The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1903-09-16
THE GREAT DESTROYER
SOME STARTLING FACTS ABOUT
THE VICE or iNTeMPERANcE.

as "a Predisposfng and Exciting Causs
of Disease and Crime-Ru,n Diroio.
ishes the Strength of the Body
James Thacher. NJ D., was a prominvHs
! physician and surgeon throughout ths
| Revolutionary War. He was a man I'd
keen observation and sound Judgmep
In addition to his valuable Military yoMr-
nal, he published his celebrated Modern
| Practice OF Medicine.
quote. from this work his opinion re-
garding the effect of ardent spirits only.
| Tor it was not generally believed seventy
fve. years ago that wine, beer and other
soft drinks" were harmful.
There are marked chronic effects OF
| ardent spirits upon the body and the mind
| On the body they dispose to every form
! OF disease. Moreover, they excite varioas
| diseases, as obstruction of the liver. Jsun-
| dice. dropsy. cough, consumption and Other
! pulmonary diseases, eruptions on the lace
| and nose, called rum buds TIVE call them
rum blossoms now, and gout in all it's
forms.
Ardent spirits often incite fatal dis
eases without producing drunkness. 4
have known many persons destroyed By
distilled liquor who were never completely
intoxicated during the whole course OF
their lives. The solitary instance OF lon
gevlty which are now and then met with
in hard drinkers no more dsprove the
deadly effect of ardent spirits than the
solitary instances of recoveries from
drowning prove that there is no danger
to life from a human body lying an hoAr-
Or two under water.
Not less destructive are the effects oE
distilled spirits upon the human mind
DR.. Waters. OF Pennsylvania Hospital,
tells me that the insanity of one-third of
the patients there was induced by alcoholic
drinks. They impair the memory, debili-
tate the understanding, and pervert the
moral faculties. Not only falsehood IL
produced by them, but uncleanness, fraud.
THEFT and murder. No more affecting spec
tacle can be exhibited than person whose.
condition has been generated by the habit
OF drinking ardent spirits.
IS he a husband? How deep the an
guish which rends the bosom of his wifeS
Is the drinker a wife? Who can measure
the shame and aversion which she e1cites,
in her husband! Is he a magistrate, or
has he been called to fill a responsible pn-
stion in the councils of the nstions
What humiliating fears of corruption IN
the administration of the laws appear IN
the countenance OF all who see him, II
he 4 minister of the Gospel! Here Ian
cuagc fails me. If angels weer 1t il AZ
such sight. Poverty and misery, crimes
and iniamy. disease and death are all the
natural and usual consequences OF the pro-
longed use of ardent spirits. And this
death Is suicide
But the use of distilled liquors Is b.
lleNN.l ny MANY people 10 plNe strength
70 the body in certain circumstances
They. are said to be necessary IN cold
weather. This is not true; Tor the tenn
porary warmth produced is always sue
ceeded by a greater disposition OF the
body to be affected by cold. They are also
declared to be needed in very warm
weather. Experience shows that increas-
ing instead of lessening the effect OF heat
upon the body is the result of their use
DR.. Bell, OF the West Indies. declares that.
rum always diminishes the strength of the
body and renders men unfit for any ser
vice in which vigor and activity are re-
quired.
Ardent spirits do not lessen the effect
OF hard labor upon the body. Look at
the horse; with every muscle of his body
swollen from morning till night when at
tached to .plow OF in team. Does he
make signs for glass of toddy to enable
him to do his work? No, He requires
nothing but cool water and substantial
lood. There is no nourishment in ardent
spirits. So great is the danger OF con-
tracing a love for distilled liquors that
the smallest amount possible should be,
prescribed by. a physician. A physician
OF eminence who died near the close of the
last century in London amcntcd in pa
thetc terms that he had innocently made.
many sots by prescribing brandy and wa
ter in summer complaints Smoking and
chewing, tobacco, by rendering water and
simple beverages insipid, dispose to the
use OF ardent spirits.
No man ever became a drunkard sud-
denly BY gradually accustoming the
taste and stomach to ardent spirits u
habit Is formed, and the desire for more
liquor increases; the odious nuisance OF n
dram drinkers breath becomes a pep
manent acquisition. with the accomplai-
ment OF downright stupidity and impn-
tence.
Ministers of the Gospel of every de-
nomination in the United States aid me
with all the weight of the influence YOU
prevent the multitude of crimes and ms
cries the offspring OF strong drink,
1T l. highly probable that not lssx
than 1000 people die annually in the United
States from the use of intoxicating drinks.
Where are all the Indian tribes whose
numbers and arms formerly spread terror
among their civilized neighbors: In the
words OF the famous Mingo chief, the
blood OF many of them flows not in the
veins OF any human creature
They have pcrished not by pesti,enee
or war. but by a greater foe to human lie
than either of these, ardent spirits
The loss of 1000 American citizens by the
yellow fever in single year awakeneif
general sympathy and terror, and sailed
all the strength and ingenuity of laws to
prevent its recurrence. Why is not the
same zeal manifested in protecting oar
citizens from the more general and eoE-
Stunning rayases of distilled spiri;s,"-
Henry d. Didama. NJ d.. Vice -PresidenS
Of American Medical Temperance Assoeia-
tion.