The Warwickshire Herald. — 1887-12-08 (Birmingham, West Midlands, England)

RICHARDSON ON PHYSIOLOGY AND TEMPERANCE.  The last of the series of lectures on "Physiology and Temperance" given by Dr. Richardson at the Memorial Hall, Farringdon-street, London, under the auspices of the United Kingdom Band of Hope Union, was delivered the other night. The subject was "The influence of foods and drinks on the physical and mental powers." The lecturer first dealt with the influence of maximum and minimum supplies of four classes of foods. He pointed out that water in excess produced disease. In the time of the First Napoleon many students injected water under the skin and produced an artificial dropsy, in order to escape the conscription. Albuminoids or fleshy matter taken in excess produced dyspepsia, an irritable condition of the stomach and enlargement of the muscles of the body, and especially the heart. The taking of hydro-carbons in excess—sugar, oils, and starchy matter—led to obesity, but as a general rule obesity was as much owing to fluids as anything else. He had known, for instance, draymen who had taken over a gallon of fluid a day. The taking of salines in excess led to a peculiar disease called on board ship sea scurvy. Some had said that lime water caused enlargement of the neck. The evidence was very conflicting, but very hard water might in some constitutions produce swelling of the glands. He also alluded to the diseases to which a diminution in too large a quantity of these foods led. A great deal had been written and said on the racial changes which oocured from different foods. Those who lived largely on flesh were apt to become very gross and animal in their nature, and some of the feeders on pure starchy foods, like the Bengaleae, became very wiry, strong, and powerful men, and bore a great deal of fatigue. Dealing next with the influence of alcohol, Dr. Richardson said that the greatest perversions in a community began when they found that community taking something which was artificial After alluding to opium and other intoxicants, the lecturer said that when navigators had gone to lands where alcoholic drink was unknown they had found a perfectly healthy people. Tobacco-smoking was another narcotic influence. The eatremest divergencies from health soon occurred in all communities which submitted themselves to alcohol so as to become alcoholised They had I found that the taking of alcohol when it had been introduced into a nation had been attended with evil. All the evidence of history was indicative of a change for the worse wherever alcohol had been introduced. The whole face and disposition of humanity was transformed by alcohol. Two natures were introduced, and the physical and mental states were equally modified. Men when they took alcohol became of two natures. When sober they had one nature, and when intoxicated another. The introduction of alcohol into the body when it came in an extraneous way produced physical degeneration. It was very fortunate that this mischief had been confined to man, because the animal world would be entirely destroyed as to their utility to man if they were fed with alcohol. When they saw such a broad distinction between men and animals it was a proof that the perversion could not be on the side of nature, but of man. There were certain physical changes which took place from alcohol, some of which they knew very well. There were changes in the digestive system. Diagrams were then shown illustrating the effect of alcohol on the stomach, which Dr. Richardson remarked was always deleterious in the long run. An illustration was given of an experiment which showed that one per cent, of alcohol was sufficient to stop the entire digestive process, although of course that result would be modified in the case of a living person. He also showed some striking diagrams illustrating the the effect of alcohol upon the circulation—the irregularities of the circulation in the pulse from opium and tobacoo being also demonstrated. The pulse of a confirmed alcoholic was never correct, and it was astonishing in the case of moderate drinkers how variable the pulse was rendered by alcohol. Commenting on the representation of a pulse showing the extreme action of alcohol, Dr. Richardson said that anyone possessing a pulse in such a lamentable state was not safe, nor was their life safe, as they were continually plotting and planning to take their own life if they had the courage to do so. The lungs also suffered from alcohol just as the skin did, and in like manner the brain suffered. Referring to a diagram of the brain of a man who, after drinking whisky, had committed suicide on the Metropolitan Railway, the sketch being made by the lecturer himself, Dr. Richardson said that be bad got the same results from experiments on the lower animals after death, and every man who took enough alcohol to produce insensibility brought his brain to the state of the diagram disclosed. The membranes, which performed important functions, were also affected by alcohol. With regard to the action of alcohol on the body altogether, first of all there was a distinctive amount of evidence that the nearer a man came to this producer of evil the more he suffered. A table showing the effect of alcoho' on the mortality of different classes was exhibited, and this gave • much larger percentage of mortality among innkeepers than among other classes, IPA railway servants, blacksmiths, &c. Those engaged in the sale of alcoholic drink were not unfavourably circumstanced, and yet they showed such • high rate of mortality. To 70 clergymen who died there were 138 of those concerned with the sale of spirituous liquors, and there could not be such a distinction between the circumstances of these two classes as to prevent them from feeling certain what was the cause. It was the proximity to this agent which led to changes in vital organisation, and to premature death, and it was a lesson they could not ignore. There was an alcoholised community who bad become fixed in the habit of taking alcohol, and who were prejudiced towards the habit simply because, being alcoholised, they had never experienoed the true pleasure and strength of life without the habit. The habit rested exclusively on this want of knowledge, and on the belief in it as a necessity which was as harmful as It was artificial. The object of the present lectures was to assist in destroying a habit so false to nature and mortal to mankind. It was the duty of those who had learned this truth to teach it wherever they could, and to teach it, above all, by example (cheers.) lie did not think he had ever delivered a course of lecture. which he had more enjoyed than this course, and he was greatly indebted to Mr. Edwards for the manner in which he had illustrated the lectures. If they felt themselves stronger to fight the battle of temperance from what they had hears from him he had a great reward (cheers.)  On the motion of Mr. Anson, seconded by Mr. Ebenezer Clarke, a cordial vote of thanks was passed to Dr. Richardson.