The San Angelo press. (San Angelo, Tex.) 1897-1907, 1904-08-11

nature that is ordinarily under
such perfect control.
There is one particular form in
which alcohol is used that brutal
ICES a person more than any other.
In the very appearance of the IN
veterate beer drinker We can see
how this process is carried on.
There is a coarseness about the
features that advertises a coarse
ness of feeling-an absence of
those finer and more delicate SELL
timents that mark the Christian
gentleman. ] have been reliably
informed that the houses of i'll
fame make II point of administer
ing beer, and offer a special fee TO
our authorities if they may be
allowed TO sell beer in their nefa-
rious institutions
So that this foe TO law, this foe
to health, this foe to reason, after
poisoning the best and nCblest in
our manhood, must complete its
fearful havoc by undermining the
chastity and modesty Of our wom-
anhOOd.
The two most plausible pleas
for the use of alcohol are (a) as a
stimulant in disease and (b) as
protection against cold. Both
these are delusive claims. Every
physician knows that alcohol does
stimulate the circulation of the
blood. But in doing this it does
not add any vital force to the con-
stitution, but simply draws on the
reserve force Of the system. A
military officer would be branded
as grossly Inefficient if he brought
up his reserves at every action.
So is the man guilty OF the Wild
est economy of strength who is
constantly drawing on the reserve
forces Of his system. 1t is fa-
miliar fact that drunkards sue
cumb more readily to organic dis
eases than any other class of peo-
pie, simply from the fact that
they have used up this reserve
force, and there IS nothing left,
when disease comes, upon which
phy6lcian can build. They ex-
press it by saying che has no con-
stitution."
The other Plea of protection
against cold is even more delusive.
Every physician will tell you that
alcohol actually reduces the tenn
perature of the body You know
that u drunk man will freeze to
death quicker than u sober one.
The Arctic explorers always make
it condition of accompanying
them that no alcohol can he used.
The system, in Arctic regions,
cannot stand such u strain, and
an intoxicated person would sue
cumb at once. The reasoning
about alcohol makes this very
plain. In the first place it re-
duces the temperature by hinder
ing the combustion of the fats in
the system. The heat of the body
is maintained by burning the fats,
Just as we burn oil in an engine.
The use of alcohol tends to hinder
this process, as it ID like trying to
make steam in the boiler by pour
ing water on the fire But be-
sides, the stimulation of the heart
action exposes the person more
Immediately to the cold. Excess
sive cold drives the blood away
from the outer surfaces of the
body, go that there is left pod
of skin all over the body to pro-
tect the vital parts from the cold,
and the blood which circulates all
through the body can thus be
maintained at its normal temper
allure by this cuticle protection.
But alcohol, by stimulating the
heart action, drives the blood
nearer the surface Of the body
where the external cold can get
access to it and reduces its tenn
perature. AS it is pumped through
the system, constantly exposing
more of it to the cold, the man is
gradually frozen. He has the sem
satlon Of growing warmer, but it
is only the outer cuticle from
which the blood has been driven
by the cold, that comes into the
sphere of circulation, and every
particle of warmth that the man
feels in the skin is so much re-
moved from the vital organs, re-
ducing their temperature by the
same amount. Nature is endeav,
oring to keep the man alive by
maintaining his internal heat
Alcohol is endeavoring to kill him
by spreading his fund of heat al.
over his skin where the cold car
have best access to it.,
SO that every seeming benefit il
Il delusion and snare, and undel
cover of II delusive gift, alcoho
stabs the vital parts of the man
My friends we are engaged in t
fight for the life of our Christian
civilization against an enemy tina
Dives no quarter Our safety lie