CHAPTER VIII. PHYSICAL CAUSES OF INTEMPERANCE. The habitual use of Tinctures and Medicinal drams can be regarded only as a more specious and decorous mode of Intemperance. In this may be said to consist the privileged debauchery of many a nervous valetudinarian. A female of decorum and delicacy, may thus most effectually ruin her health, without in the slightest degree impairing her reputation. She may allay the qualms of the stomach, without the danger of occasioning any disagreeable qualms of conscience.-Reid on Nervous Affections. A PRINCIPAL cause of intemperance arises from the erroneous opinions which prevail concerning the enlivening, strengthening, and peculiarly invigorating properties of intoxicating liquors. Giving credence to these delusive notions, men in all ranks and conditions of life resort to them with eagerness and confidence. The plodding traveller considers alcoholic stimulus as the indispensable companion of his journies; the labouring man views it as his cheering friend during unceasing toil and exertion; and the student-he of the midnight oil, has recourse to its exhilirating influence, during moments of mental depression and physical debility. This popular delusion has been countenanced and fostered by the fictitious and delusive names by which these liquors in general have been known. Alcohol when first discovered, was supposed from its potent properties, to be possessed with life-preserving qualities, and was in consequence called Elixir vitæ, or the Elixir of Life. Among the French, it is known by a similar name, Eau de Vie. "When the common people are depressed," remarks a popular writer, "they take a dram because it is a spirit. They then conceive that they have got what they have wanted, and must of course be merry. Had it not been for the unfortunate epithet of strong being applied to beer, and the term spirit being given to brandy, people would never have guessed that ale gave them strength, or brandy created spirits."* Innumerable illustrations of the same delusion may be found in the writings of our English dramatists and poets. Shakspeare not unfrequently makes his characters speak the prevailing notions of the times. When Boniface is told that his ale is confounded strong," he replies, "How else should we be strong that drink it." Examples may also be adduced where the words "good" and " strong are identified with intoxicating liquors. 66 “ Here is a pot of good double beer neighbour ; drink." "Strong, lusty, London beer." FLETCHER. Pernicious indeed, but deeply rooted, is that error which supposes, that because intoxicating liquors are (to use a popular expression) STRONG, they necessarily possess strengthening properties. Permanent vigour can alone be secured by due observance of the laws of nature, and not by violent, and consequently, unnatural, physical excitement.+ * Jackson on the Four Ages. + “The strength," remarks Dr. E. Johnson, " that is, the intoxicating power of wine and ale depends upon the spirit they contain. A great deal of mischief has arisen from the misapplication of the term "strength" to the intoxicating power of " strong drinks." Potations are said to be strong, and hence the silly notion that they possess the power of strengthening the body. People seem to suppose that by swallowing strong drinks they actually swallow strength, as though it were some tangible substance to be chewed, swallowed, and digested like a potatoe. We say onions "smell strong," and we might as well expect to derive strength from smelling onions, as by drinking fluids of a strong flavour. We call them strong, because they affect us strongly. Whatever affects us strongly cannot be indifferent; and if it be not good, it must not only be simply injurious, but very much so.”—Metropolitan Magazine. Homer thus alludes to this popular fallacy : : O, Hector! say what great occasion calls The warrior, however, refuses to taste the proffered stimulant. The experience, even of those times, acknowledges the insufficiency of strong drink, either to support the spirits under anxious depression, or to enable the human frame the better to endure fatigue. Far hence be Bacchus' gifts, (the chief rejoin'd) POPE'S ILIAD, Lib. vi. 320. The moderate use of intoxicating liquor forms, no doubt, the most powerful inducement to the formation of habits of intemperance. The creation as well as progress of the drunkard's appetite is gradual, insidious and almost imperceptible. The peculiar changes which alcoholic liquors effect on the animal economy, almost physically impel those who indulge in the use of strong drink, to seek relief from the original source of their disquietude-the poisonous cup. Each act of indulgence but strengthens the fetters which bind the unhappy victim. One of the first stages of intemperance, is witnessed in the anxious and uneasy feelings, which even MODERATE drinkers invariably experience, on occasions when they have been accidentally deprived of their accustomed stimulus. Sensations of this nature, present undoubted evidence of the existence and development of the inebriate propensity. The great danger of moderate drinking indeed, consists in the inability to ascertain at what precise period in the progress of the vice this unnatural sensation first commences. K A drinker of half a century, aptly remarks, that the first pint of beer is like the first spark falling on the tinder: and that we may keep on adding spark to spark, till our whole vitals are in a flame. In a physiological point of view this remark is correct. The human system is naturally endowed with those feelings and powers which are necessary to enable it to perform the animal functions, by which its existence is continued; and these are regulated, both in respect of their strength and action, by the power which imparts them. Counteract or subdue these natural impressions, by a superior and unnatural influence, and a new state of things is induced, which eventually predominates. Such is the change effected by the stimulating influence of inebriating compounds. The excitement which alcohol creates, is always succeeded by a corresponding depression of the animal functions, or in other words, a desire or physical craving for renewed stimulation. Hence, the formation of an artificial and insatiable appetite. It is physically impossible for mankind habitually to use intoxicating liquors, without imminent danger of the formation of intemperate habits. The most eminent members of the medical profession unite in this opinion. The following remarks of Dr. J. Baxter, of New York, are pointed and correct :-" The habit of moderate drinking has been the principal cause of the wide-spread scourge of intemperance. The laws of gravitation in impelling ponderous bodies towards the centre, are scarcely more certain than the moderate use of liquor in begetting the drunken appetite. There is no safety but in obeying the command," Look not on the wine when it sparkleth; for at the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder." While I have known persons who have used ardent spirit during their whole life-time, and that to a great age, without exceeding moderation, and, perhaps, were never intoxicated, there have been others, who have been led into the habit, by commencing with the moderate use, which has involuntarily and imperceptibly increased and gained upon them, until it was too late to retract. Ardent spirit, and even malt liquors, and wine, excite thirst, or rather a desire for more, as sugar and sweetmeats in a child; this is more percep tible in warm weather; hence, glass after glass is taken, which but inflames the more, till the taste is completely vitiated, and all the faculties are for the time suspended. He who habituates himself moderately to liquor becomes easily a tippler; giving himself up to his acquired taste, he frequently is overcome to intoxication, and ends with being a drunkard; the faculty of receiving impressions is lost, evil dispositions are acquired, and he becomes truly the brute."* Fifteen medical gentlemen of New York unite in one general testimony, that "the moderate use of alcoholic drinks has a natural tendency to produce the drunken appetite." The same medical gentleman also unite in evidence "that those persons who use intoxicating liquor regularly cannot reasonably expect to avoid the contraction of an unnatural thirst for stimulus.”+ The habits of society as existing in the present day, are almost uniformly favourable to the development of the physical, as well as moral causes of intemperance. Of the former inducements to this degrading vice, improper diet constitutes one of the most common. The quantity of food commonly made use of, its innutritious qualities, and the variety of dishes so profusely employed in the present day, tend, very considerably, to injure the functions of the stomach, and to debilitate or frustrate its important operations. Feelings of a painful and distressing nature follow unnatural distension of the stomach with food; for the removal of which, recourse is too frequently had to spirituous stimulants. This practice, although apparently productive of temporary relief, eventually is injurious, and even fatal in its consequences. The unnatural action to which the stomach is subjected by repeated violence of this description, produces, at an early period, a languid and comparatively torpid state of its functions. This unfortunately, is again sought to be removed by alcoholic excitement. Hence, have arisen innumerable cases of intemperance, issuing, as is not unfrequently the case, in incurable disease. The physical exhaustion, induced by vicissitudes of climate or weather, and unnatural exertion of the animal * Testimonies of Physicians. New York. 1830. |