a change has taken place during the last quarter of the century. Behold with a thankful heart what great things have been wrought around and about us! Then turn to the contemplation of the indescribable wretchedness of the inebriate's home, Then wonder why it is that so many noble specimens of our race are dying and weeping, starving and shivering from the dreadful ravages of a demon fostered and encouraged by the protecting care of a government claiming to be civilized and civilizing in its purposes and objects. The reader will then behold, and he can not escape from the picture, the strangest, most glaring inconsistency ever tolerated in an enlightened government. Was this government made for the protection of all, or was it only intended for a few? Was the constitution framed with a view of conferring upon the whisky dealers of Texas the inalienable right to make paupers and lunatics out of a large class of our people? If the proposition be established that the constitution can not rightfully be changed so as to protect the best interests of society at large, then must society forever remain at the mercy of the cormorants who are feasting upon its vitals and spreading desolation and ruin throughout the length and breadth of the land, It would be better to have no constitution at all, and that the dearest rights and interests of the people be committed to the caprice of every partisan legislature.

CHAPTER III.

EFFECTS OF DRUNKENNESS.

PHYSICAL, MORAL AND SOCIAL.

In the preceding chapters I have endeavored to discuss briefly such of the causes of drunkenness as may be termed general in their character. To call attention to the many anomalous cases which may seem to be exceptions to the general rules regulating human conduct with relation to the subject, or to proceed from causes which appear rather accidental than otherwise, would require more space than is contemplated by the scope of the discussion before us. Among these may be classed circumstances of domestic infelicity, sudden and repeated misfortunes, such as operate to destroy hope, and plunge the victim into the depths of despondency and unutterable despair. There are doubtless many who from such causes have resorted to the fatal cup and gone down to the lowest depths of drunkenness, who, under other circumstances, would have lived sober and useful lives.

I come now to speak briefly of some of the effects of the intemperate use of alcoholic stimulants upon the human system and upon society at large. I might, very properly, I think, leave out the word "intemperate," and let the discussion apply to the use of the article in any other way than as other poisonous substances are administered in the treatment of physical disease. That it has its proper place in materia medica, and that the alcoholic principle is necessary in the promotion of many of the useful arts, may, and perhaps must, be

fully conceded. The elimination of that one element in the composition of the universe of material things would doubtless result in a general dissolution of organic matter, and the final extinction of animal life. The writer does not intend by the foregoing to even speculate upon the result of the utter destruction of that element in nature, which, through the medium of the distilling process, becomes the arch enemy of human happiness—the fierce and ruthless destroyer of so much of human life and of human character. Nor would I pretend to say that the use of alcohol in medicine and in the arts may not be practically dispensed with by the substitution of some harmless preparation which can be used without danger to the race. But, be this as it may, I take the position that the human system in its normal state never demands or requires the use of alcohol as a beverage to any extent whatever. From the very best of medical authority I submit the following propositions:

I,

Alcoholic liquors are never necessary in health.

2. They are always injurious to health,

3. They are never necessary as a food for man any more than they are for the lower animals.

4. They do not warm and give strength to the body, but diminish both.

5. They do dot increase the power of resistance and the endurance of mental and physical fatigue.

6. They do not increase mental vigor.

7. They do not give tone to the heart, but the accelerated action, which is always temporary, is followed by a reduction of tenacity.

8. They may for a short time increase nervous tension, but are followed by relaxation and debility, and the nervous system is more quickly worn out under their influence.

9. They build up no tissues of the body, but in severe cases they cause a deposition of adipose tissue, which is a

source of weakness and destruction to the heart and to all other muscles.

10. They are specially harmful to brainworkers, who take but little exercise.

II. They produce a tendency to appoplexy and paralysis. 12. They are never necessary in a physiological condition of the system in any quantity, either large or small, but are often beneficial in disease, in which they should be prescribed by an expert.

It will be seen from the above propositions, if correct, that the use of alcoholic stimulants is in no way beneficial to the system which is free from disease.

It is also stated that it tends to produce a certain class of physical diseases. Nature is the greatest physician of them all, and if it were possible for the human mind to understand the language of her directions in the application of universal cure, and if it were possible for human resolution to curb the unnatural and perverted appetites and passions, and strictly to follow the directions of that great physician in the treatment of all human ailments, but a few generations would pass away before disease would be banished from the land, and the whole race of mankind would rejoice in perfect health and happiness. The warnings of nature to those who habitually violate her immutable laws are understood by few and practically heeded by none. As the result of this, the worst of ignorance and heedlessness, we have become a race of invalids, and a perfect man or woman is rarely, if ever, to be found. The use of alcoholic stimulants is contrary to nature. The pains the inebriate would thus allay are inflicted upon him for the purpose of informing and constantly reminding him that he has either wilfully or ignorantly transgressed some law of his nature, and if he is wise he will not cease to inquire of every available source of information until he has learned the cause of the timely warning, if it is discoverable. Instead of

benumbing his sensibilities and shutting his eyes to the fatal consequences, if he is wise, he will seek an effective remedy for his ailment. If mentally depressed and cast down, he will do likewise rather than resort to the use of stimulants, which only serve temporarily to excite the brain and nervous system, which unnatural excitement and exhilaration is soon followed by greater prostration and depression. It is unnatural; it is injurious.

Passing to the moral effects of intemperance, it is scarcely necessary to do anything more than refer the reader to his own experience and observation. It is not necessary to speak at length of the dreadful results of intemperance which are everywhere seen by the casual observer. Can any one doubt the evil results of drunkenness in a moral point of view, when he contemplates for a moment the great catalogue of murders, crimes, and misdemeanors it produces? Will he be heard to say that it is harmless when he counts over the once happy homes it has destroyed? Will he dare to assert that it is not the giant evil of the land, when he beholds the all but countless hosts of women and children who are each year cast friendless upon the cold charities of a pitiless world? Will he so degrade and prostitute his own intelligence, which God has given him for a better purpose, as to espouse the cause of this ruthless enemy of mankind, when he considers the great work of devastation and ruin it is carrying on all over the world?

Figures and statistics are altogether inadequate to express or describe the great work of material, moral, and social destruction produced by this monster evil of our land and country. And yet there are those all around and about us who say that the liquor traffic must go on. say that it ought not to be stopped. can not be checked and that there is no use to try to suppress the great evil of evils. There are always many who take for

There are those who Many who say that it