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AN
          ADDRESS

   01T  iLDHEUT SPIRIT*
          READ BEFORE THE

NEW-HAMPSHIRE MEDICAL SOCIETY,
          at their annual meeting,
              June 5, 1827,
      BY R.  D.  MUSSEY,  M.  D.

AT  THAT TIME PRESIDENT OP  THE SOCIETY, AND PROFESSOR
    OP ANATOMY AND SURGERY, IN DARTMOUTH COLLEGE.
    HANOVER,
PRINTED BY THOMAS MANN.
       1828.
 
  i\£W-HAMPSHiRE Medical Society.—Voted,that Drs. Matthi-
as Spalding, Thomas P. Hill, and John B. M'Gregory be a commit-
tee to wait on Dr. R. D. Mussey and request a copy of his address,
this  day delivered before the society, or so much of it as would
he proper to meet the public  eye, for publication at the expense of
the Society.
                                Attest,
                                      M.  Long, Secretary.
  Concord, June 5, 1827.

  Dear Sir,
               The foregoing is a copy  of a vote  of the New-
Hampshire  Medical Society in relation to your address.   Hoping
that you will comply with the request,
            I  am yours truly,
                            For the Committee,
                                MATTHiAS  SPALDING.
Reuben D. Mussey.
  June, 1827,
  Dear Sir, The address was not written with a view to publica-
tion, but after  much delay,  and some  solicitation from different
sources, I have  concluded to submit the copy.
                               Yours sincerely,
                                           R. D. MUSSEY.
  June, 1828.
M. Spalding, M.  P 
ADDRESS.
   More than nine hundred years ago, an Arabian
 Chemist discovered by  distillation, a  pungent and
 warming liquor, to which was given the name of Alko-
 hol, and which we call ardent spirit.  This, a modern
 writer asserts, is the aqua divina, or water of the Elys-
 ian fields, invented  by  Democritus, and he maintains
 that the term alkohol has nearly the same import with
golden liquor, applied by some of his countrymen  to
 the  precious  invention of  the  Greek  philosopher.
 This liquor was brought into Europe at the time of the
 Moorish conquest, soon came into general favour, and,
 now exerts  an important  influence over a great part
 of the civilized world.
   It is the object of the following remarks to examine
 the claims of this article to  the extensive patronage
 and confidence it has acquired.
   When taken in small quantity into the stomach,  it
 diffuses  its influence  over  the whole body; a fresh
 impulse is given  to the  living powers, the countenance
 lights up with pleasure, and  the mind  acts  with new
 interest  and vivacity.
   Under the influence of a larger dose of the exhila-
rating fluid, sensibility and  sympathy   unfold them^ 
4
selves.  Tears fall, as a pensive  association  crosses
the mind, or a tale of common  suffering is told, the
benevolent affections flow out upon all  surrounding
objects, and the whole world is not too large a sphere
for the  exercise  of the  generous sentiments which
swell the bosom.   The mind disburthened of care,
and disregarding the past  and the future, sees no im-
pediment to the boldest and most extravagant enter-
prises ;  and rioting in the luxury of present existence,
scarcely acknowledges  a superior in  the universe.
Here the  distinctions of society begin to  disappear.
The idle and half starved vagrant is transformed into
a lord,  and surrounded with pomp and  plenty; and
the miserable outcast, who has tenanted a prison for
his crimes, imagines himself on a throne,  clothed with
power sufficient to direct the destinies of a nation or
of the world.
   The lover of alkohol sometimes resorts to poetry and
song in the expression of his ecstasies, but as the effect
of the ethereal liquor deepens, he sings or shouts inar-
ticulate responses to musick or voices which  seem to
come to him from a distance, but which are occasioned
by a violent beating of the arteries of his own brain.
   If the corporeal part of man, in this  happy condi-
sion, be inspected, it presents phenomena which cor-
respond with those of the mind.   The whole face is
swollen, the forehead and temples patched with red
and white, the cheeks of a deep crimson, the nose tip-
ped with ruby, the corners of the mouth drawn down,
 and the under  lip  inclining  to drop, the eyes  blood-
 shot and glassy, roll upwards under their lids, and the 
5
body and limbs, no longer subjected to the arbitrary
control of the will, assume that position which is dic-
tated by  the power of gravitation;  in  a word,  the
whole man declining farther intercourse with external
nature, retires within himself, and heedless of the ma-
terial creation around him, remains for hours, as if in a
trance.  If such be some of the effects of alkohol, who
can wonder that it  has been called golden drink, or
that poets have chanted its praises.
  This, however, is not all.  It possesses, more than
any other invention of man, the power of transforming
character; but what is worthy of particular notice, is,
that  all its  good  transformations are transitory, and
nearly all its bad ones, permanent.  Does it give mo-
mentary strength to the feeble, its habitual use makes
the strong man weak.  Does it inspire the coward
with desperation, it can break down the heart of cour-
age, and reduce the manly spirit  to  the imbecility of
childhood.  Does it make the poor man rich in imag-
ination, it  makes the rich man poor in reality.  If it
occasionally  excite a flood of sympathetic tears, and
unclench the fist of avarice, it relaxes benevolent ex-
ertion, and renders the mind habitually less sensible
to the sufferings of others.
  What  permanent  influence does it exert upon the
social affections and the^moral feelings ?  Was it ever
known to increase conjugal attachment and  kindness,
parental tenderness, or filial love and obedience 1 Has
it ever given a  spur  to industry, in the farmer, the
tradesman, the merchant, or professional man, by urg-
ing upon him the claims of a dependant family, or a 
6
 suffering friend ?   Who was ever inspired by alkohol
 With lofty moral sentiments ?  Who has felt its influen-
 ces directing his thoughts reverently upward towards
 the Author of his being, and prompting him to sincere
 confession of departure from  duty, to  submission to
 his will, and  obedience to his commands ?  On the
 contrary who has not seen its effects in poisoning the
 fountains of social and moral feeling, and in transform-
 ing the affectionate,  kind, and hopefully devout man,
 into a  savage or a brute 1
   You have seen a youth of fine talents and promise,
 coming into  life  encircled with the highest parental
 hopes  and expectations, and making regular and rap-
 id progress towards  a sphere of usefulness and re-
 spectability.  You have seen him betake himself to the
 bottle ; soon  the relish for study or business is lost;
 industry, ambition, character, family reputation, virtu-
 ous society, are all unmeaning  things ; the  high con-
 siderations they present, he regards not, but wanders
 about,  the associate of idlers and  thieves, the butt
 of vulgar  insolence,  and the abhorrence of his former
 virtuous  and intellectual  companions.   His parents
 weep for him in secret places.
   You have seen the man of talents, industry and ex-
 tensive usefulness, who in  the exercise of his vocation,
 had acquired high public confidence, thrown down, by
 the magic power of alkohol,  from the pinnacle  of  his
 elevation, to become the object of popular derision and
 abuse.  Was he a physician, or a lawyer, had he sat in the
 high seat of public justice, or had his voice been heard in
the council of the nation, or had he borne the messages 
7
tit' grace to guilty men;  you have seen him, barter the
luxury of doing good, or  grow regardless of the law and
of justice,  or despise the insignia of office  and public
confidence, or voluntarily tear off his priestly vestments,
and extinguish with his own hand, the flame of that
altar, before which he had ministered year after year ;
and all this for what? for distilled spirit: for the priv-
ilege  of being the  companion  of fools  and drunkards.
   What is  the  secret  of this witchery which strong
drink exerts over  the whole man ?  I will  try  to tell
you.   After  being received  into  the  stomach it  is
sucked up by absorbent vessels, is carried  into the
blood, and circulates through the alimentary organs,
through  the lungs, muscles, and brain, and  doubtless
through  every organ of the body.  Not a blood vessel
however minute,  not a thread of nerve in the whole
animal machine escapes  its  influence.  What is the
nature of this influence  ?  It disturbs the functions  of
life;  it increases for a  time, the action of  living or-
gans, but lessens the power of that action; hence the
deep depression and collapse  which  follow preter-
natural excitement.  By habitual use,  it renders the
living fibre less and less  susceptible to the healthy ope-
ation  of  unstimulating food and drink, its exciting in-
fluences soon become incorporated with all the living
actions of the body, and the diurnal sensations of hun-
ger,  thirst,  and exhaustion,  are  strongly associated
with the recollection of its exhilarating effects, and
thus  bring along  with  them,  the  resistless desire for
its repetition.
  Is evidence required  of its being absorbed, and per-
vading the different organs of the body ?  Approach 
8
 within a few feet of the rum or brandy drinker, and the
 odour of his breath will quickly demonstrate, that the
 lungs, loaded with the foul liquor,  are discharging it
 with all the energy in their power.
  When taken by the  nursing mother, it enters into
 the delicate food prepared by nature for the nourish-
 ment and growth of helpless infancy, and in this way,
 as may most rationally be supposed, produces a relish
 for an article naturally disgusting, and lays  thus early,
in some instances, a  foundation  for intemperance  in
 after life.   What physician has  not known a nursing
mother give a fretful  child a  good night's sleep, by
 taking, herself, a dose of brandy at  bed time 1
  Other organs  than those destined for  the formation
 of milk, manifest the presence of this article when it is
combined with peculiar odours  ; those organs especial-
 ly,  which are set as waste gates  to the system, soon
 show how  foreign it is,  and  ill adapted to the real
wants  of the animal economy,  by  separating it from
the blood and taking it out of the general  circulation
 as fast as possible.
  The brain, that most delicate and wonderful organ,
which forms the mysterious link between the other
forms  of matter and  mind, the healthy functions of
which are essential to vigorous intellectual operation,
is capable  of  imbibing alkohol, and having all its ac-
tions suddenly arrested.   In point, is the case of the
man who was  picked up  dead in London, soon after
having  drank  a quart of gin  upon  a  wager.    He
was carried into the Westminster  hospital and  there
dissected.   " In  the  ventricles of the brain was found
a considerable quantity of limpid fluid, distinctly in> 
9
pregnated with gin,  both to the  sense  of smell and
taste, and even to  the  test  of inflammability.   The
liquid appeared, to the  senses  of the examining stu-
dents, as strong as one third gin to two thirds water."*
   We know that alkohol, even when diluted, by long
contact after death, hardens the brain, as well as  the
other soft  textures  of  the body which contain albu-
men ; and although the vital principle may enable the
brain to resist in a great measure, and for a long time,
 this effect  of alkohol, when brought into it from the
stomach by the general circulation, the fact, as alleg-
 ed by many, and as I am strongly induced to believe
 from the limited means I have had of observing, viz. that
 the brains of drunkards are literally harder at death,
 than those  of  the temperate,  may  be considered in
 strict accordance with the effects of intemperance up-
 on the  intellectual  functions.   If this organ be in any
 degree hardened by the circulation of diluted alkohol
 through its minute and most delicately  organized
 parts, it might well be  supposed to be less susceptible
 of those exquisitely balanced  actions, which we  can
 hardly help believing do exist in the impressions made
 by external objects, and in the variety of combinations
 of them, produced by  the more abstract, and  retired
 operations of the mind.  That a large proportion of
 tiplers  early discover an unnatural obtuseness of intel-
 lect, and that frequently a  mind originally quick and
 vigorous, becomes slugglish and imbecile, need not be
 told to an assembly of physicians who have had the
 common opportunities  of observing the effects of in-
 temperance.
   * Cooke on Nervous Diseases, P. 104. Boston. Edit. 1824, 
10
  The stomach and liver of drunkards are generally
found to be disordered; the stomach frequently con-
tracted, and the liver much harder than natural, exhi*
biting an unnatural colour  both upon  its surface, and
throughout its interiour texture.   This, perhaps, is
what might be expected.   The stomach receives  the
liquor* in  the most concentrated and active form, in
which it is taken into the body.   From the stomach
and the alimentary canal below, most, if not all of it, is
probably carried through the liver in a state less  dilute
than when distributed among the remaining organs
of the body.  The texture of the liver too, which con-
sists merely of vessels and nerves with  enough cellular
membrane to hold them together, may perhaps  serve
to show why it is more obviously affected than the al-
imentary canal, inasmuch as this canal has a distinct,
and in some  places, a thick muscular coat, indepen-
dently of its vessels. The skin of the inebriate is always
more  or less affected.   Its  fair colour soon fades un-
der  the  withering influence  of ardent spirit; and
from being smooth, soft, and elastic, it becomes  un-
even,  wrinkled and flabby, if the subject be somewhat
advanced in life ; or if young, the skin of the face is
bloated, uneven and frequently purple, and very often
in middle life and after, a large crop of red pimples is
the only ornament the face exhibits.
  The eye,- that window of the mind,  loses its pearly
whiteness,  its sparkling  transparency,  its quick and
significant motions, and  becomes dim, slugglish  and
unmeaning.
  The various phenomena  exhibited in  the different
stages of alkoholick influence, including its immediate 
II
and more permanent effects, and modified by age and
constitutional  temperament, would occupy more time
in the enumeration, than can be spared on  the pres-
ent occasion.   The case of him who has made free
with his cups, till  they have  produced the  following
train  of symptoms, is not unfrequently submitted to
the consideration of a physician-  The forehead and
cheeks are swollen, pale and slightly tinged  with yel-
low, the lips leaden coloured or pale, the eye yellow,
dim and vacant, the lower eyelid loose  and  hanging,
the upper lid several times its natural thickness, dia-
phanous and drooping, the body twice its natural cir-
cumference, the limbs tottering and swollen, the breath
insupportably fetid, respiration difficult and wheezing,
accompanied with a short dry cough.  " Throw  medi-
cine to the dogs" in such a case.
   The bodies of some few drinkers have been so tho-
roughly steeped in  spirit,  as literally to take fire and
consume to ashes.  It is said that no case of this spon-v
taneous combustion has ever occurred, except among
hard drinkers, and it is altogether probable that  in ev-
ery such case, an inflammable air has exhaled from the
lungs or skin,  or both, and  has been kindled by the
too near approach of a lighted taper, or some ignited
substance.  A French chemist, it is said, after drink-
ing a  pint of  ether during the day, used to  amuse
himself at evening,  by lighting up his breath, directed
in a very small stream  upon  the  flame of a  lamp.
Alkohol  taken in large quantities, would probably,  in
some constitutions at least, occasion  a similar vapour
to be thrown from the lungs ; and there  is, doubtless
more danger than has been imagined, in a deep drink- 
n
er*s bringing  his mouth or nose close to a lighted ta-
per at evening.
  The numerous and weighty considerations, some of
which have been hinted at, and which a reflecting man
must  surmount, before he  can make  up his  mind
to be regarded  as a  drunkard, place in  a striking
view the strength of the appetite, which is created by
a long and habitual  use of spirit.   Instances might
be referred  to, which set this in a painfully strong
light.
  A few years  ago, a tippler was put into  an alms-
house in a populous town, in Massachusetts.  Within
a few days, he had  devised various expedients to pro-
cure rum, but failed.   At length however, he hit upon
one which proved successful.  He went  into  the
wood-yard of the establishment, placed his hand upon
a block, and with an axe in the other, struck it off at a
single blow.  With the  stump raised and streaming,
he  ran  into  the  house, crying " get some rum,  get
some rum, my hand is off."   In  the confusion  and
bustle of the occasion,  a bowl of rum was brought,
into which he plunged  the bleeding member  of his
body, then raising the bowl to his mouth, drank freely
and exultingly exclaimed,  " now I am satisfied."
  In another populous town  in the  same state there
lived an habitual drinker, who in an interval of reflec-
tion, made a vow that he  would drink no more spirit
for forty years, not doubting at the time, that forty years
would place him in his grave.   He  faithfully kept his
vow, and at  the expiration  of the  stipulated period,
ventured to take a little liquor, as it seemed no more 
IS
than a friendly salutation given to an old acquaintance,
and in  no very long time died a sot.
  I once knew a man, who had been for some time, in
the habit  of  intemperate  drinking,  and who had, at
times,  strong remonstrances of conscience.   These
admonitions,  together with the motives and encourage-
ments  held up to him by his kind and good wife, in-
duced  him to make a solemn vow, " that by the help
of God, he would never again drink any thing stronger
than beer, unless prescribed  for him as a medicine
by a physician." He regarded the vow, became sober
and apparently religious, and for several years sustain-
ed the character of a devout man.   At length he lost,
by degrees,  his  religious sensibility,  grew dull and
stupid, heedless  alike of religious  duty, and of the
daily attentions to business  necessary for the support
of his family, and eventually died besotted with rum.
When warned of his danger, soon after it was known
that he had returned to his cups, he assigned as a rea v
son, the prescription of a physician, which was made
on his application for relief  from mild dyspepsia.
   If such be  the strength of the habit, and so great the
danger of forming it, what  apology is  there for
drinking spirit at all ?  Does a healthy labouring man
need alkohol ? No more than he needs arsenic, corro-
sive sublimate, or opium.   The experiment has been
made a thousand times, and the result is well known,
namely, that  more  labour can be accomplished in a
month or a year,  under the  influence of simple nour-
ishing  food and unstimulating drink, than through the
aid of alkohol.*   Does the warrior need this stimulus
                    * Vide note B; 
14
 to inspirit him for the conflict; M'Donough has shown
 with what cool  and appalling bravery men  can fight
 without it, and a faithful history  of our army and navy
 would demonstrate, that the use  of it affords  no secu-
 rity against defeat or disaster.
   If ardent spirit be necessary to health and activity,
 how  did  the world  get along without it for  forty
 eight hundred years ?  How could the Roman sold-
 iery withstand the frightful  onsets of Hannibal, with
 nothing to drink, stronger  than vinegar and water?
 Take a  soldier of the  present  day,  clothe him with
 heavy Roman armour, and give him the pilum* and. short
 sword, weapons which,  it -has been  said, * conquered
 the world;'  and  it will  soon appear what blessings
 wc have derived from alkohol.   The modern  Achilles
 cripples under his load,  unable to raise from  the
 ground the  instrument  with which  he is to meet his
 foe:'
 i "But alkohol is certainly useful as a medicine, and
 it may be resorted to as an antidote to infectious dis-
 eases."   If it be a good medicine, Jet it be  used only
 as a medicine.  What has a healthy man to  do with
medicine?  Let  it be kept only  on the shelves of the
apothecary.  But how does it appear that spirit affords
security under exposure  to contagion?  The history
of certain  epidemicks will show, that they destroy a
larger proportion of tipplers, than  of those who are
temperate.   Two physicians of my acquaintance were
called to practice in the  same epidemick scarlet fever.
One  drank spirit freely, the other  not at all; they were
equally exposed  to the contagion, and both  topk the
                   * Vide  note C, 
lo
 disease.  The drinker died,  the  other recovered.  If
 you are exposed to the  infectious air of sick rooms*
 take plain nourishing food at regular intervals, and un-
 stimulating drinks.
   " But if useless as a  preventive, is not alkohol im-
 portant in the treatment of disease ? "  I admit that it
 is sometimes convenient, but I deny that it is essential
 to the practice of physic or  surgery   Do we wish to
 rekindle the taper of life as  it  glimmers in a fainting
 fit, we  have ammonia and the volatile oils, and  wThat
 is better than every thing else, cold water, to  be ad-
 ministered  by  affusion.   Is it required to produce a
 tonick effect in a case of long standing debility,  the to-
 nick roots, and barks, and woods, impart their invigor-
 ating properties to water or acid.  Are we called upon
 to relieve pain, opium is  altogether  superior to alko-
 hol.  Do we need a solvent for  opium, we have it in
 the  acetous acid.  The black  drop is one of the best
 solutions of opium ever invented.
   " But what is to be done with the medicinal resins
 and  aromatick oils, must not  they be dissolved in alko-
 hol ?"   The medicinal resins do not  constitute  a  very
 important  class of remedies,  but they may be given in
 fine powder, rubbed  with some inert friable substance,
 or dissolved in an essential oil,or made into an emulsion.
 The ordinary mode of using them does not carry them
 into  the stomach in  the state of solution, as they are
instantly precipitated in  a  flocculent form on being
thrown  into water.  As for the  aromatick  oils, they
may  be  given in the  form  of liquid soap, or emulsion
rubbed with alkali, or sugar and water, and in this  way
ihev exert their speeifick effects. 
16
  Is the physician required to prescribe a restorative;
if quinine and bark, and bitters, and metallick tonics
will not do, shall he prescribe alkohol ?  This is never
certain and always unsafe, inasmuch as there is immi-
nent danger of a permanent relish being acquired for
it; nor does it compare, in its restorative powers, in
cases where the complaint was not produced or modi-
fied by the previous use of it, with the pure fermented
and well-preserved juices of the grape and the apple.
The factitious wines extensively vended in our country,
are poor restoratives; they contain a large proportion
of alkokol.
  I maintain then, that, taking into view the danger
of making tipplers by giving ardent spirit  to the sick,
and considering that all its medicinal virtues are found
in other articles, mankind would not on the whole be
losers, if it should be banished not only from the hous-
es of every class in the community, but also from the
shops of the apothecary.
  There  can be little doubt of the correctness of the
prevailing opinion, that the consumption of ardent
spirit has been, for a few years  past, an alarmingly in-
creasing evil in our country.
  By the marshal's returns in 1810, it appeared that
no less than  thirty three millions  three hundred  sixty
five thousand five hundred  and twenty nine gallons of
spirit were distilled, and imported for a single year's
consumption in the United States; and there is little
doubt  that this estimate  is far  short of the truth, as
there is,  probably,  every year, a considerable quan-
tity smuggled into the  country, of which of course no
account is given.   If from that  time, the consumption 
17
 df ardent spirit has only kept pace with the population,
 it will amount to fifty six millions of gallons ;but from
 the increase in the consumption, says a distinguished
 gentleman of our state, in an elaborate calculation, from
 which the following results are taken,  ' we  may safe-
 ly set it down at sixty millions.   This will give to ev-
 ery individual,  man  woman and child, including bond
 and free, five gallons each.  Deducting the slaves and
 children under ten years of age, it  will give to the
 rest not less than  eight gallons each.'  Is this  result
 impossible,  must there bean error in  the calculation?
 The common seamen  of our navy are allowed a dai-
 ly ration of half a pint of spirit each.  This is about
 twenty three gallons a year, and when it is considered
 that  hundreds  of thousands of  our citizens  drink
 twice, thrice or even four times this quantity, the fore-
 going result will not appear improbable.
  ' Sixty millions of gallons, taking into the estimate the
 quantity of home distilled spirits disguised and sold for
 foreign liquors, the free dilution of home and imported
 liquors before they reach the consumer, and the large
 proportion retailed in small  quanties at a price greatly
 in advance of the primary cost, maybe fairly reckoned
 at about one dollar the gallon, but to be within bounds
 place it at fifty million dollars.   If to the  actual cost
 of ardent spirits, we add the loss of time, the waste of
 property, the various expenses of sickness and law-
 suits occasioned by their use, and the  amount expend-
 ed in the support  of paupers reduced to indigence by
intemperance,  to  what  an enormous  sum  will  the
whole amount ?   One  Imndred  millions of dollars is
probably far short of the truth.' Let half this sum be an-
         3 
lfc
nually levied upon the people in the form of a direct
tax, and insurrection and revolt would appear in every
part of our country.
  From calculations made by the gentleman before
alluded to, in which I have great confidence, but which
are too lorig to be admitted here, it appears in the high-
est degree  probable, that, from twenty thousand to
thirty thousand persons in the United States, are an-
nually brought to a premature death through the infiV
ence of ardent spirit.   Place the number at twenty
five thousand.*
   One hundred millions of dollars, divided among the
different states according  to their population, would
give to New-Hampshire, about two millions five hun-
dred thousand dollars.  Apply this sum to  the  sup-
port of government, of the clergy, and of schools ; im-
prove the means of education by the establishment of
any reasonable number of high schools, and the most
extensive endowment of the college; make a hundred
new publick roads; cut canals,  and build railways in
every useful direction ; smooth down the rugged fea-
tures of the state, by giving the most liberal encour-
agements to agriculture ; build up manufacturing estab-
lishments ; cherish the useful  and the  fine arts by-
large premiums and salaries ; endow a hospital in each
county, and  distribute unheard of sums among the nu-
merous and  charitable objects of the day ; send a hun-
dred missionaries to India, and as many to our west-
ern wilderness; and in ten years our treasury would
groan  under the burden of unappropriated monies.
  * More recent estimates  by other  gentlemen, from larger data,
fix the number at thirty thousand. 
19
   Twenty-five thousand lives in our  country in one
 year !  This number multiplied  by the  time that has
 elapsed since the  last peace  with Great Britain, will
 give three  hundred thousand, a larger  number than
 met in 1812, on the bloody plains spread out before
 the ancient city of the Czars.   Apply this calculation
 to the population  of Europe, and you have three hun-
 dred and seventy five thousand annually,or four millions
 one hundred and twenty five thousand in eleven years,,
 the time since the peace in 1816; a number nearly equal
 to that swallowed  up by that vortex of human life, the
 French revolution, and its. consequent wars.
   How can any  thing he done effectually to check
 this mighty evil ?  I give the same answer to this ques-
 tion which has repeatedly been  given  within the last
 few months ; change public opinion, make it  unpopu-
 lar, unfashionable  to drink  spirit.   What is the use of
 applying to Government for a tax upon ardent spirit so
 large as to place.it beyond the.reach of the lower classes
 in the community ?  Legislative enactments which far
 outrun public opinion,  are worth nothing.   Fashion,
 and custom hold men with  a stronger arm than Legis-
 lative prescription. But how change publick  opinion,
 it is not already an overwhelming torrent rolling onward
 with resistless  and increasing power?   Man  can ac-
 complish wonders both in the physical and moral world,
he dares even meditate a canal across the isthmus of
Darien, expecting  to lower the waters in the  gulph of
Mexico, and perhaps to stop the gulph stream ;  and
who that recollects the mighty moral achievements ac-
complished in the time of the reformation by the efforts 
2©
of a single man, shall despond at  the vastness of  the.
change now contemplated ?
  Let all good men, all well wishers to social life  and
family quiet; to health, industry and the arts ; to reli-
gion, morals and good government, unite their efforts 5
and by all possible means, but chiefly by their example,
in rigidly abstaining from ardent spirit, discourage  and
discountenance its use, among all within the sphere of
their influence.
  ' I know, says some worthy man, ' that the evil of
spirit drinking is a great one,  and I heartily wish we
were rid of it;  but I have been in the habit of taking
It occasionally for some years, and  I find it  at times
particularly comfortable to me,and as I am in do danger
of becoming intemperate, must I give it up only for the
benefit  of others ?'   You take it frequently and  are
fond of it; are you then in no danger ? Unconscious-
ness of danger is no proof of security.  There may be
some reason for your leaving it off  on your own  ac-
count, but if not, have you not so much  regard for
your family and the community as to submit to a slight
temporary inconvenience on their account ?  Why  talk
one  way and act the other ?  Your influence is on the
side of conduct, not merely  of words.   What would
be said of the physician who  should refuse to submit
to the processes of cleansing necessary  to rid his
clothes of the infection of small pox, because it would
cost him a little  time   or trouble or other inconven-
ience ;  while by  thus disregarding the regulations in-
stituted for the preservation  of the publick health, he
would expose his family and his  neighbours  to the
pestilence;  and whose sons  are mqre  liable t© 
fci
become drinkers of ardent spirit than the sons of him
who sets them the example?
  But the glorious work of reform has been commenc-
ed, and is now  in rapid progress.  Within the last
half year, societies  for  the promotion  of this object
have sprung into existence, like flowers upon the bo-
som of spring after a long and cold winter; may an
abundance of fruit follow these vigorous forth puttings
of moral effort.
   I repeat it, let all virtuous men unite to expel the
common enemy.   He ought not to be allowed a place
in Christian society.   He is a foreigner,  a  Mahome-
tan, he was born in the land of robbers, and he has es-
tablished the genuineness of his origin by the millions
he has deprived of property, of morals, and of life.
He has come to  us in the robe of friendship, has assur-
ed us of his best regards, has proffered  his aid and so-
lace in sickness, pain, and poverty.  Such a friend, who
could reject ? he has  been received  into general fa-
vour, and admitted to christian  confidence and com-
panionship ;  and what  reward has he taken for his
kind offices ?  He has stolen away character,  health,
property, the rich blessings and endearments of socie-
ty and domestick intercourse,  the  moral sense, life,
and the hope of heaven.
   Gird up then to the combat.  Always meet  him as
an enemy; never again admit him to  your bosoms;
give him no quarter ;  expel  him from your houses ;
drive him from the land.   Always treat him as a mur-
derer ;   he has  slain your brothers, he lurks for the
life blood of your children, he whets his sabre for you.
   Farmer, Mechanick, Professional man, Orator, nasi 
22
thou sought from ardent spirit strength to labour, or
ingenuity or promptness in thy calling, or eloquence in
the hall of legislation or justice ;  it  will palsy thine
arm, cause thy right hand to forget its  cunning, and
thy tongue to cleave to  thy mouth.
  Christian,what hast thou to expect from strong drink?
art thou weary, and dost thou linger on thine upward
journey ;  and will ardent spirit bring  thee  sooner or
Safer to thine home ?
   Dost thou wait in the sanctuary, has thou been sep-
arated to stand before the  congregation ;  and when
thy graces  languish, when  thy  devotion burns feebly
and faintly, dost thou rekindle it with alkohol ?  Ah !
come not near; bring no more this strange  fire to the
altar, lest, from  its secret and holy dwelling, a flame
brake forth upon thee, and thpu be consumed, and the
people with thee. 
NOTES,
    A.—-Refer to Page 11.   As  Alkohol  is  strongly allied  to
 ether in its chemical relations, and as it is  capable of passing from
 the stomach into other organs without having its inflammability  de-
 stroyed, as in the case  mentioned in the 8th and 9th pages,  where
 diluted gin was found in the brain, the wonder, perhaps is, that in-
 stances of spontaneous human combustion should so rarely have oc-
 curred.   Plouquet mentions twenty-eight cases.

   B.   It is very generally understood that the human constitution
 •Can endure intense cold under the influence of water as an article of
 drink, longer than under that of ardent  spirit.   In proof of this, nu-
 merous striking facts might be referred to, but it is unnecessary.  It
 may not be so generally known, that  great  exposure to heat does
 not require the use of ardent spirit.
   From a commercial friend in Massachusetts, I have lately receiv-
 ed the following information.  " I visited," says he, " four or five
 years since, in New-Jersey, an iron foundry belonging to Mr. Wood,
 of Philadelphia; I think there were thirty or forty men employed in
 the establishment, and all they drank was pure spring water.  I saw
 them often while lading out  the  hot metal  and sweating at every
 pore, take a mug, run to the spring, and  drink very freely of the wa-
 ter.   I  inquired if they did not feel any  ill effects from  drinking so
 much cold water ; they answered, no! The furnace  went into blast
 in April and continued till October ;  all those  employed had the
 best of health during the whole season, and returned to their friends
in the Autumn with  better health, and fuller purses  than they ever
 had before.
  " A vessel belonging to my neighbour, went from this place to
#outh America,  and from thence to India; ne spirit was allowed to 
24
the erew during the whole voyage ;  they all arrived home in good
health.   One of my own Captains kept grog from his  men, the
whole of an India voyage ;  they all came home in fine health.—
For my crews in hot climates, I direct spruce beer,  made with the
oil  or essence of spruce, and molasses and water.   I shipped two
crews last  week  for long voyages in hot  climates, and  named to
the men that we should not allow them grog ;  there was not a sin-
gle objection made to signing the shipping papers.   It is  in  the
power of every ship owner to prevent the use of ardent spirit on
board his vessels, by sending  out a few barrels of  molasses, and a
few dozen bottles of the essence of spruce, for beer."
  To the foregoing suggestion, it may be proper to add, that, for la-
bouring men in hot weather, sweetened water, sometimes with the
addition of ginger, is a most salutary drink ;  so  also  is a mixture
of milk  and water.
  The principle of life is afforded to every individual in such quan-
tity, or in such manner, as to admit of the living actions being car-
ried on, under the most favorable circumstances, only for  a limited
period; and as no human power or skill can increase this  principle
one jot or tittle, so neither,  can  the actions of  life be  urged  be-
yond the standard of sound health, (leaving casualties  out of the
question) without necessarily shortening it.  And  this  shortening
of life will be for minutes or months, or years, according to the de-
gree and continuance of the excitement beyond the natural and uni-
form rate of healthy action.
  This vital principle has been likened, not altogether  inaptly, to
oil in a  lamp, which is capable of sustaining flame,  only for  a cer-
tain length of time.  If the wick  be raised higher than necessary to
produce a full and clear light,  a part of the oil goes off in  smoke
and the whole is sooner consumed,

  C.—' The pilum was a missive weapon, which the Romans sol-
diers, in charge, darted upon the enemy.   It was  a bar of wood,
about four feet eight or ten inches long, with a slip of iron the same
length, hooked and jagged  at  the end.  Each soldier had two of
them.'