The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1912-02-10
DOMAIN OF TEMPERANCE.
SPURIOUS BASIS FOR HAPPl-
NESS.

Inc basis or intemperance is the
effort to secure through drugs the
feeling OF happiness when happiness
does not exist. Men destroy their
nervous system for the tingling pleas
ures they feel as its structures are
torn apart. There are many drugs
writes David Starr Jordan, President
OF the Leland Stanford Junior Unfyer-
slty,. which cause this pleasure. and
In proportion to the delight they seem
to give Is the real mischief they work
Pain is the warning to the brain
that something is wrong i'm the organ
in which the pain is felt. Sometimes
that which should be felt as pain is
interpreted as pleasure. If man law
his fingers upon an anvil and strike
them one by one with hammer, the
brain will feel the shock as pain. II
viii give orders to have the blows
checked. But if, through some abnor-
NAL condition, some twist of the
nerves, or clot ON the brain, the injury
were felt as exquisite delight, there
would arise the impulse to repeat il.
This would be temptation. The,
knowledge of the injury which the eve
would tell to the brain would lead the
Will to stop the blows The impulse,
OF delight would plead for their repeti-
ton; and in this fashion the hand
might be sacrificed for feeling Of
pleasure, which is no pleasure at all.
but form of mania. Of this char
acter is the effect of all nerve-exciting
drugs. AS drop of water is of the,
nature Of the sea, SO i'm it's degree is
the effect of alcohol, opium, tobacco.
cocaine, kola, tea, or coffee, Of the,
nature of mania. They give a feeling
OF pleasure Or rest, when rest or pleas.
ure does not exist. This feeling arises
from injury to the nerves which the.
brain does not truthfully interpret.
Some phase Of mental unsoundness,
is the natural effect of any of those.
drugs called stimulants or narcotics.
Alcohol gives a feeling of warmth or.
vigor or exhiliration, when the real
warmth or vigor' or. exhilaration does
not exist. Tobacco gives a feeling of
rest which is not restfulness. The
| use OF opium seems to intensity the.
imagination, giving it's clumsy wings,
wondrous power of fight 1t destroys
the sense of time and space; but it is
in time and space alone that man has;
his being. Cocaine gives a strength
which is not strength. Strychnine.
quickens the motor response which,
follows sensation. Coffee and tea,
like alcohol, enable one to borrow
from his future store of force for pre-
sent purposes. And none of these
make any provision for paying back
the loan. One and all, these various
| drugs tend to give the impression of
a power, or pleasure or an activity,
Which we do not possess One and ALL,
their function is to force the nervous,
system to lie. One and all, the result
of their habitual use is to render the
nervous system incapable of ever tell
| ing the truth. One and all, their sup
| posed pleasures are fo1lwed by reac--
tion Of subjective pains as spurious and
as unreal as the pleasures which they
follow. Each of them, if used to-
excess, brings in time insanity, incap--
acity, and death. With each Of them.
the first use makes the second easier
To yield to temptation, makes it easier
| to yield again. The weakening effect
on the will is greater than the injury
to the body.