CHAPTER II.

EFFECT OF ALCOHOL UPON THE HUMAN BODY AND SOUL.

Liquor as an Article of Commerce-Alcohol in the Body-Importance of Medical Testimony-The Development of Drunkenness during the Past Three Centuries-The Experiments of Lallemand, Perrin and Duroy-A Terrier Dog under the Influence of Liquor-The Latest Demonstrations of Dr. Richardson-How Alcohol Travels with the Blood, and What it does on its Travels-Experiments of Parkes and Wallowicz on a Healthy Man-How his Heart was Affected by Alcohol -Effect of the Social Glass at a Dinner Party.

T is matter of common knowledge that rum, gin, brandy

and whisky, ale, beer, cider, wines, all in great variety and with divers peculiarities of color, taste and potency, enter largely as commercial articles into the consumption of daily life, especially among the civilized nations of the world. In another part of this work I shall endeavor to show approximately the tremendous proportions and effects of the traffic in alcohol in the various disguises which it assumes in order to catch the unwary, or to hold in its iron captivity the already enslaved consumer. But before doing this it seems to me more logical to ascertain from observation, experience, and especially from scientific and professional sources, in which from the nature of the investigation, must be the most decisive evidence, the effect of alcohol administered in these numerous forms upon our physical, mental, and moral being. If that influence be beneficial, it will materially change the conclusions to which we shall arrive from the vastness of the traffic, and will enable us to withdraw much severe comment made by "temperance fanatics," including myself as one of the chief of sinners, so far at least as hostile intent has been concerned ; and the remaining pages of this work shall be devoted to the repair of past injury, real or attempted, and to encomiums for the blessings which shall have been demonstrated to flow from the activities of this colossal trade.

Those who are engaged in producing beverages which di

rectly affect the body and soul, whose labor, capital and profits all depend upon a consumption which takes direct hold of the immortal as well as the mortal nature of themselves and of their fellow-men all made in the image of God must be willing to abide the test of a candid examination of this subject.

If it be found that alcohol used as a beverage is good for man, then the libels and slanders of the past must be withdrawn, and shall be so far as I am concerned; the great moral agencies of Christendom will hereafter lend their support through the press, the pulpit and platform; hostile legislation will be repealed; the highest and holiest energies of the race, hitherto active for the destruction of the trade, will become hereafter its strongest allies, and all men will unite to do honor to these long-derided and execrated benefactors of the

race.

If the result of our examination leaves the truth in doubt, then, while charity must hereafter suffer long and be kind, while we must upbraid no more, still, as alcohol is an innovator, as great, real injury is apparent and still greater hurt is charged and not disproved, the affirmative of the issue is upon alcohol; and if its advocates do not prove it to be good, the ordinary presumption against an intruder should prevail, and the traffic should be restrained within the limits until its effects are shown to be not evil.

If the result of our examination should be a demonstration beyond rational doubt that alcohol is in its nature hurtful in the healthy human system, then it should not be necessary to go further and portray the gigantic dimensions of the alleged "crime of crimes," but upon this showing alone the waste of useful materials should be arrested; the perversion of productive labor and capital to pernicious uses should cease, and the forces which now direct, as many believe at least, and as Mr. Bourne has proved, one-tenth of all human capacity night and day, through war and peace, remorselessly, and awfully, to the destruction of the race, should be turned into other fields of achievement whereon God has pronounced no curse.

Alcohol reaches the human being through the organs of the body-that body so fearfully and wonderfully made, the high

*Bourne, on the National Expenditure on Alcohol. Statistical Journal XLV., 1882, p. 312.

est and most mysterious visible manifestation of the wisdom and power of the Creator. No subject of study ever has been or can be of such importance or of such absorbing interest to us as this body, save alone the impenetrable spirit which dwells within it, and which, from its invisible but glorious throne, with brain and hand discovering, seizing and wielding all the forces of nature, reigns over this lower world, while with the upturned eye of faith and conscious kinship, it touches, as of right with spirit hand the very scepter of its Father and its God. This wonderful and sacred structure, the temple of the body, has been in all ages the field of profound exploration to the wisest and best men of the race. It matters not that ignorance and imposture have infested this holy domain. They will continue to infest it because of the intense and constant interest which must forever surround the subject, until science shall have completely illuminated the most recondite secrets of our frames, and the holy art of healing shall have poured its successful balm into every wound, and found a specific for every form of disease.

That will be the golden age.

The noble profession of medicine has wrought on patiently, fervently, honestly, and profoundly, from the beginning, and will do so forever, until the race is extinct or perfection be attained. Its votaries have been always among the most advanced thinkers, the least superstitious, the most acute and logical investigators, and the closest in their relation to the actual facts of human experience, in their largest variety, of all those who have been devoted to intellectual pursuits.

More of good has come to humanity in daily ministrations from the medical than from any other profession or class of scientific men. Not always wise, not uninfluenced by the darkness around them, its members have, nevertheless, during the lapse of ages, reared a pyramid of glory to their profession resting upon the everlasting foundations of truth; and thus deservedly have won the confidence and affection of the masses of men, in proportion to the degree of general intelligence prevailing among those who, in every grave emergency of suffering and disease, turn to their good physician for relief.

Upon a great question like this before us, if indeed it be a

THE QUESTION BEFORE THE PEOPLE.

17

question, we must, as reasonable beings, rely upon the evidence of medical men.

I say "if indeed it be a question," because there are those who believe that, but for the vast pecuniary interests and the death clutch of appetite already existing, the common judgment and indignant spontaneous action of society would destroy the liquor traffic as instinctively as we destroy the poisonous snake. But, as things actually are, as we find them in the daily contacts of life, we have abundant reason to bear with one another, and to reason together upon many as open questions, which may to one of the parties seem to be already clearly settled. So it now is in regard to the effect of alcohol upon the body.

The parties to this controversy cannot agree. The issue is before the country and the world. It must be settled. The physicians are the experts; not all who belong to the profession in a general way, for its departments are numerous, and each specialty may absorb the powers of the greatest of men; many of the profession have never studied or observed specially with reference to the ascertainment of the truth bearing upon our subject. But there have been, and there now are, some of the controlling intellects of the race, and most eminent members of the medical profession whose conclusions, based upon scientific observation and experiment, are accepted as authoritative by their peers in other departments wherein they are themselves "the end of the law." There are chemists who have pursued our subject with patient and profound investigation until the truth has been revealed too vividly for contradiction. To the testimony of such men as these it is proper that we should give heed, as do their brethren, conforming their own faith and practice to the conclusions of the wisest and best who have specially investigatad the subject. Upon such evidence as this we act in all the important concerns of life; and he who should adopt any other rule of action would universally be dealt with as bereft of reason-a drunkard or a fool.

Nor can we expect that all doctors will agree, for it must be remembered that the profession is made up of men, and that, in common with the rest of humanity, they are influenced by their surroundings, by the traditions and circumstances and interests

which have enveloped them, so that, in a certain sense, they, with the laity, are all emerging into the light together. But we follow the lead of those nearest the sun, and who have specially examined this subject. Thus upon the whole mass of evidence, from every source, let us finally turn the clear, cold, steady eye of American common sense, and decide.

Whatever may be the conclusion of American intellect, thus formed, let us act upon it with steady and irreversible determination. In considering the effect of alcohol upon the body and mind, care should be taken to guard against any prepossession either way.

No presumption should arise from the drinking customs of society, existing from the earliest time, in favor of this drink, any more than in favor of war or slavery among all nations, or the self-inflicted cruelties of superstition, the hasheesh and opium habits, which afflict hundreds of millions of the race, or any other admitted evil whose long existence is rather a reason for its instant removal than its further toleration. Any gratification, indulgence or evil whatever, which becomes entrenched in the habits and prejudices of men, and which is the foundation of important industries and occupations, will be sure to find hosts of friends. Its removal, however necessary, will never be popular, at least not until the constant demonstration and iteration of startling truth has at last aroused both the conscience and self-interest of society as a whole. This latter stage may be nearer than we think with the alcoholic drinking customs of the world, but in the examination of the evidence it is important to act alike without prepossession for that which has been because it has been and still may be, on the one hand, or against it because of the wrongs and crimes which are charged on the other.

We should, however, keep clearly in mind that there is no evidence whatever, nor any pretence by any one that alcohol is, or in any form ever was, one of the general and indispensable necessaries of life, like milk, water or bread.

At most, its use is only claimed to be desirable and pleasant as a part of the general habit, and occasionally necessary in sickness and emergencies. When tremendous evils are admitted to follow from its use, or its abuse, if you please, when that abuse is shown to be the rule and not the exception, the