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tented to drag on a degraded existence-to see their children pine, dwindle, and famish; to steep themselves in poverty to the very lips, and die at last poor, sneaking, beadle-kicked, gruel-swollen paupers !

Sunday is especially devoted to the worship of this great spirit; and when the early Sabbath bells announce the arrival of that day, then do the "lower orders," begin to shake off the beery slumbers of the midnight pay-table; and wander forth in maudlin unwashed multitudes to the temples of the Great Gin; and there, Sir, you may see them, the ancient, and the infant of a span long-old men and maidens, grandsires and grandams, fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, and children, crowding and jostling, and sucking in the portions of the spirit which the flaunting priestesses of the temple dole out to them in return for their copper offerings."-Sunday in London, 1833.

C.

THE MODERATE USE OF INTOXICATING DRINKS INJURIOUS TO HEALTH.

"Of all the articles of the popular Materia Medica, there are none so frequently used, so seldom required, or so dangerous to administer, as ardent spirits, wine, and malt liquors; and their total rejection would be the means of preventing the ruin of many constitutions and the loss of innumerable lives, which are now sacrificed, directly, or indirectly, to their injudicious employment."-J. Fothergill, M.R.C.S.

"Water seems the fittest to promote the digestion of food; all spirituous liquors having a property, by which they hurt, rather than help digestion."-Dr. Keill, Abridgment of the Anatomy of Human Bodies.

"As large quantities of fermented liquors are highly deleterious-producing a loss of muscular power, and nearly an abolition of correct sensation; and as these symptoms are not unfrequently fatal, the suspicion appears just, that the perpetual ingurgitation of these drinks cannot be innocent, however moderate the quantity may be; and that all the pleasure, or the comfort, which persons derive from such habits, is gained at the ultimate expense of their health, and the abbreviation of their lives."

"The habitual use of fermented liquors is a cause of destruction, sufficient of itself to counteract all the good effects of a diet by no means insalubrious, and of a situation, which is more than commonly healthful.”—Dr. Lambe, Rep. on Reg., p. 257.

"I consider I shall do more in curing and preventing disease, in one year, by prescribing Total Abstinence, than I could do, in the ordinary course of an extensive practice, in one hundred years. I have already seen diseases cured by Total Abstinence, that would not have been cured by any other means."-J. Higginbottom, Surg.

"He had visited a patient, a minister, who was suffering from a hardened liver. He had, it appeared, been in the habit of taking whiskey. He had some stomach complaint, and every time he felt uneasy he took a little. No one had given him any caution. As soon as he saw him he pronounced him a dead man. He died soon after ! One day, when he was visiting him, a deacon of the church called in, to whom he related his suspicions, as to the practice of the minister. The deacon exclaimed, 'O dear no; nothing of the kind. He only takes a little drop, now and then, when he feels himself unwell. The deacon

himself had a ruby nose, and certain streaks of purple and red on his face. On being asked respecting his habits, he said, that he took two or three glasses of wine after dinner, and sometimes a little toddy, especially at night. He cautioned him, and told him he must expect soon to follow his minister."-Speech of Mr. Higginbottom, Surgeon.

"When studying at Edinburgh, I had occasion to open a great many bodies, of persons who had died of various diseases, in a population much more renowned for sobriety, and temperance, than that of London; but the remarkable fact was, that, in all these cases, there was, more or less, some affection of the liver; and I account for it from the fact, that these moral and religious people were in the habit of drinking a small quantity of spirits every day.”— Dr. Gordon Rep. on Drunk., p. 197.

"The celebrated Dr. Beddoes, an eminent physician, entertained the notion, that every stimulating drink was more or less injurious, and that they might be done without."-Edgeworth on Ed.

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'My late wife, who was a woman of delicate constitution, was enabled to nurse her whole family of eight children, and most of them for nine or ten months, without drinking anything stronger than milk-and-water. She did not, in the whole course of her life, drink one quart of beer. The whole of the children are now living, and in health, with the exception of one, who died in her thirteenth year.

"My own opinion, from long practical observation, is, that any beverage stronger than water is seldom necessary;-that any thing stronger, except medicinally, is oftener injurious than beneficial; and that a total disuse of

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all alcoholic liquors, would make a greater change for the better in the moral, and civil condition of mankind, than all other known remedies, whatever."-William Tothill, Consulting Surgeon, in his 78th year. Egham Hithe, 1837.

"The acid qualities of fermented wines are decidedly hurtful."-Sir Anthony Carlisle.

"Wines injure, by their stimulating property. Like concentrated spirits they produce undue excitement of the heart, and circulating system."

"Some wines, as Port for instance, possess a tannin principle, which is decidedly favourable to constipation, and disorders the biliary system."

"Gout is rarely known to exist where the patient has not been accustomed to the use of wine."-Beaumont on Alcoholic Drinks.

"The popular opinion is, that malt liquors are beneficial, and well adapted to the labouring man; my opinion, as well as my experience, is in opposition to such sentiments, being convinced that neither their bitter principle, nor the extractive matter, are any set off against their seductive, and intoxicating quality."-Beaumont on Alcoh. Drinks.

"My whole experience assures me, that wine is no friend to vigour, and activity of mind. It whirls the fancy beyond the judgment, and leaves body and soul in a state of listless indolence and sloth." "In a survey of my whole acquaintance and friends, I find that water-drinkers possess the most equal tempers, and cheerful dispositions."

-Dr. Trotter.

"Intoxicating liquors, in all their forms, and however disguised, are the most productive cause of disease with with which I am acquainted."-Dr. Trotter.

"Dr. Darwin was a determined enemy to what he called' vinous potation.' He believed that almost all the distempers of the higher class of people arise from drinking, in some form or other, too much vinous spirit. During his lifetime, he almost banished wine from the tables of the rich of his acquaintance, and persuaded most of the gentry, in his own, and the neighbouring counties, to become water-drinkers."-Edgeworth on Ed.

"No one is safe from the approach of countless maladies, who is in the daily habit of using, even the smallest portion, of ardent spirit. The practice cannot possibly do any good, and it has often done much harm."—Dr. R. G. Dods. Rep. on Drunk., p. 221.

"It is my deliberate opinion, that the use of intoxicating liquors is unnecessary to the healthful human constitution, and that the strength which they seem to impart, is temporary and unnatural. It is a present energy, purchased at the expense of future weakness.-Dr. Kaye Greville, Glasgow.

"We have no evidence that Alcohol, in any form, or taken under any circumstances, or in any combination, is capable of being digested or converted into nourishment. There cannot, I think, be left a reasonable doubt that as much mischief to health results from the use of any kind of fermented liquors, as from distilled spirits, equally diluted with water. If I must drink any quantity of Alcohol, in a specified time, I should think it best to take it in distilled spirits, rather than in cider, wine, or beer." -Dr. Mussey. Rep. for 1838, of the Amer. Temp. Union, p. 84.

"The great discovery has been made by hundreds of

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