CHAPTER XVIII.. Liquors Not Always Hurtful.

LIQUORS NOT ALWAYS HURTFUL.

Though drunkenness is always injurious, it does not follow that a moderate and proper use of those agents which produce it is so. These facts have been so fully illustrated that it is unnecessary to dwell longer upon them; and I only allude to them at present for the purpose of showing more fully a few circumstances in which all kinds of liquors may be indulged in, not only without injury, but with absolute benefit. It is impossible to deny that in particular situations, as in those of hard-wrought sailors and soldiers, a moderate allowance is proper. The body, in such cases, would often sink under the accumulation of fatigue and cold, if not recruited by some artificial excitement. In both the naval and mercantile service the men are allowed a certain quantity of grog, experience having shown the necessity of this stimulus in such situations. When Captain Bligh and his unfortunate companions were exposed to those dreadful privations consequent to their being set adrift, in an open boat, by the mutineers of the Bounty, the few drops of rum which were occasionally doled out to each individual, proved of such incalculable service, that, without this providential aid, every one must have perished of absolute cold and exhaustion. The utility of spirits in enabling the frame to resist severe cold, I can still farther illustrate by a circumstance personal to myself; and there can be no doubt that the experience of every one must have furnished him with similar examples. I was travelling on the top of the Caledonian coach, during an intensely cold day, towards the end of November, 1821. We left Inverness at five in the morning, when it was nearly pitch dark, and when the thermometer probably stood at 18° of Fahr. I was disappointed of an inside seat, and was obliged to take one on the top, where there were nine outside passengers besides myself, mostly sportsmen returning from their campaigns in the moors. From being obliged to get up so early, and without having taken any refreshment, the cold was truly dreadful, and set fear-noughts, fur caps, and hosiery, alike at defiance. So situated, and whirling along at the rate of nearly nine miles an hour, with a keen east wind blowing upon us from the snow-covered hills, I do not exaggerate when I say, that some of us at least owed our lives to ardent spirits. The cold was so insufferable, that, on arriving at the first stage, we were nearly frozen to death. Our feet were perfectly benumbed, and our hands, fortified as they were with warm gloves, little better. Under such circumstances, we all instinctively called for spirits, and took a glass each of raw whisky, and a little bread. The effect was perfectly magical: heat diffused itself over the system, and we continued comparatively warm and comfortable till our arrival at Aviemore Inn, where we breakfasted. This practice was repeated several times during the journey, and always with the same good effect. When at any time the cold became excessive, we had recourse to our dram, which ensured us warmth and comfort for the next twelve or fourteen miles, without, on any occasion producing the slightest feeling of intoxication. Nor had the spirits which we took any bad effects either upon the other passengers or myself. On the contrary, we were all, so far as I could learn, much the better of it; nor can there be a doubt, that without spirits, or some other stimulating liquor, the consequences of such severe weather would have been highly prejudicial to most of us. Some persons deny that spirits possess the property of enabling the body to resist cold, but, in the face of such evidence, I can never agree with them. That, under these circumstances, they steel the system, at least for a considerable time, against the effects of a low temperature, I am perfectly satisfied. Analogy is in favour of this assertion, and the experience of every man must prove its accuracy. At the same time, I do not mean to deny that wine or ale might have done the same thing equally well, and perhaps with less risk of ulterior consequences. We had no opportunity of trying their efficacy in these respects, and were compelled, in self-defence, to have recourse to what, in common cases ought to be shunned, viz., raw spirits. The case was an extreme one, and required an extreme remedy; such, however, as I would advise no one to have recourse to without a similar plea of strong necessity to go upon.

It follows, then, that if spirits are often perverted to the worst purposes, and capable of producing the greatest calamities, they are also, on particular occasions, of unquestionable benefit. In many affections, both they and wine are of more use than any medicine the physician can administer. Wine is indicated in various diseases of debility. Whenever there is a deficiency of the vital powers, as in the low stages of typhus fever, in gangrene, putrid sore throat, and, generally speaking, whenever weakness, unaccompanied by acute inflammation, prevails, it is capable of rendering the most important services. Used in moderation, it enables the system to resist the attack of malignant and intermittent fevers. It is a promoter of digestion, but sometimes produces acidity, in which case, spirits are preferable. To assist the digestive process in weak stomachs, I sometimes prescribe a tumbler of negus or toddy to be taken after dinner, especially if the person be of a studious habit, or otherwise employed in a sedentary occupation. Such individuals are often benefited by the stimulus communicated to the frame by these cordials. In diarrhœa, dysentery, cholera, cramps, tremors, and many other diseases, both spirits and wine often tell with admirable effect, while they are contra-indicated in all inflammatory affections. Malt liquors also, when used in moderation, are often beneficial. Though the drunkenness produced by their excessive use is of the most stupifying and disgusting kind, yet, when under temperate management, and accompanied by sufficient exercise, they are more wholesome than either spirits or wine. They abound in nourishment, and are well adapted to the labouring man, whose food is usually not of a very nutritive character. The only regret is, that they are so much adulterated by narcotics. This renders them peculiarly improper for persons of a plethoric habit, and also prevents them from being employed in other cases where they might be useful. Persons of a spare habit of body, are those likely to derive most benefit from malt liquors. I often recommend them to delicate youths and young girls who are just shooting into maturity, and often with the best effect. Lusty, full-bodied, plethoric people, should abstain from them, at least from porter and strong ale, which are much too fattening and nutritious for persons of this description. They are also, generally speaking, injurious in indigestion and bowel complaints, owing to their tendency to produce flatulence. In such cases, they yield the palm to wine and spirits. It is to be regretted that the system of making home-brewed ale, common among the English, has made so little progress in Scotland. This excellent beverage is free from those dangerous combinations employed by the brewers, and to the labouring classes in particular, is a most nourishing and salubrious drink. I fully agree with Sir John Sinclair in thinking, that in no respect is the alteration in diet more injurious than in substituting ardent spirits for ale—the ancient drink of the common people. Though an occasional and moderate allowance of spirits will often benefit a working man, still the tendency of people to drink these fluids to excess renders even their moderate indulgence often hazardous; and hence, in one respect, the superiority possessed over them by malt liquors.

In higher circles, where there is good living and little work, liquors of any kind are far less necessary; and, till a man gets into the decline of life, they are, except under such circumstances as have been detailed, absolutely useless. When he attains that age, he will be the better of a moderate allowance to recruit the vigour which approaching years steal from the frame. For young and middle-aged men, in good circumstances and vigorous health, water is the best drink; the food they eat being sufficiently nutritious and stimulating without any assistance from liquor. For young people, in particular, liquors of all kinds are, under common circumstances, not only unnecessary in health, but exceedingly pernicious, even in what the world denominate moderate quantities. This is especially the case when the habit is daily indulged in. One of the first physicians in Ireland has published his conviction on the result of twenty years’ observation—“That were ten young men on their twenty-first birth day, to begin to drink one glass (equal to two ounces) of ardent spirits, or a pint of Port wine or Sherry, and were they to drink this supposed moderate quantity of strong liquor daily, the lives of eight out of the ten would be abridged by twelve or fifteen years.” “An American clergyman,” says Professor Edgar, “lately told me that one of his parishioners was in the habit of sending to his son at school a daily allowance of brandy and water, before the boy was twelve years of age. The consequence was, that his son, before the age of seventeen, was a confirmed drunkard, and he is now confined in a public hospital.” The force of this anecdote must come home to every one. Nothing is more common, even in the best society, than the practice of administering wine, punch, &c., even to children—thus not only injuring their health, and predisposing them to disease, but laying the foundation for intemperance in their maturer years.

Having stated thus much, it is not to be inferred that I advocate the banishment of liquors of any kind from society. Though I believe mankind would be benefited upon the whole, were such stimulants to be utterly proscribed, yet, in the present state of things, and knowing the fruitlessness of any such recommendation, I do not go the length of urging their total disuse. I only would wish to inculcate moderation, and that in its proper meaning, and not in the sense too often applied to it; for, in the practice of many, moderation (so called) is intemperance, and perhaps of the most dangerous species, in so far as it becomes a daily practice, and insinuates itself under a false character, into the habits of life. Men thus indulge habitually, day by day, not perhaps to the extent of producing any evident effect either upon the body or mind at the time, and fancy themselves all the while strictly temperate, while they are, in reality, undermining their constitution by slow degrees—killing themselves by inches, and shortening their existence several years. The quantity such persons take at a time, is perhaps moderate and beneficial, if only occasionally indulged in, but, being habitually taken, it injures the health, and thus amounts to actual intemperance. “It is,” says Dr. Beecher, and I fully concur with him, “a matter of unwonted certainty, that habitual tippling is worse than periodical drunkenness. The poor Indian who once a-month drinks himself dead, all but simple breathing, will outlive for years the man who drinks little and often, and is not perhaps suspected of intemperance. The use of ardent spirits daily, as ministering to cheerfulness or bodily vigour, ought to be regarded as intemperance. No person probably, ever did or ever will receive ardent spirits into his system once a-day and fortify his constitution against its deleterious effects, or exercise such discretion and self-government, as that the quantity will not be increased, and bodily infirmities and mental imbecility be the result; and, in more than half the instances, inebriation. Nature may hold out long against this sapping and mining of the constitution, which daily tippling is carrying on, but, first or last, this foe of life will bring to the assault enemies of its own formation, before whose power the feeble and the mighty will be alike unable to stand.”

Let those, therefore, who will not abandon liquors, use them in moderation, and not habitually, or day by day, unless the health should require it, for cases of this kind we sometimes do meet with, though by no means so often as many would believe. Abstractly considered, liquors are not injurious. It is their abuse that makes them so, in the same manner as the most wholesome food becomes pernicious when taken to an improper excess.

APPENDIX.

No. I.

Excerpt from Paris’ Pharmacologia.

“The characteristic ingredient of all wines is alcohol, and the quantity of this, and the condition or state of combination in which it exists, are the circumstances that include all the interesting and disputed points of medical inquiry. Daily experience convinces us that the same quantity of alcohol, applied to the stomach under the form of natural wine, and in a state of mixture with water, will produce very different effects upon the body, and to an extent which it is difficult to comprehend: it has, for instance, been demonstrated that Port, Madeira, and Sherry contain from one-fourth to one-fifth of their bulk of alcohol, so that a person who takes a bottle of either of them, will thus take nearly half a pint of alcohol, or almost a pint of pure brandy! and moreover, that different wines, although of the same specific gravity, and consequently containing the same absolute proportion of spirit, will be found to vary very considerably in their intoxicating powers; no wonder, then, that such results should stagger the philosopher, who is naturally unwilling to accept any tests of difference from the nervous system, which elude the ordinary resources of analytical chemistry; the conclusion was therefore drawn, that alcohol must necessarily exist in wine, in a far different condition from that in which we know it in a separate state, or, in other words, that its elements only could exist in the vinous liquor, and that their union was determined, and, consequently, alcohol produced by the action of distillation. That it was product and not the educt of distillation, was an opinion which originated with Rouelle, who asserted that alcohol was not completely formed until the temperature was raised to the point of distillation: more lately, the same doctrine was revived and promulgated by Fabbronni, in the memoirs of the Florentine Academy. Gay-Lussac has, however, silenced the clamorous partisans of this theory, by separating the alcohol by distillation at the temperature of 66° Fah., and by the aid of a vacuum, it has since been effected at 56°; besides, it has been shown that by precipitating the colouring matter, and some of the other elements of the wine, by sub-acetate of lead, and then saturating the clear liquor with sub-carbonate of potass, the alcohol may be completely separated without any elevation of temperature; and by this ingenious expedient, Mr. Brande has been enabled to construct a table, exhibiting the proportions of combined alcohol which exist in the several kinds of wine: no doubt, therefore, can remain upon this subject, and the fact of the difference of the effect, produced by the same bulk of alcohol, when presented to the stomach in different states of combination, adds another striking and instructive illustration to those already enumerated in the course of this work, of the extraordinary powers of chemical combination in modifying the activity of substances upon the living system. In the present instance, the alcohol is so combined with the extractive matter of the wine, that it is probably incapable of exerting its full specific effects upon the stomach, before it becomes altered in its properties, or, in other words, digested; and this view of the subject may be fairly urged in explanation of the reason why the intoxicating effects of the same wine are so liable to vary, in degree, in the same individual, from the peculiar state of his digestive organs at the time of his potation. Hitherto we have only spoken of pure wine, but it is essential to state, that the stronger, wines of Spain, Portugal, and Sicily, are rendered remarkable in this country by the addition of brandy, and must consequently contain uncombined alcohol, the proportion of which, however, will not necessarily bear a ratio to the quantity added, because, at the period of its admixture, a renewed fermentation is produced by the scientific vintner, which will assimilate and combine a certain portion of the foreign spirit with the wine: this manipulation, in technical language, is called fretting-in. The free alcohol may, according to the experiments of Fabbronni, be immediately separated by saturating the vinous fluid with sub-carbonate of potass, while the combined portion will remain undisturbed: in ascertaining the fabrication and salubrity of a wine, this circumstance ought always to constitute a leading feature in the inquiry; and the tables of Mr. Brande would have been greatly enhanced in practical value, had the relative proportions of uncombined spirit been appreciated in his experiments, since it is to this, and not to the combined alcohol that the injurious effects of wine are to be attributed. ‘It is well known,’ observes Dr. Macculloch, ‘that diseases of the liver are the most common, and the most formidable of those produced by the use of ardent spirits; it is equally certain that no such disorders follow the intemperate use of pure wine, however long indulged in: to the concealed and unwitting consumption of spirit, therefore, as contained in the wines commonly drunk in this country, is to be attributed the excessive prevalence of those hepatic affections, which are comparatively little known to our continental neighbours.’ Thus much is certain, that their ordinary wines contain no alcohol but what is disarmed of its virulence by the prophylactic energies of combination.”

No. II.

Mr. Brande’s Table of the Alcoholic strength of Liquors.

Proportion of pure Spirit per Cent. by Measure.

1. Lissa, 26·47 Ditto, 24·35 Average, 25·41

2. Raisin wine, 26·40 Ditto, 25·77 Ditto, 23·20 Average, 25·12

3. Marsala, 26·03 Ditto, 25·05 Average, 25·09

4. Madeira, 24·42 Ditto, 23·93 Ditto (Sircial), 21·40 Ditto, 19·41 Average, 22·27

5. Currant wine, 20·55

6. Sherry, 19·81 Ditto, 19·83 Ditto, 18·79 Ditto, 18·25 Average, 19·17

7. Teneriffe, 19·79

8. Colares, 19·75

9. Lachryma Christi, 19·70

10. Constantia (white), 19·75

11. Ditto (red), 18·92

12. Lisbon, 18·94

13. Malaga (1666), 18·94

14. Bucellas, 18·49

15. Red Madeira, 22·30 Ditto, 18·40 Average, 20·35

16. Cape Muschat, 18·25

17. Cape Madeira, 22·94 Ditto, 20·50 Ditto, 18·11 Average, 20·51

18. Grape wine, 18·11

19. Calcavella, 19·20 Ditto, 18·10 Average, 18·65

20. Vidonia, 19·25

21. Alba Flora, 17·26

22. Malaga, 17·26

23. White Hermitage, 17·43

24. Rousillon, 19·00 Ditto, 17·26 Average, 18·13

25. Claret, 17·11 Ditto, 16·32 Ditto, 14·08 Ditto, 12·91 Average, 15·10

26. Malmsey Madeira, 16·40

27. Lunal, 15·52

28. Shiraz, 15·52

29. Syracuse, 15·28

30. Sauterne, 14·22

31. Burgundy, 16·60 Ditto, 15·22 Ditto, 14·53 Ditto, 11·95 Average, 14·57

32. Hock, 14·37 Ditto, 13·00 Ditto (old in cask), 8·88 Average, 12·08

33. Nice, 14·63

34. Barsac, 13·86

35. Tent, 13·30

36. Champaign (still), 13·80 Ditto (sparkling), 12·80 Ditto (red), 12·56 Ditto (ditto), 11·30 Average, 12·61

37. Red Hermitage, 12·32

38. Vin de Grave, 13·94 Ditto, 12·80 Average, 13·37

39. Frontignac, 12·79

40. Cote Rotie, 12·32

41. Gooseberry wine, 11·84

42. Orange wine,—average of six samples made by a London Manufacturer, 11·26

43. Tokay, 9·88

44. Elder Wine, 9·87

45. Cider, highest average, 9·87 Ditto, lowest average, 5·21

46. Perry, average of four samples, 7·26

47. Mead, 7·32

48. Ale (Burton), 8·88 Ditto (Edinburgh), 6·20 Ditto (Dorchester), 5·56 Average, 6·87

49. Brown Stout, 6·80

50. London Porter, average, 4·20

51. London Small Beer, average, 1·28

52. Brandy, 53·39

53. Rum, 53·68

54. Gin, 51·60

55. Scotch Whisky, 54·32

56. Irish ditto, 53·90

FOOTNOTES

In making this observation, I have only in view the countries north of the equator; for as we proceed to the south of that line, the vice increases precisely in the same manner as in the opposite direction. To use the words of Montesquieu; “Go from the equator to our pole, and you will find drunkenness increasing together with the degree of latitude. Go from the same equator to the opposite pole, and you will find drunkenness travelling south, as on this side it travels towards the north.”

Good’s Study of Medicine, vol. i., p. 113; Second Edition.

The quantity of wine raised in France alone is almost incredible. The vineyards in that country are said to occupy five millions of acres, or a twenty-sixth part of the whole territory. Paris alone consumes more than three times the quantity of wine consumed in the British Isles. It is true that much of the wine drunk in the French capital is of a weak quality, being used as a substitute for small beer. But after every allowance is made, enough remains to show clearly, if other proofs were wanting, how much the use of wine here is restricted by our exorbitant duties. It would be well for the morals of this country if the people abandoned the use of ardent spirits, and were enabled to resort to such wines as the French are in the habit of drinking.

See Accum’s Treatise on the adulteration of Food; Child on Brewing Porter; and Shannon on Brewing and Distillation.

See Appendix.

Liqueurs often contain narcotic principles; therefore their use is doubly improper.

Thackrah on the Effects of the Principal Arts, Trades, and Professions, p. 83.

Botanic Garden.

Rede’s Memoir of the Right Hon. George Canning.

The old gentleman who is represented as speaking, in Bunbury’s admirable caricature of the “Long Story,” furnishes one of the best illustrations I have ever seen of this variety. It is worth consulting, both on account of the story-teller, and the effect his tedious garrulity produces upon the company.

Alcohol appears to exist in wines, in a very peculiar state of combination. In the Appendix, I have availed myself of Dr. Paris’s valuable remarks on this subject.

There is reason to believe that the Sack of Shakspeare was Sherry.—“Falstaff. You rogue! here’s lime in this Sack too. There is nothing but roguery to be found in villanous man. Yet a coward is worse than a cup of Sack with lime in it.”—Lime, it is well known, is added to the grapes in the manufacture of Sherry. This not only gives the wine what is called its dry quality, but probably acts by neutralizing a portion of the malic or tartaric acid.

“It is recorded of a Welsh squire, William Lewis, who died in 1793, that he drank eight gallons of ale per diem, and weighed forty stones.”—Wadd’s Comments on Corpulency.

“The law of Mahomet, which prohibits the drinking of wine, is a law fitted to the climate of Arabia; and, indeed, before Mahomet’s time, water was the common drink of the Arabs. The law which forbade the Carthagenians to drink wine, was also a law of the climate.”—Montesquieu, Book xiv., Chap. x.

The following description, by a modern traveller, of a scene witnessed by him in the East, gives a lively picture of the effects of this drug:—

“There is a decoction of the head and seeds of the poppy, which they call Coquenar, for the sale of which there are taverns in every quarter of the town, similar to our coffee-houses. It is extremely amusing to visit these houses, and to observe carefully those who resort there for the purpose of drinking it, both before they have taken the dose, before it begins to operate, and while it is operating. On entering the tavern, they are dejected and languishing: soon after they have taken two or three cups of this beverage, they are peevish, and as it were, enraged; every thing displeases them. They find fault with every thing, and quarrel with one another, but in the course of its operation they make it up again;—and, each one giving himself up to his predominant passion, the lover speaks sweet things to his idol—another, half asleep, laughs in his sleeve—a third talks big and blusters—a fourth tells ridiculous stories. In a word, a person would believe himself to be really in a mad-house. A kind of lethargy and stupidity succeed to this disorderly gaiety; but the Persians, far from treating it as it deserves, call it an ecstasy, and maintain that there is something exquisite and heavenly in this state.”—Chardin.

Equal to nearly three thousand drops of laudanum.

“Tobacco,” King James farther observes, “is the lively image and pattern of hell, for it hath, by allusion, in it all the parts and vices of the world, whereby hell may be gained; to wit, first, it is a smoke; so are all the vanities of this world. Secondly, it delighteth them that take it; so do all the pleasures of the world delight the men of the world. Thirdly, it maketh men drunken and light in the head; so do all the vanities of the world, men are drunken therewith. Fourthly, he that taketh tobacco cannot leave it; it doth bewitch him; even so the pleasures of the world make men loath to leave them; they are, for the most part, enchanted with them. And, farther, besides all this, it is like hell in the very substance of it, for it is a stinking loathsome thing, and so is hell.” And, moreover, his majesty declares, that “were he to invite the devil to a dinner, he should have three dishes; first, a pig; second, a poll of ling and mustard; and, third, a pipe of tobacco for digestion.”

It appears from Mr. Brodie’s experiments, that the essential oil of tobacco operates very differently from the infusion. The former acts instantly on the heart, suspending its action, even while the animal continues to inspire, and destroying life by producing syncope. The latter appears to operate solely on the brain, leaving the circulation unaffected.

The doses in these experiments, were from five to seven quarts.

Journal Générale de Médicine, lix. xxiv. p. 224.

Gazette de Santé, 11 Thermidor, an xv. p. 508.

Von Hammer’s Hist. of the Assassins.

Toxicologie Générale.

The following are the grounds on which he supports his doctrine:—“1. In experiments where animals have been killed by the injection of spirits into the stomach, I have found this organ to bear the marks of great inflammation, but never any preternatural appearances whatever in the brain. 2. The effects of spirits taken into the stomach, in the last experiment, were so instantaneous, that it appears impossible that absorption should have taken place before they were produced. 3. A person who is intoxicated frequently becomes suddenly sober after vomiting. 4. In the experiments which I have just related, I mixed tincture of rhubarb with the spirits, knowing, from the experiments of Mr. Home and Mr. William Brande, that this (rhubarb) when absorbed into the circulation, was readily separated from the blood by the kidneys, and that very small quantities might be detected in the urine by the addition of potash; but though I never failed to find urine in the bladder, I never detected rhubarb in it.”—Phil. Trans. of the Roy. Soc. of Lond. 1811. Part I., p. 178.

Essay on Drunkenness.

Zoonomia.

In speaking of the treatment, it is necessary to guard against confounding other affections with drunkenness:—“There is a species of delirium that often attends the accession of typhus fever, from contagion, that I have known to be mistaken for ebriety. Among seamen and soldiers, whose habits of intoxication are common, it will sometimes require nice discernment to decide; for the vacant stare in the countenance, the look of idiotism, incoherent speech, faltering voice, and tottering walk, are so alike in both cases, that the naval and military surgeon ought at all times to be very cautious how he gives up a man to punishment, under these suspicious appearances. Nay, the circumstance of his having come from a tavern, with even the effluvium of liquor about him, are signs not always to be trusted; for these haunts of seamen and soldiers are often the sources of infection.”—Trotter.

“They have a custom of fostering a liver complaint in their geese, which encourages its growth to the enormous weight of some pounds; and this diseased viscus is considered a great delicacy.”—Matthew’s Diary of an Invalid.

Vide Appendix No. I.

The Portland Powder consisted of equal parts of the roots of round birthwort and gentian, of the leaves of germander and ground pine, and of the tops of the lesser centaury, all dried. Drs. Cullen, Darwin, and Murray of Göttingen, with many other eminent physicians, bear testimony to the pernicious effects of this compound.

“Falstaff. Thou art our admiral: thou bearest the lanthorn in the poop; but ’tis in the nose of thee: thou art the knight of the burning lamp.

“Bardolph. Why, Sir John, my face does you no harm.

“Falstaff. No, I’ll be sworn! I make as good use of it as many a man doth of a death’s head or a memento mori. I never see thy face but I think of hell-fire.”—“When thou rann’st up Gads-hill in the night to catch my horse, if I did not think thou hadst been an ignis fatuus, or a ball of wildfire, there’s no purchase in money. O! thou art a perpetual triumph—an everlasting bonfire light: thou hast saved me a thousand marks in links and torches, walking with me in the night betwixt tavern and tavern; but the Sack thou hast drunk me would have bought me lights as good cheap, at the dearest chandler’s in Europe. I have maintained that salamander of yours with fire any time this two and thirty years—heaven reward me for it!”

This circumstance has not escaped the observation of Shakspeare—“Chief Justice. Do you set down your name in the scroll of youth, that are written down old, with all the characters of age? Have you not a moist eye, a dry hand, a yellow cheek, a white beard, a decreasing leg, an increasing belly? Is not your voice broken, your wind short, your chin double, your wit single, and every part about you blasted with antiquity; and will you yet call yourself young? Fie, fie, fie, Sir John!”

“Let nobody tell me that there are numbers who, though they live most irregularly, attain, in health and spirits, those remote periods of life attained by the most sober; for this argument being grounded on a case full of uncertainty and hazard, and which, besides, so seldom occurs as to look more like a miracle than the work of nature, men should not suffer themselves to be thereby persuaded to live irregularly, nature having been too liberal to those who did so without suffering by it; a favour which very few have any right to expect.”—Carnaro on Health.

“The workmen in provision stores have large allowances of whisky bound to them in their engagements. These are served out to them daily by their employers, for the purpose of urging them, by excitement, to extraordinary exertion. And what is the effect of this murderous system? The men are ruined, scarcely one of them being capable of work beyond fifty years of age, though none but the most able-bodied men can enter such employment.”—Beecher’s Sermons on Intemperance, with an Introductory Essay by John Edgar. This is an excellent little work, which I cordially recommend to the perusal of the reader.

It has been considered unnecessary to enter into any detail of the nature and treatment of the foregoing diseases, because they may originate from many other causes besides drunkenness; and when they do arise from this source, they acquire no peculiarity of character. Their treatment is also precisely the same as in ordinary cases—it being always understood, that the bad habit which brought them on must be abandoned before any good can result from medicine. The disease, however, which follows is different, and requires particular consideration.

“At a period when criminals were condemned to expiate their crimes in the flames, it is well known what a large quantity of combustible materials was required for burning their bodies. A baker’s boy named Renaud being several years ago condemned to be burned at Caen, two large cartloads of fagots were required to consume the body; and at the end of more than ten hours some remains were still visible. In this country, the extreme incombustibility of the human body was exemplified in the case of Mrs. King, who, having been murdered by a foreigner, was afterwards burned by him; but in the execution of this plan he was engaged for several weeks, and, after all, did not succeed in its completion.”—Paris and Fonblanque’s Medical Jurisprudence.

Beck on Medical Jurisprudence.

Ibid.

Collinson on Lunacy.

“The laws against intoxication are enforced with great rigour in Sweden. Whoever is seen drunk, is fined, for the first offence, three dollars; for the second, six; for the third and fourth, a still larger sum, and is also deprived of the right of voting at elections, and of being appointed a representative. He is, besides, publicly exposed in the parish church on the following Sunday. If the same individual is found committing the same offence a fifth time, he is shut up in a house of correction, and condemned to six months’ hard labour; and if he is again guilty, of a twelvemonth’s punishment of a similar description. If the offence has been committed in public, such as at a fair, an auction, &c., the fine is doubled; and if the offender has made his appearance in a church, the punishment is still more severe. Whoever is convicted of having induced another to intoxicate himself, is fined three dollars, which sum is doubled if the person is a minor. An ecclesiastic who falls into this offence loses his benefice: if it is a layman who occupies any considerable post, his functions are suspended, and perhaps he is dismissed. Drunkenness is never admitted as an excuse for any crime; and whoever dies when drunk is buried ignominiously, and deprived of the prayers of the church. It is forbidden to give, and more explicitly to sell, any spirituous liquors to students, workmen, servants, apprentices, and private soldiers. Whoever is observed drunk in the streets, or making a noise in a tavern, is sure to be taken to prison and detained till sober, without, however, being on that account exempted from the fines. Half of these fines goes to the informers, (who are generally police officers,) the other half to the poor. If the delinquent has no money, he is kept in prison until some one pays for him, or until he has worked out his enlargement. Twice a-year these ordinances are read aloud from the pulpit by the clergy; and every tavern-keeper is bound, under the penalty of a heavy fine, to have a copy of them hung up in the principal rooms of his house.”—Schubert’s Travels in Sweden.

View of the Elementary Principles of Education.

American Journal of the Medical Sciences, No. IV.

See Transylvania Journal of Medicine and the Associate Sciences, for July, August, and September, 1832.

“In warm countries, the aqueous part of the blood loses itself greatly by perspiration; it must therefore be supplied by a like liquid. Water is there of admirable use; strong liquors would coagulate the globules of blood that remain after the transuding of the aqueous humour.”—Montesquieu, Book xiv. Chap. x.

Tropical Diseases.

Glasgow Medical Journal, No. XV.

Glasgow Medical Journal, No. XV.

The following account of Temperance Societies is by Professor Edgar, one of their most enthusiastic advocates:—

“Temperance Societies direct their chief exertions against the use of distilled spirits, conceiving them to be the great bane of the community; but they do not exclude these to introduce other intoxicating liquors in their room. Their object is to disabuse the public mind respecting the erroneous opinions and evil practices which produce and perpetuate intemperance; and though they do not hold it to be sinful to drink wine, yet they are cheerfully willing to accord with the sentiment of inspiration—‘It is good neither to drink wine nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.’ Were the wine spoken of in Scripture alone used in these countries, they do not believe that there would be a necessity for Temperance Societies; yet even from such wine, so different from that commonly in use, the Scriptures gave them the fullest liberty to refrain. Avoiding, however, all appearance of rigorous abstinence, they leave to every man’s judgment and conscience, how far he shall feel himself warranted in the use of fermented liquors, and only insist, as their fundamental principle, on an abstinence from distilled spirits, and a discountenancing of the causes and practices of intemperance. Their regulations respect persons in health alone; with the prescriptions of physicians they do not interfere. Even the moderate use of distilled spirits they consider to be injurious; and they call upon their brethren, for their own sake, to renounce it. The great mass of excellences attributed to intoxicating liquors, they believe to be fictitious; and though all the virtues attributed to them were real, they are cheerfully willing to sacrifice them, while they have the remotest hope of thus cutting off even one of the sources of drunkenness, or arresting one friend or neighbour on the road to ruin. They do not look on the use of intoxicating liquors as necessary either to their health or happiness; they do not love them, and therefore, they do not wish to represent an abstinence from them as, on their part, a great sacrifice; and they trust that they only require to be convinced that the good of their brother demands it, to induce them to do much more than they have yet done. They know that the only prospect of reformation for the intemperate is immediate and complete abstinence, and they joyfully contribute their influence and example to save him. They know that the present customs and practices of the temperate, are now preparing a generation for occupying the room of those who shall soon sleep in drunkards’ graves, and it is their earnest wish to exercise such a redeeming influence on the public mind, that, should the present race of drunkards refuse to be saved, there may be none to fill their place when they are no more. The abstinence of the temperate, they are convinced, will accomplish this, and that abstinence it is their business to promote by those means with which the God of truth has furnished them. They believe that such abstinence, instead of being productive of any injury to the community will greatly benefit it; and already there are the fairest prospects of the great objects of such voluntary abstinence being effected, by associations sustaining one another in new habits, to make them reputable and common. They require no oaths, no vows; their bond of obligation is a sense of duty, and subscription to their fundamental principle, is merely an expression of present conviction and determination. The law of Temperance Societies, like the Gospel, is the law of liberty—the law which binds to do that which is considered a delight and a privilege. They look forward to the time as not far distant, when the temperate having withdrawn their support from the trade in ardent spirits, it shall be deserted by all respectable men, and shall gradually die away, as premature death thins the ranks of drunkards: they trust that the falsehoods by which temperate men have been cheated into the ordinary use of ardent spirits, will soon be completely exposed; and that full information and proper feeling being extended, respecting the nature and effects of intoxicating liquors, they will occupy their proper place, and the unnumbered blessings of temperance on individuals and families, and the whole community, will universally prevail. Not only will Temperance Societies cut off the resources of drunkenness, but to the reformed drunkard, they will open a refuge from the tyranny of evil customs, and they will support and encourage him in his new habits. To promote these invaluable objects, they call for the united efforts of all temperate men; they earnestly solicit the assistance of physicians, of clergymen, of the conductors of public journals, of all men possessing authority and influence; and by every thing sacred and good, they beseech drunkards to turn from the wickedness of their ways and live.”

The origin of the term “grog” is curious. Before the time of Admiral Vernon, rum was given in its raw state to the seamen; but he ordered it to be diluted, previous to delivery, with a certain quantity of water. So incensed were the tars at this watering of their favourite liquor, that they nicknamed the Admiral Old Grog, in allusion to a grogram coat which he was in the habit of wearing: hence the name.

Catharine I. of Russia was intemperately addicted to the use of Tokay. She died of dropsy, which complaint was probably brought on by such indulgence.

Practical Observations on the Convulsions of Infants.

“At day-break,” says Captain Bligh, “I served to every person a tea-spoonful of rum, our limbs being so much cramped that we could scarcely move them.”

“Being unusually wet and cold, I served to the people a tea-spoonful of rum each, to enable them to bear with their distressing situation.”

“Our situation was miserable: always wet, and suffering extreme cold in the night, without the least shelter from the weather. The little rum we had was of the greatest service; when our nights were particularly distressing, I generally served a tea-spoonful or two to each person, and it was always joyful tidings when they heard of my intention.”—Family Library, vol. xxv. Mutiny of the Bounty.

INDEX.

Abbas the Great, his edict, 200

Alcohol the intoxicating principle of all liquors, 61 its action differs from that of opium, 106

Alexander the Great died of drunkenness, 22

Amurath IV. made smoking a capital offence, 81

Ardent Spirits, drunkenness modified by, 61 varieties of, 26, 63

Armstrong, Dr., his remarks on the disease of the brain, 141

Arrack a spirituous liquor long known in the East, 20

Balfour, Mr. Alexander, case communicated by, 214

Bangue possesses intoxicating properties, 98

Bardolph, his nose, 144

Barrow, Mr., his remarks on tobacco, 83

Beckon Medical Jurisprudence, extracts from, 194, 195

Beecher, Dr., his Sermons on Intemperance, 156, 255

Beer known to the Egyptians, 19 in the interior of Africa, 19

Belladonna, 100

Bitters often dangerous remedies, 139

Bladder, state of, 142

Bligh, Captain, his privations, 247

Blood and breath, state of, 142

Bonosus, hanged himself in a fit of despair, 23

Brain, state of, 140

Brande, Mr., his Table, 260

Brandy, 20, 26, 63

Brodie, Mr., his experiments on tobacco, 83 opinion regarding the absorption of Alcohol, 108

Broomley, Mr., his remedy for drunkenness, 123

Bunbury, his caricature of the “Long Story,” 57

Caldwell, Dr., on the cure of drunkenness, 218

Camphor possesses intoxicating properties, 103

Carbonic acid possesses intoxicating properties, 104

Cardinal Santa Crocé introduced tobacco into Italy, 80

Carnaro, extract from, 155

Catherine de Medicis the inventor of Snuff, 80

Catherine I. addicted to the use of tokay, 239

Chardin, extract from his Travels, 75

Chewing, 88

Children, effects of liquors on, 150, 243

Claret, the most wholesome of wines, 239

Clery, 104

Clutterbuck, Dr., his opinion of delirium tremens, 166

Cocculus Indicus, 99

Coffee useful in poisoning from opium, 129

Coke, Sir Edward, his judicial opinion, 190

Cold, effects of intense, 105

Coleridge, Mr., his case, 93

Collinson on Lunacy, extract from, 195

Combustion, spontaneous, 175

Commercial travellers addicted to intemperance, 31

Congee the drink of the natives of India, 220

Corpulency, 152

Darnel, 104

Darwin, Dr., averse to blooding in drunkenness, 121 his account of psora ebriorum, 146 opposes the sudden discontinuance of liquors, 198

Delirium tremens, 159

Demosthenes used cold water as a stimulus, 34

Desgenettes, observation by, 221

Digitalis, 99

Don Gio Maria Bertholi, case of, 181

Double vision, cause of, 114

Dreams, 171

Drunkard, choleric, 57 melancholy, 54 nervous, 57 periodical, 58 phlegmatic, 55 sanguineous, 52 surly, 55

Drunkards, sleep of, 170 spontaneous combustion of, 175 advice to inveterate, 236

Drunkenness, causes of, 28 modified by temperament, 52 modified by the inebriating agent, 61 physiology of, 111 method of curing the fit of, 120 pathology of, 132 judicially considered, 190 method of curing the habit of, 197

Dupuy, M., experiment by, 123

Ears, ringing in the, cause of, 116

Eason, Rebecca, inquest on her body, 79

Edgar, Professor, his account of Temperance Societies, 233 anecdote by, 253

Edgeworth, Mr., his case, 93

Eldon, Lord, case cited by, 195

Elevation of spirits, cause of, 116

Emaciation, 151

English regiment, anecdote of, 125

Epilepsy, 150

Ethers possess intoxicating properties, 104

Eyes, state of, 143

Flushing, cause of, 116

Fontenelle used coffee as a stimulus, 34

Gin, 25, 63

Good, Dr. Mason, a believer in spontaneous combustion, 186

Gordon, Duchess of, used opium, 72

Gout, 147

Grace Pitt, case of, 180

Grog, origin of the term, 238

Hair, state of, 146

Hales, Judge, his remarks on drunkenness, 167 rejects the plea of drunkenness, 191

Haller used cold water as a stimulus, 34

Hammer, Von, extract from his history of the Assassins, 101

Hannibal’s army ruined by intemperance, 22

Heart, palpitation of, 149

Heat and flushing, cause of, 116

Hemlock, 98

Hernandez de Toledo introduced tobacco into Europe, 80

Hibiscus Saldarissa, 27

Hislop, Sir Thomas, fact stated by, 220

Hobbes used tobacco as a stimulus, 34

Hop, 99

Hunter, Dr., experiments by, 243

Hyoscyamus, 101

Hysteria, 149

Inflammations, 147

Innocent, Pope, renewed Pope Urban’s bull, 81

James I., his “Counterblaste to Tobacco,” 82

Johnson, Dr., used tea as a stimulus, 34

Kain, Dr., recommends tartar emetic for the cure of habitual drunkenness, 216

Kaimes, Lord, fact related by, 71

Kidneys, state of, 141

Kinglake, Dr., his case, 95

Kinninmouth, Patrick, tried for blasphemy and adultery, 193

Langsberg, Matthew, his saying, 23

Leopard’s-bane, 98

Lewis, William, a great ale drinker, 69

Liquors, method of curing drunkenness from, 120 cannot always be suddenly discontinued with safety, 198 not always hurtful, 246

Liver, state of, 133

M’Donough, William, tried for murder, 194

Mackenzie, Sir George, says that the plea of drunkenness is never received in extenuation of crime, 191

Madame Millet, case of, 184

Madness, 157

Mahomet forbade wine to his followers, 20

Malt liquors, drunkenness modified by, 66

Mary Clues, case of, 177

Masurer, M., discovered the virtues of acetate of ammonia in drunkenness, 122

Mead the favourite drink of the Saxons, 19

Melancholy, 156

Mithridates, his body powerfully resisted poisons, 78

Montesquieu, quotations from, 16, 70, 221

Mosley, Dr., his observations on the effect of drinking cold water in the tropics, 222

Nepenthes, 27

Nervii refused to drink wine, 22

Newton used tobacco as a stimulus, 34

Nightmare, 172

Nitrous oxide, 131 drunkenness modified by, 89

North, Dr., his remarks on convulsions of children, 242

Nurses and children, effects of intoxicating agents on, 241

Odoherty, Morgan, his advice to drunkards, 240

Old age, premature, 154

Opium, drunkenness modified by, 70 used by the late Duchess of Gordon, 72 its action differs from that of alcohol, 106 method of curing drunkenness from, 126

Opium-Eater, English, his “Confessions,” 70, 76

Orfila, M., his experiments, 106, 129

Palm wine, 103

Paris and Fonblanque, extract from their Medical Jurisprudence, 176

Paris, Dr., excerpt from his Pharmacologia, 257

Peganum Harmala, 27

Perspiration, state of, 143

Pitcairn, Dr., and the highland chieftain, 213

Plugging, 88

Porter, 26, 67

Portland powder, 140

Psora ebriorum, 146

Punch, 237

Quakers, longevity of, 151, 155

Raleigh, Sir Walter, introduced tobacco into England, 81

Rollo, Dr., fact stated by, 220

Rum, 26, 63

Ryan, Dr., his opinion of delirium tremens, 166

Sack of Shakspeare supposed to have been sherry, 66

Saffron, 104

Schubert, extract from his Travels in Sweden, 195

Shakspeare, extracts from, 144, 153

Sinclair, Sir John, his remark on ale, 252

Skin, state of, 145

Sleep of Drunkards, 170

Sleep-walking, 17

Sleep-talking, 173

Smith, Dr. Gordon, a believer in spontaneous combustion, 187

Smoking, 86

Snuffing, 84

Spartans held ebriety in abhorrence, 22

Spirits, their adulteration, 24 their varieties, 25, 63

Spurzheim’s opinion of the sudden discontinuance of liquors, 198

Staggering and stammering, causes of, 115

Stanhope, Lord, his remarks on Snuffing, 84

Sterility, 150

Stomach, state of, 136

Tartar Emetic, use of, 216

Temperament, drunkenness modified by, 52

Temperance Societies, 223

Thackrah, his remarks on the intemperate habits of commercial travellers, 32

Tobacco, drunkenness modified by, 80

Tobacco, method of curing drunkenness from, 129

Toddy, 237

Tremors, 148

Trotter, Dr., averse to blooding in drunkenness, 121 his advice called in question, 198

Typhus fever, delirium of, sometimes mistaken for drunkenness, 126

Ulcers, 156

Urban VIII. excommunicated snuffers, 81

Vertigo, cause of, 112

Vinegar, its properties, 125, 128

Voltaire used coffee as a stimulus, 34

Walcheren fever, effects of spirits and smoking on, 225

Whisky, 26, 63

Wines, their adulteration, 24 drunkenness modified by, 65

Wolf’s-bane, 99

THE END.

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