Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1917-08-08
ALCOHOL AND TOBACCO
Essay by Miss Ouida Pattison.
Won First Prize in State
w. c. 7. u. Con-
test.

There was a day when people re-
garded alcohol as an article of ne
cessity; day when, in the homes
of the rich, the wine bottle could be
seen on the side-board, the beer
bottle in the refrigerator, and the
whiskey flask on the closet shelf.
In sickness it was administered as a
stimulant; in pleasure as an aid to
mirth and happiness. But that day
has passed. We no longer take
pleasure in adorning our tables with
glittering wine glasses because the
present generation looks upon them
as symbols of evil, wickedness and
crime. Tobacco, too, in its every
form was kept in the home. The
silver cigarette stand and oriental
cigar holder were forever present in
their seemingly reserved seats on
the mantel. In the early history of
America tobacco was deemed so
precious that the leaves were used
as a source of currency. That time
has also passed but yet, although
tobacco does not now occupy its ac-
customed seat of prominence in the
home, it still reigns among the men
of the world. This is change.
however. and shows progress toward
a brighter future. Time has
wrought changes in all things, but
why this great change with respect
to King Alcohol and Tobacco?
Scientists have studied the question
ana have found alcohol and tobacco
to be two deadly poisons, two de-
stroyers of health, happiness, and
life. Sir Andrew Clark said: AL
cohol and opium are poisons; so is
strychnine, so is arsenic. They
rank with these agents and health
is always injured by the use of them.
There is cosmic consciousness in
the air of coming revolutions and
evolutions, which have intense per-
sonal interest to every individual. g 3
Thisaisaevident in the changes, aln-
rest, expectancy, and need of con-
stant readjustment of our mental
and physical relations in every day
life. New questions of disease and
mortality, new phases of degenera-
tion appear in every department of
social, professional and commercial
life. Alcohol and opium are COM
ing into greater prominence as fac
tors in disease and death requiring
new study and examination.
The physical, mental moral, and
social condition of a man is serious
ly injured by the use of alcohol or
tobacco in any form or quantity.
The first noticeable effects of either
are physical. Alcohol slowly eats
away the fine tissues, blood vessels,
corpuscles, and other delicate mem
branes Of the body. The heart is
attacked, the blood made impure,
and in the end the nervous system
is completely destroyed. The ap-
parent stimulation which alcohol
renders is only an irritation, con-
vulsive tetanising exhibition of ener-
gy associated with and followed by
depression, diminished vitality. and
loss of motor and sense impression.
Some people believe that certain
amount of spirits is harmless and
may be consumed in the body with
little or no danger provided the
amount is below a certain limit.
This is untrue. Alcohol in any
form is recognized as a most COM
plex chemical agent with specific
physiological and psychological ef-
fects on the cells and tissues. These
are irritant, depressant, and anes-
thetic; at the same time corrosive,
errosive. Alcohol is the most subtle
ard dangerous of all drugs impair
ing health and longlevity. DR.. w.
H. Riley of Colorado Sanitarium,
says: 1T has been we'll known to
physicians and scientific men for
years that the use of alcohol, even
in moderate quantities when long
continued produces various diseases
of the nervous system such as pa
ralysis, insanity, apoplexy. In
hundreds and even thousands of
cases of those, who have been ad>
dicted to the use of this poison for
any considerable time, severe and
distinct organic changes have also
been found by post mortem examin-
ations in the brain and other parts
of the nervous system" AS to to-
bacco, every one knows that it con-
tains a poison, nicotine, which in
small quantities is a nerve irritant
under the guise of nerve-quieting.
With the false impression OF sooth
ing the nerves it sets them Oh edge