The Falls City tribune., 1910-06-17
VALUE OF TOTAL ABSTINENCE
interesting and Able Address Oeliv
cred by Sir Alexander Russell
Simpson. M. D., D. Sc.

An interesting and able address on.
the value of total abstinence was re-
Gently delivered by Sir Alexander
Russell simpson, NJ. D., d. Sc, dean of
the faculty of medicine, Edinburgh.
university, before an immense assem-
blage gathered for the Scottish ma
tional Sunday school convention, held
in the great Scottish center. Speaking.
from the standpoint of morality aud
science, Sir Alexander said in part.
About a quarter of a century ago
some friends in Kingston. Ont, took.
me on an excursion on the st. Law
renee river. The speaker OF the Ca
madam parliament. who was of the.
company. made me take notice. as we
sailed out from the town, that the first
imposing building we were passing.
was a distillery. Near by was an In
Urinary, then a lunatie asylum, then al
prison, and after these a cemetery.
u take 1t Tor granted that every
teacher before me has SO far consid7
cred the relation OF the use OF aleo1
holio liquors to disease, arrangement,
degradation. and death, as to have.
seen the advisability OF becoming al
personal aBstainer. Supreme among.
the dangers that beset all our lives is
the danger inherent IN the common.
use of alcohol. Whatever be the form
in which it is taken-wine, beer, spir'
lis, or what else-lt is a more com
a-on a,ta ~ 1N1u Of bau1fh nf Lose
of reason. of loss of character. of loss.
of life, than any other of the intllt
ences that tell upon our complex.
mechanism. An intoxicated man Isl
simply Il man that Is in the clutch of
a poison.
This leads me more Immediately In.
the direction in which | suppose you.
expect me, as n member OF the med
lcal profession. to offer some sugges-
tons as to what instruction 1t might
be desirable to impart to our young
charges if much of the result Of all
your labor is not to be blotted out OF
their lives in later years through ig-
noranee of the influence of alcohol on
the body and even more on the mind
of the man.
ITO begin with, young people should
be taught hat wine is not a necessity
of life. 1t is no more necessary for
man that for any Of the creatures
around him. There are tribes and
communities who live and thrive with
out It. The want of it is never felt
by one who has not begun to use 1t.
No household that excludes 1t from
its dietary suffers In anything from
it's absence. The child reared in alb.
~stinence has missed nothing that could
have helped It's growth and develop
ment, or, | will add, its happiness,
I'VE deny it a place among the nee
e~sslties of life. But there is no deny
ing it a place among life's Injuries.
We must be quite honest with our
selves and with the young, and reeog-
nize that those who habitually or oc-
c~asionally drink wine do so because
of some qualification 1t affords. But
it Is a costly luxury. The temporary
qualification it yields puts a tax upon
the life. 1t is the most dangerous lux
ury in which a human being can in
dulge, because of the risk to life and
health attendant upon its use, apart
altogether from its contramoral and
antispiritual influences.
I'm a graduation address Is years
ago, | took occasion to congratulate
the young doctors who during their
student curriculum had had the wis
dom and the courage to be members
of the Total Abstinence society, and
to say to all the graduates: You will
not be long in practice before you
will prove these five things:
u. That alcohol, habitually used,
can of itself produce disease from
which the abstainer remains exempt
"'2. That 1t viii a~ggrayate diseases
to which all are liable.
80. That it renders those who ha1
bftually use 1t more open to attacks
of various forms-of Illness.
"a. That the a~lcoholist has a worse.
chance of recovery from a fever or an
injury than an abstainer.
"f5. That in the crisis of disease the.
alcoholist gets less benefit from slim
ulants than the abstainer.'
1T may occur to some n to ask,
But what of the people who take their
daily glass of wine and live to old
age? Well, with the splendid equip
ment of blood and blood vessels with.
which they were endowed by nature,
how much longer might they not have
lived on had the deteriorating element
been kept out of their system? They
are likeliest to come near the natural
limit of longevity who all their life4
time keep their blood and tissues clear
of the effect of alcohol.
1T is sometimes claimed for wine as
a virtue that it stimulates the appe7
tite. Here again experiment and OBJ
~servation show that if 1t irritates the
stomach to secrete more fluid, the Sc
erection is IF lowered digestive quality
Instead of helping, it hinders diges1
ton. II temps the drinker to take in
what his stomach cannot property di]
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