether lost. Many chronic alco-
holics who, to the casual observer, never
seem to be suffering through drink, have
nevertheless, lost their judgment, and their
higher mental powers are dulled, making
them quite incapable of discharging high
and responsible duties with which they
may have been previously intrusted.