The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1914-09-11
weuld also have died. Is water a


Pierce said: There is nothing
wrong about having relish for
food; indeed, it is probably neces
sary to the proper digestion of the
same; but, unfortunately, most
people want to eat as long as it
tastes good, or as long as their
stomachs will stretch and make
room for it. We all know what
the consequences are-fermentation
in the stomach or bowels, or both,
vomiting, splitting up food, alternat-
ing constipation and diarrhoea,
biliousness, piles, ptomaine, appen-
dicitis, headache, wakefulness,
nervousness, sour temper, fault
finding, pessimism, family quarrels
craving for stimulents, draunken'
ness, divorce, suicide and murder.
We are told by prohibitionists
that all these things are caused by
drink only.
Alcohol is poisonl Why? Be-
cause 1t has drug effect. Here is
what Mr.. Pierce says, quoting DR..
Q. A. R Holton:
1--WE know that rtain fruits ara
laxative, such as apples, prunes,
peaches, most kinds CT berries. and
some kinds of vegetables. Onions
and letture are we'll known soothers
of the nerves, ard through this
channel relieve constipation caused
by nervous tension. They are also
useful in skin diseases having their
origin in the nervous system. Cab
bage and turnips are also useful in
skin diseases of cachectic subjects,
Buttermtlk is a we'll known food
remedy; it is specific in certain ic'
teric cases dependent on catarrhal
obstruction of the bile duct.
Alcohol is declared to be a poison
because certain investigators, LED
by Prof. Kraepelin, of Munich,
claim to have shown that people
under the influence of alcohol dc
not react as quickly to certain i'm
pulses, cannot add or multiply sc
rapidly, etc,
Even if these e experiments proved
what they are supposed by their
authors to prove, they would mere,
ly supply the laboratory test fol
what has long been known and
what is, in fact, the chief value oil
alcoholic drink, viz, that it inhab-
its certain nervous f fInctiors which
are precisely the ones we want tC
have inhibited when we are giving
ourselves up to relaxation.
But the experiments are really
without value. AS DR.. w. H. R.
Rivers, lecturer of experimental
psychology at Cambridge Univer-
sity, England, showed in a series
of experiments for testing the in
fuence of stimulants upon fatigue:
experimentation along these lines
has been imperfect For instance
soon after beginning his investiga-
ton, Rivers became aware of tue
unsatisfactory nature of previous
researches on the capacity for mus
cular work in man, and much of
his work has been occupied in per
fecting exact methods and elimin-
ating disturbing factors. Thus, to
eliminate physical factors the sub
lect took control mixtures so that
he did not know the days when he
took the drug. This last precau-
tion is obviously most important,
but does not seem to have been
taken by any previous worker.
Leaving aside the results as to
other stimulants, River says in re-
gard to alcohol, that there is de-
finite evidence that small doses,
varying from FIVE to twenty cubic
centimeters of absolute alcohol
have no effect on the amount Oh
nature Of the work performed with
the ergograph, either Immediately
OF within several hours Of their ad
ministration, the results previously
obtained by other workers being IL
most certainly due to defects of ex-
perimental method" Ii the dose
was increased to forty cubic cent?
meters the evidence was uncertain
and inconstant. Still larger doses
revealed decided falling off in the
amount of work. There appears