The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1903-04-15
THE GREAT DESTROYER
SOME STARTLING FACTS ABOUT
THE VICE OF iNTEMPeRANcE.


Americas on the Subject Of Modsrste
Dripking-Alcohol Hindsrs DigestaoD
BE sociabIe But Keep Sober.
The sot is the product Of over-drinkin8,
and against such drinking this paper has
ever lifted its voice as strenuousIy as it
knew how.
II men will drink, let them drink in
moderation. The whisky habit 10 an evil,
but it il not 30 much OF an evil when in.
dulged in moderately a. when it is carried
to excess.
About the logic of the proposition there
In no loom for dispute. No one will think
of que,tioning it.
Excessive drinking is a bad thing.
But what about the so-called moderate
drinking? That il does one great deal OF
harm to drink to excess no one denies, but
how about the other question: "Does il
do one no harm to drink in modera.ion?
Take France for an answer. The French
people are not drunkards. You might ira.
vel all day in France without finding .
drunken man. The cot is a rare phen0fne-
non in France. And yet for continuous,
respectable alcoholism, the screwing-up OF
nerves and heating Of blood, day and night,
year in and year out, France goes ahead OF
oil other countries.
And what has this habit done for Franco
France. where drunkards are almost un-
known, where q sot is a living curiosity,
where scarcely any one drinks TO excess,
but where nearly every one drinks moder.
ately?
The answer is given in three words-tu-
berculosis, epilepsy. insanity.
One OF the most distinguished OF living
Frenchmen. N. Mesureur, Director of the
Department Of Charities Of Paris, il re-
sponsible for the above statement, which
he has had printed in large type on plac-
ards that are posted up all about the gay
capital.
It is fact worth thinking about.
Frenchmen ssd Americans are made out
of the same material, and are subject to
the same physical laws, and il it is Q fact.
as ii. Mesureur claims it is, that moderate
drinking has scattered far and wide in
France the seeds Of consumption, epilepsy
and insanity, it is fair to presume that IL
will do the same in this country II gwen o
chance.
This is q good place to notice the argu.
ment, made by certain people, that mod
crate drinking aids digestion.
Does it? The active element in the pro-
cess known as digestion is pepsin. Now, II
q small quantity Of gastric juice is put into
a bottle, and alcohol is added to it.. the
pepsin settles to the bottom Of the bottle in
the shape Of fine, white powder.
This is precisely what happens in the
stomach when one takes alcoholic liquor.
Alcohol neutralizes the effect Of the pep.
sin in the gastric juices, and as result the
food is improperly digested.
There is another way in which alcohol,
hinders digestion. -
II you will take the white OF an egg and
al hol
tise that the eng auickly 5sgins 70 harden,
a. II Il were being cooked. Something very
similar to this takes place when alcohol II
taken into the stomach. II hardena the IN
bef coating Of the stomach--in other words,
paralyzes the Thousands Of little arms that
are supposed TO take hold Of the food and
digest it. -
Upon this matter Of drink as an aid to
digestion Sir Henry Thompson. the great.
est authority in the world on the subject,
says that alcohol, 80 far from aiding d.
gestion, only obstructs and retards it, and
that the only safe rule is to abstain from
alcohol altogether.
Sir Henry's book. "Diet in Relation to
Age and Activity" is one that ever ono
should read
It is sometimes claimed that the use OF
whisky promotes sociability and makes men
coneenial one TO another.
We hear this said very often. But did
you ever stop long enough to ask yourself
this question: What sort Of good-fellow.
ship is it that either cannot or will not
show itself until it has been given 4 glass
Of whisky"
After you have got that sort OF sociabil.
ity, is it worth very much to you? What .
shady compliment it is to your friends and
yoursei to say that you cannot sit down
81 ko ~ aA-
ding your brains with drink.
Can you be sociablc and be sober at tho
same time! L. the sociability in the glass
OF whisky. or p it in the sentiments OF
the heart?
But the reply NAV cnme. The whisky
stimulates our minds and helps US to bright
thoughts. After a glass or two we can
think like lightning and talk like house
aire"
Yes. But about what does the whisky
help you to think and talk?
counts for something in this world. espe.
cially when we come to the matter of
thought and its expression.
A dozen words spoken out OF a clear
brain upon a noble theme are worth q
thousand thrown of in the heat OF drink
upon cheap or commonplace matters.
Whisky never nut a great thought into
cheap mans head. and whisky never
helped a great man to thought that he
might not just az well have arrived at
without the whisky.
That whisky makes men talk there is no
doubt. But. besides being cheap" talk,
especially the talk that is induced by
drink, is oftentimes not only humiliating
but dangerous in it's consequences.
Many murder has leapcd. red-kanded
and terrible, out of the talk that came
from the whisky bottle. .
And it is more than probable that many
who shall read this editorial will be able 10
recall times in their lives when they would
have given anything in the world not to
have talked SO much at certain time and
place while they were under the influence
of liquor.
They did not mean it-God knows they
did not-but they said it, said it in conse-
quencc OF the fact that they had added
their brains by drink, and the mischief
was done.
Upon the whole. then. it is best to keep
ones head clear and cool. And in order to
do that it is necessary to let whisky alone.
If YOU do not trouble it, il will not
trouble you. But II you get mixed up with
it. the chances are that before the mixing
Is over it will throw You and throw you
hard.-Editorial in the New York Amcri.
can.
Against Treating.