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diff --git a/42435-0.txt b/42435-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cf8d359 --- /dev/null +++ b/42435-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,728 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42435 *** + +ALCOHOL AND THE HUMAN BRAIN. + +BY + +REV. JOSEPH COOK. + +NEW YORK: + +National Temperance Society and Publication House, +58 READE STREET. + +1879. + + + + +ALCOHOL AND THE HUMAN BRAIN. + +BY REV. JOSEPH COOK. + + +Cassio's language in Othello is to-day adopted by cool physiological +science: "O God, that men should put an enemy in their mouths to steal +away their brains! That we should, with joy, revel, pleasure and +applause, transform ourselves into beasts! To be now a sensible man, by +and by a fool, and presently a beast! O strange! Every inordinate cup is +unbless'd, and the ingredient is the devil."--Shakespeare, _Othello_, +Act II., Scene iii. + +Central in all the discussion of the influence of intoxicating drink +upon the human brain is the fact that albuminous substances are hardened +by alcohol. I take the white of an egg, and, as you see, turn it out in +a fluid condition into a goblet. The liquid is a viscous, glue-like +substance, largely composed of albumen. It is made up of pretty nearly +the same chemical ingredients that constitute a large part of the brain +and the nervous system, and of many other tissues of the body. Forty per +cent of the matter in the corpuscles of the blood is albumen. I am about +to drench this white of an egg with alcohol. I have never performed this +experiment before, and it may not succeed, but so certain am I that it +will, that I purpose never to put the bottle to my lips and introduce +into my system a fiend to steal away my brain. Edmund Burke, when he +heard William Pitt say in Parliament that England would stand till the +day of judgment, rose and replied; "What I fear is the day of _no_ +judgment." When Booth was about to assassinate Lincoln, his courage +failed him, and he rushed away from the theater for an instant into the +nearest restaurant and called for brandy. Harden the brain by drenching +it in alcohol and you harden the moral nature. + +If you will fasten your attention on the single fact, that alcohol +hardens this albuminous substance with which I place it in contact, you +will have in that single strategic circumstance an explanation of most +of its ravages upon the blood and nerves and brain. I beg you to notice +that the white of an egg in the goblet does not become hardened by +exposure to the air. I have allowed it to remain exposed for a time, in +order that you may see that there is no legerdemain in this experiment. +[Laughter.] I now pour alcohol upon this albuminous fluid, and if the +result here is what it has been in other cases, I shall pretty soon be +able to show you a very good example of what coagulated albumen is in +the nervous system and blood corpuscles. You will find this white of an +egg gradually so hardened that you can take it out without a fork. I +notice already that a mysterious change in it has begun. A strange +thickening shoots through the fluid mass. This is your moderate +drunkard that I am stirring up now. There is your tippler, a piece of +him, [holding up a portion of the coagulated mass upon the glass +pestle]. The coagulation of the substance of the brain and of the +nervous system goes on. I am stirring up a hard drinker now. The +infinitely subtle laws of chemistry take their course. Here is a man +[holding up a part of the coagulated mass] whose brain is so leathery +that he is a beast, and kicks his wife to death. I am stirring up in +this goblet now the brain of a hardened sot. On this prongless glass +rod, I hold up the large part of the white of an egg which you saw +poured into this glass as a fluid. Here is your man [holding up a larger +mass] who has benumbed his conscience and his reason both, and has begun +to be dangerous to society from the effects of a diseased brain. +Wherever alcohol touches this albuminous substance, it hardens it, and +it does so by absorbing and fixing the water it contains. I dip out of +the goblet now your man in delirium tremens. Here is what was once a +fluid, rolling easily to right and left, and now you have the leathery +brain and the hard heart. + +Distortions of blood discs taken from the veins of drunkards have been +shown to you here by the stereopticon and the best microscope in the +United States. All the amazing alterations you saw in the shape, color, +and contents of the blood discs are produced by the affinity of alcohol +for the water in the albuminous portion of the globules. + +I am speaking here in the presence of expert chemists. You say I have no +business to know anything about these topics. Well, the new professor +in Andover on the relations between religion and science has no business +to know them. The new professor at Edinburgh University and in Princeton +has no business to know them. The lectureship at the Union Theological +Seminary in New York has no right to teach on these themes. There is +getting to be a tolerably large company of us who are intending to look +into these matters at the point of the microscope and the scalpel. In a +wiser generation than ours the haughty men who will not speak themselves +of the relations of religion and science, and will not allow others to +speak--veritable dogs in the manger--will be turned as dogs out of the +manger. I speak very strongly, for I have an indignation that can not be +expressed when it is said that men who join hands with physicians, and +are surrounded by experts to teach them the facts, have no right to make +inferences. Men educated and put into professorships to discuss as a +specialty the relation of religion and science have no right to discuss +these themes! We have a right as lawyers to discuss such topics before +juries, when we bring experts in to help us. I bring experts before you +as a jury. I assert the right of Andover, and Princeton, and New Haven, +and Edinburgh, and even of this humble platform to tell you what God +does in the brain, and to exhibit to you the freshest discoveries there +of both His mercy and wrath. + +My support of temperance reform I would base upon the following +propositions: + +1. Scars in the flesh do not wash out nor grow out, but, in spite of +the change of all the particles of the body, are accurately reproduced +without alteration by the flux of its particles. + +Let us begin with an incontrovertible proposition. Everybody knows that +the scars of childhood are retained through life, and that we are buried +with them. But we carry into the grave no particle of the flesh that we +had in youth. All the particles of the body are in flux and are changed +every few years. There is, however, something in us that persists. I am +I; and therefore I am praiseworthy or blameworthy for things I did a +score of years since, although there is not a particle of my body here +now that was here then. The sense of the identity persisting in all the +flux of the particles of the system, proves there is something else in +man besides matter. This is a very unsubstantial consideration, you say; +but the acute and profound German finds in this one fact of the +persistence of the sense of identity in spite of the flux of the +particles of the body, the proof of the separateness of matter and mind. + +Something reproduces these scars as the system throws off and changes +its particles. That something must have been affected by the scarring. +There is a strange connection between scars and the immaterial portion +of us. It is a mysterious fact, right before us daily, and absolutely +incontrovertible, that something in that part of us which does not +change reproduces these scars. Newton, when the apple fell on his +head--according to the fable, for I suppose that story is not +history--found in it the law of the universe; and so in the simple fact +that scars will not wash out or grow out, although the particles of the +flesh are all changed, we find two colossal propositions; the one is +that there is somewhat in us that does not change, and is not matter; +the other is, that this somewhat is connected mysteriously with the +inerasability of scars, which, therefore, may be said to exist in some +sense in the spiritual as well as in the material substance of which we +are made. + +2. It is as true of scars on the brain and nervous system as of those on +any less important parts of the body, that they will not wash out, nor +grow out. + +3. Scars on the brain or nervous system may be made by physical or +mental habits, and are the basis of the self-propagative power of +habits. + +4. When the scars or grooves in which a habit runs are made deep, the +habit becomes automatic or self-acting and perhaps involuntary. + +5. The grooves worn or scars made by good and bad habits may be +inherited. + +Physical identity of parent and offspring, spiritual identity of parent +and offspring--these mysteries we have discussed here; and this two-fold +identity is concerned in the transmission of the thirst for drink. When +the drunkard who has had an inflamed stomach, is the father of a child +that brings into the world with it an inflamed stomach, you have a case +of the transmission of alcoholic scars. + +6. While self-control lasts, a bad habit is a vice; when self-control is +lost, a bad habit is a disease. + +7. When a bad habit becomes a disease, the treatment of it belongs to +physicians; while it is a vice, the treatment of it belongs to the +Church. + +8. In probably nine cases out of ten, among the physical difficulties +produced by the use of alcohol, and not inherited, the trouble is a vice +and not a disease. + +9. Alcohol, by its affinity for water, hardens all the albuminous or +glue-like substances in the body. + +10. It thus paralyzes the small nerves, produces arterial relaxation, +and deranges the circulation of the blood. + +11. It produces thus an increased quickness in the beating of the heart, +and ruddiness of countenance which are not signs of health, but of +disease. + +Pardon me if I dwell a moment on this proposition, which was not made +clear by science until a a few years ago. You say that moderate drinking +quickens the pulse and adds ruddiness to the countenance, and that, +therefore, you have some reason to believe that it is a source of +health. I can hardly pardon myself for not having here a set of the +chemical substances that partially paralyze the small nerves. I have a +list of them before me, and it includes ether and the whole series of +nitrites, and especially the nitrite of amyl. If I had the latter +substance here, I might, by lifting it to the nostrils, produce this +flushing of the face that you call a sign of health in moderate +drinking. There are five or six chemical agents that produce paralysis +of the vessels of the minute circulation, and among them is alcohol. A +blush is produced by a slight paralysis of the small nerves in the +interlacing ends of the arteries and veins. If I had ether here, and +could turn it on the back of my hand and evaporate it, I could +partially freeze the skin, and then, removing the ether, you would see a +blush come to the back of the hand. That is because the little nerves +that help constrict and keep up the proper tone of the circulating +organs, are temporarily paralyzed. A permanent blush in the face of a +drunkard indicates a permanent injury to the blood vessels by alcohol. +The varicose vein is often produced in this way by the paralysis of some +of the nerves that are connected with the fine parts of the circulatory +organs. When the face blushes permanently in the drunkard the injury +revealed is not a local one, but is inflicted on every organ throughout +the whole system. + +After moderate drinking you feel the heart beating faster, to be sure, +but it beats more rapidly because of the paralysis of the delicate +nerves connected with the arteries, and because of the consequent +arterial relaxation. The blood meets with less resistance in passing +through the relaxed circulatory organs, and so, with no additional force +in the heart, that organ beats more rapidly. It beats faster simply +because it has less force to overcome. The quickened pulse is a proof of +disease and not of health. (_See_ Dr. Richardson, Cantor Lectures on +Alcohol.) + +12. Alcohol injures the blood by changing the color and chemical +composition of its corpuscles. + +In the stereopticon illustrations, you saw that the red discs of blood +are distorted in shape by the action of alcohol. You saw that the +arrangement of the coloring matter in the red discs is changed. You saw +that various adulterations appeared to come into the blood, or at least +into visibility there, under the influence of alcohol. Lastly, you saw, +most terrible of all, an absolutely new growth occurring there--a sprout +protruding itself from the side of the red corpuscle in the vital +stream. Last year I showed you what some of the diseases of leprosy did +for the blood, and you see how closely alcoholism in the blood resembles +in physical effects the most terrific diseases known to man. + +Here are the diseases that are the great red seal of God Almighty's +wrath against sensuality; and when we apply the microscope to them, we +find in the blood discs these sprouts, that greatly resemble each other +in the inebriate and in the leper. Dr. Harriman has explained, with the +authority of an expert, these ghastly growths. These sprouts shoot out +of the red discs, and he tells you that, after having been called before +jury after jury as an expert, sometimes in cases where life was at +stake, he has studied alcoholized blood, and that a certain kind of +spore, a peculiar kind of sprout, which you have seen here, he never saw +except in the veins of a confirmed drunkard. I think the day is coming +when, by microscopic examination of the blood discs, we can tell what +disease a man has inherited or acquired--if it be one of that kind which +takes hold of the circulatory fluid. + +This alcohol, with its affinity for water, changes the composition of +every substance in the body into which water enters, and there are seven +hundred and ninety parts of water in every thousand of blood. The reason +alcohol changed this white of an egg into hardness, that if it had been +put in whole I could have rolled it across the platform, was that the +fierce spirit took the water out of the albumen. If I had a plate of +glass here, and could put upon it a solution of the white of an egg, and +could sprinkle upon it a little finely-powdered caustic soda, I could +very soon pick up the sheet of gelatinous substance and should find it +leathery, elastic, tough. Just so this marvelous white matter folded in +sheets in the brain is drenched with a substance that takes out the +water, and the effect on the brain is to destroy its capacity to perform +some of its most delicate actions. The results of that physical +incapacity are illustrated in all the proverbial effects of +intemperance. + +13. The deteriorations produced in the blood by alcohol are peculiarly +injurious to the brain on account of the great quantity of blood sent to +that organ. + +The brain weighs only about one twenty-eighth of the rest of the body, +and yet into it, according to most authorities, is sent from a tenth to +a sixth of all the blood. If you adopt fiat money, where will the most +harm be done? What part of this land shows first of all the effect of a +debased condition of the currency? Wall Street? Why? Because there the +circulation is most vigorous. The blood of the land, to speak of money +under that title, is thrown into Wall Street as the blood of the body is +thrown into the head, and so in Wall Street, we have our men on the +watch to tell us whether the currency is in a healthy or unhealthy +state. The slightest alteration is felt there, because the currency +there is accumulated, and so in the brain the slightest injury of the +blood is felt first, because here is accumulated the currency of the +system. + +14. Most poisons and medicines act in the human system according to a +law of local affinity, by which their chief force is expended on +particular organs, and sometimes on particular spots of particular +organs. + +15. All science is agreed that the local affinity of alcohol, like that +of opium, prussic acid, hashish, belladonna, etc., is for the brain. + +16. The brain is the organ of the mind, and the temple and instrument of +conduct and character. + +17. What disorganizes brain disorganizes mind and character, and +whatever disorganizes mind and character disorganizes society. + +18. The local affinity of alcohol for the brain, therefore, exempts it, +in its relations to Government, from the list of articles that have no +such affinity, and gives to Government the right, in self-defence, to +interfere by the prohibitory regulation of its sale as a beverage. + +19. It is not sufficient to prove that alcohol is not a poison to +overthrow the scientific basis of its prohibitory laws. + +20. Intemperance and cerebral injury are so related that even moderate +indulgence is inseparably connected with intellectual and moral +disintonement. + +21. In this circumstance, and in the inerasibility of the scars produced +by the local affinity of alcohol for the brain, the principle of total +abstinence finds its justification by science. + +Nothing in science is less questioned than the law of local affinities, +by which different substances taken into the system exert their chief +effect at particular localities. Lead, for example, fastens first upon +the muscles of the wrist, producing what is known among painters and +white-lead manufacturers as a wrist-drop. Manganese seizes upon the +liver, iodine upon the lymphatic glands, chromate of potash upon the +lining membrane of the eyelids, mercury upon the salivary glands and +mouth. Oil of tobacco paralyzes the heart. Arsenic inflames the mucous +membranes of the alimentary passages. Strychnine takes effect upon the +spinal cord. Now, as all chemists admit, the local affinity of alcohol +is for the brain. Dr. Lewis describes a case in which the alcohol could +not be detected in the fluid of the brain cavities, nor, indeed, in any +part of the body, but was obtained by distillation from the substance of +the brain itself. Dr. Percy distilled alcohol in large quantities from +the substance of the brains of animals killed by it, when only small +quantities could be found in the blood or other parts of the systems of +the same animals. Dr. Kirk mentions a case in which the brain liquid of +a man who died in intoxication smelt very strongly of whisky, and when +some of it was taken in a spoon, and a candle put beneath it, the flame +burned with a lambent blue flame. But brain is the organ of the mind. +Dr. Bucknell (Habitual Drinking) quotes Forbes Winslow as having +testified before a Committee of Parliament that the liquid dipped from +the brain of an habitual inebriate can thus be burned. Whatever is a +disorganizer of the brain is a disorganizer of mind, and whatever is a +disorganizer of mind is a disorganizer of society. It is from this point +of view that the right of Government to prevent the manufacture of +madmen and paupers can be best seen. I care not what men make of the +famous recent experiments of Lallemand, Perrin, and Duroy, of France, by +which half of the medical profession, including Dr. Carpenter, has been +carried over to the support of the propositions that alcohol is +eliminated from the system in totality and in nature; is never +transformed and never destroyed in the organism; is not food; and is +essentially a poison. I care not, on the other hand, what men make of +the proposition Mr. Lewes defends, that alcohol may be a negative food. +The local affinity of alcohol for the brain! This is a great fact. It is +a fact uncontroverted. It is a fact sufficient. It is a fact to be +heeded even in legislation. + +Among the well known authorities on the influence of alcohol on the +human brain, Dr. W. B. Carpenter and Dr. B. W. Richardson, of England, +are now in entire accord with Prof. Youmans and Dr. W. E. Greenfield, of +the United States, in recommending total abstinence. Dr. Richardson's +Cantor lectures have been followed by a volume on "Total Abstinence," +and he gives to Dr. Carpenter's views on this subject his full assent +and final adhesion, having learned at last, he says, "how solemnly right +they are." In 1869 Dr. Richardson began to abstain from wine, by +limiting his use of it to festal occasions, but still more recently he +has abandoned its use altogether. + +The graduates of Amherst College met at the Parker House, in Boston, +some years ago, and, although a wine glass was placed at the side of +each plate, not one of them was filled. Niagara itself, a recent +traveler in the United States says, is not as worthy of description to +Englishmen as the pure array of goblets with ice-water at the usual +dinners at hotels. Mrs. Hayes has expelled intoxicating beverages from +the Presidential mansion. + +The latest investigators of the influence of alcohol on the brain are +Schulinus, Anstie, Dupré, Labottin, and Binz. The latter in a series of +remarkable articles published in the _Practitioner_, in 1876, maintains +that a portion of every dose of alcohol is burned in the system, and yet +he considers the use of alcohol in health as entirely superfluous. The +experimenters agree with the majority of physicians that, in the army +and navy, and for use among healthy persons, alcohol, even as a ration +strictly limited to a moderate quantity, is physiologically useless and +generally harmful. + +Upon different portions of the brain the action of alcohol can be +distinctly traced by medical science and even by common observation. The +brain, it will be remembered, is divided into three parts. The upper, +which comprises the larger part, and which is supposed to be the seat of +the intellectual and moral faculties, is called the _cerebrum_. Below +that, in the back part of the organ, is another mass, called the +_cerebellum_, parts of which are believed to control the contractions +of the muscles in portions of the body. Still lower is the _medulla +oblongata_, which presides over the nerves of respiration. Now the +action of alcohol can be distinctly marked upon the different parts of +the brain. The moral and intellectual faculties are first jarred out of +order in the progress of intoxication. The tippler laughs and sings, is +talkative and jocose, coarse or eloquent to almost any degree according +to his temperament. The cerebrum is first affected. His judgment becomes +weak; he is incapable of making a good bargain, or of defending his own +rights intelligently, but he does not yet stagger; he is as yet only a +moderate drinker. The effect of moderate drinking, however, is to weaken +the judgment and to destroy the best powers of the will and intellect. +But he takes another glass, and the cerebellum which governs several of +the motions of the body is affected, and now he begins to stagger. He +loses all control of his muscles, and plunges headlong against post and +pavement. One more glass and the _medulla oblongata_ is poisoned. This +organ controls the nerves which order the movements of the lungs, and +now occurs that hard breathing and snoring which is seen in dead +drunkenness. This stoppage is caused by impure blood so poisoning the +_medulla oblongata_ that it can no longer perform its duties. The +cerebrum and cerebellum now seem to have their action entirely +suspended, and sometimes the respiratory movements stop forever, and the +man dies by asphyxia in the same manner as by drowning, strangling, or +narcotic poisoning by any other substance. (_See_ Prof. Ferrier. The +Localization of Cerebral Disease. London, 1878.) + +Who shall say where end the consequences of alcoholic injury of the +blood and of the substance of the brain? Here within the cranium, in +this narrow chamber, so small that a man's hand may span it, and upon +this sheet of cerebral matter, which, if dilated out, would not cover a +surface of over six hundred square inches, is the point of union between +spirit and matter. Inversions of right judgment and every distortion of +moral sense legitimately follow from the intoxicating cup. It is here +that we should speak decidedly of the evil effects of moderate drinking. +Men may theorize as they please, but practically there is in average +experience no such thing as a moderate dose of alcohol. People drink it +to produce an effect. They take enough to "fire up," as they say, and +unless that effect is produced they are not satisfied. They will have +enough to raise their spirits, or dissipate gloom. And this is enough to +impair judgment, and in the course of years perhaps to ruin fortune, +body, and soul. The compass is out of line in life's dangerous sea, and +a few storms may bring the ship upon breakers. + +It is to be remembered that, by the law of local affinity, the dose of +alcohol is not diffused throughout the system, but is concentrated in +its chief effects upon a single organ. When a man drinks moderately, +though the effects might be minute if dispersed through the whole body, +yet they may be powerful when most of them are gathered upon the brain. +They may be dangerous when turned upon the intellect, and even fatal +when concentrated upon the primal guiding powers of mind--reason, and +moral sense. It is not to the whole body that a moderate glass goes; it +is chiefly to its most important part--the brain; and not to the whole +brain, but to its most important part--the seat of the higher mental and +moral powers; and not to these powers at large, but to their helmsman +and captain--Reason and Conscience. + +"Ship ahoy! All aboard! Let your one shot come," shouts the sailor to +the pirate craft. Now, one shot will not shiver a brig's timbers much, +but suppose that this one ball were to strike the captain through the +heart, and the helmsman through the skull, and that there are none to +fill their posts, it would be a terrible shot indeed. Moderate drinking +is a charmed ball from a pirate craft. It does not lodge in the beams' +ends. It cuts no masts. It shivers no plank between wind and water. It +strikes no sailor or under-officer, but with magic course it seeks the +heart of the captain and the arms of the helmsman, and it always hits. +Their leaders dead, and none to take their place, the crew are powerless +against the enemy. Thunders another broadside from pirate alcohol, and +what is the effect? Every ball is charmed; not one of the crew is +killed, but every one becomes mad and raises mutiny. Commanders dead, +they are free. Thunders another broadside from the pirate, and the +charmed balls complete their work. The mutinous crew rage with insanity. +Captain Conscience and Steersman Reason are picked up, and, lest their +corpses should offend the crazy sailors, pitched overboard. Then ranges +Jack Lust from one end of the ship to the other. That brave tar, +Midshipman Courage, who, in his right mind, was the bravest defender of +the ship, now wheels the cannon against his own friends and rakes the +deck with red-hot grape until every mast totters with shot-holes. The +careful stewards, seamen Friendship and Parental Love, whose exertions +have always heretofore provided the crew seasonably with food and drink, +now refuse to cook, furnish no meals, unhead the water-casks, waste the +provisions, and break the ship's crockery. The vessel has wheeled into +the trough of the sea; a black shadow approaches swiftly over the +waters, and the compass and helm are deserted. That speculating mate, +Love of Money, who, if sober, would see the danger, and order every rag +down from jib to mainsail, and make the ship scud under bare poles +before the black squall, now, on the contrary, orders up every sail and +spreads every thread of canvas. The rising storm whistles in the +rigging, but he does not hear it. That black shadow on the water is +swiftly nearing. He does not see it. In the trough of the sea the ship +rocks like a cockle shell. He does not feel it. Yonder, before the dense +rush of the coming blow of air rises a huge wave, foaming, and gnawing, +and groaning on high. He does not hear it. With a shock like the opening +of an earthquake it strikes the broadside; with a roar it washes over +the deck; three snaps like cannon, and the heavily-rigged masts are +gone; a lurch and sucking in of waves, and the hold is full of water, +and the sinking ship just survives the first heavy sea. Then comes out +Mirthfulness, and sits astride the broken bowsprit, and ogles a dancing +tune. The crew dance! It were possible, even yet, to so man the pumps +and right the helm as to ride over the swells and drive into port, but +all action for the right government of the ship is ended. Trumpeter +Language mounts the shattered beams of the forecastle, and makes an +oration; it is not necessary to work, he tells the crew, but to hear him +sputter yarns. + +It is fearful now to look upon the raging of the black sea. Every moment +the storm increases in fury. As a giant would toss about a straw, so the +waves handle the wrecked timbers. Night gathers her black mists into the +rifted clouds, and the strong moaning sound of the storm is heard on the +dark ocean. By that glare of lightning I saw a sail and a life-boat! Men +from another ship are risking their lives to save the insane crew whose +masts are gone. They come nearer, but the boat bounds and quivers, and +is nearly swamped upon the top of a wave. Jack Courage and Independence +see the boat coming. "Ship ahoy," shout the deliverers. "Life-boat from +the ship Temperance! Quit your wreck and be saved." No reply. +Independence grinds his teeth and growls to Jack Courage that the offer +of help is an insult. "I will tell you how to answer," says Jack, stern +and bloody. There is one cannon left with a dry charge. They wheel that +upon the approaching boat, and Independence holds the linstock over the +fuse-hole. "Life-boat for sailors on the wreck," shouts Philanthropy +from the approaching boat. "What answer, ship Immortal?" Then shoots +from the ringing gun a tongue of flame, and ten pounds of iron are on +their way. The Temperance boat rocks lower from the wave-top, and the +deadly reply just grazes the heads of the astounded philanthropists and +buries itself heavily in their own ship beyond. It was an accident, they +think, and keep on board the ship and stand upon its deck. Then flash +from their scabbards a dozen swords; then click the locks of a dozen +muskets; then double the palms of a dozen fists; then shake the clubs of +a dozen maniac arms, and the unsuspecting deliverers are murdered on the +deck they came to save. As the lightning glares I see them thrown into +the sea, while thunders are the dirge of the dead and the damnation of +the murderers. + +The drunken ship is fast filling with water. Not a man at the pumps, not +an arm at the helm. Having destroyed their friends, the crew fall upon +each other. Close under their bow rave the breakers of a rocky shore, +but they hear it not. At intervals they seem to realize their condition, +and their power even yet to save themselves, but they make no effort. +Gloom, and storm, and foam shut them up against hell with many thunders. +In this terrible extremity Independence is heard to refuse help, and +boasts of his strength. Friendship and Parental Love rail at thoughts of +affection. Language trumpets his easy yarns and grows garrulous as the +timbers crack one after another. Rage and Revenge are now the true names +of Firmness and Courage. Silly Mirth yet giggles a dance, and I saw him +astride the last timber as the ship went down, tossing foam at the +lightning. Then came a sigh of the storm, a groaning of waves, a booming +of blackness, and a red, crooked thunderbolt shot wrathfully blue into +the suck of the sea where the ship went down. + +And I asked the names of those rocks, and was told: "God's Stern and +Immutable Laws." + +And I asked the name of that ship, and they said: "Immortal Soul." + +And I asked why its crew brought it there, and they said: "Their +captain, Conscience, and helmsman, Reason, were dead." + +And I asked how they died, and they said: "By one single shot from the +pirate Alcohol; by one charmed ball of Moderate Drinking!" + +On this topic, over which we sleep, we shall some day cease to dream. + + + + +ADVERTISEMENTS + +_THE BEER QUESTION._ + + +The National Temperance Society has published the following books, +tracts, and pamphlets upon the beer question, which should have a wide +circulation. The following are adapted to Sunday-school libraries, as +well as for family reading and general distribution. + + ++Brewer's Fortune, The.+ By Mary Dwinell Chellis. 12mo, 425 pp +$1.50+ + +This takes up and discusses the entire beer question; the writer having +carefully studied the subject from every point of view, and it is worthy +of the widest circulation. It is one of the best volumes ever written by +this popular author, and shows that wealth can not compensate for +evil-doing, and that the sins of the fathers are often visited upon the +children. + + ++Brewery at Taylorville, The.+ By Mary Dwinell Chellis. 12mo, 445 pp +1.50+ + +This book shows how much evil was wrought by the establishment of a +brewery in a hitherto prosperous town, and how it brought ruin and +disgrace upon those who indulged in what are called the lighter drinks. +It is one of the strongest books in favor of total abstinence from +everything that can intoxicate. + + ++Firebrands; a Temperance Tale.+ By Mrs. J. McNair Wright. 12mo, 357 pp ++1.25+ + +It is the story of an orphaned boy, adopted by a distant relative, and +subsequently the inheritor of a small fortune from an uncle, which he is +then induced to invest in brewing in a country village, with an unhappy +sequel alike to himself and the community. The lesson against tampering +with beer or strong drink, either the drinking, making, or vending of +it, is of a most impressive character, and is admirably adapted to win +and hold the reader's interest, and to create and strengthen good +resolutions. + + ++Beer as a Beverage.+ An address by G. W. Hughey. 12mo, 24 pp +10+ + +A very able reply to the assumptions by the brewers at their late +congress at St. Louis, that beer is a harmless, wholesome, "temperance" +beverage. It deals very effectively and conclusively with the +sophistries and falsehoods of the brewers, and is a most valuable +document for general circulation by the friends of temperance in all +parts of the country. + + ++History and Mystery of a Glass of Ale.+ By J. W. Kirton. 12mo, 24 pp +10+ + +Showing what ale is, and what it does, and why it should be let alone. + + +EIGHT-PAGE TRACTS, $6.00 per 1,000. + ++The Evils of Beer Legislation.+ By J. B. Dunn, D.D. ++Malt Liquors, their Nature and Effects.+ By Wm. Hargreaves, M.D. + + +FOUR-PAGE TRACTS, $3.00 per 1,000. + ++Why I Did Not Become a Brewer.+ By J. B. Dunn, D.D. ++That Glass of Ale.+ By Rev. E. H. Pratt. ++The Sabbath and the Beer Question.+ By Geo. Lansing Taylor, D.D. ++Shall we Use Wines and Beer?+ By Mrs. Sarah K. Bolton. ++A Glass of Ale.+ By T. S. Arthur. ++Not Poverty, but Beer.+ By Mary Dwinell Chellis. + + +UNION HAND-BILLS, $1.00 per 1,000. + ++A Crusade Against Beer.+ ++What Is Malt Liquor?+ ++What Brewers Think about Beer.+ ++What! Deprive a Poor Man of his Beer?+ ++What Beer Costs.+ ++What Have You to Show for It?+ + + +Address J. N. STEARNS, Publishing Agent, +_58 Reade Street, New York_. + + +_SCIENCE AND TEMPERANCE._ + +By BENJAMIN W. RICHARDSON, M.A., M.D., F.R.S., + +_Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, London; etc._ + + +The National Temperance Society has published the following new and +valuable works on alcohol, from a scientific stand-point, written by Dr. +Richardson, one of the foremost scientists of the age. + + ++On Alcohol.+ With an introduction by Dr. Willard Parker, of New York. +12mo, 190 pages. Paper covers, 50 cents; cloth +$1.00+ + +This book contains the "Cantor Lectures" recently delivered before the +Society of Arts. These justly celebrated lectures, six in number, +embrace a historical sketch of alcoholic distillation, and the results +of an exhaustive scientific inquiry concerning the nature of alcohol and +its effects upon the human body and mind. They have attracted much +attention throughout Great Britain, both among physicians and general +readers, and are the latest and best scientific expositions of alcohol +and its effects extant. + + ++The Temperance Lesson-Book.+ A series of 52 short Lessons on Alcohol and +its Action on the Body. Adapted for public and private schools, and +supplies a great educational need. 12mo, 220 pages. School edition, per +dozen, $6.00; singly +75+ + +It is the mature result of most careful and extended research on the +part of its gifted author, whose attainments place him in the front rank +of the ablest scientists of the world. There are fifty-two lessons, each +followed by a series of questions for examination and review. They are +free from labored and wearisome details, cover a wide range of +physiological and hygienic information, and in style are simple and +attractive, admirably adapted to win and retain to the end the interest +of students. Their practical value, as a means of prevention and a +safeguard for the young against the drink peril, it would be impossible +to compute. + + ++Moderate Drinking+: For and Against, from Scientific Points of View. +12mo, 48 pages. Paper +20+ + +It is a thoroughly scientific and impartial discussion of the subject of +the moderate use of alcoholic beverages, by one who stands in the front +rank of the most distinguished scientists in Great Britain, and as such +possesses a rare value for circulation among the young, and all who may +not yet have arrived at mature convictions as to total abstinence. It is +one of the most valuable contributions its gifted author has yet made to +temperance literature. It ought to be in the hands of all college +students, and of young men, ministers, teachers, and intelligent people +everywhere. + + ++Action of Alcohol on the Body and on the Mind, The.+ 12mo, 60 pages. +Paper +20+ + +Two able and important lectures, the result of careful and extended +researches as to the results of alcohol from a scientific stand-point, +and are among the ablest contributions to this branch of the subject. + + ++The Medical Profession and Alcohol.+ An Address before the British +Medical Association. 12mo, 33 pages. Paper +10+ + +It is a scientific plea for total abstinence, of great power. It +embodies also a very earnest appeal to members of the medical profession +to join in the pending vitally important warfare against alcoholic +beverages. It is a most valuable publication to place in the hands of +the physicians of this country, among whom it should have the widest +possible circulation. + + +Address J. N. STEARNS, Publishing Agent, +_58 Reade Street, New York_. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Alcohol and the Human Brain, by Joseph Cook + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42435 *** |