IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) A fcr/ 1.0 I.I IA4 128 ,50 ^ IIIM IIIIM 1.8 1.25 1.4 1 1.6 -^ 6" ► V] ^ /}. /. .-» y -<^ Hiotographic Sciences Corporation d M (meaning "CON- TINUED"), or the symbol V (meaning "END"), whichever applies. Les images suivantas ont iti reproduites avec le plus grand soin, compte tenu de la condition et de la nettet6 de l'exempiaire film6, at en conformity avec les conditions du contrat de filmage. Les exemplaires originaux dont la couverture en papier est imprimis sont film6s en commenpant par le premier plat et en terminant soit par la derniire page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration. soit par le second plat, salon le cas. Tous les autres exemplaires originaux sont film^s en commenpant par la premiere page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration et en terminant par la derniire page qui comporte une telle empreinte. 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BV ^¥ BENJAMIN WARD RICHARDSON, M.A., M.D., LL.D., F.R.S., FELLOW OF THH ROYAL COLLEGB OF PHYSICIANS, HONORARY PHYSICIAN TO THE ROYAL LITERARY FUND, AND AUTHOR OF THE CANTOR LECTURES ON ALCOHOL. TORONTO : THE CRIP PRINTING AND PUBLISHING COMPANY. 1887. Entered, aocordinir to the Act of Parliament of Canada, in the year one thoiuand eight liundred and eighty-ieven, by the Mi.nistrh op Education (Ontario), in the Office of the Minister of Agriculture. ¥ % ht lie f PREFACE TO CANADIAN EDITION. In compliance with a well under8t<»od public opinion an Act to provide for tlie teaching of Toniperjince in the Piihlic Scliools was introduc id at the last session of the Legislature «>f Ontario, and receive-', the unanimous apprt>val of the House. Under the pro- visions » 'lat Act, the subject is placed in the Programme of Pub- lic School Studies ; and this vohmie is authorized by the Department of Education as the text-book. •The author of this work is the celebrated Dr. Richardson, F.R.S., F.R.C.P., of England, Hon. Sec. to the Royal Literary Fund, and author of the Cantor Lectures on Alcohol, who is known throughout the British Empire as one of the highest authorities on this and kindred scientific subjects. The publishers have secured the copy- right for the Dominion of Canada, and, under the direction of the Department, have slightly re-arranged the matter so as to adapt it more fully to the capacity of Public School pupils. The book will be sold to pupils and the public for twenty- five cents. It will not fail to be observed that, though contain- ing all of the matter of the English edition, it is only one-half of the price. The plan of the work will readily commend itself. Each branch of the subject is presented in simple language, and arranged in a short lesson, to which (juestiona are apponded. The infonnation imparted, while of the most interesting and valuable character, is made as general as is consistent with a knowledge of the subject ; the intention being not so much to give details and technicalities, as to explain the effects of alcohol on the human system, and to im- press the pupil with the danger of its use. ni. IV. PRRPACE. The fuct that many contract the habit <,f uHing int<.xicating hquiirs tlirr.ugh ign.,rance, and that even the best education iiu- parted in our Public Schools is not an offset to the ruin which frequently results, may be accepted as ample justification for the course which our legislators have n..w taken. What is learned in childhood usually exerts an influence for life ; and it is believed that this new subject will not only prove an interesting and valu- able addition to our Public School course, but will have an im- portant moral effect on the lives of the coming men and women of our country. I H CONTENTS. LBR80N. I. ARTIFICIAL DRINKS 7 11. NATURAL DRINKS ! 9 m. THEWATKROFTHKliODY • . . . ! U IV. USES OF WATER IN THE BODY . . . . 14 V. THE WATER-CURRENT IN THE liODV . ] 10 VL WATER-DRINKERS [ ig VIL NATURAL FOOD ........ 20 VIIL WINE AND STRONG DRINK ..... 22 IX. WINE AND BEER IN ANCIENT TIMES. . . 24 X. WISE MEN ON WINE jjo XI. DISTILLATION 2« XIL SPIRIT OF WINE . . ao XIII. ARDENT SPIRITS ! 32 XIV. ALCOHOL . ! 34 XV. ABSOLUTE ALCOHOL 30 XVI. ALCOHOL IN WINES, SPIRITS AND BEERS . 3S XVn. ALCOHOL AND ANIMAL LIFE .... 11 XVIII. ALCOHOL AS A FOOD 43 XIX. ALCOHOL IN THE BLOOD .....! 4.5 XX. ACTION OF ALCOHOL ON THE BLOOD *. [ 47 XXI. FURTHER ACTION OF ALCOHOL OX THE BLOOD 4J, XXn. DISEASED BLOOD FROM ALCOHOL . . .51 XXIII. RESPIRATION AND ALCOHOL .... 53 XXIV. STANDARD ANIMAL WARMTH .... 5.5 XXV. ANIMAL LIFE UNDER ALCOHOI^THE FIRST STAGE ..«,,,, 57 XXVI. THE FEELING OF WARMTH FROM ALCOHOL . 59 XXVn. ANIMALLIFE UNDER ALCOHOL- THE SECOND STAGE 6j V, vi. C0NTENT8. LKMHON. VMi%. XXVirr. ANIMAL LIFE UNDKUALCOHOL-THK Til I III) STACJE «3 XXIX. ANIMAL LIFE UNDER ALCOHOL-THE FOURTH STA(iK GT) XXX. THE STAGES OF ACTION OF ALCOHOL . . GK XXXI. ALCOHOL AND COLD 70 XXXIL THE HEART UNDPiR ALCOHOL .... 7'i XXXIII. HEART WORK UNDER ALCOHOL .... 75 XXXIV. ALCOHOLIC FATIGUE . . . . " . .77 XXXV. ALCOHOL AND MUSCULAR STREN(iTH . . 7'.» XXXVI. ALCOHOL AND THE SMALL BLOOD-VESSELS . «1 XXXVII. ALCOHOL AS A STIMULANT «:» XXXVIII. STIMULATION AND DEPRESSION .... sn XXXIX. ALCOHOL AS A POISON «7 XL. DISEASES OF THE BODY FROM ALCOHOL . . 8!> XLI. DEATH FROM ALCOHOL 1>1 XLII. INSANITY FROM ALCOHOL .... 93 SUMMARY OF LESSONS . .... (tn XLIIL THE USE OF TOBACCO US APPENDIX. XLIY. COMPOSITION OF ALCOHOL 105 XLV. PROPERTIES OF ALCOHOL . . . . . lOS XLVL ALCOHOLIC DRINKS .110 XLVII. THE ALCOHOL FAMILY 112 XL VIII. THE ALCOHOL FAMILY-CONTINUED . 114 XLIX. THE ALCOHOL FAMILY-CONTINUED . . 116 L. CONSTRUCTION OF THE ALCOHOLS . . .119 PUBLIC SCHOOL TEMPERANCE. LESSON 1. ARTmOIAL DEINKS. For ages men and women of many countries have learned to drink what are now called spirituous litjuors. These li- quors have been taken in various forms, and various names have been applied to them. In our times the commonest names are ale, beer, stout, porter, gin, rum, whiskey, brandy, and wine. Ale, beer, stout, and porter are usually called malt or malted liquors. Gin, rum, whiskey, and branrly are called spirits, and wines of all kinds are spoken of under the general name of wine. A person who indulges particularly in the use of these fluids is often named by the connection. He is said to be a beer-drinker, a spirit-drinker, or a wine-drinker. Some people think when they are speaking of beer, spirit, or wine, that they are speaking of things which are quite distinct, and which act in a distinct manner when tliey are taken into the body as drinks. In like manner some people think that wines bearing different names are distinct : that port is distinct from sherry, sherry from Madeira, Madeira from claret, and so on, and in some degree this is true, because the colors of these various fluids, as well as their odors and their tastes, are very dis- tinct one from the other. In our country there are in common use ales and porters a Public School Tempkiiancr. of soveral kinds, gins, and whiskioH, and rums, and brandies of Hovcral kinds, and I have counted as many as tifty various kinds of wines coming from other countries, to wiy nothing of wines which are made at home, and to which such names as cowslip, ginger, raisin, and gooseberry wine are applied. Sometimes we hear of other drinks, as of cider or perry, and of sweet and very strong drinks called li(|ueurs. These in Hfspect to appearance, smell, and taste, diHer from each other, as well us from beers and wines and spirits. To persons who have never tasted these drinks many of them are nauseous when tirst tasted. Even to grown-up men, who have never before taken these liquids into their mouths, the tirst taste is like that which is felt on talking a medicine. The taste is said to l>e bitter in respect to the ales, clammy and sickening in respect to porter and stout, burning io:; 1 sickening in respect to spirits, and burning and sour, or burn- ing and sweet, in respect to the wines. In all my experience I never once knew a person who liked the tirst taste of any one of the drinks we are now thinking about. This fact seems to me to show clearly that it was never intended that hunipn beings should take these drinks regularly every day. If that had been intended, the drinks would have been made and given to us in a form that would have been pleasant to the taste, or at all events in a form that would not be so unpleasant, that the instinctive or natural feeling is opposed to them. Water and milk are natural drinks. They are neither bitter nor nauseous, nor acid, nor burning, and therefore even the youngest infants and children take them without dislike, and look for them with quite a longing desire when they want drink. It is a lesson early to be remembered, and so I write it down early in this book, that although there are so many drinks made and sold as beers, wines, and spirits, none of them are fitted to the first natural wants and desires of man. I gather from the facts before us that the said drinks are therefore not wanted at all. If a little child can live and grow up, and learn and work and play, and be very healthy and pretty, and strong and happy, without these drinks, a man and a woman can live without them equally well. We call all these strong drinks artificial, in order to distinguish them from the natural drinks, water and milk. Natuual Dkinks. QlU'fifioTlH (HI LcHMOIt I. 1. What nre the namoH of the variouH liquMa, called geuerully Mpirit- UOU8 (IrinkH ? 2. When these driiikM are taHteil for tl' . tirHt time, what are the feelings they UBually excite ? li. How do water and milk differ from them, as drinks, in regard to taste? 4. What do you mean hy instinctive tiisteN ? 5. VVhat sisted on water. No one has yet lived, actually lived, on any other fluid, because no one could live on anything else as drink. The worst persons who break the natural law retain water as their staple drink, though many are so blindly igno- rant they do not know tlie fact. They drink what they think is not water at all, and they give to the drinks so used many very fine names. They pay for the fluids they drink very heavy prices, they go to a great deal of trouble in order to obtain them. But strangest of all is that, in spite of fine names, expense and trouble, they only succeed at last in getting a drink the larger part of which is water. They get a drink which would not be drink if it were not so largely made up of water, and which is indeed water deprived of its purity, water to which something has been added that interferes with the proper action, but which is water in whatever disguise of name, or color, or taste it may be presented. So very ignorant are many people on this subject that they assume to laugh at what they call "water-drinkers." They themselves declare they never drink water, and perhaps they profess to pity those who do. They hold up some sparkling or colored liquor in the glass and boast, " This is my drink ! None of your slip-slop water for me ! " Poor people ! why, at this very time they are holding up a drink which has in it at least three parts out of four of water, as we will see in a lesson which soon will come. They are drinking slip-slop water also ; they have merely added another slip-slop which has no business there, and which spoils the natural intention. If they had not so much water, few of them could get the fluid down their throats, so strong is the opposition of Nature to any foreign liquid. Water, therefore, in these cases is positively necessary do Public School Tempehanck. to make that which is undrinkable drinkable at all, so that it is both false and foolish for any one to boast that ho is not a water-drinker. Questions on Lesson VI. 1. What general evidence is there that water ia an all-sufficient drink ? 2. What special evidence is there from man that water is an all- sufficient drink ? 3. Is there any other fluid than water on which men and animals can exist? 4. What is a very common nustake respecting other so-called drinks than water? 5. What do persons who indulge in other fluids subsist on, after all, as their drink ? 6. Is there any drinkable drink without water ? LESSON VII. NATUEAL FOOD. As water plays such an important part in the bodies of living animals and of men, we may be sure it is necessary at all times that it should be taken into the body in proper quan- tity And in due proportion to the other articles of food that join it for the support of life. It would be good, therefore, if we could find a standard by which to determine what propor- tions Nature herself tixes. Fortunately we have such a stand- ard in the food which Nature provides for so many animals at the period of their lives when they are too young to take care of themselves and to procure food by their own efforts. Tlie food which gives us this standai'd is called milk. We shall do well to learn the composition of this standard food, for it not only is capable of supporting the life of the very young, but it is also capable of supporting the life of those who are advanced in years. Sometimes when persons are Natural Food. 21 ill they are fed on milk solely, and I know one person, at least, who for more tlian twenty years Ims never taken any other food, and who lives on milk, pure and simple, with excellent health and strengtii. Milk, then, is composed of a solid and a fluid part. The solid weighs twelve parts in a hundred, the fluid eighty-eight. That is to say, if one hundred ounces of new milk be heated carefully, so as to get rid of all the fluid portion, the quantity left of solid food will be twelve ounces ; and if all the fluid that was carried ofl'in the process of drying be collected, as it could be by condensing it, it will be found to weigh eighty-eight ounces. The solid part of the milk, when that is analysed, is found to consist of a colloidal food called caseine — cheese ; of a fatty substance — butter; of a sweetish substance — milk sugar ; and of salts. These solid parts are nicely divided so as to meet all the requirements for building up new tissues, for maintaining animal warmth, and for supplying the due amount of salts. But that which concerns us most is the fluid part ; the eighty-eight ounces of the fluid which holds all the other portions of the milk either in solution or in suspension, — of ■what is it composed ? It is simply water. And so we know by this standard food, supplied by Nature herself for the use of so many animals, that water is the only drink with which she mixes her solid food, the only drink she, in her wisdom and beneficence, provides for them. With the first food of man Nature gives water. In various other modes she also gives the same. There is no palatable solid food in which some water is not mixed by her hand. Bread contains water, animal flesh contains water ; all the fresh products Df the vegetable world, fruits, and herbs, and grasses, contain water, many of them in abundant quantity. Some animals, such as the rabbit, find in their vegetable food so much of water that they c.in live naturally without drink- ing from any stream or fountain. In addition to these sources of li(}uid food, Nature, with the most lil)eral hand, distils for us the pure liquid. From the earth the water rises, in distilla- tion, under the heat of the sun. Ascending in vapor it becomes pure in the air. It condenses on the mountain-tops from the vaporous into the litjuid form, and streams down in rivulets and torrents. It condenses in clouds and falls in showers of rain. It is stored up for us in cool reservoirs of the earth, or 22 Public School Tkmpkrancb. runs to us in rivers and brooks. It answers to our early cravings of thirst, and it would answer to our last, without any substitute for it, if we would but let it. Que8tion8 on Lenson VII, 1. What is tho best example of a natural Btandanl food ? 2. What is the proportion of solid and Huid matter in this standard food? 3. VVliat are the divisions of tlie solid parts of tho food, and tho uses of cuuh part ? 4. What is the fluid part of the natural standard food ? fi. In what other foods does Nature supply the same fluid ? 6. By what other modes does Nature supply the same fluid abun- dantly ? LESSON VIII. WINE AND STBONG DBINK In early ages of the world man, still a child in learning, looking like a child after his own delights and pleasures, and not foreseeing how many childish pleasures would seem un- fitting in maturer and riper ages of thought, sought to gratify his tastes M'ith other fluids, as he fancied, than simple water. One of these he called wine. He derived wine from fruit, and it is clear that he thought it so different from water as to have no idea of the fact that his new liquor was, after all, nothing more than a fluid diluted with water six or seven times at least. He did not understand, that is to say, that wine as it is obtained from the grape by the process of wine-making does not, when it is strongest, contain more than one part of the new fluid that makes it wine to six or seven parts of water. He therefore thought it, judging of it, naturally enough, by its difference of color, taste, and • effect, a drink entirely new, a drink quite distinct from water. It was not until many ages had passed away, and the science now called chemistry had become a portion of human knowledge, that his mistake was found out and made known. . Wink and Stiiono Drink. ig Where man first produced wine is a very difficult question to solve, and how lie came to make it is one hardly less ditlicult. By some accident it was obKerved that if the juice of certain fruits, the juice of the grape especially, were exposed to the air, under certain circumstances, it began to change, to yield a froth, and to move as if it boiled. This appearance gave origin to the term " fermtnt," from the Latin verb ferveo^ to lK)il. Then it was found that when the froth was skimmed away, a now and colored fluid was left underneath. In course of time some one, from necessity perhaps at tirst, or from curiosity, tustcd this fluid, and finding that it had a very p(!culiar and exhilarating < flt'ct on him, gave it to others to taste or drink. In this way this fluid, which we call wine, be- came a luxury or treat on great occasions, for none at first held it to be a fluid that would take the place of water. From the mode in which it was used it is clear enough that wine was at first only intended to be placed among the luxu- ries. It formed part of the feast at times of great rejoicings and excitements. It was not long before it was found out to be very bad liquor for men who were about to perform great deeds and feats of prowess or skill, and it was also soon found to be a bad liquor even at the feast if it were partaken of too freely. Solomon, the writer of the Proverbs, is very decided on this point, and many ancient and modern writers, as we shall see by-and-by, were equally decisive in their opinions on the same subject. I hope these important truths are now understood. First, that wine, which is water containing a new li(]uid, did not come down to man flowing as pure water flows from the earth, a liquid ready-made as drink for all animals, including man. Secondly, that the liquid which, added to water, makes wine, does not exist ready-made as water exists springing from the earth. Thirdly, that in order to obtain the fluid which so changes water as to transform it into wine, it is necessary to let the juices of fruit mix with water and undergo a change, called fermentation, and that if this process were not constantly being performed in the most wholesale way by men who de- vote their lives to the work, there would be no supply of wine or strong drink at all. These facts will best be retained in the mind by recalling the terms that are applied to the processes by which wine and 24 Public School Temperance. other strong drinks are produced. "We talk of " home-made " wines, of " foreign-made " wines, of " brewing of beer," of " manufacturing gin and rum and other so-called raw spirits." By these terms it is meant that man produces the fluids by his ingenuity and labor. Questions on Lesson VIII. 1. What was the first strong drink which man used ? 2. How was this drink derived ? 3. What great error did the men of ancient times hold in respect to this drink ? 4. What process has the juice of fruit to go through in order to pass into wine ? 5. On what occasions was wine first used by mankind ? 6. By what simple terms do we express that wines and other strong drinks are manufactured for use ? LESSON IX. WINE AND BEER IN ANCIENT TIMES. For a great many ages wine was the only name given to strong drink. Why the name was first given is matter of great interest in history. The ancient Greeks, who were very proud of being connected with the introduction of wine into the list of substances used by men for drink, said that the drink was first discovered in ^]tolia, a district of ancient Greece, and that the name wine comes homoinos, the vine, or from CEneus, a man who fiist pressed the ripe grapes, and from the juice made wine. The Romans called the fermented fluid vinuniy and we, altering the word a little, call it wine. When the ancients drank wine at their feasts they mixed it with water, and at first they used it very sparingly. It was offered at the sacrifices to the gods, and young men under thirty were not permitted to take it at all. Women were not permitted to partake of it at any age. In time these restrictions Wine and Beer in Ancient Times. 25 were broken through, and then wine began to be feasted on too liberally, to the injury of those who departed from the primitive rules or fashions. This mistake has been commonly felt by those who have commenced to drink wines and other strong drinks. At first they take them as luxuries only, in order, as it is said, to cheer up the spirits and make the heart less heavy. In time the cheerfulness so obtained begets desire for repetition. Men desire, naturally enough, to be cheerful at all times. They say, if we could be made cheerful yesterday, why cannot we also be made cheerful to-day ? and if to-day, why not to-morrow ? So the habit once started of seeking for ciieerfulness from wine is continued until the habit passes into an artificial necessity. In Roman times this occurred, until at last when the feasters sat down to wine, they were induced sometimes to have a skeleton brought in before them, on which he who gave the feast cast his eyes and bid his guests enjoy themselves while they could — a sentiment which in modern times has been expressed in what is called a jovial song : ** Merrily iHl up your cup to-day, To-morrow may tind you a mould oi clay." And, alas ! it too often happens that the ">orrow does find those who drink wine moulds of clay before their natural time for death. When men and women so desire wine that they must needs have recourse to it for daily happiness, they are brought already by the effects of the drink into close relationship with the skeleton from which the ancient reveller drew his false lesson. Besides wine the ancients inve ted other fermented strong liquors like to wine, one of which inventions is still in conjmon use under the name of beer. The Egyptians are said to have first made beer by pouring hot water on barley and allowing the fluid to ferment. It has been said that they called this drink " bouzy," from Busiris, the name of a city which con- tained the tomb of the god Busiris or Osiris. So, says one of our quaint old authors, we get the term "bouzy," which we apply to a man who has taken a great deal of beer, and whom we call a bouzy fellow. The word beer probably comes from barley, or from the Hebrew word bar, corn. These were the origins of the strong drinks first invented, 26 Public School Temperance. and wines and beers of various kinds were introduced among men. Other kinds of similar drinks were discovered, but these need not now occupy our time. Questions on Lesson IX. 1 . Where was wine said to be first made, and from what is the word originally derived ? 2. Under what conditions, and on what occasions, was wine first used? 3. What is the common result of taking wine on particular occasions ? 4. What ceremony did the Romans sometimes perform at their feasts of wine? 5. What is the usual consequence when wine is resorted to regularly as the source of what is called nappiness ? 6. What other modern strong drink resembling wine in its efieots was invented by the ancients, and whence did it derive its name ? LESSON X. WISE MEN ON WINE. I BAVE said already that many of the ancient wise men soon discovered that wines and strong drinks were very dangerous luxuries. It is well that some of the sayings of these wise men should be fixed in the minds of young people. Solomon, the wisest of men, knew perfectly well the bad effects of wine on those who indulge in it, and what he has said shows to us that in his time wine was a great source af evil. Let me copy down a few of his proverbs. " Who hath woe ? who hath sorrow ? who hath contentions ? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes ? " They that tarry long at the wine ; they that go to seek mixed wine. " Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giv- eth his color in the oup, when it moveth itself aright. WisB Men on Wine. 27 " At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder." In these days when science has done so much to give us knowledge about wine and its action on the hiiinan body, it would be impossible to say more or use words more truthful than these ancient words. We know still from what we see in those who take much wine that it makes such persons full of woe when the excitement from it is over, that it makes them sorrowful and sad, that it makes them angry and quarrel- some, that it makes them talk foolishly about subjects they would be wiser not to mention, so that they do indeed babble ; and that it makes them think they have grievances and troubles which other men have not, when, in fact, none may exist. Other men have said the same things as the wisest man said. The saying " In vino Veritas " means, for example, that when men are full of wine they let out things about themselves which they would not let out if they were quite sensible. Again, the sentence " When the wine's in, the wit's out," tells the same truth. But no one has ever told the truth so clearly as Solomon did in the proverbs I have quoted. It is very curious to observe that Solomon speaks of the appearance of the eyes of those who indulge in wine and strong drink. He says the eyes of these persons are red. It is the direct effect of wine to make the eyes, and not the eyes only, but the skin and other organs of the body, very red and full of blood. Why it does so we shall learn as we proceed. Other wise men of ancient times have spoken also of wine and its bad effects. Anacharsis the Scythian said : " Wine bringeth forth three grapes, the first of pleasure, the second of drunkenness, and the third of sorrow." Demosthenes, the great orator of Greece, said that " to drink well is a property meet for a sponge, but not for a man." Seneca, a grand Ro- man philosopher, taught that to suppose " it possible for a man to take much wine and retain a right frame of mind is as bad as to argue that he may take poison and not die, or the juice of black poppy and not sleep." Saint Augustine, speaking of the bad effects of wine-drink- ing, declares it to be " the mother of all mischief, the root of crimes, the spring of vices, the whirlMrind of the brain, the 28 Public School Temperance. overthrow of the sense, the tempest of the tongue, the ruin of the body, the wreck of chastity, a loss of time, a voluntary rage; a shameful weakness, the shame of life, the stain of honesty, and the plague and corruption of the soul." Pliny the Younger, a great writer of natural and general history, relates that King Antiochus having forced his minions at a banquet to take an excess of wine, they killed him ; from which story he drew this moral : that if we tempt others into error, the consequences will fall back on ourselves. Questions on Lesson X. 1. Name some of the wise ancient men who have spoken about wine. 2. Repeat the proverbs of Sohniion on this subject. 3. What was the saying of Demosthenes about drinking ? 4. What was the teaching of Seneca ? 5. Repeat the saying of St. Augustine on wine-drinking. 6. What anecdote is told by Pliny relating to wine ? What is the moral of the story ? i LESSON XI. DISTILLATION. I HAVE said that those who discovered wine thought that it was a fluid quite distinct from water and from everything else. For these reasons some who were very fond of wine and of the excitement of mind it produces called it nectar, while others said it was the drink of the gods. Such vain things does this seductive drink lead vain men to declare. For centuries on centuries wine held its special position as a drink. At last, in the middle, and as some call them, the dark ages, but which in many respects were very bright ages, an. invention was introduced, or re-introduced, that made a wonderful change in science and knowledge. The invention wa^ 4i9tilI(^tion. To distil is to make a fluid fall in drops. ■•J Distillation. 29 The terra is from the latin distillo, meaning to drop down by "ittle and little. In Nature the process of distillation has been in progress always. When the earth is saturated with water, the sun, by its heat, makes the water rise from the ground in the form of vapor. The water condenses in the air as cloud, and the cloud falls as drops of water. This is natural distilla- tion, and in time man, who in everything and every work imitates Nature either knowingly or unknowingly, at last inu- tated the distilling process. He put fluids of different kinds into the lower part of a vessel which he called an alembic ; he placed the vessel on a fire : he made the fluid rise in vapor, and then he caught the vapor, cooled it, and let it fall in fluid drops into a rereivp.r. I dare say he did this first with water, but in time he applied the process to other fluids than water : and at that time many wonderful discoveries com- menced. In this line of work the chemist soon found that different fluids boil and pass into vapor at different temperatures, and that some solids can be made to give off* vapors which will condense as fluids. Next he found that different vapors con- dense and fall down in drops at different temperatures ; and lastly he found, what would be to him the most singular fact of all, that some fluids which he thought were simple fluids, that is to say, some fluids which he thought were composed of one substance alone, are in fact made up of more than one sub- stance, and that the different substances can be separated into distinct parts by this simple method of distilling. When, for example, the old chemist put on the fire a fluid which had in it two distinct fluids, but so commingled that to all ordinary appearances they looked like one, he would find that the first fluid which came over in distillation was a lighter fluid than that which came over last. He would also find that the first fluid did not require so much heat to drive it into vapor, and he would find that it required more care to bring it back in the form of liquid, into his condenser. He would taste the fluid that came over first and detect it to be quite different from that which he had put into his vessel on the fire. He would taste the fluid which came over last, and which re- quired the greatest heat, and would detect that it differed not only from what he originally put into the vessel on the fire, but also from that which came over first. Having found out 30 Public School Temperance. these facts, he would give names to these different products of distillation. To all the lighter ones he gave the name of "spirit," because of their great lightness. Some he called, ethereal spirits, they were so refined, so like the ethereal air. Others he called spirits of the substance from which he distilled them, which names are retained, as so-called vulgar terms, to the present day. Questions on Lesson XT. 1. What fanciful ideas did the ancients hold respecting wine ? 2. Describe tlie process in science called distillation. State the age of its «liscovery and why it was called distillation. 3. Give an illustration of natural distillation. 4. How did man proceed in the process of distillation ; and what were the names given to tlie vessels he employed in the process ? 5. What further discoveries came from distillation, l^earing on the composition of the diflereiit substances submitted to distillation ? 6. What name did the chemists give to the lighter liijuids which were can led over in distillation? LESSON XII. SPIEIT OF WINE. "We come now to a subject relating to distillation, which is to us the most interesting of all. In the processes of distilling it was very natural that such a common fluid as wine should be experimented on in order to see what would be the result. It is said that this experiment was first made by an Arabian chemist, named Albucasis. Albucasis is believed to have lived in the eleventh century of the Christian era, and many other names have been given to him. He has been styled, shortly, "Casa," also Alsaharavius, and Benaharezerim, but he is best known in history as Albucasis. The result of putting wine into the alembic led to the dis- tillation of a refined light and strong spirit called, because of these properties, siririt ofvnne. It was also found that after Spirit of Wine. 31 this refined spirit was separated by the distillation another fluid remained behind, which turned out to be nothing more than water. Thus it was discovered that wine was not the simple and distinct thing it had so long been supposed to be, but was water after all, with something else added to it, namely, a spirit that can be separated by the simple processes of driving it out of the water by heat and condensing its vapor into little droj)s by cold. It was no doubt considered to be a marvellous discovery to produce this spirit of wine, and very soon new discoveries were made from it. Some other cunning chemist, whose name is quite unknown to us, put the green, glassy-looking crystals which he called vitriol into his retort, distilled over at a great heat, and obtained vitriolic spirit, a very strong acid better known now as sulphuric acid. This acid was poured on common salt, and by distillation what was called the spirit of salt, which we now call muriatic or hydiochloric acid, was obtained. Thus we derive many names, still in common use, the origin of which we do not understand, until we learn why such names were first applied. The same strong vitriolic acid was poured on spirit of wine, and the two were distilled together. By this means a much lighter and finer fluid than spirit of wine was discovered. The new fluid is so light that when it is poured into the palm of the hand it boils as briskly as water boils on a quick fire, and goes into so transparent a vapor that it seems to be lost alto- gether. It is not lost, it is only diffused or spread out in the air. But the earliest discoverers of this fine light litjuid thought it was lost in the air, and owing to its exceeding light^- ness and airiness, they compared it to the lightest substance they could possibly imagine, namely, to that supposed fluid which fills the spaces between the stars, and which had been called ether. They named, therefore, this fine fluid ether, and the name is still used as that by which it is best known. To this day we make ether by the original plan, viz., by acting on spirit of wine with an acid, and though we have several ethers which the earlier chemists had not, we follow their method of production. For a long time after spirit of wine was well known, it re- mained in the laboratory of the chemist, and was there held as a kind of secret treasure, by the use of which the most aston- m ' 32 Public School Tkmperancr. ishing experiments wore carried out. It was detected that spirit of wine would dissolve \ery many substances which water would not touch, such as oils, resins, gums and balsams. It was detected that spirit of wine would preserve many sub- stances from decay, such as skins of animals, and even the flesh of animals. It was observed that spirit of wine would burn, and that it gave out a flame which did not yield smoke, and might consecjuently be used for many purposes of heating where great cleanliness was recjuired. These were useful appli- cations of the spirit of wine. It would have been well if no worse use had ever been found. Questions on Lesson XII. 1 . What did the old chemists do to wine after the discovery of dis- tillation ? 2. What cliemist is said to have first distilled wine ? And to what age did he belong ? 3. What name was given to the fluid distilled from wine ? 4. What singular fact was now discovered as to the composition of wine ? 6. What other new fluid was obtained from spirit of wine ? 6. What were the first important uses to which spirit of wine was applied 1 LESSOX XIIT. I > AEDENT SPIRITS. The good which came from the discovery of spirit of wine was soon tinctured with evil, by the use men began to make of the spirit as a strong drink to be taken instead of wine. They called it vinurn adustum, burnt wine ; spiritus ardens, strong spirit ; as well as spiritus vini, spirit of wine. Then they be- gan to bottle it for drink and called it aqua vitce, water of life. So Shakespeare, in the play of " Romeo and Juliet," makes the nurse say, " Give me some aqua vitce,'' and in the play of the Ardent Spirits. 33 " Merry Wives of Windsor " he makes another of his characters use the same name for ardent spirits. It would, indeed, have been correct if this spirit had first been called aqua mortis, water of death, insteatl of aqua vittf, for assuredly nothing in this world has been the cause of so much crime, want, woe, disease, and death. A very learned scholar, Mr. Stanford, has come to the con- clusion that aqua vit^n, as it was called, that is, the spirit ob- tained by the distillation of wine, was used as a drink as early as the year 1260 of our present era. The Arabians, he thinks, taught the use of it to the Spaniards, and the Spaniards to the monks of Ireland. It thus came into use in Ireland, and acquired the Irish name for it by which it is still known in one form by the name of " whiskey." In the old Erse, or Irish tongue, it was called usige-hiatha, which means aqua viUr. In time this term was shortened into usquebaugh, and this again was shortened into usige, from which comes the word whiskey. Sometimes in Ireland this same strong drink is called potheen, or poteen. This word, jjoitin, means a small pot or still, tlie vessel from which the liquor was distilled, and poteen was, perhaps, derived from the Latin word patio, a drink. We have now an idea of how the common liquor called whis- key came to be known ; but there are other strong drinks which require to be explained in respect to their origin. The Germans call the ardent spirit distilled from wine, or other fermented fluids, " Branntwein," burnt wine, from hren- nen, to burn, and so we get the term brandy ; but probably, not until long after usige, or whiskey, was used to describe strong spirit. In time men began to add other substances to ardent spirits in order to give a new flavor or taste. Amongst these added things were the berries of the juniper-tree, wliich berries were put into the fermented liquid while it was being distilled, and which yielded a volatile substance that gave a very peculiar flavor. The juniper-tree, called by the Latins juniperus, was known amongst the Italians as ginepro, and by the French as genievre, an abbreviation from the Italian. Hence, Mr. Stan- ford thinks, came the name gin, to distinguish the common drink still sold so largely under that name, and which contains juniper. I have no doubt that Mr. Stanford is right on this point, but I ought to say some believe that a drink was first u Public School Temperance. made at Geneva, in Switzerland, to which the name gin was applied, in short for the word Geneva. In some parts of England I have heard gin called Geneva, and in France, genievre, the latter meaning the juniper-berry, not the town. As tlie arts progressed, it became possiljle to obtain strong spirit from the fermentation of sugar. Tlie Latin for sugar is saccharum. From this it is believed, by the lejirned authority I have so often quoted, coniPS the word which describes another common strong drink, namely rum. The word in this case is formed by striking off the first two syllables and leaving the last, rum. Questions on Lesson XIII, 1. What names were originally applied to the spirit distilled from wine? 2. Wliat strong drink was first named, and what was meant by the name ? 3. What other names were applied to strong spirits ? 4. What is the origin of the word brandy ? 5. Wliat are the supposed origins of the word gin? 6. From the fermentation of what substance is rum produced, and wliat is the supposed origin of the word ? LESSON XIY. ALCOHOL. Long after its discovery spirit of wine continued to be called by that name, or by one of the other names which have been described in a previous lesson. But some time in the latter part of the seventeenth century, a new name was given to it, by which it has since become universally known. The name is Alcohol. Much learned discussion has taken place on the origin and precise meaning of this word. I find it was in use in the year 1698, for I have an old chemical book of that date in which Alcohol. 35 the term is introduced, and in which it is applied to spirit of wine that has been very highly rectified, that is to say, dis- tilled and re-distilled until it has attained to the extreuiest possible degree of strength and puiity. The author of the book to which I refer was a chemist by the name of Nicholas Lemert, and he tells us some very curious facts about spirit of wine. He speaks of brandy as a fluid containing this spirit, and says the French call it aqua viUr. Ho explains that the chemists liave a sign or symbol for spirit of wine, which is like this, \y and, he also tells us why it is called alcohol in his time. From Lemert's description, it appears that alcohol was a term intended to describe something exceedingly refined or subtile. He uses the word sometimes as a verb, and explains that when any substance is beaten into a very fine powder, so that it is impalpable, i.e., when it cannot be felt rough to the touch, it is alcoholised. The same word, he adds, is employed to describe a very fine, pure spirit, and so the spirit of wine well rectiH«d is called the alcohol of wine. Other scholars have tried to trace out the origin of the word itself, and the most accepted explanation on this point is that the word is Arabic, A'1-ka-hol, meaning a very tine essence or powder used by the women of the East to tinge their hair and the margins of the eyelids. Afterwards, as described by Lemert, it was applied to all refined substances distilled by the heat of the fire. The word is no longer used as it was in the first instance. It is now employed to express one thing, and nothing else, namely, the actual pure spirit which is produced by the fer- mentation of the grape, or of barley, or of sugar, or of other substances that will undergo fermentation, and yield this particular spirit. We never in these days use the word as a verb : we use it as a noun, or sometimes as an adjective. When we speak of the fluid pure and simple, we say alcohol. When we speak of fluids which contain a portion of alcohol, such fluids, for example, as gin, rum, brandy, whiskey, beer wine, perry, or cider — wo speak of them as alcoholic drinks. Before we conclude this lesson, we shall do well to recall to mind the various steps by which the fluid now known as alcohol was obtained. Let us, then, remember these five points : 3G Puhlic School Tkmpekanck. 1. Tlio fluid containing alcohol that was first known was tho f(!rniQnted fluid obtained from fruits by fermentation .md called wine. 2. The wine was distilled, and thereby a fine spirit was obtained, which was called the spirit of tho wine. 3. When tho spirit of wine was discovered, it was trcate(^ in diflferent ways, by whicli spii-its of diflercnt tast((s, colors, and strenjjtlis were obtained, and called by diflcrent names, such as whiskey, brandy, rum, and gin. 4. Sugar and other substances than fruits, were made to yield spirit by fermentation. 5. At last tho pure spirit, from whatever source it was got, was called alcohol. Questions on Lesson XIV. 1. At what period was the term alcohol uitroduced to denote spirit of wine ? 2. What was the original meaning of the term alcohol ? 3. From what language is the term obtained ? 4. To what is the word exclusively applied in the present me specimens of ales and stouts contain as much as ten per ct iit. oi alcohol, and in very strong old ale that quantity may be. exceeded. There is, however, a great deal of trickery played with the ale which is commonly sold in retail, so that it is difficult to arrive at any correct standard. It is a douljle pity that people should be so ignorant as to pay a high price for such diluted drink, when simple water would quench the thirst much better, and when a little oatmeal added to water would give much more strength wherewith to labor. Some of the hardest labors which working men have had to accomplish have been best performed by men who have had no other drink than water, to which oatmeal has b« ;,ii '■ ^ded. Qiiestions on Lesson XVI. 1. What is the ranee of variation in the quantities of alcolioi con- tained in the fluids called wines ? 2. How much alcohol is present in the wines called port, sherry, and Madeira ? 3. How much alcohol is present in what are called French and Rhine wines ? 4. What is the average t^lcoholic strength of English home-made wines? 5. What are the spirits m most common use as dangerous strong drinks; and which of them is richest in alcohol ? 6. What is the percentage, by volume, of alcohol in gin? in rum? in whiskey ? in brandy ? 7. What are the varying percentages of alcohol in the fluids sold as ales and porters ? LESSON XVII. ALCOHOL AND ANIMAL LIFE. We are now prepared, by our previous studies, to consider in what way alcohol acts on the bodies of men and animals. In this part of our work we shall have to think almost en- tirely of the action of that one alcohol which is called ethylic, the second in the alcohol series, the alcohol that is found in wine and other common intoxicating drinks. We must con- tine our attention to this alcohol altogether ; but it sometimes happens thjit the other alcohols are mixed with it in drinks, either by accident or intention, and it is well, therefore, to remember what has been briefly stated in preceding lessons about them and their action. For the present purpose we have to think only of the alcohol which has been so ?ong known, and which exists in wine, spirits, beer, cider, perry, gin, rum, whiskey, brandy, and other common liquids sold for drink, and called now, universally, strong or alcoholic liquids.* Whenever the word alcohol is used in future lessons, it must be understood to refer to this best known representative of the alcohol series, namely, to ethylic alcohol. Whenever any other alcohol is referred to it will be defined by its name in full. There is no animal that may not be affected by alcohol. At all events, I know of none. Some animals will swallow without injury substances that would be poisonous to man. A pigeon will take, without showing the slightest symptom, as much opium as would kill several men. A goat will swallow, without injury, a quantity of tobacco which would kill several men. A rabbit will swallow, without injury, a dose of belladonna that would kill several men. But neither the pigeon, nor the goat, nor the rabbit can swallow alcohol without being influenced by it in much the same manner as a man would be. * For a description of the various kinds of alcohol, and their coniposi< tiou and character, sec the appendix. 41 Wf 42 Public School Temperance. To show how universal is the action of alcohol on living animals, a fact bearing on the matter of weight of the animal is important to remember. I found that the dose of alcohol which is sufficient to affect an animal bears a relation to the weight of the animal, so that a knowledge of the weight of an animal will tell how much alcohol is reqiuired to produce a certain effect. This only holds good, however, in respect to animals that are not habituated to the use of alcohol. As soon as the taking of alcohol becomes a habit, either in a lower animal or in a man, the quantity required to produce obvious effects has, as a rule, to be increased. And here I may stop for a moment to point out a very /mportant practical lesson, derivable from what I have just stated. The lesson is, that alcohol taken into the body causes sensations and effects which soon seem to become a necessary part of life, but wliich can rarely be sustained from day to day in any person without leading to an increase of the dose which first caused the sensations or effects. A man takes other foods and drinks without experiencing this change. If he takes a pint of milk, or a pint of water, or half a pound of meat to-day, he does not find a desire to go on day after day increasing those quantities of milk, water, or meat indefinitely, until one of them takes the place of almost everything else, becomes the only thing really cared for, and at last produces symptoms of the most terrible disease. The taking of alcohol does, however, lead to this kind of iiabit in respect to itself ; it excites a constant craving for more of itself, more and yet more, day after day, until at last the deluded man or woman that is used to it may increase the quantity until, caring for nothing else whatoAer, he or she becomes the victim of the most terrible and fatal of bodily and mental diseases. Questions on Lesson XVII, 1. What is the peculiarity of the action of alcoliol on the different classes of living animals ? 2. Is this action peculiar to all poisonous substances ? 3. Give examples of the inaction of some poisons on particular animals. 4. What fact respecting weight shows the similarity of the action of alcohol on different kinds of animals ? Alcohol as a Food. 43 5. How do3s alcohol differ from simple foods in regard to its satis- fying effect on the living body ? 6. What is a common effect of alcohol on those who take it habit- ually, day by day, in regard to the (quantities taken ? LESSON XVIII. ALCOHOL AS A POOD. It matters very little how alcohol is put into the body to secure its absorption into the blood ; wherever the blood can carry it there it goes, and those parts of the body which hold the largest quantity of water keep it longest in combination. If it were injected through a fine hollow needle under the skin, it would find its way all over the body, and it very readily finds its way from the stomach after it is swallowed. From the stomach it is absorbed quickly into the veins, and, mixing with the blood in them, is carried hy the circulation into every vascular organ and part. Before there can be any absorption into the body, however, one thing must be done. The alcohol nmst be well diluted with water. If the alcohol be brought into contact with the living structures of the body in the pure, or, as it is usual to say, in the neat form, it has such an affinity for the water in those structures that it seizes the water and renders the parts hard and dense. There are two terms used in scientific lan- guage to indicate the change that is thus brought about. One of these terms is " coagulation " ; we say that alcohol " coagu- lates" the tissues or Huids. The other term is " pectous " ; we say the alcohol renders the tissues or parts " pectous," wliich means viscid or thick. Alcohol acts on the blood, on all the membranes of the body, and on all the fluids which contain albuminous matter, in the manner now described when it is not freely diluted with water. Brandy, which consists of about equal parts of alcohol and water, is sufficiently strong to pro- duce this coagulation. It is not very probable that Nature, so wise and good, would give to man a substance for a common food which is so ■W" 44 Public School Temperance. easily destructive In its action unless it be taken with the ut- most care. She did not give man boiling water for drink, and leave him to discover that the water was dangerous, unless it were cooled to a certain safe degree ; neither did she give him such active chemical fluids as ardent spirits for his nourish- ment. Yet there are many persons who declare that alcohol is a food, and that it is given to us for our use as a food. Such persona do not think, when they make the statement, what a food is. We know from the best of teachers, from Nature herself, what a true food is. We know that milk is a true standard food. Milk gives us water for the purposes it fulfils in the body ; it gives us caseine to supply new struc- tures, muscles and other active organs ; it gives us salts for building up the skeleton .and other uses ; it gives us fat (butter,) .and sugar to produce animal warmth and power. (See Lesson VII.) Everything is clear enough about milk as a food : we can drink milk without being burned, and we can see where all its parts go to, and what they do in our bodies. But when we come to look at alcohol, we can see no such qualities or uses for the purpose of food of any kind. It does not supply water : therefore it is not a water food. It does not supply salts : therefore it is not a saline food, and would never help to make the bony skeleton. It does not supply caseine, albumen, fibrine, or any other of those substances which go to build up the muscles, nerves and other active organs. The foods which supply these parts contain nitrogen and phosphorus and sulphur as necessary elements, and we are sure that alcohol does not contain those elements ; it is not, therefore, an active structure- building food, and unless it be taken in combination with sugar, it does not even make fat. A substance that neither gives water nor any substance for building up the body cannot be a nourishing food. Some, however, will urge that it gives warmth and strength, and is in that sense a food. We shall see, step by step, that this too is a delusion ; we shall see that alcohol makes the body cold and makes the muscles weak. Milk is a drink, and milk is a standard food sent by Nature. Compared with milk, alcohol shows no trace of being a food in any particular. We want no better evidence, and we could have no better proof, that alcohol is not a food. Alcohol in the Blood. 45 Questions on Lesson XVIII 1. How will alcohol enter the structures of the living ^Kxly, ..ml what is the meilium or fluid through which it is diffused ? 2. What must be done to ensure the diffusion of alcohol through the living body, and what happens if undiluted alcohol is brought into con- tact with the tissues of the bo ly ? 3. Why would a fluid possessing the properties of alcohol be danger- ous as a food ? 4. What are the qualities of a natural standard food, such as milk ? 6. In what respects does alcohol differ from such a standard ? 6. Sum up the reasons why alcohol is not to be considered a food. LESSON XTX. ALOOHOL IN THE BLOOD. When alcohol has been introduced into the body, it is very soon absorbed into the blood, and by means of the blood is carried all over the body. It enters the blood by those vessels which are called veins, and which convey the whole stream of blood from every part of the system into the right side of the heart. The veins are the bearers of bloo'J, which, having traversed all the organs, and supplied food to all parts, and been the mems of supplying warmth, is now returning to the heart, picking up nourishment by the way and hastening to the lungs, into which it is lifted by the stroke of the right side of the heart, in order to give up in the lungs a charge of car- bonic acid, with which it is loaded. The veins are the carriers of blood to the heart, and when alcohol is present they carry it mingled with the blood that is in them. As the blood fron the veins passes over the lungs, it gives up in its course its carbonic acid gas, and in place of that gas, or I should say in exchange for that gas, it receives oxygen gas from the air which we take in at each inspiration. The plan by which the blood is enabled to give out carbonic acid and to take in oxygen is very simple and beautiful, and it is necessary for my purpose that in a few words the plan should be de- *' • X-'i I i 46 Public School Temperance. scribed. In the blood there float millions of little round bodies called red blood-globules, or blood-corpuscles, or blood-discs. These are so suiall they can only be seen by means of the microscope : indeed, they a)e so small that if we were to measure one of them across, as we would measure a sixpence, we should find the diameter to be no more than the three thousand five hundredtii part of an inch. This smallness is necessary for two grand purposes at least. It is necessary in order to allow the corpuscles to pass easily through the minute blood-vessels of the body, and it is also necessary in order to expose a large surface of these corpuscles to absorb the gases which it is their duty to pick up and carry. When the blood in the veins is floating towards the right side of the heart, which communicates with the lungs, it carries with it the car- bonic acid, and, as I have found by experiment, a great part of this gas is condensed in these little bodies, the corpuscles. Arrived at the lungs, the blood comes into such contact with the air we breathe at each breath we draw in, that the oxygen gas in the air is freely absorbed by the little corpuscles, while the carbonic acid is given up into the air-passages of the lungs, and is thrown off by the breath with every breath we throw out. In this process the blood changes in color. It came into the lungs of a dark color ; it goes out of them a bright red. It makes its way, after the change that has occurred, into the left side of the heart, charged with oxygen gas. The left side of the heart contracting upon it, it is carried into a set of vessels called arteries, and through them, with a steady stroke, due to the contraction of the heart, into all parts of the body. The blood is now called arterial, or red, or oxygenated blood. Questions on Lesson XIX. 1 . How does alcohol find its way over the system ? 2. What is meant by venous blood ? 3. What is the use of the red blood -corpuscles ? 4. In the lungs what do these minute bodies give up, and what do they take up ? 5. Where does the blood go after it leaves the lungs ? 6. What is the blood called after it has left the lungs, and in what particulars does it differ from venous blood ? LESSON XX ACTION OF ALCOHOL ON THE BLOOD. In addition to the blood-corpuscles of the blood to wiiich the name of red corpuscles is applied, there are, in much smaller numbers, other corpuscles called white. These white corpuscles are larger than the red, and it is now believed that the red corpuscles are derived from them. There is also in the blood, distributed through it, a jelly-like substance called fibrine. The iibrine is present in the proportion of about two and a half parts in the thousand, and wlien blood is drawn from the body the fibrine becomes partly solid. It goes into a clot, or as it is said by scientific men, it coagulates. The pro- cess of coagulation of blood is of great importance in life. When a person cuts his finger so as to make it bleed, clotting or coagulation of blood takes place, and by that means the flow of blood is stopped. If such clotting were not to take place, the bleeding would continue until the whole of the blood drained out of the body even by a small opening. In some instances people have died from this cause, their blood being poor in fibrine. The fibrine has still more important uses. To use a common phrase, it holds the blood together, so that when the blood reaches the extreme vessels it does not easily transude or pass through the porous structures of the body, and, except under proper regulation for the purpose of build- ing up the body, it does not leave the vessels at all. If the blood be deficient in fibrine, or if the fibrine from any cause be held in too fluid a state, then the blood does exude through the vessels and makes blotches on the skin and other membran- ous parts, and indeed, in such instances, it sometimes flows from the body in some parts, as from the gums. We say of persons in this state that they are scorbutic, or that they have scurvy, a painful and enfeebling disease. Lastly, albumen, salts, and water, are parts of the blood ; the water making up seventy-nine parts in the hundred. I have stated these few facts about blood in order to ex- plain more perfectly the action of alcohol upon it. When 47 m 48 Public School Temperance. i I 1 alcohol is made to enter the ))ody by any channel it finds its way into the blood. In the blood it spreads or diffuses through the water, and is carried, mixed with the water, over the body at large. In the smallest quantities diffused in blood, alcohol is a foreign substance, doing there no good certainly, and fulfilling no purpose that could in any sense be called natural. When the quantity of it is small, so small as one part in five hundred, it is injurious ; while over and above that quantity it is a source of serious derangement, and it may be of danger. The parts of the blood on which alcohol acts injuriously are the corpuscles and the fi brine. The red corpuscles are most distinctly affected. They undergo a peculiar process of shrinking from extraction of water from them. They lose also some of their power to absorb oxygen from the air. In confirmed spirit-drinkers the face and hands are often seen of dark mottled color, and in very bad specimens of the kind the face is sometimes seen to be quite dark, almost of the color of the skin of a mulatto. In these drinkers the process of oxidation of blood is im- peded to an extreme degree by the presence of the alcohol. They always are very sensitive to cold, and in the winter weather they are subject more than most other people to aflfec- tions of the lungs which are serious in character. They die, in fact, in great numbers, under such conditions of the air, for their vital organs, their lungs, liver, kidneys, brain, are like their skin, congested readily, first because the blood-vessels are deficient in power, and the course of the blood through the vessels is readily checked ; secondly, because the blood itself cannot take up the vital air in the natural degree. Questions on Lesson XX. . 1. Name the other parts of the blood beside the red corpuscles. 2. What is the average amount of fibrine in the blood ? 3. What phenomenon occurs when blood is drawn from the body ? 4. What are the uses of the fibrine in the blood ? 5. What parts of the blood are specially affected by alcohol ? 6. What are the eflfects produced by alcohol on the red corpuscles of the blood, and how are those eflfects shown on the body of the hard drinker ? LESSON XXI. ii PUETHER ACTION OF ALOOHOL ON THE BLOOD. There is another action of alcohol on the little red corpuscles of the blood. When it enters the blood in large quantities, it causes the corpuscles, rendered smaller and irregular from loss of water, to adhere together in masses. This change is a cause of serious embarrassment and danger. When it occurs, the masses of corpuscles prove directly ob- structive to the course of the blood in the minute or hair-like vessels of the body, through which vessels the corpuscles naturally pass in file. The obstruction which is produced by the massing together of the corpuscles is directly mischievous. It leads to congestion of blood in the organs in which it takes place, and sometimes it produces disease at the part where it occurs. It has also the effect of preventing a due absorption of oxygen by the blood in the lungs. The bad action of alcohol on the blood is not confined to the red corpuscles ; it extends to the fibrinous or plastic part of the blood. If the alcohol be taken in very great excess indeed, it causes in the blood coagulation of the plastic part or fibrine. The fibrine, under these circumstances, becomes solidified in the blood-vessels, and, so charged, stops the current of the blood in its course through the vessels. There have been instances in which death has been the almost instant consequence from a change of the blood as here de- scribed. Some fooli' '' i!.an for a wager, or other silly motive, has swallowed, straight off, a large draught of strong spirit, and thereupon has died on the spot. In instances of this nature the blood may be affected by the poison in a few seconds, and the whole of the blood in the heart be made a semi-solid mass or clot, by which the circulation is absolutely stopped, and death is rendered inevitable. I do not assume that many people, however fond they may be of alcohol, choose to kill themselves with it in this direct manner. If they did, their act would be styled suicide, and the attempt to perform the act would be contrary to the law. 49 ill 'J hi I' M .•>o Public SniooL Temperance. But there is another somewhat similar accident, which a fair number of persons, in their madness tor alcohol, do carry out. They so charj^'o their blood with ale ' "' that in the minute blood-vessels minuto masses of fibi are coagulated into clots, which cut off the current of blood from little parts of the organs of the body, whereby those organs are injured. Sometimes these tiny obstructions occur in the brain, and so the beginnings of paralysis are produced. In other instances the obstruction to the blood in the vessels, owing to the coagu- lation of the tibrine, occurs in the liver or the kidney, and so those orguns are injured, and, in time, are made seats of fatal diseases. The signs of injury in the person in whom this accident occurs are of various kinds, varying according to the place in which tho accident has happened. The signs may be those of giddiness when some small centre of the brain is affected ; or they may be those of palsy, owing to ^ nervous communica- tion with the muscles being for the t ut off; or they may be those of injury to one or other of tno senses, owing to the nervous mechanism of one of the organs of the senses — the eye or the ear — being injured. In extreme examples of this accident, the brain is so nmch injured, and the circulation through the brain so seriously stopped, that the body falls into an unconscious state, as if it had been knocked down. It is then said that apoplexy^ which means literally striking down, has taken place. Great numbers of hard drinkers die from the cause here named. When the accident of obstruction of blood occurs, in a similar manner, in tho vessels of the lungs, liver, or kidneys, the signs of disease are presented in those vital organs, and life is endangered from the failure of their natural functions. Questions on Lesson XXI. 1 What further injurious action does alcohol exert over the red corpuscles of the blood ? 2. What injury to the body results from this change ? 3. By what effect on the blood may alcohol cause sudden death ? 4. By what effect on the fibrine of the blood may alcohol injure parts of vital organs ? Diseased Blood f^om Alcohol. 51 5. What signs of injury "to the body may follow the changes thu« caUHcd ? 6. What ia the name givun to a conunon diNcaMe from whioh hard drinkers suddenly die, aiid what does the word mean 'i LESSON XXII. DISEASED BLOOD FBOM ALCOHOL. In some instances, as we have seen, alcohol causes thicken- ing of the blood in parts of the body But in most persons who indulge freely in alcohol, the Llood is thin, and easily flows from the blood-vessels when they are woui ded by a cut or tear. The alcohol, from its great affinity for water, induces those who drink it to imbibe water or watery fluids to an excess. Those men of great size of body, who are called dray- men, and who too often drink ale and porter in very large quantities, are singularly subject to danger whenever they suffer from accident. On such men, when they are greatly addicted to drinking of malt liquors or other spirituous fluids, the surgeon looks with the greatest anxiety, if he has to per- form on them even trifling operations, for he knows they are liable to dangers which are frequently of a fatal character. Alcohol, when it is freely diluted, acts, as I have already said, on the fibrine of the blood, rendering the fibrine unduly fluid. In fact alcohol acts on the blood in somewhat the same manner as salt does, and gives a tendency to a disease similar to that which is produced by living a long time on salted pro- visions, to which disease the name of scurvy is commonly applied. In the different attempts that have been made to get near to the North Pole, the disease known as scurvy has often been developed in the crews. Salted foods and exposure to cold have, as a rule, been described as the causes of this disease, and, without doubt, tliey play an important part. But the truth is now clearly out that the ration of grog, as it is called, in other words the ration of some spirit, such as rum, which is I J 62 Public School Temperance. : I . \ allowed the sailors, adds very greatly to the evil. In the latest Arctic expedition, the sailor who went through the severest trials, who escaped scurvy, and who held his own all through in the healthiest form, was a brave man named Adam Ayles ; and Adam Ayles, from the beginning to the end of the voyage, never touched a stimulant tc drink of it. On the other hand, those who took a moderate excess of alcohol suf- fered severely, and one man, whose likings for the poison were too strong for his reason, had to be kept from every exposure to cold, and in a mere half-useful position during a great part of the voyage. In scurvy, the blood is so fluid that it may pour out of the small blood-vessels at some points of the body without those vessels being wounded mechanically. It may transude into the structure of the skin, and produce deep blotches of the skin like bruises, and even blotches on the internal membranes and organs of the body. A disease of a similar kind sometimes affects poor people who live on land, and who are obliged, for the sake of economy, to subsist on coarse bread, bacon, or other salted foods, and who try to make up the deficiency by resorting to beer, or perhaps to stronger drinks, such as gin. These people become what is called " scorbutic," and much weakened. They feel all the changes of weather severely, and are great sufferers during the cold of winter. If they would spend the money which they throw away on the drinks that are so hurtful, and would take to plain, nourishing foods, like oatmeal and pease- meal, they would be very much better off in mind, body, and estate. Two tablespoonfuls of oatmeal with one of peasemeal, made into a liquid with milk and boiling water, and flavored according to taste with salt or with sugar, forms a drink worth any number of glasses of ale or other alcoholic fluid. Such a drink does indeed maintain the strength and keep out the cold. Questions on Lesson XXII. 1. What effect does alcohol have in modifying the amount of water in the blood ? 2. What is the name of the disease that is produced by living too long on salted foods ? Respiration and Alcohol. 53 3. What does alcohol do in regard to this disease? 4. When alcoholic drinks are taken in excess with water, what dangers are incurred ? 5. Give an illustration of a class of men who run great risks from this cause. 6. Give an example of a simple and cheap drink that is better for sustaining strength and keeping out cold, than beer or other spirituous drink. LESSON XXIII. BESFIBATION AND ALCOHOL. a We have learned that there are two sets of blood-cells floating in the blood — the red and the white cells. We have also learned that the red blood-cells are the most numerous. We have learned that the duty of the red blood-cells is to re- ceive and condense the oxygen of the air during the process of breathing or respiration, and to carry that oxygen into all parts of the body by means of the circulation. We have learned that the oxygen so carried is given up in the tissues for the support of the combustion of the body and the supply of the animal heat. Lastly, we have learned that in this pro- cess of combustion anew gas is produced which is called car- bonic acid gas, and which is brought by the venous blood, to escape in breatiiing, and be replaced by oxygen. We are fully aware that if all the steps of this simple pro- cess are not duly carried out, the body is not in health. If anything whatever interferes with the proper reception of oxygen by the blood, the body is not properly oxidized, the animal warmth is not sufficiently maintained, and life is re- duced in activity. If for a brief interval of time the process of breathing is stopped in a living person, we see quickly developed the signs of difficulty, and we say the person is being suffocated. We observe that the face becomes dark, the lips blue, the surface cold. Should the process of arrest or stoppage of the breathing be long continued, the person will become unconscious, will stagger, and fall, and, should relief not be at hand, he will in a very few minutes die. i ': 54 I*UBLic School Temperance!. Some substances which we take into the body, and which hrid tfieir way into the blood, have the effect of checking the process of absorption of oxygen by the blood corpuscles, and also of stopping that vital process of oxidation in the extreme parts of the body by which oxygen is made to combine with carbon, with the production of animal heat. I found by experiment that in presence of alcohol in blood the process of absorption of ygen was directly checked, and that even so minute a quanv ..y as one part of alcohol in five hundred of blood proved an obstacle to the perfect reception of oxygen by the blood. It is not difficult to explain why alcohol should interfere with the function of the red corpuscles when it is present in very large quantities, because in large quantities it produces extreme changes of a physical character in the corpuscles, which must be injurious. The corpuscles are reduced in size, and they are made so irregular in shape that it is almost im- possible to recognize them so as to say to what class of animal they belong. In such a state it is not to be expected that they can discharge the duties of their office well. But when the quantity of alcohol in blood is so small as not to affect the blood corpuscles visibly, in the manner described above, it is still capable of interrupting the entrance of oxygen, although not to so marked a degree. I must not enter into any speculation as to the cause of this interruption : it is sufficient to state the simple fact that alcohol does interfere with the process by which the blood is properly charged with the vital air that passes to it by the lungs in the act of breathing. The evil from the presence of alcohol in the blood does not end merely with the absorption of alcohol. The presence of it modifies the combiiiation of oxygen with many substances that otherwise readily combine with it. Added to dead animal substances alcohol prevents that combination of oxygen with the elements of the dead matter which ends in putrefaction or decomposition, and hence alcohol is said to be an antiseptic — that is to say, a substance which prevents putrefaction or decay. It plays the same part in living organs of the body when it is carried to them by the blood. Thus alcohol inter- feres with that part of the animal function which provides for the application of the air we breathe to the wants of the body. in Standard Animal Warmth. 55 Questions on Lesson XXIII. 1 . Trace the steps which lead to the production of natural warmth in a living animal. 2. What happens if for a short time the process of breathing be in any way checked ? 3. What effects do some substances, when they are taken into the body, have en the processes leading to production of animal warmth ? 4. What effect has alcohol in this respect ? 5. What effect has alcohol on the blood in respect to the p-ocess of breathing ? 6. What effect has alcohol on the blood in the extreme parts of the circulation ? LESSON XXIV. STAKDAED ANIMAL WAEMTH. We may gather from the last lesson that alcohol in any drink — in wine, in beer or ale, in spirit — is not a substance that can be used in order to keep the body of a man warm. At the same time many persons, perhaps most persons, who have lived in countries where strong drinks are taken, have really believed that one of the reasons why alcoholic drinks should be used for drinking purposes is, that alcohol warms the body. This idea tinds expression in a great number of ways. People commonly say to their visitors in wintei-, " Take another glass to keep out the cold ; " and although they show their own folly in summer by saying, " Take another glass to keep yourself cool," the time which passes between the two sayings is quite sufficient to hide the fact that one or other of the sayings must be silly, and can only be explained away by an argument that strong drinks warm the cold body and cool the heated. In simple truth, however, the sayings T have quoted, and many others of a similar kind which I could quote, are mere sayings which pass from mouth to mouth without any real sense. They are spoken from habit, not from thought, and are very much like the sayings of a parrot, which sound sensible 56 Public School Temperance. ' enough, but do not in any way prove that the bird tells anything that it means or understands. About alcohol, and its in- fluence in keeping out the cold, no one stayed to inquire until {{xiite lately. Some few very wise men have long suspected that the idea was an error, and the experiences of those who liave been exposed to extreme cold have led them to the same conclusion ; but the precise fact has not, until late years, been proved and made perfectly clear. We now have the most positive proofs that alcohol is an agent which impairs and even arrests the process by which the body is made and kept warm by natural supplies of heat. Quite apart from the reasons why it should impair or arrest this process, which reasons have already been hinted at, we are now aware that it does so, and the evidence that it does so cannot be too well or too widely known. It fell to my lot to make this truth evident, and to place it on record, from the best of all evidence, that of experiment. I will tell in a few sentences what the evidence consisted of, and what it defined. In all animals there is a certain fixed or natural tempera- ture, as can be proved over and over again by experimental trial. If we take a fine thermometer, that is, the instrument with which we measure heat, and place it under the tongue of any man, woman, or child, the thermometer will tell us that the natural temperature in every case is a little over ninety- eight degrees by Fahrenheit's thermometer, which is the one most in use in this country. If in any case we find the tem- perature to be much above or below this degree of ninety- eight, we are obliged to come to the conclusion that the person on whom the observation is made is, for the moment, out of health ; and very often by this one sign alone of temperature or warmth physicians detect the most serious forms of disease. So we say that for man ninety-eight degrees is the natural standard temperature. Whether the man be in a hot country, on the equator, or in a cold country, near the North or South Pole, the standard is, with very small variations, the same This fact about a standard animal temperature is a fact to be kept very clearly in mind. The perfect life can only be maintained under equal temperature of body. A variation of ten degrees on either side of the standard is fatal if it be at all prolonged. In hot climates men require less, in cold climates L Animal Life Under Alcohol. — The First Stage. 57 more, food for production of heat. In hot climates men cool by evaporation of water from the body, that is, by perspiration. In cold climates, to retain the animal heat, they clothe them- selves thickly. In hot climates they absorb least oxygen, in cold climates most, from the air. By these means the animal warmth is equalized. QueMionf^ on Lesson XXIV. 1 . What is the common belief aeuto the influence of alcohol on the warmth of the body ? 2. What are common forms of expression in winter time, bearing on this topic ? 3. What has led to such expressions ? 4. What is the fact as to the truth or falseness of such expressions ? 5. What variations from the natural temperature of the body are fatal if prolonged ? 6. How is the standard temperature maintained in different parts of the world ? LESSON XXV. 1 I' Ml ANIMAL LITE UNDEE ALOOHOL.-THE FIBST STAGE. The standard of temperature is not the same in all animals, though it is the same in every animal of the same species. In man and the higher animals, the animal temperature is so high that they are called warm-blooded. In other animals, frogs, for example, the temperature is, by comparison, so low that they are called cold-blooded animals. But still in the different classes the temperature is the same in each class during health. The temperature of man is a little above 98° Fahrenheit, in the horse it is 100°, in the ox 101°, in the dog 102°, in the cat 102°, in the guinea-pig 102°, in the rabbit 104°, in the sheep 104°, in the goat 104°, in the fowl 108°, in the pigeon 109°, in the duck 108°. Those are all warm-blooded animals. In some cold-blooded animals the temperature may be as low as 57° Fahrenheit. It is 57° in the leech. In the turtle it is 86°, in the frog 70'. 1 58 Public School Temperance. I began to follow out this task I did not know for a i i For the perfect life of every one of these animals, and as far as we know, of all animals, steadiness of bodily tempera- ture is essential. By accurate measurement of the tempera- • ture it i? easy to tell what agents or things acting upon the body will cause the temperature or warmth to vary from the natural standard. To ascertain what part alcohol plays on the animal warmth was a task I had to perform. When certainty what part alcohol plays, but I was rather impressed with the common idea that it makes the body warm, for I knew that after taking wine the faces of people become red and flushed, and that such persons look warm and feel warm whether they are so or not. The subject was of such great importance that it took me more than three years to pursue it, and it would take longer space than this book altogether contains to relate the many trials that were made. I must therefore be content to relate the results or conclusions in a very few sentences. To begin with the simplest fact. I found that when a small quantity of alcohol is taken, just a suflScient quantity to produce a decided effect on the body, an effect that may be felt by the person who takes it, and which gives evidence of action to another person who is looking on, there is caused a certain short stage of action, to which I give the name of the first stage of alcoholic influence. In this stage in man, the person who has taken alcohol feels exhilarated or freshened. He says he is brightened or cheered, that he feels in a kind of glow, that his thoughts seem to flow more quickly, and that he is warmed from head to foot. If you look at the man you see that his face is red and flushed, that his eyes look bright, that in manner he is a little excited, and that he talks more quickly or freely. If at this stage we take the temperature of the surface of the body, or of the mouth, we find that the temperature or warmth is actually raised. In those who are not much accustomed to alcohol, the warmth may be raised half a degree ; in those who are accus- tomed to alcohol, the warmth may be raised a full degree, or even a degree and a half Fahrenheit, beyond the natural standard. The statement, therefore, made by the person, of feeling so much warmer, is quite correct. The skin of the body is the most sensitive of surfaces, and the sense of warmth The Feeling op Warmth from Alcohol. 59 through or over the whole surface of the skin is conveyed from it to the brain and nervous centres of the body, by which we are enabled to feel. It seems, therefore, as if warmth were communicated. When we stand before a fire and get a sense of warmth by that means, the impression of the warmth is made on the skin, and is conveyed in a similar manner to the hand. When we burn the skin, the warmth is the sharpest of all pains. I ■ Questions on Lesson XX V. 1. What is the range of tlie standard of warinth in animals of diffta- ent classes ? 2. What do yon mean by a warm-blooded, as distinct from a cold- blooded, animal ? Give an example of each. 3. State the degree of warmth of the bodies of the following animals : Man, the horse, the dog, the rabbit, the pigeon, the frog. 4. What is the effect of alcohol on the body of man in the first stage of its action ? 5. What is the appearance of the skin during this first stage ? 6. What is the state of the body in respect to its surface warinth during this stage ? C W -' •I LESSON XXVI. THE FEELING OF WARMTH FROM ALCOHOL. The first stage of action of alcohol on the body is the same in other classes of animals as in man. At all events, this is the fact so far as research has progressed up to the present time. In all animals that have been observed while they are under its influence, alcohol, in its first action, causes the exter- nal warmth of the body to rise. In birds the warmth in- creases a degree, and in other animals at least half a degree Fahrenheit. Well, then, some one will say, the old notion that alcohol warms the body is quite correct. We do take alcohol to keep out the cold after all ! Not quite so fast. Wlien I burn my n ■ if r" 60 Public School Temperance. finger it feels intensely hot, or if I hold my hand in front of a fire until I can scarcely bear it, then it feels hot to me, any one else touching it would say it was hot, and a thermometer applied to it would show it was hotter than is natural. But for all that my body is made no warmer. If I go out in the cold and pick up snow, or plunge my hands in ice-cold water, when I take them out they soon begin to look very red, they soon begin to burn, and I say I have the " hot- ache," and if I didn't know better, I should declare I was heated. But my body would not be made warmer altogether in either case. The facts are just the same with respect to the sense of warmth caused by alcohol. It is a sense of warmth that is felt, not an actual warmth that is given to the body. The sense of warmth occurs in the following way : When the alco- hol enters the body, and by the blood-vessels is conveyed to all parts of the body, it reduces the nervous power of the small blood-vessels which are spread out through the whole of the surface of the skin, and all the surfaces of the body. In their weakened state these vessels are unable duly to resist the course of blood which is coming into them from the heart under its stroke. The result is that an excess of warm blood, fresh from the heart, is thrown into those fine vessels, which causes the skin to become flushed and red, as it is seen to be after wine or other strong drink has been swallowed and sent through the body. So, as there is now more warm blood in the skin than is natural to it, a sense of increased warmth is felt. The sur- face, which is giving off more heat because more warm blood is passing through it, not only feels warmer but is actually warmer than it was before. Something else also happens which will be more fully described in another lesson, but must not be altogether omitted here. When this effect of alcohol on the blood-vessels is set up, the rate of the passage of the blood through them is changed because the heart beats with increased rapidity. Under this there is warmth developed by motion, and that warmth is given out also from the surface and increases the sense and feeling of warmth, like the glow produced by rubbing or friction which causes surface heat. The warmth of surface which seems to be imparted by alco- hol only seems then to be imparted. Positively the warmth is not imparted by the alcohol, but is set free by it. The Animal Life TTxder Alcohol. 61 warmth that is felt is given off at tho expense of tlie body, which is making it by the chemical changes going on for its production, and it is escaping from the surface owing to the weakness of the vessels, and that greater exposure of surface which has been caused by the alcohol. When my hand was suffering from hot-ache, induced by exposure to intense cold, the vessels, weakened by the cold, be- came unable to resist the blood when the constriction from tho cold was taken off, and so the redness was seen and the sense of heat was felt as the blood recharged the vessels. Alcohol acts in the same manner as the cold. Questions on LessMi XXVI. 1. Is the action of alcohol m causing a first stage of effect common in all classes of animals 1 2. Give an illustration of a sense of heat of part of the body pro- duced without the application of heat. 3. In the case given in illustration, why is a sense of warmth pro- duced ? 4. "What effect has alcohol on the minute blood-vessels of the sm- faces of the body, a.nd of the course of the blood through them ? 5. Why is the sense of heat felt after partaking of alcohol ? 6. Why do cold and alcohol act alike in producing the sense and feeling of external warmth or heat ? LESSON XXVII. I 'I AITTMAL UFE UNDER ALOOflOL.-THE SEOOl^D STAGE. The effect of alcohol on the warmth of the body is more distinctly traced as the after stages of its influence are developed. So far I have noticed and explained the hrst stage alone, that stage of excitement, when the face of the drinker is flushed, and his manner more or less excited. In this stage the man is often said to be "jolly," and what is commonly called the jollity of drink is felt by him. It is not a very 62 Public School Temperance. happy affair after all, if what haste be paid for it be measured by the brevity of the pleasure. For, unfortunately, there are second, and third, and fourth stages of the action of alcohol on the body, which are anything but happy stages. If the quantity of alcohol taken be comparatively moderate, if it be but sufficient to excite without actually causing in- toxication or drunkenness, there coines on a second condition or stage (assuming even that no more alcohol be taken), during which the flush of the face and skin dies away, the mind begins to get rather bored and languid, and there is felt a slight chilliness of the body. When the thermometer is now brought into play, and the temperature of the body is carefully taken, we find that the animal warmth is falling. It does not fall very low, however, if the person is in a very warm room, and has been provided lately, or is provided, with sufficient food ; but the fall is marked, reaching often, under ordinary circumstances, to a degree on Fahrenheit's scale. Should the person in this stage go out into a cold air, and especially should he go out into a cold air while he is badly supplied with food, the fall of temperature will be much more decisive. It may reach a decline of two degrees below the natural standard. To the person himself the con- dition is almost painful : he is depressed and chilled. In this state ho easily takes cold, and in frosty weather readily con- tracts congestion of the lungs, and that disease which is known as bronchitis. Nothing is more common in winter time than the production of disease from this cause. When I say that in our country alone thousands of persons are affected, in the manner described, during sudden changes of season, from warm or mild to cold weather, I do not at all over-estimate the danger. It takes ^ome time for the body affected by alcohol to re- gain its natural warmth. Under very favorable conditions it may become warm again to the proper standard in two hours. Under less favoring conditions three hours may be wanted, and a longer period still in case the person affected be exposed to severe cold, imperfect supply of food, or fatigue, all of which occurrences often happen in combination. Many a man who has been busy all day and has not had a really good meal of hot or nutritious food, rushes off when his day's work is done to some inn or house, a long way from his Animal Lifk Undku Au'ofiol. 03 own liotiH', to join a few convivial friends, and, as In; says, to make hinisolf inoi ly. Ho sits in a warm room ; ho rolaxos his blood-vessels with somo stiong drink ; ho smoktis iiis pipe ; he laughs and talks, and j)erhaps sings, until he is tired ; and then, exhausted in this manner, without being nioio than elated, not tipsy at all nor anything like it, ho staits otl' homo through the cold air. In a few minutes the cold snatches from him his warmth so fast he feels as if ho had taken too much drink ; he almost reels. He gets home w(Nik, excessively cold, shiver- ing, and perhaps bedewed all over his body with moisture from his own perspiration, condensed like dew on his chiih^d body. Next ;norning he is feeble for his work, at the best, and it is fortunate if he is not laid up with cold at the chest or with rheumatism. Who can wonder at it? :ii^ QiccMlons on Lesson XXVII. 1. How iiiiiny more stages of alcoholic action are there after the first stage of excitement ? 2. How does the warmth of the body change in the second stage ? 3. What sensations are felt in tlu; second stage ? 4. What length of time is required for the body to come back to its natural state from the second stage ? 5. How do men endanger themselves during the second stage of alcoliolic action ? 6. What diseases are specially apt to occur from this exposure to danger 'i LESSON XXVIII. ANIMAL LITE UNDER AL0OHOL.-TBE THIRD STAGE. A MAN who has partaken freely of strong drink, but has not taken enough to make him intoxicated, may recover from that second stage of alcoholic influence without showing any signs of sufTeiing beyond what were described in the last lesson. If, however, he should imbibe sufficient to affect him to intoxica- tion, a third stage of action is reached, and is very serious. In I 64 Public School Tempf;ranoe. this stage the groat vital organs of the hody, the brain, the lungs, the liver, tlie kidneys, are all too full of blood, and in the most unlit condition for tlio pcrfoiniance of thoir work. The nervous system, through which all the acts of the body are directed — the movements of the body, the thinking, and, in fact, all the v/oiking powers is specially deranged. The brain is obscured, and the nKne animal or passionate nature of the man is allowed full play, uncontrolled by the reason and judgment. Men, therefore, in this stage are seen in their most ridiculous tempers. Some inen are horribly passionate, violent, and cruel ; others are silly and talkative, telling sometimes things of thehiselves they ought to be ashamed to hear, and of which it would be prudent for them not to speak ; or laughing insanely at sayings which are not clever ; or boasting, or utter- ing untruths ; or crying and bewailing, as trials too hard to be borne, commonplace griefs which sober men would think it a waste of tinie to name. During this third stage of alcoholic influence the man is unsteady in his movements ; he cannot direct his muscles as he would ; he cannot put his hands stead- ily on the things he wishes to reach, and when he tries to walk his gait is infirm or reeling. At this time he is indeed a mere wreck of a man in mind and in body — an object of pity and often of i idicule. He is so weak that a child, if it had the courage, could topple him over ; and he is so childish that clever, cunning knaves can impose on him. What is worse than all, he is, for the moment, in a state of disease throughout the whole of his vital organs. These organs may recover sufficiently, and do recover so far as to re- ceive, at first, no very evident harm ; but, in truth, from the first some little harm is done, anf^ if| + lie evil has been in- ii't ,o severe tluy are never en- .iM)d-vesse' are subjected to elasticity, id the blood circu- flicted a few times the result tirely recovered from, extreme strain, they lose t lates throuiih thorn with du. ilty •lud with irregular motion. In the third stage of the action of alcohol the motion of the heart begins to get feeble, and the heat of the body soon be- comes greatly reduced. The thermometer will now sometimes indicate that the animal warmth is reduced as many as one, or one and a half degrees Fahrenheit. But now and then in this stage there is a short rise of temperature, if the drinkr , feeling his exhaustion to be great, is induced, as he too t .ten is in- Animal Ltfr TTvpkr Ar.roTioL. 65 (luced, to take anotlier extra ghissi of stimulant, iii order to sustain, as l>o foolislily supposes, liis fuiliiiij powers. In the end, in the coniinon run of cases, the third Rtap;o of alcoholic action, marked as it is hy c(»l(lness of body, weakness of body, weakness of mind, and uncertainty of movement, ends in listlessness or sleep, during which recovery fiom all the injuries that liavo been inllieted is exceedingly slow. The warmth of the body does not return in its full - served in this stage ? 5. What diseases are often started from this stage of the action of alcohol on the body ? 6. How long a time is required for the complete restoration of the warmth of the body to the natural standard from this stage' I / i LESSON XXX. THE STAGES OP AOTION OF ALCOHOL. The four stages of action wrought on the body by alcohol are now fully before us. It is well to observe that during every one of these stages something has happened to the body which is not in the order of Nature. The flush and increased warmth, or rather the sense of warmth, in the first stage is not natural, for it partakes for the monjent of the character of a fever. The excitement of the mind during the same stage is not natural ; it is exhaustive of the bodily powers, and exhaus- tive in most instances for no useful purpose whatever. The chilliness and slight depression of the second stage is not natural. It shows that the body has been exhausted, and that now it is tired, as if it had been subjected to some extreme |)hysical strain, which in truth it has. The want of perfect control over words and thoughts in this stage is not natural, for it shows the mind to be exhausted as well as the body. The deficiency of muscular control of the limbs, the reeling gait, the thick speech, the confused thoughts, and the passion of the third stage of alcohol, are all signs indicating a diseased, as distinct from a healthy, state of body. The coldness of the body during the same stage cannot be natural ; and the weak- ness and wandering of the mind must of necessity be considered as showing the most serious derangement of the mental func- tions and powers. The last stage of all, the stage just short of death, the fourth stage of the action of alcohol is clearly not only unnat- ural, but a stage of dreadful disorder and of danger. It is clear, surely, to the simplest mind, to the mind of the youngest child who can read this book, that a person who is lying down unable to move naturally, unable to hear plainly, unable to see correctly, unable to speak distinctly, and unable to do any thing more than breathe and live — it is clear, I repeat, to the simplest mind that a person so placed must be in a state of danger and disease as bad as any that could be caused by those 68 The Stages of Action of Alcohol. 69 accidents which we all shrink from, accidents that wound, and stun, and kill. If we look at the whole course of the action of alcohol from the first stage to the last, we can see no good whatever that is supplied by it. Every step that seems harmless is, at best, nonsensical ; and every step that seems to be hurtful, is hurt- ful beyond anything that I can explain in this little work. But some people who have not thought carefully on this subject say, and argue very keenly while they are saying it, that strong drink does good when it puts people in good spirits, and makes them feel warm and comfortable. They admit that when the drinkirig is carried on to do move than cheer up or exhilarate, and make the body feel warm, it is a very injurious thing indeed. They admit that when the strong drink makes the limbs unsteady, the memory confused, the thoughts hazy, and the body cold, it does a great deal of harm for which they, even they, are exceedingly sorry. They admit all these facts, but they hold that drink must do good when it cheers and warms. To reduce their argument to .a very plain matter of fact, they contend that alcohol does no harm so long as its action is confined to the production of the symptoms of the first stage of its action. We have seen, however, that this first stage is really a stage of reduced power ; that the warmth or glow which is felt, instead of being a real supply of warmth to the body, is a di-engagement or giving ofi' of heat from the body ; that the cheeriness which is felt is not due to any in- creased strength of the body or mind, but to the quicker motion of the blood and to the actual rapid waste of the powers of the body and of the structures of the brain, through which those powers are displayed. Thus the defence of alcohol has for its foundation the argu- ment that it is good to seek temporary gratification from an agent which, by its action in this very direction, leads to evil and even fatal consecjuences. !! Questions on Lesson XXX. 1. In what respects are the first and second stages of alcoholic action hurtful ? 2. 1 n what respects are the third and fourth stages unnatural and hurtful ? 70 Public School Temperance. 3. Why, during every part of these stages, is some liarm being done to the body ? 4. Wliat arguments are used to prove that alcohol is useful iii some of these stages ? 5. In which stage is it lield to be useful ? 6. What evidences tell against this argument? LESSON XXXI. ALCOHOL AND COLD. It will be gnessed, from what has been said respecting the action of alcohol in setting free the heat of the living body from the surfaces of the body, that, in fact, the glow felt indi- cates the loss of heat, and means a process of cooling instead of warming of the body as a whole. This view is quite true, and it accords with and reasonably explains all that is known of the after-effects of alcohol. It explains clearly why men who are exposed to extreme cold suffer so severely from taking alcohol. These men feel for a few moments warmed by the spirit ; they feel a glow, which lasts for a short time and is very pleasant ; but soon the keen cold air seizes their warmth, and snatches the pleasant glow away. As nothing has been supplied by the alcohol to keep up the supply of heat, the vital energy is rapidly exhausted, and the exhaustion from cold be- comes extreme, sometimes fatal. In my inquiries I put to the test the action of cold with and without alcohol, on the same kinds of animals under precisely the same conditions. I found, thereupon, that if two animals of the same kind were let sleep in a very cold atmos- phere, with no other difference between them than that one went to sleep under the influence of alcohol and the other free from that influence, the one under the alcohol would sleep not to wake again, while the other would wake from its sleep in the natural way at the natural time. Precisely the same fact has been observed in man, but until the reasons of it were made clear by the results of experimental inquiry, they were not understood as they now are. Alcohol and Cold. 71 The facts we liave now learned teach us that alcohol, in- stead of keeping out the cold, allows the cold to rob the body of its heat. This is important knowledge, because it corrects aa error which, I am bound to say, had an easy origin and a very plausible support. It was quite easy for a man to say that a something wJiich made him feel warm for a few moments warmed him ; and it iras not so easy or natural for him to de- tect that the after-excess of cold was due to that wliich he felt to be a warming agency. I hope we have at last got to under- stand the error, and the delusive argument on iduch it has so long rested. The facts have yet another meaning, which deserves to be understood. There have been some persons who have tf ught that alcohol burns in the human body as if it were fuel, a; ; if it burned in the body as it does in a lamp, giving out heat, in a form of slow burning. Tliere is no doubt that the heat of the body is maintained by the combustion of substances which are capable of slow combustion, or eremacausiSf as the late Baron Liebig, the great chemist of this century, called the process. There is no doubt that the substances which we take as food for the purpose of being burned in the body, such substances as sugars and fats, are of the same elementary form for com- bustion as alcohol, that is to say, are bodies containing hydro- gen and carbon as their chief elements. It was not unreason- able, therefore, to conclude that alcohol would play the same part in the body, and should be ranked aa a fuel food. That it does not play this part is, however, shown by the facts I have described. The value of a true fuel food is shown by its efficiency in keeping up the animal warmth, just as the value of a true fuel out of the body is shown by its efficiency in keeping up the heat of the fire. If alcohol, therefore, were a true fuel food, it would enable the body to resist cold instead of making it colder ; and in the extreme degrees of cold it would go on burning like other fuel foods, and would maintain, instead of helping to destroy, life. But as alcohol cheeks the production of animal heat, so the mischiefs produced by it on the body are greatly increased by cold. Alcohol and cold go h.and in hand in their action. The worst iuHuences of alcohol on man are, therefore, observed when the weather is intensely cold. All great consumeis of alcohol are chillier during the winter months than are those 1 ' i w 72 Public School Temperance. who abstain, anrl as they who drink alcohol constantly labor under the delusion that if they are cold they must take wine, spirit or ale to keep them warm, they make matters still worse by actually going to their enemy for relief. Questions on Lesson XXXI. 1 . What does the external rise of animal Avarmth which is found after the taking of alcohol indicate ? 2. Why do men who arc exposed to cold after taking alcohol feel it so much more intensely ? 3. Wliat facts prove that alcohol assists cold in enfeebling or destroy- ing life ? 4. Why has alcohol been supposed to act as a food useful for the support of animal heat ? 5. In what respect does it resemble foods that act as fuel foods ? 6. How do the facts relating to the action of alcohol refute the view that alcohol is a fuel food ? 7. How do alcohol and cold act in relation to each other ? 8. What grand mistake do such persons make in trying to obtain warnitli ? 0. In cold weather, what is the effect on the body of moderate quan- tities of alcoholic drinks ? LESSON XXXIJ. THE HEART UNDER ALCOHOL. WnKjf the hand is placed on the chest to the left side, "over the heart," as we are wont to say, we feel the boating of the heart. When we place .a finger on the wrist we feel a beat which we call a pulse, and if we put the finger in the same way on the side of the throat, under the collar-bone, on the temples, or on many other parts of the body, we feel there a similar beat which we also call a pulse. If the beat of the heart and the beat of the pulse be counted at the same time, it will be found that they go together, stroke by stroke ; and the reason of this is that the beat of the pulse is caused by i The Heart Under Alcohol. 73 the passage of blood through a blood-vessel, an artery, which proceeds from the heart, and wliich is tilled with blood by the stroke of the heart. The heart, by its motion, pumps the blood all over tlie body through the arteries : the arteries are elastic tubes, and each puuiping-stroke of the heart gives an impulse felt in the artery : this is the pulse. In a grown-up man the heart beats, and the stroke of the heart and of each pulse-beat is felt, seveuty-tliroe times in a minute. This may be taken as a fair average of tlie number of strokes during the whole space of the waking hours. Seventy -three strokes a minute represents 4,380 strokes an hour, and 105,120 strokes in the twenty-four hours. But the heart beats slower when the body is lying down, and a little slower when it is sitting than when it is standing ; and we may fairly take otf 5,120 strokes, and say tliat the number of beats of the heart each twenty-four hours is 100,000. By the work that is done in this way, over five thousand ounces of blood are pumped over the body by the heart in twenty- four hours. The value of this work is represented by saying that a weight of over 115 tons has been raised one foot. We have thus before us the natural work performed by the heart of a healthy, full-grown man, under natural circum- stances of food and labor, and without the interference of an alcoholic stimulant. Suppose, however, we make an interfei- ence by allowing the man to take into his blood some measure of alcohol, what then would happen ? Suppose one could see the pulse of the man beating when it is doing its natural work just as we can see the seconds-hand of a clock or watch making its usual round per minute ; and suppose again that, while watching, the alcohol could be brought into play. What then should we see ? We should see many small changes of motions if we looked very closely and learnedly, but of these changes I need not stop to write. That which would strike us most would be : first, the fact that the beats of tlie heart became ever so much quicker than they were during the natural state ; and second- ly, the further fact that the rapidity of the beats increased with the quantity of the alcohol that was swallowed. If the quantity of alcohol taken were four fluid ounces in tlie twenty- four hours, the number of beats of the heart would be in- creased, in that time, from 100,000 ta 112,220. That is to mm. I 74 Public School Temperance. say : 12,226 extra beats would be delivered in the time named, OP a little over 509 extra strokes an hour, or very nearly eight and a half strokes per minute, beyond the natural number. If the quantity of alcohol taken were six ounces by measure in the twenty-four hours, the number of beats of the heart would be increased in that time from 100,000 to a little over 117,388. That is to say : 17,388 beats would be delivered in the twenty-four hours, or 724 extra strokes per hour, or 12 per minute, beyond tlie natural number. If the quantity of alcohol taken were eight fluid ounces in the twenty-four hours, the number of beats would be in- creased in that time from 100,000 to 124,045 extra. That is to say : 24,045 beats would be delivered in the twenty-four hours, or over 1,000 beats per hour, or nearly 17 per minute beyond what is natural. Questions on Lesson XXXII. 1. What is the cause of the beat of the pulse ? 2. In a healthy man, how many beats of the heart and pulse are felt per minute ? 3. What is the number of the beats of the heart and pulse in twen- ty-four hours ? 4. How many extra beats of the heart follow the taking of four fluid ounces of alcohol ? 5. What extra number of beats follow the taking of six ounces ? 6. What extra number of beats follow the taking of eight ounces ? LESSON XXXTTT. HEART-WORK UNDER ALCOHOL. It will be said by some wlio, in spite of all arguments against the use of strong drink, like it still, and defend its use ; it will be said by some of these tliat to take the quantity of alcohol named in the last lesson is to take too large a quan- tity. They will insist that if smaller or, as they would express it, modeiate quantities be taken, no harm will result, and that the boat of the heart will not be too severely increased. It will be good for us to consider this point for a moment, because it never is wise to let an opponent go without a proper answer, and it is always wise, when, an opponent gives a fair argument, to be ready to answer him thoughtfully from the best, most correct, and simplest evidence. Here then is an answer to the argument now before us. We will suppose a very moderate drinker indeed. We will suppose a man or woman who takes throe half-pints of ale a (lay : he or she would, as a working man or woman, be called a very temperate, sober person. We will suppose a man or woman who can afford to take wine instead of beer, and who lakes two wine-glassfuls of such a wine as sherry at luncheon, and three at dinner: he or she would certainly be called ex- tremely temperate. We will suppose another person who takes spirits instead of wine or beer, and who indulges in a wine-glassful of, say, whiskey mixed with water at luncheon, and the same at dinner, and with one glass more with water in the wn" of what is said to be a " night-cap" before going to bed. buch persons would pass in the world as most moderate and temperate in respect to drink. In fact all these people, beer-drinkers, wine-drinkers, spirit-drinkers, would in circles of alcohol-drinkers be considered exemplary, or perhaps would be notorious as persons who could not be induced to take as much as would do them harm. Let us see the results. When we calculate up the amount of alcohol which these very mode- rate people have ssvallowed in the twenty-four hours, we find 75 76 Public School Tkmphhance, thnt it amounts to two ounces of alcoliol at least in each case. Two ounces of alcoliol will, I lind, raise the beats of the heart to 6,000 extra beats in the twenty -four hours, which means an amount of work re|)i('sented by the act of lifting a weight of seven tons one foot high. Now let us see further what this means. One ton divided into ounces would give 35,840 ounces; so that the work done is really represented by the process of lifting a s<'ven-ounce weight 35,840 times the height of one foot each time. Imagine that some one was obliged in twenty-four hours to lift so liglit a thing as a seven- ounce wciight with one liand from a table, and put the weight upon a shelf one foot higher than tlie table. It looks a very little thing to do, and it is a very little thing to do a few hun- dred times, but if it has to be done o5,840 times in twenty- four hours, or 1,493 times an hour, the labor would be so great that the hand would fail in a few hours altogether. If in writing two or three hours, the inkstand be placed one foot above the table, the mere matter of raising the pen that one foot three or four times a minute becomes too fatiguing to be borne. How then iiuist the heart be wearied when it is driven to the extra and unnecessary work of lifting seven ounces one foot high 1,493 times an hour. If a man were obliged to drive his heart to perform so much labor by running or other severe work, he would think his fate hard indeed, he would say it was like work- ing at the treadmill or other similar laborious task, but lie would not be more wearied, and he would not be so much injured. Qtoestloiif^ on Lesson XXXIII. 1. What argument is used by some persons who are hi favor of alcoliol to express that alcohol need not do injury to the heart ? *2. How is this argument best met and disproved ? .S. Wliat quantities of different drinks are supposed by most people to he moderate allowances ? 4. State the amount of alcohol that is conveyed into the body in what are hold to be moderate allowances of alcoholic drinks ? 5. What amount of extra work woixld such assumed moderate al- lowances of alcohol put upon the heart 'I 6. How would you illusti'ate that this would be a large excess of work for the heart to perform ? LESSON XXXIV. ALCOHOLIC FATIGUE. Tfie reason w])y those who arc habituntod to the use of alcohol l)('li(!vo that moderate quantities of it iidlict no harm is, tliat they do not chiarly know wliat it is to bo free from its influence, A man who never indulges in alcohol has quite a diti'erent experience if, by accident, or for sake of the experi- ment, ho partakes even of one fluid ounce of alcohol. I have seen the etlect of this quantity on a youth who was not accustomed to take any alcoliol at all, and on him the clt'ect was extremely w(;U marked. In a few minutes his faco hecaino very red, his pulse rose fifteen beats in the minute, his Utm- pcuatuie rose half a degree Fahrenheit, and ho complained that he felt a sharp throbbing in his head and a strange fulness. In twenty minutes these symptoms began to pass away, and in an hour they were all gone; l)ut now his temperature f(!ll nearly half a degree below the standard, and did not return to the natural state until after a light meal, twoliours later. Similar phenomena may also be seen in the inferior animals which are unaccustomed to the taking of alcohol when they are sub- jected to proportionately small doses. In like manner a man who is very temperate, but who takes alcohol, feels most distinctly the effect of even a slight excess. Such a man, if he be tempted to move from the single glass of mild dinner ale a day to take a glass or two of wine when he goes out to dinner, or to take a single glass of grog at night, is conscious of the evil influence the next day. He says, if he speaks truly, that he was rather excited by the drink; and he says, when the stage of depression comes on, that he feels "all-overish, depressed, rather chilly, and not up to the mark." He is tired, and he thinks he should be none the worse if he took an extra glass of ale to set him right. In nine cases out of ten he does take this extra glass of ale; it does set him what he calls right, and finding how easy a thing it is to get over a slight excess, the next time he is tempted lie ventures a little further. So the habit of taking too much begins in taking 78 PuuMO ScriooL Tkmpkhavce. just a littlo, wliilo biuiii,' indc'd very t(5iiip{!nito, and wliilo keeping in fiisliioii witli other folks. This ia thc^ l)('<,Mniuiig of wuo. If men could liavo boon kept S()l)(;r by ptacti^inij tcinpcranco the tight against iutcin- poraiioo would luivcf havcj had to Jm5 fought, such books as this 1 am now writing would ucviu* havo had to bo writtcui, and such a fact as drunk(!nnoss would bo lookcul on as a raro calamity. For lot it bo most solemnly impressed on tho mind that the depression which tho t(Mnpeiato man felt, becauso in an hour of wtniknos.s or folly \in took on(^ extra glass, was duo to the failure of his luiart. That haid workinl organ, which in sleeping ajid waking knows no rest, had been overworked. Probably at the close of a day of hard work, when tho heart wanted the body, which it had fed all tho day thiough, to lie down autl rest, with tlu^ ])lood running on the easy level plane, probably, at that critical time, the owner of the body kept him- self up unusually late, and at the same moment, by the alcohol he took, whipped on tho wearied lieart to beat some five or six thousand extra strokes, and to lift six or seven extra tonsweight. Is it wonderful that the heart should get weary, and should tell its tale of weariness to tho whole body, and crave for more rest the next day ^ I think not. If other causes of weariness, if having to walk for half the night, or race, or row, or lift weights, or ring bells, or any other excess of woik wearied the heart, no one would wonder, or want to do anything more than lie down and rest. But when alcohol does this wrong, the fatal remedy tried is more alcohol. Qucstionfi on Lesson XXXIY. 1. Why do people who indulge m alcohol so often fail to reeognize its bad efiects ? 2. What effects are produced by a small quantity of alcohol on those who have never taken it ? 3. What sensation does the temperate man feel if he slightly exceed his usual quantity of alcohol ? 4. How do persons who take alcohol try to remedy the mischief that has been induced by it, and to wliat danger does the phm lead ? 5. Why is so-called temperance without abstinence an insufficient safeguard against danger of excess ? 6. What vital organ of the body fails first in power after indulgence in strong drink ? LESSON XXXV. ALCOHOL AND MUSCULAR STKENGTH. The efTocts produecHl on tho heart by alcohol nro not con- fined to tho weariness which is at onco caused. Tho heart it- self is very soon deranged and eiiftMsbled for its woik, if alcohol be long taken as drink. The heart is a muscle, and it moves by the same nutans as otlnu* muscles do in order to carry out its duties of driving tho blood all ov(t tho body. It may be well, therefore, to tou(^h on the subject of the action of alcohol on the muscles generally, us well as on the heart, which is also a muscle. Tho muscles f-f the body are those masses of flesh which cover tho bfjnes of tho limbs and trunk of tho body, and which are enclosed within t!io covering called tho skin. They are like little engines, and by them tho body is movi^d, and the limbs are moved. Jf yn\ feel the fore part of your arm above the elbow while the aim is straight out, the muscle is felt to be relaxed and quiet. If you bend your arm on tiie elbow- joint, the muscle is felt to be round, and prominent, and lirm. The muscle lias contracted, and, in the act of contraction, has lifted the liand and arm upwards. The Iiearb is a hollow muscle made up of four muscular cavities, and when the walls of these cavities contract, they propel the blood onwards. The muscles are made to contract under what is calhid the stimulus derived from the nerves. In some instances the muscles re- ceive the stimulus to act from the will. In other instances the stimulus is supplied without the will. That muscle which moved the arm is under the control of the will. The heart is not under the control of the will ; if it were, we might sometimes, when we are very busy or anxious, forget that the heart had to be kept moving, and then it would stop, and we should faint or die. Such are some facts about the muscles of the body. I could tell many more, but these are sufficient for my proper subject — the action of alcohol upon the muscles. 79 I i ''• ! I \l If. 1? 80 Public School Temperance. ! i! I I Alcohol tlien acts on these muscular engines in a special manner. It is often tiiought that wine, and beer, and spirits give strength to a man, that they make the muscles contract with more force, and sustain the action. I have put this matter to the test by means of experiment, and I have found that the idea of alcohol giving fore and activity to tne muscles is entirely false. I found that alcohol weakens the muscular contraction, and lessens the time during which the contraction can continue active. Ii\ llie liist stage of the influence of alcohol, enfeeblement of muscular power commences, and it continues intathe other stages with incrc^asing effect, until in the third and fourth stages it is lost c/anost altogether. This is one of the reasons why the man who is suffering from much al"ohol is so utterly prosti-ate and helpless. It has been found also by other obs(MVtM-s that men who have a great deal of work to perform of a muscular kind, men who liave to march as soldiers, to walk long distances against time;, or to row with great force and rapidity — as boat civ^ws do— that all such men carry out their work much better when they avoid every drink contain- ing alcohol. If tM'o men of equal age, skill, and build wer-^ to contend in a feat of strength, and one of them indulged in alcohol and the other did not, the chances of success would be all on the side of the abstainer, other things being equal. Through every muscle of the alcohol-drinker that would be called into action by the contest, the bad influence of the alcohol would be felt, but through none so much as the great central muscle on which all the rest depend — the heart. Questions on Lesson XXXV. 1. What is the heart as a living structure of the hody ? 9,. What are the two classes of iimscles of the body, and what are their duties ? 3. From whence is the stimulus which excites the muscles to contract derived ? 4. What is the common idea as to the value of alcohol for giving strength to the muscles ? 6. Is this idea founded on any known fact, and is it true or untrue ? 6. What is the actual effect of alcohol on muscular power ? Give some proofs of its action in this respect. LESSON XXXVI. ALCOHOL AND THE SMALL BLOOD-VESSELS. Connected witli the influence of alcohol on the iruscular system, we have to consider its action on the minute blood- vessels of the body. I have stated that with each stroke of the heart the red arterial blood is driven through the tubes called arteries all over the body, in order that it may nourisii the body in every structure of it, and be the means of permit- ting the body to be supplied with its vital warmth. These vessels or arteries which convey the blood are at first large tubes, but they soon commence to divide into smaller tubes, and at last they divide into very minute tubes indeed, which are invisible to the naked eye, and are spread out like a fine hair-like network through tlie ditlerent organs which compose the body. Fine as these tubes are, they let the blood pass through them ; but they do not let it pass in such a manner as to be under no control. Fine as they are, they retain the power of contracting on the blood, and of precisely regulating the due supply of blood that shall go to every pait. The regulating control of these small arterial vessels is not under our will, but under the involuntary nervous stimulus ; and anj'thing that greatly affects the nervous system interferes with the regulation. When some impression is made directly on the nervous system, or indirectly on the vessels by a mental process — as wiien something is said to a person wliich makes him feel ashamed or timid — the shock may cause the Iktle vessels in tlie cheek to lose for a moment tiioir nervous stimulus, and the cheek then becomes crimson, because tlif (-ontiol of the vessels being lessened, the lie.ut pumps a little more r«'d blood into tiie vessels, and the crimson flush is produced. When the surface of the body is exposed to cold, the little vessels become weakened by the cold ; and when the pressiu-e caused by the cold is removed, the heart throws more blood into the vessels, and the tingling Siuise and redness which follows indi- cates the weakness that has been caused. 81 feT'-S 82 Public School Tempeuance. If the nervous shock or tlie cold be extreme, the vessels may lose all power of resistance, and the effect may extend to the heart itself, so that the circulating machinery, through its whole length, is weakened. Then the surface of the body be- comes intensely pale, and all the body is for the time enfeebled. We say the person so afFected, as from fright or passion, is pale or white with fear or rage, and we notice how feeble he is ; it is remarked of him that he might be knocked down with a straw. Or we say, if a man is brouglit to the same state by cold, that he is stricken by cold, and looks like death. These are tlie effects of nervous shocks and exposures to cold ; but the same effects may be produced by otJier means. Some substances taken into tlie body by the mouth produce just the same results. They weaken, or to speak techni- cally, paralyze the controlling blood-vessels. Many agents do this, but not one more potently than alcohol The grand phy- sical action of ilcohol on the body is that fing under proper regulation. If wo take the pendulum from the clock, we know what happens ; the clock begins rapiflly to run down, because the main-spring which suppliefl the clock with motion is left to exhaust itst^lf without check. It is just tlie same with the heart when tlie regulating check is removed. During the first stage of alcoholic influence, it will be re- membered that the body fetVIs warmer than natural. It does so because the minute vessels on the surface are charged with a more than natural amount of warm blood, and from tliat there is a greater giving off or radiation of Iieat, and so there is felt the glow and sense of warmth, as if more heat were being produced. It is really not so; more heat is being lost than is natural, but no more is being pioduced. In this stage, indeed, the body is really cooling, and the coldness in the after-stages is due in part to the loss that is occurring in the first stage. During this fii'st stage IIk; mind is o\(M;cdingly active. It is so becaus(Miow a very fr(^c and unnatural voluni(M)f blood is passing through the bi'ain. The V(.'ssels of the brain ai-e weakened or I't-laxed just as arc the vesst^ls of the skin, and so the brain is excited to action, and for .a time is very busy, 83 84 Public Scuool Tempehance, I If you watch the company tliat makes up a large dinner- party at which the wine passes freely, you see that at first the persons at the table are all quiet and sedate, and that their faces are of a natural fresh color. But as the wine goes round and round, there is soon a change both to sight and hearing. The faces of the company become beaming and red, their eyes are very bright, and the motions of tlieir hands and features are rapid compared with what they were at the ^'•-st sitting down. The quiet, subdued conversation changes into quite a loud noise : the voices are louder and sliarper, and the words quicker and quicker in delivery. Wiiat was a smile a few minutes ago becomes a laugh, probably a loud Laugh, and so all goes on until there is a perfect din and clamour. It is now that the table is said to be in a roar. There is presented here on a large scale the first stage of the action of alcohol. Everything that alcoliol can bv any means do usefully for the world is seen in this stage. This is its summum bonum or chief good. It was to enliven the feast after this fashion that wine first became fashionable in the history of man. The ancients rarely used wine for any other purpose than the one now specified. To make the heart beat quicker, to make voices that were silent noisy, to make minds that were dull communicative, to make mirth flow freely, to enliven the countenance, to pro- voke laughter on very small provocation — these were the reasons for wine in primitive times. The reasons suggest wine as a luxury, but such a luxury, unfortunately, as the richest man cannot afibrd to enjoy. Questions on Lessons XXXVIL 1. Ill what state are the minute blood vessels which regulate the distribution of blood during the first stage of alcoholic action ? 2. Why does the heart beat so quickly under this stat j ? 3. Why does the body feel warmer than is natural under this state? 4. Why is the mind so much more active under this state? 5. What are the plienomena of the effects of %vine daring the first stage as they are seen at table whiti wine is taken freely ? G. What view as to the primitive uses of wine do these phenomena suggest ? It^~ LESSON XXXVIII. 1 - STIMULATION AND DEPRESSION. The men of a past time called alcohol a stimulant, for which they are not to be blamed. They were quite correct in calling it so if tlie word be rightly understood. If it be meant by the term stimulant, that a stimulant is something which provokes action in a living body without supplying anything to fill up the expenditure of matter and force that is caused by the action, then alcohol is a stimulant. Just in the same way a blister is a stimulant to the part where it is applied, and a whip is a stimulant when it is used to make an animal mov«} more quickly, and snuff is a stimulant when it makes one sneeze. Therf* are some stimulants which are much stronger than alcohol, but however strong they may be they give no strength to the body, they only excite it to action, and to wear out more quickly. Therefci e, during all the first stage of excitement from alco- hol, when the heart is going so fast, when tiie breathing is so fast, whon the mind is so active and readily moved, there is progressing, in fact, the most extensive and costly waste of bodily substance and power. Life is going on at express rate of motion ; all the ghmds of the body, by which the waste pro- ducts are carried away, are being taxed to their utuiost ; the heat of th(^ body is passing off more rapidly than is natural ; the muscular movements are being carried out at the wasteful expense of animal power ; and the mental over-activity is a last, and, of all the rest, a most severe process of exhaustion. These combined losses leave the body much fatigued, even when the process of alcoholic excitement is stopped at the first stage. Wlien it is not stopped at the first stasia, when under the hope of keeping up the excitenxMit the stimulant is per- sisted in, the relaxation of the second, third, and, in extreme cases, the fourth stage is developed. In thfse stages, as wf* already know, the skin is cold, tiie muscles are relaxed, the Jieart is feeble, the mind feeble or ex- citable, tiie whole body deranged and exhausted. 85 86 Public School Tp:mperance. i I Every excitement is followed by exhaustion and need for rest, that the exhaustion may pass away. When a man receives a severe shock from a blow or from some great mental fright or alarm, he may be paralyzed at once to the heart itself, and may fall faint, cold, and lifeless, or all but lifeless, to the earth. If he take, too rapidly, a large dose of alcohol he may fall in the same way. The lirst, second, and third stages of alcoholic action may be passed over, and he may fall prostrate and insensible at once. In short, in whatever way alcohol acts on the body, whether it acts slowly and by successive stages, or rapidly, so as to produce all its evil action in one sharp charge, it acts as a reducer of the powers of life. Never let this lesson be for- gotten in thinking of the effects of strong drink, that the drink is strong 07ili/ to destroy ; that it never by any possibility adds strength to those who take it, and that to resort to it for the sake of getting strength from it is like seeking for strength in exhausting and tiring exercises. • Alcohol, like tiiese exercises, produces weariness, but the weariness is worse than that from any kind of labor. Good, muscular exercise quickens the motion of the blood and causes muscular exertion for a useful end. It enables the body to throw off its worn-out matter, and it invokes a good appetite for food, out of which new matter is introduced into the body to take the place of the old and used-up substances that have already played their part. But alcohol does not act like exer- cise in these respects, it excites to waste, leads the body at the same time with its bad self, checks the proper excretion of waste products, reduces the appetite, and impairs digestion. Questions on Lesson XXXVIII. 1. What is tiic true inoaiung of a stimulant, and why is the term correctly applied to alcohol ? 2. When alcohol is acting as a stimulant to the hotly, what harm is it doing 'i 3. What may be the immediate effect of taking a large (luantity of alcohol ? 4. \vliat is the rjoondary action of all stimulants on the body ? 5. What is the effect of moderate muscular exercise on the body ? 6. Why is alcohol, wliich ([uickens action, Inu'tful, while exercise, which does the same, is useful ? IHtM mttm LESSON XXXIX. a ALOOHOL AS A POISON. Throuoii the influence exerted by alcohol on the minute blood-vessels which regulate the supply of blood to the diflerent organs of the body, all the most vital and important organs are subjected to disease after its long-continued action. The features of those who indulge in strong drink exhibit the evi- dences of the evil committed by this subtle foe. The vessels, over and over again distended with blood, show at last the fact of such distention in those dark red, or all but blue, discolor- ations of the face, which are so often seen in the hard drinker. These signs are but external proofs of deeper injuries of a similar kind. The vessels of the brain, the vessels of the lungs, the vessels of the heart, the vessels of the liver, the ves- sels of the kidneys, the vessels of the stomach, are likely to be in the same condition. The vessels generally are so weakened, they can bear very little pressure, and sometimes they give way,let out blood into the organs to wliich they belong, and endanger, suddenly, the life of their owner. Through these vessels the blood circulates more slowly than is natural, and so, under an extra cause of depression, the organs which are sup- plied by them become diseased and dangerously damaged. For these reasons, hard drinkers die in great numbers from congestion of the lungs during cold weather. The cold adds to the weakness of the vessels, and their failure is thereby made more complete. Again, in very hot weather, when under the heat the heart beats with greater rapidity and power, the weak vessels are apt to give way, with a not uncommon result of inmiediate death. Very often when it is said that people are killed by sunstroke, this is the mode of death. Some of the vessels of the brain within the cavity of the skull have become relaxed and weakened from alcoiiol, and during the intense lieat, partly from the over-action of the heart, and partly from the expansion of the blood by the heat, the vessels have giv«n way in the brain, and death has instantly occurred. Or, if cte- 87 ) ■ 88 PuHLic School Tumpeuance. in layed for a short time, death has taken place after a seizure of what is called stroke or apoplexy. These are the results of a dangerous kind which come on in persons whose vessels are weakened by the usa of drinks con- taining alcohol. Thoy are not all the evils that follow from the same cause ; nay, they are a small part of them. In all who are accustomed to take alcohol to a degree sufficient for them to feel an effect from it, some one or other of the organs of the body are sure to suffer from slowly-developed disease. The thin membranes in which the internal organs are enveloped become thickened and lose their elasticity ; the structures of the organs themselves are made to undergo changes which ren- der them unfit for their duties, and, to use a very homely but strictly correct phrase, the organs get to be old and worn-out before their time. Sometimes it is the heart that becomes weakened, relaxed, and unfit for its work : sometimes the lungs are rendered liable to a peculiar form of consumption ; some- times the liver becomes hard, shrunken, and so irregular in appearance that it looks " hob-nailed " on its surface ; some- times the brain becomes too firm in portions of its structure, or softened, or obstructed in its circulation ; sometimes the kidneys undergo fatty or other changes which cause disease ; sometimes the stomach becomes too weak to digest food. From one or more of these diseased changes death takes place. Questions on Lesson XXXIX. 1. What are the effects of long-continued disturbance from alcohol on the minute blood-vessels ? 2. What are some of the external and visible signs of these effects ? 3. Wliat other changes do the external signs often suggest ? 4. To what special dangers are persons whose vessels liave become weakened by alcohol subjected, in cold weather and in hot weather ? 5. What slow changes are produced in the organs of the body by the drinking of alccjhol ? 6. What great organs of the body are affected by alcohol, and in what manner are they affected '/ ftmtsm LESSON XL. DISEASES OF THE BODY FEOM ALCOHOL. It will easily be understood from the preceding lessons that alcohol is a cause of many diseases amongst those members of the human family who insist on drinking it, instead of trust- ing entirely to water as the natural beverage. Alcohol produces many diseases ; and it constantly hap- pens that persons die of diseases which have their origin solely in the drinking of alcohol, while the cause itself is never for a moment suspected. A man may be considered by his friends and neighbors, as well as by himself, to be a sober and a tem- perate man. He may say quite truthfully that he never was tipsy in the whole course of his life ; and yet it is quite possible that such a man may die of disease caused by the alcohol he has taken, and by no other cause whatever. This is one of the most dreadful evils of alcohol, that it kills insidiously, as if it were doing no harm, or as if it were doing good, while it is de- stroying life. Another great evil of it is, that it assails so many different parts of the body. It hardly seems credible, at first sight, that the same agent can give rise to the many different kinds of diseases it does give rise to. In fact, the universality of its action has blinded even learned men as to its potency for de- struction. Step by step, however, we have now discovered that its modes of action are all very sinple, and are all the same in character ; and that the differences that have been and are seen in different persons under its influence are due mainly to the oi-gans or organ which first give way under it. Thus, if the stomach gives way first, we say that the person has indi- gestion or dyspepsia, or failure of the stomach ; if the brain gives way first, we say the person has paralysis, or apoplexy, or brain disease ; if the liver gives way first, we say the man has liver disease, and so on. Besides the diseases of the organs named there are others 89 90 Public School Temfkuanck. that ar(5 favoi'od by alcohol which aro oxtrcincly i)aiiiful to bear. Oout i.s oiuj of thoso diseases, rhoiunatisin is another. 1 must iiamn oiio other disease s})ecially, because it is so common. I refer to derangement of tiie stomach, or indiges- tion. All persons who indulge much in any form of alcoholic diink, are troubled with indigestion. When they wako in the morn- ing they find their mouth dry, their tongue load(!d, and their appetite bad. In course of time they become conMrmed " dyspeptics," and as many of them iind a temporary relief from the distress at the stomach and the deficient appetite from which they sutt'er by taking more stimulant, they increase the (juan- tity taken and so make matters much worse. They now be- come actually ill from weakness of stomach and imperfect feed- ing ; their breath becomes offensive, and soon the mind is de- pressed and languid. Such persons, in very many instances, fall lower and lower into the vice of drinking heavily. They feel as if they could not live without their fatal master. They tell you it is both food and drink, and in this delusion they per- sist until they are made the victims of deadly disease from its use. i Questions on Lesson XL, 1. What is one of the worst and most deceitful evils arising from the use of alcohol ? 2. What is another of these deceitful evils ? 3. Give some illustrations of the mode in which alcohol produces disease. 4. What organ of the body is most commonly affected by alcohol ? 5. What are the signs of this affection ? 6. What dangers do persons suffering from this affection specially encounter ? to LESSON XLI. DEATH FEOM ALCOHOL. TriKRR are a great number of diseusos caused by alcoliol, soiiu! of which are kuovvii by terms tliat do not convey to th(5 mind what really has been the cause of the diseases. They aie : (a) Diseases of the brain and nervous system: indicated by such names as, apoplexy, epilepsy, paralysis, vertigo, soft- ening of the brain, dfjlirium tremens, dipsomaniii or inordinate! craving for drink, loss of memoiy, and that general failui'e of the mental power, called dementia, (h) Diseases of the lungs: one form of consumption, congestion, and subse(|U(mt bron- chitis, (c) Diseases of the heart : irregular lj(!at, feebleness of the muscular walls, dilatation, disease of the valves, (d) Dis- eases of the blood : scurvy, excess of water or dropsy, separa- tion of iibriue. (e) Diseases of the stomach : feeblen Water. Oxygen ) Alcohol consists of nine atomic parts — two of carbon, six of hydro- gen, and one of oxygen. Thus : The radical Ethyl, C3H5. Ethylic Alcohol CgHgO. Carbon Carbon Hydrogen Hydrogen Hydrogen Hydrogen Hydrogen Hydrogen Oxygen I hope this makes it clear to the mind in what respects alcohol i-e- sembles, and in what respects it differs from, water. Alcohol, it is seen, contains much more combustible matter than water, so it bums in the air. Alcohol is much less simple in its composition than water. Alco- hol contains an element, carbon, which water does not contain. Alco- hol contains more hydrogen than water. The composition of alcohol may be changed by very simple means. If we take a little bit of the metal called sodium, or a little bit of the metal called potassium, and drop either of these bits of metal into pure alcohol, a g«w escapes which burns. That gas is hydrogen. Meanwhile the metal itself dissolves and disappears, but it is not lost. It simply displaces the atom of hydrogen in the alcohol which was combined with Appendix. 107 The radical Ethyl. the oxygen. So now there is formed an alcohol, supposing sodium were the metal added, of the following composition : Carbon Carbon Hydrogen Hydrogen Hydrogen Hydrogen Hydrogen Sodium Oxygen This is called sotlium alcohol, but there is also a potassium alcohol, and some other metallic alcohols, all constructed on a similar plan. Sodium Alcoiiol. Questions on Lesson XLIV. 1. Of what did the early chemists consider spirits of wine or alcohol to be composed ? 2. Of what do we now know alcohol to be composed, tliat is to say, what are its elementary parts ? 3. State the meaning chemically of an element and a radical : in what does a radical resemble, and iu what does it dijQfer from, an ele- ment? 4. State the difference of composition between water and alcohol. 5. By what experiment can one part of the hydrogen of alcohol by removed ? 6. Wliat is the composition of the new substance so produced ? ■iilta LESSON XLV. (Lesson XVII. in English Edition.) PROPERTIES OP ALCOHOL. As stated already, pure alcohol is a transparent fluid. It is of rather pungent odor, it is hot or burning to the tongue, and it burns in the air. It has still some other properties, which require to be learned. Com- pared with water, in respect to weight, alcohol is much the lighter fluid of the two. This fact is provable by an exceedingly simple experiment. Take a bottle that will just hold one thousand grains of water. Put that bottle in a fine balance, and poise ; that is to say put as much weight in the opposite scale as will precisely balance the bottle. Then fill the bottle with water, in order to make sure that the water amounts to exactly one thousand grains. Next empty the bottle, dry it thorough- ly, rinse it two or three times with a little pure alcohol, and dry it again. At last fill the bottle with pure alcohol, and weigh once more, retaining the poise of the bottle in the opposite scale. It will now be discovered that the bottle filled with alcohol will not weigh a thousand grains, as it did when it was filled with water, but will weigh seven hundred and ninety-two grains, or two hundred and eight grains less than the water. In scientific language, the weight of a liquid when compared with the weight of water, is called the specific weight. The specific weight of water ia taken as one thousand by a standard of weight in a given raeasureful, and the specific weight of other fluids is calculated by the weiglit of the same measuref ul. If the meaauref ul of other liquid be heavier than the measuref ul of water, we say the specific weight of that liquid is above that of water ; if the measureful be lighter, we say the specific weight is below that of water, and we state the difference above or below by the diflference of grains or degrees. A thousand-grain measureful of water holds only seven hundred and ninety-two grains of alcohol, so the specific weight of alcohol is recorded as being 792". Al- cohol brouglit to this weight is termed absolute alcohol ; that is to say, it 108 Appendix. 109 has been brought to such purity that no water is left in it. What is ordin- arily sold as pure aluohol is not refined to such a degree, so it weighs heavier, and may have a specific gravity or weight of 830'. Such alcohol is sufficiently rectified for most purposes, and great labor is saved by not extracting water from it beyond this point. Alcohol in its pure state is not only lighter than water, but it boils at a lower temperature. This can be proved by another simple experi- ment. Place over a lamp a glass or porcelain vessel containing distilled water, and heat the water until it boils. When the water boils, put into it a thermometer graduated for high temperatures. It will be found that the thermometer, if it be on Fahrenheit's scale, will declare a register of 212 degrees of heat. We say, therefore, that water boils at 212° F., and we call that degree the boiling-point of water. If we have less heat the water will not boil ; if we add more heat, the temperature of the water will not rise higher in an open vessel. The boiling-point is fixed and definite. Next, into another glass or porcelain vessel placed over a lamp, and holding water, put a wide-mouthed glass flask containing alcohol. Now place a thermometer in the water, and another thermometer in the alco- hol, and apply heat to the water. Watch both thermometers. It will then be found that when the thermometer in each rises to 172°, the water will not be boiling, but the alcohol will commence to boil; Below 172° the alcohol will not boil, and above 172° it will not increase in temper- ature if the boiling be not interfered with, and the mouth of the flask be quite open. Alcohol boils, therefore, at forty degrees of heat lower than water, and its boiling point is described as 172" Fahr. If, instead of using a thermometer marked on Fahrenheit's scale, one marked on the Centigrade scale were used, the water would be found to boil at 100°, and the alcohol 22° lower. The boiling point of alcohol is said, therefore, to be 78° Centigrade. Questions on Lesson XL V, 1. What is the diflference of weight between alcohol and water? 2. How can this difference be proved ? 3. What is meant by the specific weight of a fluid substance ? 4. What is the heat at which water, and what is the heat at which alcohol boils ? 5. What process will prove this ? 6. What is meant by the term boiling-point ? State the boiling-points of water and alcohol on the Fahrenheit and Centigrade scales. LESSON XLVI. (Lessaii XVIII. in English Edition.) AliOOHOLIO DRINKS. Thb alcohol we have studied ao far is the alcohol derived originally from wine by the process of distillation, and is called ethyl or ethylic alcohol. It forma the active part of all our common drinks, and it may be obtained from any of them by distillation. The amount of alcohol in these different drinks varies very much in- deed, and so they vary in their power to produce intoxication or drunkenness. We estimate the amount of alcohol in wine, beer, or spirits by one of two standards, by weight or by volume per cent. If we estimate by weight, we find how many grains of absolute alcohol, that is alcohol freed of the last traces of water, there are in one hundred grains of the wine, spirit, beer, or other drink under observation ; and when we have determined that fact, we say that the percentage of alcohol in the speci- men before us is so much by weight. From a specimen of what is called British ginger wine I obtain ten grains of alcohol from every hundred grains of wine ; so 1 say of such wine that it is of ten per cent, strength by weight. If we estimate by volume, we find what number of volumes of alco- hol, each volume being a measure of one hundredth part, there are in a one hundred volume measure of the wine. From the same specimen of British ginger wine above named I ob- tain the fact that in every hundred measures, there are thirteen mea- sures and a hdlf of absolute alcohol. So I say of such wine that it is of thirteen and a half per cent, strength by volume. Some persons get confused when they hear of the differences of per- centage by weight and by measure ; but when it is remembered that if two fluids of different specific weights be weighed out in eq^ual propor- tions, say a hundred grains of each, the lightest fluid will fill the largest space, there need be no difficulty. no \ ■: Apprndix. Ill ) It IB best, I think, to remember the strength of different alcoholic liquids by the volume rather than by the weight, because when persona take intoxicating drinks they do not, as a rule, weigh them. I am sorry to say they do not measure them with much accuracy ; for what they do in this way is usually by measure. " A tumbler of ale, a glass of wine, a gill of whiskey, a quartern of rum " — this is the mode in which strong drinks are called for by tiiose who indulge in them and spend their money on them. It will therefore be as well to keep in mind the measure, and to state the amount of alcohol in different drinks by the volume of it rather than by the weight. The alcohol in intoxicating drinks is, as we now know, the cause of intoxication ; but it will be asked, what, then, is the rest of the liquid composed of ? This has been pretty clearly stated already. The rest of tho liquid, in a large number of instances, is practically nothing but water. But some very luscious wines contain a large percentage of sugar, and almost all alcoholic drinks contain more or lesa of sugar. Madeira contains five per cent, of sugar ; sherry, three per cent. ; port, three cmd even four per cent. ; some champagnes, ten per cent. Certain wines contain earthy substances in a small proportion, and a few have traces of the metal iron. Every kind of alcoholic drink contains a small quantity of free acid. Beers and ales contain free acid, and sugar and extractive substances. These are natural parts of the drinks in question, and in the strong and refined wines and spirits there are volatile ethers. But, as a whole, all strong drinks produce their peculiar effect by reason of the alcohol they contain in combination with the water of which their bulk is made up. They act practically as mixtures of ethylic alcohol and water. Questions on Lesson XL VI. 1. What is the scientific name given to the alcohol which enters into the common intoxicating drinks ? 2. By what standards is the amount of alcohol stated in different drinks containing alcohol ? 3. What is the difference between percentage by weight and by volume ? 4. How are alcoholic drinks usually divided out for sale ? 5. With what fluid is alcohol mainly combined in intoxicating drinks ?■ 6. What other substances are found in such drinks ? LESSON XLVII. (Lessmi XXII. in Eiujlitk Edition.) THB ALOOHOIi FAMILY. So far we have considered alcohol as if it were a single, simple fluid, and, for our purposes, it has been quite right to speak of it in this manner, because we have dealt with the alcohol first discovered by man in wine, the alcohol that is most largely used, and is still most gener- ally known. We have dealt with the spirit or alcohol of wine, or with what the chemist calls *' ethylic alcohol." The time is come when it is proper to state that there are many alcohols, and that by the light ef modem science we are now made familiar with a whole family of chemi- cal substances to which the word alcohol is applied. All the alcohols, all the members of the alcohol family, are con- structed on the same plan or type, and are got by fermentation from organic substances. The one alcohol with which we have become con- versant thus far is obtained by the fermentation of sugar, of fruit, and of grain. The rest are obtained from other organic bodies. METHTLIO ALCOHOL. To begin with the first of the members of the alcohol family, we must go to what is called " wood spirit," or " pyroxylic spirit," or, as it is chemically named, " methylic alcohol." This spirit is obtained by the distillation of wood. It has not been known for more than sixty- five years. It wjw discovered by Mr. Philip Taylor in the year 1812. It boils at a lower temperature than ethylic alcohol, viz., at 140" Fahr. It has an aromatic smell, and it is slightly acid. It bums as the better- known alcohol burns, without giving off any smoke when it is quite pure ; and, mixed with ordinary spirit, it is much employed for spirit- lamps, and for various purposes in the arts. It is sold under the name of methylated spirit, or as a part of the fluid that goes under that name. We have seen that ethylic alcohol is composed, chemically, of a radical of carbon and hydrogen, known as ethyl, combined with oxy- 112 \ Appendix. 113 gen. Methylio alcohol is, in like manner, composed, chemically, of a ra ' t In potato spirit or fusel-oil has been applied. This lluid is of oily appearance, and is of a most nauseous odor. The smell of it adheres to everything that is touched by it for a long time. The crude fluid is made up of several parts, but it consists chiefly of u distinct alcohol wluLih can lie separated by careful distillation, and which is called "amylic alcohol." Amylic alcohol is composed of a radical of carbon and hydrogen known by the name of amyl. This radical consists of five parts of car- bon and eleven of hydrogen, and is combined in the alcohol, as in all previous instances, with one part of hydrogen and oxygen. The com- position of tliis alcohol may therefore be expre.s8ed in the following manner : Carbon Carbon Carbon Carbon Carbon Hydrogen Hydrogen Hydrogen Hydrogen Hydrogen Hydrogen Hydrogen Hydrogen Hydrogen Hydrogen Hydrogen Hydrogen Oxygen Amylic alcohol, when pure, is quite transparent, of pungent odor, and burning nauseous taste. Wlien kindled into flame it yields an The radical Amyl, Amylic Alcohol, CsHi,0. 118 Public School Temperance. abundant smoke and sopious deposit of soot— carbon. It has a specific weight of 811, taking water as 1000, and it does not boil until it is ex- posed to a heat of 270° Fahr. It is insoluble in water. Amylic alcohol, when taken into the body, causes an intoxication of a most dangerous kind. The muscles of the body are made tremulous, and the whole body is rendered deathly cold. In bad specimens of common spirits, such as whiskey, this alcohol is present, and it renders them very hurtful and dangerous. Questions on Lesson XLIX. 1. What is butylic alcohol, and how is it prepared ? 2. What are tlie chemical and physical properties of butylic alcohol? 3. What is the action of butylic alcohol on the living body ? 4. What is amylic alcohol, and how is it prepared ? 5. What are the chemical and physical characters of amylic alcohol ? 6. What is the action of amylic alcohol on the living body, and in what common spirituous drinks is it bometimes present ? ific ex- lol, ok) lis i 3l? )1? iu LESSON L. (LeHson XTF, in English Edition,.) CONSTRUCTION OP THE ALCOHOLS. There are a great many more alcohols in the alcohol family beyond those I have named. They keep increasing in weight in regular propor- tion of increase of the parts of carbon and hydrogen, until at last they become actually solid bodies, like wax. There is an alcohol to be got from spermaceti, called cetyl alcohol ; it is solid, white, and crystalline. To show how the carbon and hydrogen increase in their atomic parts in these alcohols, I may state that the last-named member of tlie group, cetyl alcohol, i.a composed of a radical containing sixteen atoHiS of car- bon and thirty-four of hydrogen, combined, as before, with one atom of hydrogen and one of oxygen. Whether the heaviest of the heavy alcohols will produce intoxication when they are introduced into the living body I cannot tell, because the experiment as to their action has not been made. I have followed up my researches with some of the alcohols that are heavier than amylic, and have found them all poisonous intoxicants, as far as I have been able to trace them ; but the opportunity has not been aflforded me to try beyond two of the series above the amylic alcohol. It will not be necessary, therefore, to say more as to the action of the alcohol family, beyond that member of it called amylic alcohoL The rest of the members are out of the way of every -day experience, and, for the matter of that, out of the way of ordinary skilled experi- ence. I may leave them, and finish this account of the alcohols by pointing out the reasons why they are grouped together as a family. They are grouped as a family, because they have certain similarities which bind them together in one bond. They are all, it will be observed, made or constructed on the .same plan. A radical comjiosed of carbon and hydrogen, in every instance, takes the place of one of the atoms of hydrogen of water. Further, it will be seen that each different radical 119 120 Public School Temperance. of each series differs only in one particular from the others, namely, that the parts or atoms of carbon and hydrogen keep increasing, from the lowest up to the highest, in a regular order of progression. In every case the carbon increases by one step, the hydrogen by two steps, throughout the series. All the alcohols burn in the air, but some of them burn without and some with smoke. The reason of this is very simple and interesting. In the process of burning, the carbon combines with the oxygen of the air, and the heat and flame are the conse(|uences of that combination. If, in burning, the quantity of oxygen that reaches the carbon is suffi- cient to combine with all the carbon, there is complete combustion, and no production of smoke. In the case of the lighter alcohols, the methy- lic and ethylic, the quantity of carbon is so small that the combustion is complete. In the heavier alcohols, such as the amylic, the quantity of carbon present is so great that the combustion of the carbon is not complete ; the chemical form of the alcohol is broken up, and a part of the carbon is oxydized, but another part of the carbon is simply separ- ated from its hydrogen without being consumed, and so it separates in the form of smoke or soot ; that is to say, it separates as carbon in nearly a pure state. Once more, all these alcohols, when diluted with water and exposed, under favoring conditions, to the oxygen of the air, become acids. We say of alcohol of wine, when it becomes sour, that it has turned into vinegar, or acetic acid. Every other alcohol goes in like manner into £,a acid or vinegar of its own, under proper conditions for the change, and every alcohol has its own acid or vinegar. These likenesses are sufficient to mark off the alcohols as a family group. Questions on Lesson L. 1 . Give the name of a solid alcohol, and state from what it may be obtained. 2. Why do some alcohols become heavier and denser than others? 3. In cetyl alcohol, how many parts or atoms of carbon and hydro- gen are combined together to make its radical ? 4. State the reasons why the different alcohols are classed together in one family group. 6. Why do some alcohols bum without, and others with, produc- tion of smoke and soot ? 6. What occurs to all the alcohols when they are diluted with water and exposed to the oxygen of the air under conditions favorable to change of composition ? mely, from . In Jteps, tand iting. f the tion. suffi- aud thy. tion tity not t of par- 3 in 1 in led, We nto nto ge, sire be o- er