sons, who do not use their senses, would be a surrender of the wise to the foolish. For it is not to the "strong and the wise" that alcohol is a dangerous instrument, and therefore with them it may be safely left for the benefit of themselves and other needful persons, whose health and free agency should not be sacrificed out of consideration for the unwise and debased.

Moreover, in considering the physiological relations of alcoholic beverages, as remarked by Dr. Edward Smith in his excellent work on "Foods":

"It is first necessary to insist upon the facts, that alcohol does not represent alcohols, and that alcohols cannot be regarded as a homogeneous class of fluids because they have one element in common.

For

with one element among many it is irrational to assume that it should give identical, nay, even similar, characters to all, and more particularly when the experience of mankind in the use of that one element alone is almost absolutely nil. Alcohol alone is perhaps altogether out of the reach of the consumers of alcohols, since in the distillation of the spirits of wine, other products besides alcohol pass over; but admitting that spirits of wine is sufficiently pure for our argument, it is not used by alcohol drinkers. The forms in which alcohol is prepared as food are almost infinite, but they differ in flavor, strength, and composition, and each preparation might be reasonably expected to have its own special properties. Yet while all this is reasonable, and is admitted when asserted, it was not adverted to by scientific men until my experiments on the action of alcohols over the respiratory functions, in 1856-59, and it is not now so generally allowed as it ought to be. It is true that a few acute observers, as Hogarth, had drawn a distinction between the inhabitants of Gin Lane and Beer Street, by which they had made it appear that the state of health and the appearance of the two classes were different. It had also been known that a brandy drinker in rum-producing countries found an earlier grave than the rum-drinker. Rum had been selected as the spirit to be given to sailors, but the reason for it was perhaps not known. Was it cheaper or more readily obtainable than gin? No; for gin costs scarcely more than half the price of rum, and is of home manfacture, while rum must be imported. Was it that the flavor was preferred to that of gin? If so, the tastes of sailors differ from those of the spirit-drinkers of large towns. Was it that rum had been proved to produce effects different from gin? None of these had been proved, and yet the selection was a right one, and based upon sound principles. The effects of gin differ from those of rum, and rum is far the less injurious agent of the two."* Alcoholic liquors as commonly used may be considered under three forms-spirits, wine, and beer.

1. Experiments have frequently been made to ascertain the local effects

*Foods. By Edward Smith, M.D., LL.B., F.R.S., etc. Appleton & Co.

American Edition, pp. 371, 372.

D.

of spirits on the living tissues, by applying them to the transparent membrane of the frog's foot or bat's wing, and watching the effect under the microscope. The effect of pure alcohol thus applied is to cause the bloodglobules and small blood-vessels to contract; to restrict and finally to arrest the movements of the blood-globules, and if the application is persisted in, the circulation is destroyed, the membrane becomes opaque and cold; and if the life of the animal is maintained, the part to which the application has been made sloughs. The effect of dilute alcohol, or of unadulterated alcoholic spirits, applied in the same manner as pure alcohol, however, is very different. The blood-globules enlarge, the membrane swells and becomes more vascular, minute blood-vessels are rendered more apparent in parts which were before opaque, the circulation is quickened, and the temperature is increased.

It thus appears that the effects of undiluted alcohol upon the blood and living tissues are the same as upon the dead-it absorbs and appropriates the water and coagulates the albumen of which they are composed; but diluted alcohol replenishes the blood-globules and tissues and quickens the circulation.

After an extended series of experiments with alcohols of various strength, the conclusions of Dr. Edward Smith (p. 386) are, that "with moderate or small doses of strong alcohols properly diluted and taken on an empty stomach, it is shown that the vital actions are generally increased with pure spirits of wine and rum, while they are lessened with brandy, and greatly lessened with gin. Whisky varied more than the other alcohols, but generally its tendency was to lessen vital actions. But it is needful to repeat the observation, that there is much greater disturbing influence excited by these agents than by ordinary foods, and there was not that regular progression of increase or decrease usually observed with other agents. This extended even to the rate of pulsation and respiration. When rum was added to milk, as in a well-kown compound, the effect on the respiratory functions was that of a true food, both in degree and persistency, but it was not greater than that of milk alone."

When alcoholic liquor is received into the stomach, after food especially, it is diluted by the foods therein contained, and quickly absorbed. The heart's action is immediately quickened, its contractions take place both more rapidly and more forcibly; the blood is driven more frequently through the lungs, respiration is accelerated; and, as already shown, the volume of blood being increased by the affinity of alcohol for water, and the small blood-vessels dilated, the blood obtains through the lungs and skin a more frequent exposure to the cooling effect of the atmosphere;

hence the drunkard, or he who is for the time being under the influence of alcohol, perishes more quickly by exposure to cold than he who is not. But when the system is greatly exhausted by overwork, by exposure to extreme hardship and short of oleaginous food, in excessive low temperature, on the evidence of Dr. Kane, Lieutenant Greeley, and others, a small quantity of spirits carefully served out in spoonful doses was invaluable. This is the experience of many others in similar emergencies; but as a reliance, or in continued exertion, it does harm by consecutive depression, and by lessening the bodily temperature.

Under the habitual use of alcohol the soft and vascular tissues of the body are the first to suffer. From the stomach it is quickly conveyed to the liver, and this organ receives its full force. Its blood-vessels are distended, and by a continuation of the influence by frequent repetition of the potations, congestion of the liver is an early consequence. Inflammation supervenes, and this is shortly followed by fatty degeneration, and that form of contraction and hardening which from its appearance is known as drunkards' or "hob-nail" liver. Dropsy is one of its most common symptoms, and this it is of which drunkards are more frequently said to die.

The brain, too, from its extreme vascularity and softness of tissue, is prone to suffer from alcohol in the blood. Indeed the brain and liver, the most vascular organs in the human body, seem to be specially capable of holding alcohol and storing it up, as it were, insomuch that of persons or animals who have died soon after taking large quantities, these organs have a strong odor of the spirit, and it can be recovered from them by the process of distillation.

2. Wines greatly differ from spirits in that they contain a much smaller proportion of alcohol, and this in combination with variable amounts of extractive matter, sugar, malic and tartaric acids, and volatile oils-to which they owe their aroma. Naturally, wines which are the direct product from the fermentation of grape juice rarely contain more than onefifth of their bulk, or about 20 per cent. of alcohol; and frequently less than half of this amount. Those that contain more have been "doctored," that is, have had alcohol added to them.

The variable amounts of extractive matter, sugar, acids, and aromatic oils, pertain to different kinds or qualities of wines, and the kind of grapes used in their production.

In general, wines are characterized as being: natural or light, fortified or strong (those which have had alcohol added to them), red, white, sweet, fruity, dry or thoroughly fermented (not acid), full-bodied, thin,

acidulous, astringent, and sparkling. And their quality depends upon the care taken in their production, and the length of time which has elapsed since they were made; for wines, as spirits, in general improve with age.

"A good wine promotes the appetite, exhilarates the spirits, and increases the bodily vigor. It should have a body or substance (which is different from alcoholic strength), and give rise to a sense of satisfaction instead of leaving a craving, empty, or hungry feeling, such as is produced by a thin and sour drink."*

.6

The miscellaneous fruit-juices-from blackberries, currants, raspberries, etc.—fermented and called "wines," when not doctored," are pleasant and for the most part wholesome drinks; but they will not compare in choiceness of flavor or purity with true wines.

3. Beer in its various forms, as lager, ale, porter, etc., consists of malt flavored with hops. It contains a minimum amount of alcohol-from one to nine per cent. by volume—and a large proportion of water holding in solution sugar, dextrine, nitrogenous matter, aromatic bitter, and coloring principles, saline matters, and variable proportions of carbonic and acetic acids.

"Beer is a refreshing, exhilarating, nutritive, and, when taken to excess, an intoxicating beverage. Its nutritive properties are due to the extractive matter which it contains, and observation sufficiently testifies that beer which is highly charged with extract exerts a decidedly fattening influence. Its bitter principle renders it a stomachic tonic. A light beer, well flavored with the hop, is calculated to promote digestion, and may be looked upon as constituting one of the most wholesome of the alcholic class of beverages. It is not all, however, who can drink beer without experiencing inconvenience. In the case of persons with bilious temperament, also with dyspeptics, and sometimes others, it is apt to excite headache, heaviness, and other sensations which fall under the popular designation of 'biliousness.' The stronger beers, taken continually in excess, induce a full and plethoric state, and are liable, particularly if conjoined with sedentary habits, to result in the accumulation of defective oxidized products, as uric acid, etc., in the system, and so lead to the development of gout."+

Cider and Perry, produced from the fermented juice of apples and pears, ordinarily contain as much alcohol as the strongest beers-from five to ten per cent. They agree well with some people. But their proneness to acetous fermentation renders it necessary that they should be taken with caution. When new they are act to cause diarrhea; and

*Food and Dietetics, Physiologically and Therapeutically Considered, by F. W. Pavy. M.D., F.R.S., etc., p. 259.

†Pavy, loc. cit.

when old, sour, and strong with alcohol, they are dyspeptic and "heady."

The common result of the excessive use of malt liquors is plethora. The first effects manifest in plethora or excessive nutrition display an apparent exuberance of health; hence the mistake that the most perfect health is consistent with their liberal use.

When the supply of nutritive material is habitually abundant, and the functions of the system are stimulated, the usual effect is increase of bulk, especially if the habits of exercise are not such as to create an amount of excretion proportionate to the inordinate supply of nutritive material.

If, however, the excess be only slight or casual, with a proportionate degree of physical exertion, the self-adjusting powers of nature may be equal to the irregularity, and prevent the transition of healthy into diseased action. But if the excess be great or habitual, the organic functions are overtaxed, and their conservative powers necessarily languish. This condition is succeeded by such irregularities as display the worst effects of the beverage, by the production of incurable diseases, which have had their foundation in apparent "perfect health."

It is obvious, therefore, that the exuberance of health evinced by the florid countenance and fatness of persons addicted to the excessive use of fermented liquors, are the suspicious evidences of a constitution taxed to the very highest degree of forbearance, which must, in course of time, become relaxed, and sink even below the normal standard of resistIn this vitiated state of the system, constitutional predispositions to disease, that might otherwise have lain dormant, are frequently roused into speedy fatality.

ance.

That there are some constitutions which appear to be unaffected by the excessive use of alcoholic liquors is no less true than that of any other habit tolerated by the natural powers of endurance. But such habits only serve to demonstrate the capabilities of the human constitution, and are in no event admissible evidence of natural adaptation. For every one such person, there are thousands who suffer ill consequences.

THE DANGER LIMIT.-According to the late Dr. Edmund Parkes, who had extensive opportunities for observing the effects of alcoholic beverages on large bodies of men in the British army, the maximum amount of alcohol that may be taken daily by a man in good health without perceptible injury is one and a half ounces. How much of any alcoholic bever