STIMULANTS USES, AND HOW BEST CONSERVED MORAL AND LEGAL REFORM METHODS By Jj M. EMERSON AUTHOR OF " NEW YORK TO THE ORIENT » Neb) York DICK & FITZGERALD 1888 Copyright, 1888, By J. M. EMERSON. PREFACE. If the author of the following pages shall succeed in any degree in promot- ing more reasonable and healthy views on the subject of alcoholic stimulants; or if he shall say something which may tend towards correcting the terri- ble existing abuses, and repairing the damages done by their improper and excessive use, he will have accomplished more than he dared promise himself, and all he could reasonably hope for. J. M. E. STIMULANTS. IT may be reasonably doubted if either the ultra-temperance partisans or the advocates of alcoholic stimulants have ever reached the true ground underlying the great question whose proper solution so inti- mately concerns individuals and society and nations. In no department of effort for the amelioration of the evils that/afflict human- ity have the struggles made to remedy them been so unprecedented or the methods adopted so barren of results. The evils of intemperance are appalling, so appalling that large numbers of conscientious men 5 6 Sti nudants. and women have concluded that any use of alcoholic stimulants is evil, and only evil, and hence have united in persistent efforts to prevent their manufacture, sale, and con- sumption. That these people are honest in their convictions, and pursue their aim with a praiseworthy persistence, is not to be questioned. That they earnestly desire to save the victims of alcoholism, and that they believe their methods best adapted to attain that end, must likewise be conceded; but that they are mistaken, both in the true nature of the affliction and in its proper treatment, the following observations will demonstrate. While all agree as to the character and extent of the evils arising from the Stimulants. 7 misuse of stimulants, comparatively few ap- proach the consideration of the problem of a competent remedy for those evils in the spirit of impartial and unbiassed observ- ers, or with the knowledge which, in all such discussions, is essential to a just decision. Alcohol is not an invention of man, but a natural product. It is the necessary re- sult of the fermentation of all vegetable substances, and the inevitable concomitant of animal death. We have the highest au- thority for the statement that alcohol is found in all animal tissues soon after death occurs. It is found in every tissue of the brain whose owner has spent his life in denouncing this substance and advocating its destruction. 8 Stimulants. Iii view of this fact is not the conclu- sion inevitable that a substance which is so manifestly the result of the action of nature's laws-which are divine laws--has some beneficent office to perform in connec- tion with a race of beings who are involv- ed in the action of those laws, and are compelled to govern their lives thereby ? It is claimed by many, and especially by the advocates of the hygienic school, that the desire for stimulants is wholly morbid and due to unnatural modes of life, to the con- sumption of too much meat, to high-seasoned food, to overstrain of the mental and physi- cal forces, and to undue excitement. Doubt- less this is largely true; but it is also equally true that the taste or desire is, in some cases, Stimulants. 9 hereditary. So we are met at the very threshold of investigation with what seem to be intricate problems of hygiene and occult phenomena of heredity; but, really, when the mere taste for strong drink is considered, it is quite unnecessary to cumber the con- sideration with speculations of causation- whether it be natural or morbid, or both. What we need to consider is, first, What are its proper and beneficent uses, and how shall those uses be best understood and conserved ? And, next, how shall we re- medy the irrational uses and actual abuses ? There are, beyond question, many con- ditions of the human organism in which alcohol, in some form, is indicated as a neces- sary and efficient health and strength factor. 10 Stimulants. There are many acute and sub-acute cases in which it acts with surprisingly speedy beneficial 'results, and a large class of pas- sive or more or less " chronic " conditions in which it is so indicated that its non-ad- ministration would be highly censurable; and any " practice " which would not pre- scribe it in such cases would deserve pub- lic and personal condemnation. To specify these conditions here, of course, is impossible, but every well-informed phy- sician recognizes them, and admits that stimulants stand unrivalled, both as a pal- liative and a remedy, where there is pover- ty of the blood, or a low condition of the vitality, or a breaking-down of the nervous system after fevers, etc., etc. Stimulants. 11 Medical men do not all agree that al- cohol is a food, but the great majority regard it as such; not so much a food that supplies and builds up tissue as one that prevents waste, sustains the vital forces, and prolongs life. Professor Binz, of the Bonn University, says: "We must regard as a food any sub- stance which, when taken into the system, can serve toward building up the tissues, or towards supplying the warmth and vital force necessary for the proper performance of the various functions of the body. " Alcohol fails to fulfil the first office of a food according to the foregoing definition, since it is incapable, as far as we know, of supplying material to build up the tissues; Stimulants. 12 but when given in small doses, oft repeated, especially in the case of a sick person, it may be said to surpass all other substances as a species of an easily-burned fuel, from whose combustion the heat required to generate vital force may be derived, Indirectly it also answers the first of the aforesaid pur- poses, for, though it may furnish actually no new building material, it spares the reserve supply of fat in the body, which would otherwise have to be burned to give the ne- cessary warmth." Liebig classes alcohol among the heat- producing foods, such as starch, sugar, and fat, because it contains carbon and hy- drogen, which, by the aid of oxygen, un- dergoes a process of combustion within the Stimulants. 13 body, and thus contributes in maintaining animal heat. This process necessitates the decomposition of the alcohol in the body. This demonstrates that it is appropriated, and so becomes, at least in the above sense, a food. Some quarter of a century since the attention of scientists was called to the question of the food properties of alco- hol. Lallemand, Perrin, and Duroy con- ducted a series of experiments to prove that alcohol was not a food. They claim- ed that all alcohol taken into the system left it unchanged through the various secretions and excretions. Drs. Anstie, Dupre, Schulinus, Brunton, Binz, and other experimenters have since proved that the 14 Stimulants. French chemists were wrong, and it is now recognized as an established fact that alco- hol given' in small and moderate doses is almost wholly consumed within the organ- ism, and that only a trifling portion passes out of the body in the secretions." Dr. Brunton, of England, says: " Alco- hol undergoes combustion in the body, maintains or increases the bodily weight, and prolongs life on an insufficient diet. " Dr. Anstie mentions the case of a man, eighty-three years of age, who took one bottle of gin per day for twenty years, and during all that time ate only one small finger- length of toasted bread a day. The same author reports that two female patients sub- sisted on nothing but alcohol for months. Sliniidants. 15 "One case was that of a man in the mid- dle class of life who subsisted for several months entirely on spirits and water, re- maining all the while in good health and condition. "Another was that of a young man who ate no solid food for five years, and for the last , two subsisted on brandy and water. He kept his flesh and his good spirits to the last, and died from valvular disease of the heart, from which he had suf- fered before his appetite failed." Dr. Anstie adds, after citing the above and other similar instances: "The concur- rence of so large a number of observations in testifying to the power of alcohol, in certain circumstances, to support life, singly 16 Stimulants. or with entirely insignificant assistance, ought surely to produce a decided effect upon the mind of 'any reasonable person." It is easy to estimate the comparative value of these statements of trained scien- tific men, who arrive at their conclusions by a practical demonstration of facts, and those of enthusiastic reformers who decide the question against alcohol in advance, and whose conclusions are inferences drawn from the suppres-sio veri-a most indefensible method of treating a question of such mo- ment. • There is surely inestimable value in a proper, judicious, and rational use of such stimulants as from time immemorial have been recognized as health-giving to the hu- Stimulants. 17 man system, and even the strictest of temperance advocates can scarcely claim that so benign and efficient a minister for some of the ills that assail mankind should be entirely ignored or abolished. As well forbid the importation, manu- facture, sale, and use of quinine, opium, coca, coffee, tea, and a thousand other arti- cles that are useful for specific purposes, because some people will make an improper or excessive use of them. The craving for stimulants may be gene- rally classed with other normal body de- mands, and when it is normal there is the same necessity for a response as in the case of other natural instincts. The appetite, as a rule, craves the food best 18 Stimulants. adapted to nourish the system. When this appetite is healthy it is the proper guide in' the food and drink selection; and while it is no doubt true that per- sons in vigorous health, and especially those who are young and growing, do not feel the need of alcoholic stimulants of any kind-are better oft* without them -yet when health and strength fail the stimulant is often the appropriate remedy, and not infrequently the only remedy. Its need is then indicated by the desire for it. This is not an abnormal but a perfectly normal health incentive, and is no more to be ignored or defied than the desire for any other form of sustenance. To call it abnormal, morbid, vicious, is a mischievous Stimulan 's. 19 perversion of a simple physiological and chemical fact. In such conditions it may be that some satisfactory substitute for al- coholic stimulants can be found, though the search for it has been hitherto unsuccessful. If no stimulant is admitted, the breaking down is as sure as the inanition of starva- tion. Dr. R. B. Carter, a leading English surgeon, says: " While I fully admit that there are many people who can support life without alcohol, I affirm from my personal expe- rience that there are some-I know not how many-to whom alcohol is a necessity. I strongly suspect, from the writings and speeches of many total abstainers, that even in cases where abstinence appears to be sue- 20 Stimulants. cessful, the nutrition of the centres which are subservient to the higher operations of the mind is less perfect than it might be ; and I think I might myself exist without alcohol, if I could be content to let my brain lie fallow and to limit my vital activity to a moderate amount of physical exertion. Again, when I am told, as a result of labora- tory work, that alcohol is not a food, I reply that the statement is a mistake. I care no- thing for laboratory work, which is exposed to countless sources of error, and I have seen life maintained upon alcohol for months together. Although a chemist cannot tell me how the effect is produced, I shall not reject the evidence of my senses because his knowledge of the process of nutrition is Stimulants. 21 incomplete. I believe what I have seen and felt, and I tell the chemist that he has blun- dered. It is his business to find out the how and the where." Dr. Brunton claims " that alcohol in- creases the secretion of gastric juice and the movements of the stomach, thus aid- ing digestion; it dilates the blood-ves- sels, increases the force and frequency of the heart's action, imparts a feeling of comfort, and facilitates bodily or mental labor." It is a question if there are not more cases than is generally supposed of nervous and other derangements in which alcohol in some form is the best remedy. Indeed, in such cases stimulants can be taken in 22 Stim id ants. undue quantities with no effect upon the brain. Then they are markedly beneficial, their effect being to bring the system up to the normal condition of health. When this is accomplished, of course the stimulant should be discontinued. The fal- lacy of the claim that every drop of alco- hol is necessarily injurious, because a cor- responding " depression " occurs, is self-evi- dent. If alcoholic stimulants are needed no such depression ensues; it occurs only when the quantity taken affects the brain, and not when the system is in such a condition that it may be taken in small or large quantities without affecting the brain. Then it is nerve and tissue food; it is alimentation; it is force, energy, life. Stimulants. 23 Thus much for the proper and admirable office which the wise and judicious use of stimulants plays in the human economy. Whatever may be said of their unwise and injudicious use, let not the facts of the good that is in them be either ignored or depre- cated. As well deprecate or condemn any good agency-fire, steam, electricity-be- cause they are elements of destruction when under no control. This statement in no way contravenes the fact that in some instances a morbid craving for stimulants exists, or that the treatment of the subjects of such unna- tural and unhealthy taste-demands consti- tutes the great unsolved problem connect- ed with the consideration of this question. 24 Stimulants. Sued) cases, the worst of which are doubt- less hereditary, are comparatively rare. But they exist; and are the most difficult of all to grapple with. Such au one was that of a New England gentleman who, being conscious of this weakness and of his inability to control himself, hiied a stal- wart man to take charge of him-to go about with him. He gave this man the most positive orders that whenever he saw him indulging too freely he should take him up bodily, if necessary, and con- vey him forcibly away, shut him up in his room, give him coffee, and keep him confined until he came to himself. On some of these occasions the scenes were most comical, and at the same time Stint u/aiits. 25 exceedingly dramatic. He was endowed with almost superhuman strength. He re- sisted the attendant, swore at him, de- nounced him, and was sometimes so hard to manage that the attendant was com- pelled to call for help to * get him into a cab. When he recovered from his drink mania he would send for his attendant and tell him that if he " ever let up on him " at such times, or " yielded an inch " -in other words, if he did not obey his instructions to the letter-he would dis- charge him instantly. In others of these extreme cases the vic- tims are not so capable of self-control. Il- lustrations of this type are not wanting. The wife of a reputable citizen, who in her 26 Stimulants. normal condition was an admirable wife and mother, when under the influence of the drink mania was utterly beyond con- trol. At such times she would do the most unreasonable and outrageous things. If she lacked money for procuring drink, she would mortgage her piano-forte, or sell articles of furniture or the precious keep- sakes of her children; and often she be- came boisterous and utterly reckless, and sometimes she would rush into the street in a dishevelled condition, with her hair streaming, and shouting and acting like an insane person. It may be a question if society should not restrain such persons-do for them what they are incapable of doing for them- Slim ulants. 27 selves-thereby protecting itself and afford- ing the helpless victim the only chance there is for him? He is not a free moral agent, therefore not to be treated as one. Prohibitory legislation would be appro- priate for him; but it is not flattering to the great majority who can control them- selves to be placed in this category. The existence of such cases as these, and the extreme difficulty of suggesting any mode of treatment that shall be applicable where the conditions are so extraordinary, may well make the advocate of any special method of reform modest in his claims as to its universal efficacy. Fortunately these cases are rare, and the only remedy for them appears to be total 28 Slimulants. abstinence. Such an abnormal craving should not be confounded with the almost universal ' craving existing* in the human race for stimulants and narcotics. Every nation and every individual finds some sub- stance to satisfy that craving. In this class of substances appear not only alco- hol but coffee, tea, coca, opium, and tobacco, each of which numbers its devotees by millions, and some of them by hundreds of millions. Tea is consumed by five hundred millions, coffee by two hundred and fifty mil- lions, coca by two hundred millions, opium in some form by eight hundred millions. All the nations of the world are addicted to the use of tobacco in some form. It is a notable fact that the enthusias- Stimulants. 29 tic modern reformer has selected alcohol alone, from all these substances, upon which to lavish all his reformatory ef- forts. As multitudes perish annually through excesses in the use of these articles of vast consumption, it is one of the anoma- lies of human vagaries that little or no effort is made to help or save their victims, while measures of every description, right and wrong, legal and illegal, are pushed to the extremes! limits, not only to save the vic- tims of alcoholic excesses, but in the boot- less task of abolishing alcohol itself. The following passage from the Popu- lar Science Monthly for June, 1882, is quite in point: " The headlong reformer 30 Stimulants. who fixes his attention on some special form of evil, and would eradicate it root and branch, is soon found to be himself in- volved in something not very unlike what he so zealously condemns-he, too, is an object of reformatory solicitude. One thun- ders against the whole tribe of stimulants, from ethereal wine to acrid whiskey, and never touches, tastes, or handles them ; the pipe will do for him. Another coun- terblasts tobacco, content with abundance of strong coffee. Still another decries all these together, inspired by concentrated potions of tea. Still another ingests, per- haps, only vegetables and water, and ful- minates from the pulpit or platform against all these gross indulgences, yet is Stimulants. 31 lifted into the seventh heaven of enjoy- ment by the stimulating incense of flattery and applause which conies up from ad- miring auditors, and without which life would be flat, stale, and unprofitable. These and many other things which might be enumerated are all marked by a common character-stimulation of pleasurable feel- ing, carried to a pitch of excitement that ends in reaction more or less exhausting." Alcohol, like all these stimulants, is good and useful when properly administered, and if the result of excess in its use is more serious than it is in any of the above enumerated articles, there is all the more necessity for finding the best remedy for its misuse. The principal methods of re- 32 Stimulants. form adopted have been total abstinence and repressive legislation ; but the now conceded' failure of both of these methods to accomplish the desired result* except in a comparatively unimportant degree, sug- gests the gravest doubts not only as to whether they are the best methods, but whether, indeed, they are not both legal and moral mistakes, and wakens the inquiry for other methods that promise better re- sults because more consistent, rational, and practical.* If some who were on the verge of destruction have been saved by total abstinence or reclaimed by a verdict of ostracism, vastly more might have been saved by other means whose first premise was not a gross violation of the common law Stimulants. 33 and constitutional principle of personal lib- erty-of the meum and tuum recognition which underlies all just legislation. There is both a physical and a moral basis for this disparagement of prohibitory methods and ideas. When the organism is thoroughly demoralized by excessive use of stimulants, the call for a continu- ance of the indulgence is so imperative that it is seldom successfully resisted. Ev- ery one knows the strength of will and the moral courage required to overcome some bad habit which has never acquired such deep hold as the alcoholic habit has upon its victim; and if he has overcome that habit he well knows the almost impossi- bility of reforming the drunkard either 34 Stimulants. by a sudden revulsion or by a legal dic- tum. The physical demand is too impe- rious, the moral purpose too weak, to be so controlled; hence reform by force or by public execration is possible only in exceptional cases, and in most instances where such a " reform " has been effected it has been but temporary. The victim of the alcohol habit has lapsed and gone to surer destruction. It is nearly or quite impossible to effect a true reform in such a manner. The thief may become an hon- est man by a supreme effort of the will, or an unprincipled hypocrite may build up a character for rectitude and candor; but in either case the man reforms him- self. So it must be with the drunkard. St i mutants. 35 A large majority of the community are unquestionably in favor of restricting the liquor-traffic, and the inevitable result of the present roused public opinion must be, and ought to be, the curtailment of the perni- cious influences of the saloon, which embodies the worst features of the traffic in intoxi-, cants, not only because of the temptations it constantly furnishes to those who have the least physical need of stimulants and the least ability to resist such temptations, but because the stimulants furnished are not only not pure, but are pernicious and pois- onous mixtures which can only result in physical disintegration and moral ruin. The human degradation existing in our midst on every hand as the result of misuse, 36 Stimulants. the numberless and awful crimes committed under the inspiration of the excessive use of intoxicants, the moral dishevelment and physical destruction of multitudes of vic- tims of the drink-habit and of those de- pendent upon them, must awaken an earnest desire in all philanthropic hearts to abate these evils and rescue those involved in them, by striking at the omnipresent saloon as the common enemy to the community and the individual alike. If the prohibitionists could so far waive their special unpractical ideas as to co-operate with others of the communi- ty (who are equally in earnest in their desire to promote real reform in this matter) in the passage and enforcement of Slim ida ids. 37 such laws as would meet the general ap- proval, we might hope for a gradual abate- ment of the evils attendant upon the liquor- traffic. On the other hand, while they maintain their present views and make no concessions we may hope for little prac- tical benefit from their efforts; for the laws which they succeed from time to time in placing upon the statute-books in the dif- ferent States cannot be enforced, being not only fundamentally wrong in principle, but lacking the confidence of the just-minded and discerning public. Unfortunately most of the advocates of prohibition are so unreasonable and imprac- ticable that they will make no concessions. They will not recognize the fact that great 38 Stimulants. good can be done by other methods than their extreme measures. They will have ab- solute prohibition or nothing. This disposi- tion was glaringly illustrated last year, when the prohibitionists joined hands with the liquor-dealers of New York and other large cities of the State of New York, making a united and powerful effort to defeat the high-license bill then pending in the Legis- lature ! Fortunately they were unsuccess- ful, and the bill was passed; but it failed to become a law, through the action of a governor who seems, in this matter at least, to have laid himself open to the imputa- tion of consulting in his official acts politi- cal ends rather than the public good. Here was a measure which would confessedly Stim ulants. 39 largely decrease the evil effects of bar-drink- ing and the ubiquitous saloon, and had it become a law it could have been easily en- forced ; for not only all good citizens, who were alive to these evils, but those who paid the higher license fees, would join in seeing that the law was enforced and that none were permitted to sell unless under the severe restrictions of the law. The consideration of this phase of the subject is specially appropriate at this time, as the experiment is now being made in sev- eral States of the Union. It seems unfor- tunate that those who seek to control the temperance movement should act with such in considerat eness and lack of wisdom. As in the use of intoxicants it is the that 40 Stimulants. does the harm, so in this matter the advo- cates of sweeping, stringent legislation are intemperate in their plans of action to pro- mote temperance, and hence must fail of their object. Crime was not the more re- pressed when the laws of old England pun- ished many scores of petty offences with hanging. The people, indeed, were ren- dered more brutal by such violence. It does not follow that there should be no legislation on the subject, as properly con- ceived and matured laws are unquestionably essential and necessary. Let us enact such laws-laws that will not infringe upon the personal liberty of the individual, and at the same time will have a basis in a generous and just public opinion for their enforce- Stint nt a nt s. 41 in ent, and of which the High-License Laws already adopted by several States is a good type. Let us have stringent laws against adulteration and against drunkenness. Let us have all needful laws regulating and con- trolling the sale, with such penalties for their infringement as will disarm the con- scienceless liquor retailer of his power for harm. Let us have such laws, if for no others, in behalf of those to whom every open saloon door is the sluice-way to per- dition. Such legislation and procedure will, in themselves, arouse a healthful public opin- ion, will aid to create a just public senti- ment, and certainly ought to secure the co- operation of all who have the well-being of society at heart. 42 Stim idants. The outrages that are now daily committed against the victims of alcoholism by the dis- pensers of .the infernal compounds that are doled out to them, ought to be impossible, and they very soon would be under the ac- tion of such laws as above indicated. With reasonable enactments, properly enforced, we might hope for speedy results of the highest good. Let the liquor-traffic be controlled. But how ? By an edict of prohibition ? By an ukase of total abstinence ? By invad- ing a man's home and prescribing his diet ? By ostracizing stimulants and enforcing abstinence ? If these are the only means or methods of procedure, then we may indeed despair Stimulants. 43 of true reform. Based upon the dangerous heresy of the right of proscription, and upon the equally dangerous because wholly tyrannical right of invasion, they so violate all principles of individual liberty that they never yet have been nor ever can be made practical and efficacious as antidotes for the liquor habit, or as remedies for the evils of the traffic in strong drink. Take away from man the opportunity of choosing and you make him less than a moral agent. When the effort has been re- peated times enough, it will be found thjit men and women cannot be made virtuous or temperate by legislation, by compul- sion. Living, as we do, among untoward conditions, subject to the disabilities and 44 Stim ulants temptations which everywhere surround us, as well as by those things that prompt us to right doing, we find we must make our own choice, that we can only attain a worthy result by overcoming the disabilities and resisting the temptations. Arbitrary re- pressive legislation always has been a com- parative failure, and, in the nature of the case, always must be. Above all, let us remove all disabilities and obstructions from the manufacture and sale of pure, wholesome wines. It seems almost past belief that, in all the stringent laws which have been enacted in the different States, no discrimination has been made in behalf of such wines, and that they have been classed with the vilest and most de- Stimulants. 45 structive alcoholic and spirit compounds. If pure wines were dangerous or destructive, as these compounds surely are, their produc- tion ought to be suppressed by law, and there would be no good reason for the ab- sence of any discrimination; but, with the very highest commendations, from both sa- cred and secular sources, of pure wines, the fruit of the vine, and with the experience of those countries which produce and consume large quantities of such wines, to guide us in our conclusions, the action of the ultra- temperance advocates seems incredible in- deed when it classes the product of our vine- yards with the " devil's broth " of the whis- key-still-a sure evidence of their own madness. 46 Stimulants. The evils resulting from the excessive use of intoxicants are found to be greater in grain-growing countries, of which class the United States, Great Britain, and Russia are perhaps the best representatives; and least, far the least, in those countries which con- stitute the home of the vine. In the countries named the stimulants used are distilled from the various indigenous grains, the excessive use of which, even when pure, is exceedingly injurious, but when they are adulterated, as they mostly are, or infiltrat- ed with quick chemical elements that are poi- sons, their free use leads to infinite harm. In the wine-growing countries very little distilled liquor is consumed, and there the use of wholesome wines is al- Stimulants. 47 most universal. A striking illustration of the distinction involved is furnished by the fact that in countries like Italy, where pure light wines are produced abun- dantly, and largely consumed by the peo- ple, when the wine crop is abundant there is little or no drunkenness; but in bad years, which occur periodically, when good wines are consequently scarce and dear, there is a palpable increase of drunkenness, because stronger liquors are substituted for the accustomed wines. In regions where drunkenness prevails to an alarming extent, experience conclusively shows that neither total abstinence nor pro- hibitory legislation are competent practical remedies for the existing evils, while in 48 Stimulants. the wine countries the evils do not exist in any degree requiring violent or radical remedies.' There the season of the vintage is a time of rejoicing, and is inaugurated with appropriate festivities, in which the entire population participates. Wine " that maketh the heart of man glad " is consider- ed a blessing. It is as much a part of the daily supply required for the table as the bread or the meat, and the man or woman who is guilty of excess in its use is dis- graced and can no longer hold a reputable position in society. This is true in good society in all the wine-growing countries, indeed in all civiliz- ed communities. A well-known English gen- tleman, who moves in the best society in Lon- Stint ulanls. 49 don, recently stated that lie had never known one of his class drunk, and that if any one should be guilty of such an offence he would at once lose his standing with his class. This result, so greatly in contrast with the customs prevailing in that country a half-century ago, when on a convivial occasion, and even at a dinner party, all the men constituting the group would fall dead-drunk under the table and be carried home by their servants, may no doubt be attributed mainly to the fact that the light wines of Italy, France, and Ger- many have largely supplanted brandy and other distilled liquors, and the heavy ports and sherries, almost universally in use in Great Britain but two generations ago. Medical testimony as well as popular opin- 50 Stimulants. ion as to the good and ill effects of alcohol are varied and contradictory. But whatever the truth' may be in this regard, whether it be that the introduction of alcohol in any form into the human organism is injurious, oi' that it is often a most beneficial remedial agent, and even a food which can sometimes be taken when all other forms of food are re- jected, there can be no doubt that in the present condition of the drinking habits prevailing among the different civilized na- tions, with the immense consumption of al- coholic stimulants, the very large propor- tion of which are either heavy, crude liquors or adulterated and poisonous mixtures, the manufacture .and sale of pure light wines must prove a blessing. Stimulants. 51 Pare wines made from the juice of the grape, with no added alcohol, not only do not lead to a taste for strong drink, bat are in most cases the best cure for drunkenness. This may seem a startling statement, but a critical examination of the facts bearing upon this point will not only corroborate it, but will disclose the philosophical reason upon which the statement is based. The first part of this statement is sufficiently corroborated by the fact already alluded to-viz., that drunkenness is almost unknown in all coun- tries which largely produce and freely con- sume pure light, dry wines. It is an indis- putable fact that the tree daily use of such wines produces a distaste for the strong 52 Stimulants. alcoholic liquors. The second proposition in the above statement will be less readily conceded, though equally true. Only a moderate fraction of those who have be- come confirmed in the excessive use of strong liquors can be saved by "total ab- stinence "; to stop drinking is almost an impossibility. But many have been, and thousands of such hard drinkers with- out doubt can be, saved by the use of good wines; and it is a remarkable fact that nearly all who have been thus re- formed, on discontinuing the use of the strong liquors, at first used large quantities of the wine, but as soon as the inflamed stomach began to regain its normal condi- tion the quantity of wine demanded was Sti niulants. 53 steadily decreased. The lighter form of stimulant measurably satisfied the craving, and so the accomplishment of the desired result was made possible. Careful observa- tion of the facts bearing on this point can hardly fail to convince the impartial in- quirer of the substantial truth of this state- ment ; and the more extended and exhaus- tive the examination the more successful the appeal to his inner consciousness. Several notable cases of this kind have come under the author's personal obser- vation, of which the following is a fair example. A prominent citizen of a neigh- boring city, a man of marked intellectual ability and unusual influence in the com- munity, after daily indulging to excess in 54 Stimulants. whiskey for a series of years, found him- self at last so completely under its influence that he had several attacks of delirium tremens. He had become almost an in- tellectual and physical wreck, and his friends had given him up in despair. In- deed, he was a complete slave to the fatal habit. His stomach was highly inflamed, his face bloated, his eyes red, and his general appearance forlorn and neglected. At this juncture he formed the acquaint- ance of a gentleman who believed in the above theory of reformation, to whom he one day confided that he was discouraged; that the habit was so strongly fixed upon him that he could not overcome it ; that he had tried many times to reform by ab- Stimulants. 55 staining, but found the craving irresistible; and that he now saw nothing but the in- evitable end, and that that was near. The former said to him: " There is a way out of this." " I can see no way" he exclaimed, in de- spair ; " but if you can suggest one in which I can see a reasonable chance of success I will adopt it." " If I suggest a way that commends it- self to your good sense, will you pledge me your honor that you will adopt it and give it a fair trial for thirty days?" "I will." "Well, here is the prescription. You must at once discontinue the use of stimu- lants of all kinds during the day. In the 56 Stimulants. evening drink a quart bottle of good, pure dry wine? if you desire as much, but no more" He promised, and the two shock hands. Subsequently they met again. In relat-' ing his experience to his friend he said that the first three nights he wanted an- other bottle of the wine so badly that lie was only deterred from drinking it by his pledged word that he would drink but one, but that now he was satisfied with the one. At the end of thirty days more he reported further that the quart was more than he cared for, and that he had procured some of the same wine in pints and was taking one of these each evening. After further experience he only drank Slim ulants. 57 two pints in three evenings, and he has steadily continued the use of that quantity, and is a completely reformed man, and has no strong inclination to return to the de- moralizing whiskey. Just here the true temperance advocate can find a much more promising field of effort than preaching total abstinence. Let him take the poor, degraded wretch whom he vainly tries to save* by force, and show such an interest in him as shall convince the sot that he regards him as his brother. Then let him stand for his brother; inspire him with hope, with confidence. Let him rouse his remaining manhood, leading him to abandon whiskey, and rum, and gin for pure wine. Soon the work is well 58 Stimulants. begun; the inflamed tissues regain their tone; the man begins to feel and appear respectable j and, ere long, the large quan- tity of the milder form of stimulant is no longer craved or required. He is tided over and beyond the dangerous point, and he can now continue the moderate use of the beverage that has done him this great service, or discontinue its use altogether. The above theory is not applicable to those who cannot take any alcoholic stimu- lants without going to excess. This class is small and its existence in no way invali- dates this theory. Many good, well-meaning men, who im- plicitly believe the Bible record, seem to forget that the fruit of the vine Js every- Stimulants. 59 where pronounced blessed in the sacred volume, and that the Great Master Him- self gave it His sanction, and even made the wine which was lacking at a wedding- feast. He went so far as to liken Himself to the vine: " I am the true vine." The fruit of the vine, pure wine, the product of the natural process of fermen- tation, is beyond question the same to-day as that which He approved, and identical with that which He made on the occasion alluded to. It is the same unreasonable class who make a travesty of the Holy Communion by the use of substances that are not wine. How would Christ have regarded the substitution of the unfermented juice 60 Stimulants. of the grape, or any other fruit or vege- table substance, for a pure wine that has in it the "spirit and the life"? The dawn of a better treatment of the question of true temperance is surely at hand; the signs of the times indicate the regulation of the saloon and bar by stringent license and restriction; the fast-growing ap- preciation of the value of pure wine as a substitute for the strong alcoholic drinks, and as an invaluable adjunct to health and happiness, is undeniable. It is all an augury of the silent revolution at hand when the curse and bane of strong liquors will give place to the benign influence of the thrice blessed vintage of the grape-blessed by Him who was without sin, blessed by the Stimulants. 61 husband man whose pride and care it is to grow the luscious fruit, and blessed by the people who drink the wine which hath in it so much of good.