ANTI-B A C CH US:
AN ESSAY
ON THE
CRIMES, DISEASES AND OTHER EVILS
CONNECTED WITH THE USE OF
INTOXICATING DRINKS.
IN THIS WORK THE CHARACTER OF THE WINES OF SCRIPTURE IS SETTLED IN ACCORDANCE
WITH THE INDUCTIONS OF SCIENCE AND THE FACTS OF HISTORY.
BY THE REV. B. PARSONS.
The Rev. John Howard Hinton, one of the three adjudicators of the prize of one hundred guineas for the
best Essay on Intemperance, gave his voice in favour of 'Anti-Bacchus.'
“ Agiotov pey vowp."-Pindar.
* Utilissimum vinum omnibus sacco viribus fractis."'--Pliny.
* It is not for kings to drink wine, nor princes strong drink.”-Solomon.
LONDON:
PUBLISHED BY JOHN SNOW, 35, PATERNOSTER-ROW.
1840.

LONDON :
Printed by WILLIAM CLowes and Sons,
Stamford Street.

PREFACE.
The Writer of this Essay was not aware until six months after the adjudication
had been given, that it had obtained the approbation of one of the adjudicators;
at that time, 'Bacchus,' the successful Essay, was on the eve of issuing from
the press, and, therefore, it was deemed prudent to defer publishing until that
work had appeared, and been read; being resolved, if the works were at all
similar, not to publish the one now submitted to the public. Having read
through Bacchus,' I found that my Essay and that of my successful rival
were sufficiently different from each other to warrant publication.
As many of the facts and arguments, hereafter adduced, were deemed worthy
of consideration, it was thought advisable to mention in the title-page, that this
Essay had obtained the vote of the Rey. J. H. Hinton, one of the adjudicators,
believing that this announcement might draw the attention of several persons,
who hitherto have not weighed the matter, to the subject of Temperance. But I
must here observe, that Mr. Hinton is by no means concerned in the announce-
ment of his name, nor on my part has there been any breach of confidence. I
heard it from an independent source, full six months before I had any
communi-
cation whatever with Mr. Hinton; it was not told me as a secret, and, there-
fore, I felt at liberty to make it public.
Total Abstinence, or Tee-totalism, as it is now commonly called, is the first
application of science to diet on a large and popular scale. It has had to pass
through the opposition, the abuse, the ridicule to which everything destined to
bless mankind has been generally doomed. It has of course been said to be
wild and extravagant, and alike opposed to health, usage, and Scripture. It
was the perpetual mention of its contrariety to the Word of God that induced
A 2

iv
PREFACE.
the writer to turn his attention to the subject. I examined every text of Scrip-
ture in which wine is mentioned ; I inquired very minutely into the laws of
fermentation; into the character of the grapes, and the wines, and the drinking
usages of antiquity: the result of these inquiries was, that I came to the firm
conclusion that few, if any, of the wines of antiquity were alcoholic. I
examined Homer, Aristotle, Polybius, Horace, Virgil, Pliny, Columella, Cato,
Palladius, Varro, Philo-Judæus, Juvenal, Plutarch, and others; I read each
in the original language, and not through a translation, and therefore have not
been misled by any interpreter; and in every instance I have carefully ex-
amined the context, that I might not give an unfair representation to any
of
my
authorities. I have carefully studied some of the best writers on fermentation,
and therefore am fully satisfied my conclusions are based on science and bis-
tory. I have also consulted accredited Parliamentary Returns; the report of
the Parliamentary Report on Drunkenness; and have attentively read some of
the best writers on Physiology, Health and Diet. I have inquired likewise into
the drinks of different nations, and the effects consequent thereupon; and from
all I have been compelled to conclude that Total Abstinence is, in every respect,
profitable to mankind, and that all intoxicating drinks might instantly be
banished from the earth, not only without any loss, even as a medicine, but
with incalculable advantage to every human being.
A writer in the Congregational Magazine has lately uttered an almost sup-
pressed murmur against our principles. Our advocates do not please him. We
have sent out the best we have; and if that gentleman will come forward himself
and bring all his eloquent friends with him, our poor illiterate speakers, who now
plead this cause of God, and of humanity, not from choice, but from necessity, will
sit down in silence. This same gentleman is scandalised, that we should
make any use of philology in examining the wines of Scripture; this remark
was of course a lapsus mentis, because Mr. Medhurst employed philology
against us; and although, in doing so, he most sadly betrayed his own learning
and critical acumen, yet our opponents never uttered a whisper against philo-
logy then. Philology employed against us, it seems, is an admirable weapon,
but a most wicked instrument when used in our favour! But in the Con-
gregational Magazine, we have almost continually some of the most important
arguments based on philology; why then should not the Tee-totallers be allowed
among other instruments of warfare, to use philology? I certainly was sur-
prised to find, in the Congregational Magazine, any unscholarlike objections
to philology. Of the use made of it in the following pages, let the learned
judge.

PREFACE
Professor Edgar has quite lost his temper on the subject, and, there-
fore, has done us much service by the books he has written against us, none of
which have merited an answer, because the professor himself, in his cooler
moments, has very ably confuted himself. His sneer, that unfermented wine
is "jam and water,” is not a sneer at us, but at the juice of the grape as it
comes from the hand of God, and therefore, we will leave him to settle that
affair with his Maker.
But lest I should become tedious by further preliminaries, I will stay here,
that the reader may at once proceed, and read and judge for himself.


CONTENT S.
CHAPTER 1.
Page
On the Crimes, Loss of Character, &c., connected with Drinking.-1. Murders.
2. Dishonesty. 3. Prostitution. 4. Sabbath-breaking. 5. Injuries inflicted
on Families. 6. Injuries to the Church by the Sins of Ministers, Members,
hopeful Converts, &c. In this chapter much of the evidence is drawn from
the Parliamentary Report on Drunkenness
1
CHAPTER II.
On Diseases, Deaths, &c., from Drinking.--1. The Testimonies of the most dis-
tinguished medical men. 2. Alcohol a Poison. 3. The Physiology of the
Human Frame examined in connexion with Drinking. 4. Effects of intoxi-
cating Drinks upon the Stomach, Brain, Nerves. 5. The many Diseases
which may be traced to these Poisons. 6. Cases cited. 7. Testimonies of
Coroners, &c., respecting deaths from Drinking. 8. Signatures of distinguished
Medical Men. 9. Longevity. 10. Synoptical Table of Diseases from Alcohol.
11. Weekly Table of Mortality in London
24
CHAPTER III.
The Great Loss, Waste, Expenditure, &c., connected with Drinking.–1. Vast
Sums spent in Intoxicating Liquors. 2. Hospitals, Lunatic Asylums, In-
firmaries, Dispensaries, Prisons, Courts of Justice, Police, &c., &c. 3. Property
lost on land. 4. Property and Life lost at sea. 5. Property stolen. 6. Poor
Rates, Time Misspent, Expense of Medical Men, Drugs, &c. 7. Small
quantity of manual labour required to produce these beverages. 8. Barley,
Grain, Apples, Grapes, wasted or rather converted into Poisons. 9. Lands
unprofitably employed. 10. Labourers deceived and cheated by these drinks
48
CHAPTER IV.
On Fermentation, Alcoholic Drinks, Nutrition, &c.-l. Sugar, or Saccharine
Matter. 2. Requisites to Fermentation. 3. Vinous, Acetous, Panary, and
Putrefactive Fermentation. 4. Distillation. 5. Proportion of Alcohol in
different Intoxicating Beverages. 6. Gin, Brandy, &c. 7. Alcohol unknown
to the Ancients. 8. The natural Strength of different Fermented Wines. 9.
Malt Liquors. 10. Nutriment in Barley, Apples, Figs, &c. 11. Pigs fed on
Apples. 12. Small degree of Nutriment in Wines. 13. Letters to Brother
John quoted. 14. Inebriating Liquors not needed for Food, for Thirst, nor
for Medicine. 15. Spontaneous Combustion. 16. Adulteration of Beer,
Wine, Porter, &c.
58
CHAPTER V.
History of Inebriating and of Unfermented Drinks.-1. Various kinds of Intoxi-
cating Substances. 2. Obstructions to Fermentation in Hot Countries. 3.
Boiling of Wines mentioned by Pliny, Columella, Mr. Buckingham, and
others. 4. Drugs mixed with the Juice of the Grape, shown by quotations
from Columella, Pliny, Homer, Lowth, &c. 5. Different kinds of Wine, in-
numerable, proved from Virgil, Pliny, Columella, &c. 6. Various meanings
of the word Wine. 7. Receipts for making Unfermented Wine, from Colu-
mella and Pliny. 8. “Vinum Lixivum,” “Semper Dulce," Aigleuces,"
&c. 9. Testimony of Aristotle concerning Wines that would not Intoxicate;
of Polybius, Pliny, Horace, and Plutarch. 10. Dilution of Wines. 11. Gre-
cian Wines. 12. Roman Wines; Opimian, Falernian the only Wine that
would burn. 13. Inerticulum, or Amethystos, Sober Wine ; Cato's Family
Wine, &c. 14. Pliny and Dr. Ure on Filtering Wines, and thereby prevent-
وو

viii
CONTENTS.
Page
ing Fermentation 15.“ Utilissimum Vinum" of Pliny. 16. Plutarch on
Wines that would not Intoxicate. 17. Theophrastus, Delphin notes on
Horace. 18. Unintoxicating Wines the most popular. 19. Ancient idea of
the term Drunkard, Tricongius. 20. On the term Wine, Port, Sherry, &c. ;
Gleucos, Hepsema, Siræum, Passum, Defrutum, Sapa, Protropum, Mustum,
Stum, &c. 21. Wormwood Wine, Wine drunk by Noah, Lot, Pharaoh. 22. Grapes
eaten ; Chaldeans, Assyrians, Persians. 23. Wines of Homer, Alexander, and
Androcydes. 24. Romans, Ancient Britons. 25. Testimonies of the An-
cients respecting the injurious effects of intoxicating Wines; Aristotle, Pliny,
especially Philo-Judæus.
74
CHAPTER VI.
On the sentiments of Scripture respecting Wines, &c.--Different Hebrew words
translated by the word “Wine.”-Yayin, “ Wine;" Tirosh, “New Wine;"
Chamer, “Red Wine;" Mesek, “ Mixed Wine;" Shemarim, “ Wine on the
lees," or preserved Wine; Saba, "a stupifying Wine;" Shacar, “Strong drink,"
or rather a sweet drink. Ashisha, flagons or preserves. Raisins, or dried
Grapes. Abigail, Ziba, Melchisedek; Jacob's blessing of Judah, Blood of
the Grape; “Wine that cheereth the heart of God and man;" “Wine that
maketh glad the heart of man;" “ Wine of Lebanon;" “Wine of Helbon;"
The Wine, or strong drink" of the Passover. Solomon's Wine. « Drink
thy Wine with a merry heart." “Give strong drink to him that is weary."
Wine at the Marriage of Cana. Wine recommended to Timothy. The Wine
put into new bottles. New bottles of Job. Old Wine better than new. Our
Lord called a wine-bibber. Wine of the first Sacrament; Chomits or leaven.
Scripture condemnation of Wine. Total Abstinence enjoined on Kings, on
the Priests, on the Nazarites. On Samson and his mother. Israelites in the
Wilderness. Elijah. Napadlos, sobriety, vigilance. Water recommended in
Scripture. Abraham. Abraham's servant, Hagar. Israelites. Gideon's
army.
Saul. Nabal's Sheepshearers, Abigail, Old Prophet, Elijah, Oba
diah, King of Israel, King of Assyria. Job's traveller, " Water sure," “ Spring
up, O well.” Multitudes fed by Christ. Christ at Jacob's Well, &c., &c.
93
CHAPTER VII.
Water Drinkers. Testimonies in favour of Water, from Physiologists, Natu-
ralists, and Medical Men, and of Divines and Theological writers, concerning
Drinking. Hebrews, Egyptians, Macrobians, Ethiopians, Greeks, Ancient
Romans, Chaldeans, Cyrus, Ancient Britons, Indians, Mahometans, Circas-
sians, Daniel and the Nazarites, Mr. Buckingham, Dr. Jackson, Captain Ross,
Parry, Dr. Farre. Health of Prisoners and Convicts; Suevi Countries that
were ruined by Drinking. Present inhabitants of Mount Lebanon. Wives
and Children of Drunkards. English Tee-totallers. Numerous Testimonies
of Medical Men in favour of a Water Beverage. Testimonies of Divines and
Theological Writers, and Ministers of the present day
117
CHAPTER VIII.
Our Duty and consequent Prospects. We ought to abstain ourselves, and opposer
the Drinking Habits of the Day. Pot-house Clubs and Drinking at Births, bet
Baptisms, Marriages, and Funerals. Not give Drink for Wages. Toasts dis-
countenanced or drank in Water. Not tempt our Friends.
Wine at the
Lord's Table. Our Prospects cheering.
Total Abstinence not substituted for
the Gospel.
Natural Health. Prison. Bankruptcies, Crime at Elections
lessened. Prostitution. Increase of Trade. Education. Attendance on Divine
Worship. Increase of Members to Christian Churches. Domestic Comfort.
Effects on Benevolent Institutions and on the Missionary enterprise
128
Ghost
ਜn
hordania
no

A N TI - BACCHUS,
&c. &c.
teries, dishonesty, and revenge, they did
CHAPTER I.
their gods service. People educated in
these schools of paganism could set but
On the Crimes, Loss of Character, &c., connected little value upon human life, upon personal
with Drinking. -1. Murders. 2. Dishonesty.
But
3. Prostitution. 4. Sabbath-breaking.
5. In: purity, and the rights of property.
juries inflicted on Families. 6. Injuries to the things are changed. The laws of Chris-
Church by the Sins of Ministers, Members, tianity are "holy, just, and good.” Among
hopeful Converts, &c. In this chapter much of Christian nations the murderer is a mon-
the evidence is drawn from the Parliamentary
Report on Drunkenness.
ster avoided by all; sensuality and revenge
are condemned and threatened with the
In this Essay we shall produce facts which severest visitations of Divine indignation.
will most painfully demonstrate that in our Now, we all know the extensive influence
day intemperance has assumed a most de- of education. By its amazing power, the
structive character; indeed, is become the Hindoo, who is naturally so mild and gentle
parent of most of the crimes which scourge as to dread to deprive the meanest animal
the land. Some there are, no doubt, who of life, is perverted into a murderer who
will be startled at this conclusion. They feels a pleasure in applying the torch to the
may say, “ Man is naturally depraved, and pile which is to consume his own mother
has been a murderer and a sensualist in to ashes. Indeed, what else is there which
ages proverbial for sobriety; and, therefore, could have made such a vast difference in
if deprived of the impulse of this baneful the manners, customs, and habits of the
spirit, he will still be the same.” To this nations of the earth, except the different
we reply, that if naturally depraved and schools in which they have been trained ?
disposed to commit every crime, then, Human souls are, for the most part, origin-
surely, we need not add to his corrupt pro- ally the same ; climate and food cannot satis-
pensities the inspirations of alcohol. The factorily account for the diversity of human
strong man, it seems, is armed already and character, for the Christian can breathe
fully equipped for all the purposes of de- every atmosphere which man can breathe,
struction, and therefore, we should imagine, and live on every kind of food by which life
that none but a demon would propose to can be supported, and yet be a Christian.
make him worse. All will admit that, And, further, his principles can make
savage as the barbarian may be, intoxicating Christians out of men of every climate and
drinks will increase his rage a thousand-fold, of every mode of life. Education, there-
and on that account ought to be withheld. fore, forms the character of the man. Let
But waiving this argument, on which at us, then, bear this in mind, and duly con-
present we will not enlarge, we beg to re- sider that in Britain, imperfect as all our
mind our readers that the state of society is modes of training have hitherto been, we
changed. Among heathen nations, whether have certain religious principles current
enlightened or ignorant, the standard of among us which are eminently humane,
morals was awfully low. In most instances chaste, and holy, under whose sacred influ-
their religion allowed, and the examples of ences our national character has been won-
their gods sanctioned, every species of cru- derfully improved. Heathenism sears the
elty and depravity. The votaries of Venus conscience, but Christianity both enlightens
could hardly be expected to be chaste, nor it and renders it tender. In savage lands
the worshippers of Saturn, Jove, Mars, the murderer buries his dagger in the breast
or Woden, to be humane or holy. The of his brother without any compunction,
inspirations of alcohol were not needed to and the thief strips a neighbour of his all
prompt these people to vice, or to arm them without any remorse. In those countries
with unholy courage; their religions taught women forget the modesty of their and
them to be wicked, and inspirited them with voluntarily devote themselves to practices
energy for the committal of whatever was revolting to humanity. But in Christian
cruel and depraved.
They called “ evil nations things are different. The mind is
good and good evil.” By murders, adul- awakened to a sense of right and wrong,
sex,
B

2
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
and conscience is aroused to an authori- | intemperance had nurtured them, set the
tative empire in the soul. Many a struggle laws at defiance, became dishonest first,
and many a mental conflict must, therefore, and then, in the process of time, accom-
be endured before sins of enormous turpi- plished thieves, and ended their days in
tude can be perpetrated. He who has infamy. Thus, directly or indirectly, in-
been trained in a Christian nation touches temperance may be said to have originated
the pistol or the dagger with a trembling and fostered by far the greater majority of
hand, approaches the person or property of all the crimes that, in this Christian country,
another with a faltering step, and violates the stain the calendar of our prisons. Preston
laws of morality with hesitation. Hence, used to send the greatest number of pri-
we conclude that, by a people taught but soners to the Lancashire gaol, but at one
imperfectly in the doctrine of Christ, the of the assizes in 1837, not a person from
more heinous offences that disgraced hea- that town was charged with an offence.
then nations will be avoided and aban- And why? While intemperance reigned
doned, unless there be introduced among crime prevailed, but no sooner was total
them some material or moral agency to abstinence from intoxicating drinks adopted,
vitiate their minds, and vanquish their con- than vice was immediately checked. What
victions. And now, alas ! it is our painful has occurred in Lancashire, would happen
duty to show that such a malignant influ- throughout the land, were alcoholic poisons
ence proceeds from the use of intoxicating abandoned. To intoxicate a word de-
drinks. Corrupted, ruined, and maddened rived from the Greek tožızov, “a poisoned
by this inspiriting fiend, men naturally hu- arrow,"—is to poison; but what renders
mane, and early instructed in the school of this bane particularly destructive is the
the meek and lowly Saviour, have become fact, that it not merely infects the body
murderers, sensualists, thieves, sabbath- but infests the mind. Under the influence
breakers, and blasphemers. The common of arsenic, or prussic acid, the unhappy
and natural effects of education and reli- victim is unfitted to be the destroyer of
gious restraint have been neutralised, and others; but inspired with alcohol, the body
civilised man has been transformed into a for a while is nerved, and the soul is armed
barbarian. The history of the crimes of for the perpetration of every vice. It may
modern drunkards unfolds to us a page not justly be termed a material demon, the vice-
less black and horrific than that of the most gerent of the Prince of Darkness, to whose
savage tribes. The tenderest and best of influence Satan would not hesitate to com-
wives and mothers have been butchered, mit the empire of our world, knowing that
starved to death, or left to expire of a his aid and superintendence, as a deceiver
broken heart; the loveliest children have and destroyer, would not be needed so long
been poisoned, corrupted, deserted, or as the bodies and souls of men were in-
doomed to famine, ignorance, and igno- flamed with alcohol. That this opinion is
miny in a land of plenty, knowledge, and not an exaggeration, let us look at a few of
philanthropy. Thousands have placed the crimes reported in the parliamentary
themselves, or been placed, beyond the inquiry on drunkenness.
possibility of relief. For who can help 1. Murders.-- In the late murder of Mr.
the drunkard so long as his vitiated appetite Lennard, which took place between Ross
remains predominant? By men of edu- and Waterford, when sentence of death was
cation, talent, and rank, princely fortunes pronounced on Malone, the murderer, he
have been squandered, and the hapless said to the judge, “ Yes, my lord, I am
spendthrifts themselves reduced to the last guilty; but," pointing to his mother, who
extremity of wretchedness. To illustrate was in the same dock, he said, “ she has
these observations, we have only to refer been the cause of it.” It appears that his
to the evidence on drunkenness taken be- monster of a parent had agreed for the price
fore the committee of the House of Com- of the blood to be shed by her two sons, for
The late Mr. Wontner is known to there were two implicated; and though
have said, that “ninety-nine out of every above eighty years of age, she watched the
hundred prisoners that came to Newgate, approach of the unfortunate gentleman, and
committed their crimes in consequence of handed the pistol to her son when she saw
intemperance." It is probable that a simi- him coming. Malone at first was startled,
lar statement might be made respecting the and said, “How can I murder the poor
wretched inmates of every gaol in Britain. gentleman ?"_" Take this, you cowardly
Many were given to drink, yea, to over- rascal," said the old woman, and gave him
come the humanity of their nature, and, to the remains of a half pint of whisky ob-
drown the convictions of their consciences, tained for the occasion.
He drank the
were compelled to be partially drunk before whisky, murdered the gentleman, and was
they could assume courage sufficient to com- tried and hanged! It must not be for-
mit those offences which doomed them to gotten that this young man was known to
prison and death. Many, also, from the have been one of the kindest-hearted fel-
ignorance, vice, and destitution in which lows in the country, except when under
mons.

CONNECTED WITH DRINKING.
the influence of strong drink,* One would and Williams was perpetrated under the
imagine that one such instance as this stimulus of strong drink. * Soldiers in
would be sufficient to make every individual India, under the influence of intoxicating
pause before he touched an intoxicating liquor, have been known to shoot at the
bowl again. Here we have a woman-a natives for their own amusement, so per-
mother too-at the advanced age of eighty, fectly reckless of human life were they ren-
with eternity staring her in the face, trans- dered by drinking. + “Since," said a
formed into a monster, or, rather, a demon. learned judge on the bench, " the institu-
Here we have two sons taught by their own tion of the Recorder's and the Supreme
mother to shed human blood, one of whom Courts at Madras, no less than thirty-four
ends his days on the gallows, and the other British soldiers have forfeited their lives for
is left either to be the prey of remorse, or murders, and most of these were committed
else to follow the example set by his parent in their intoxicated moments.” Colonel
and brother. Here, also, one human being, Stanhope stated, that the stimulus of strong
unexpectedly, perhaps unprepared, is sent to drink drives the soldiers to commit " the
his account, and in a little time is followed greatest enormities, such as the repeated
to the same awful tribunal by tbe wretch destruction of human life, murders, and
whose hands were stained with his blood.
other crimes of great enormity.''As long
What havoc is here! Human life, human ago as 1764, the Irish House of Commons
feeling, human character, and human souls asserted, that "many murders which of late
are sacrificed! For aught we know, the have been committed, are to be attributed
tragedy, black as it appears, is not half seen to the excessive consumption of spirits.'||
on earth, the more awful and tremendous The mate of a vessel which traded from
parts of the drama may be completed in Liverpool married a very sober and respect-
perdition. Yet all this may be traced to able female ; as a treat, he brought her
the demoniacal influence of intoxicating home a quantity of foreign spirits; she
drinks. Hardened as was the gray-headed tasted them, and became a confirmed drunk-
old monster of a parent, and depraved as ard. Her husband has repeatedly been
the son of such a mother would probably arrested for debts she has contracted during
be, yet both required the inspirations of his absence; and lately she was tried for
whisky to qualify them for the deed. The the murder of her child, but was acquitted
murders of the three Kaneellys, in the on the ground of insanity brought on by
county of Tipperary, was the effect of intoxication. Had any one told this un-
intoxication. The assassins only intended happy woman what would be the result of
to frighten the objects of their vengeance ; her first putting the poisonous glass to her
but the ringleader of the transaction gave mouth, she would have been too much
his associates a few glasses of whisky, and, shocked at the horrid tale of her future life,
maddened by the poison, nothing could to have given it credence. Probably she
satisfy them but blood.t The burning of would have exclaimed, “ Am I a dog, that
the Sheas, in the same county, was brought I should do these things ?" But she drank
about by ardent spirits. A young man of the baneful cup, and more than realised
twenty, who was implicated in that horrid the vile and base transformation formerly
deed, being asked how he could take part attributed to the bowl of Circe. The vic-
in so base and cowardly a crime, replied, tims of that monster were changed into
“I was made drunk, and by the aid of filthy swine; but, compared with this
whisky would not only commit such an- ruined and abandoned woman, a swine is
other crime, but twenty others like it."I A
an angel. R. G. White, Esq. stated, that of
magistrate having visited an individual in
twenty-two persons whose execution he at-
Caher, who had been left by his assailants tended in the capacity of high-sheriff, every
for dead, inquired if the murderous villains one declared " that drunkenness and the
had drunk anything, was answered, “Well, breach of the sabbath had brought them to
I wonder that your honour, that a gentle- that end."** The Rev. D. Ruell, chap-
man of your knowledge, should ask such a lain to the New Prison, Clerkenwell, and
simple question. Sure, you do not think who, therefore, had had ample opportu-
that they would come without preparing nities for judging, declared, that "murder,
themselves? I will engage they had two or maiming, and other crimes attended with
three glasses of whisky a man, whatever personal violence, are, for the most part,
more they may have drunk."$ Thus show- committed under the excitement of li-
ing that crime was not attempted without
quor." ut The murderer of Mr. Bonar was
the aid of spirits. The burning of the a civil and obliging man except when he
M'Kees, at Saintfield, was the work of in-
had been drinking, then he became fierce
cendiaries, who had prepared themselves and violent. The murderer of the two
for the deed by large potations of alcohol. || families in Ratcliffe Highway drank the
The murder of the Italian boy, by Bishop
* Parliamentary Report, p. 165. † lb. 180.
* Parliamentary Report, p. 229.
+ Ib. 230. ť Ib. 190. § Ib. 193. || Ib. 234. T Ib.237
# Ib.
$ Ib. || Ib. 70.
** Ib. 266.
++ Ib. 307,
B 2

4
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
66
strongest gin both before and after those “ Thomas Hayes was indicted for killing
murders.* Bartlett, who was lately exe- and slaying Lawrence Robinson, at a beer-
cuted at Gloucester, went into a public- shop in Salford. A quarrel ensued, when
house, and primed himself with a glass of the prisoner struck the deceased a blow on
gin and water, just before he shot and robbed the right eye, of which he died. The pri-
his wife's mother. Two culprits, who were soner acknowledged that he had got some
executed together for murdering females to drink."
whom they professed attachment, confessed “ William Hill, charged with the murder
to J. Poynder, Esq., who was then under- of Betty Minshull, at Warrington. The
sheriff of Middlesex and London, that they prisoner had been drinking at the Leigh
committed the act when under the influ- Arms till about midnight, of which place
ence of liquor. t
the deceased was the housekeeper."
The following cases of murder from “ John Davis, charged with the wilful
drunkenness were tried this year (1838) at murder of his wife. The prisoner came
the Lent Assizes at Liverpool :-
home, after having had some drink, and
“ Patrick Creegan, charged with having quarrelled with his wife, who also had been
killed James Cornan, on the 24th of De- | drinking. When she was attempting to
cember last, at Liverpool. Both were in make her escape out of the cellar, he pulled
liquor; words passed between the parties, her down, and brutally abused her, so as to
when the prisoner knocked the deceased cause her death." *
down, and kicked him: he died almost in- Here, in this short narrative, we have at
stantly."
one assize nine cases of murder tried, and
Timothy Sullivan was indicted for cut- each one originating in drinking; and if one
ting and wounding William Lancaster, a Lent Assize, in one place, presented so many
police officer, on the 30th of September last, murders, what must be the whole amount
at Wigan. The deceased had been taking for England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales,
into custody a person of the name of Kelly, for the last year only ?-One's heart sickens
for fighting at a public house; and in pro- at the thought. And if, instead of one year,
ceeding to the lock-up, was struck by the we go back for a century, and examine the
prisoner with a spade. The prisoner stated, Newgate Calendar, the criminal records of
as an excuse, that he was in a state of exces- each city and county in the British empire,
sive intoxication."
and the inquests of coroners which have
“ John Williamson, a watchman, was been taken during that period, what a mass
acquitted on the charge of killing John of crime and cruelty, perpetrated under the
Sheenan, on the 11th of November. It ap- influence of intoxicating drinks, will be
peared the prisoner had interfered to que presented! It is highly probable that the
a drunken riot, in which Sheenan was number of Englishmen slain during the late
killed.”
war does not equal the amount of those
“ Peter Eckersley, charged with having that have perished during the last century,
slain Peter Gleave, on the 11th of February, in consequence of drinking. Such a scene
at Winwick. The parties had been drink- is sufficient to harrow up the feelings of the
ing together at a public house. They went hardest heart, and make the most relentless
out, and fought three or four rounds in the and selfish resolve never again to touch or
lane; and then went into the field, and taste liquors which have occasioned so many
fought fourteen or fifteen rounds more, murders, and in such awful forms. Few of
when the prisoner struck the deceased a us, perhaps, have estimated the value of the
blow on the neck, which proved fatal.” life of one human being. He, “who weighs
“Joseph Charnock was indicted for having the mountains in a scale, and the hills in a
killed John Whitehead, at Bolton-le-moors. balance,” is the only Being that can tell its
It appears that at a wedding party, cele-worth; and that he considers it infinitely
brated at a beer-shop, two of the party quar- precious, is evident from various facts. He
relled, and began to fight. The prisoner, has hedged it about with the most solemn
who was intoxicated, interfered, and kicked commands and threatenings; for its suste-
the deceased violently, till he fell down and nance he has compounded the air, the water,
expired.”
and the rich and manifold profusion of
G. Edward Lowe, charged with having vegetable and animal nutriment; for its se-
slain John Adamson, at Winwick, on the curity and preservation, a thousand safety-
19th of August last. It appeared that the
valves, both within us and around us, have
prisoner and the deceased were drinking to- been provided by His paternal care. In our
gether at the Red Lion public house, Ashton. bosoms, too, he has implanted an intense
Both had liquor, when a quarrel took place, attachment to life, stronger than any other
and the deceased was thrown against a wall, natural feeling: “Skin for skin, yea all that
and his neck was dislocated.”
a man hath, will he give for his life.” To
feed and sustain our life, the lungs, the
* Parliamentary Report, p. 417. + Ib. 418.
# Ib. 418.
* Livesay's Mor. Refor., May, 1838.

CONNECTED WITH DRINKING.
us
MO
blood-vessels, the heart, and the pulse, in- a being far worse than a beast or a savage.
cessantly toil; and, like their Divine Cre-
Not many years ago, through the ignorance
ator, neither “ slumber nor sleep." To or mistake of a chemist, oxalic acid was dis-
hold us in being, the laboratory of nature pensed for Epsom salts, and one life fell a
is worked without the least intermission; sacrifice to the blunder. But what was the
angels are our guards, “lest we dash our result ?--The country resounded with the
foot against a stone;" and even the perfec- deed; the matter was brought before Par-
tions of the Deity are proffered as our shield. liament; the laws respecting the labelling
Divine justice, in one moment, heard the of poisons were most rigidly enforced ; and
voice of Abel's blood, and doomed his mur- almost every newspaper circulated a test to
derer to be a fugitive and a vagabond, to prevent the recurrence of such a catastrophe.
be a monument of vengeance himself; and, In this case only one human being was the
by the mark on his forehead, to announce victim ; but alcoholic drinks destroy thou-
to all with whom he conversed that seven- sands annually, and yet we do not label them
fold retribution awaited the monster who as poisons: yea, so far from this, that pa-
should imitate his example. The holy rents, friends, and neighbours, the press,
oracles tell
that "murderers shall and sometimes even the pulpit, instead of
not inherit the kingdom of God.” The execrating, dwell on the praises of this al-
omnipotence of Jehovah guards us; his most omnipotent destroyer.
bounty feeds us; his pity heals our infirmi- But, after all, the numbers murdered by
ties; his providence holds our souls in life, violent hands will give us but a faint idea of
and crowns our existence “with goodness, the fatal consequences that follow the use
loving-kindness, and tender mercy.” What of inebriating drinks. He who starves his
a favourite of Heaven, then, is man; and wife and children, or breaks their hearts by
what an inestimable treasure, in the mind his cruelty, and ruins their morals by his
of the Deity is human life!
Yet this pre-
example, destroys as effectually, though far
cious boon, of which savages will not allow more cruelly, than he who employs the razor,
themselves to be robbed without a struggle, the pistol, or the dagger; yet this mode of
and which every sober man, educated in a destruction is rife everywhere. We have of
Christian country, looks upon with awe, is late been horrified in reading of the Thugs,
treated as a thing of nought by those whom a tribe of wretches in India who are mur-
intoxicating drinks have inflamed, and be- derers by profession, and often destroy whole
reft of feeling. Under the impulse and in- villages; but we should remember that the
spiration of these homicidal poisons, myriads Thugs are among us. Where is there a city,
of the human family have been hurried, un- town, or hamlet in Britain, but has wit-
called, and too often unprepared, to the bar nessed disease and death in their most cruel
of the Eternal. Human blood is as lightly forms, brought on by drinking? Almost
esteemed as water, and poured upon the every newspaper brings us the intelligence
earth with as little reverence. It may be of children that have been starved, or of
said of intoxicating drink, as it is said of adults that have terminated their existence,
Satan, that it has been a murderer from in consequence of their attachment to these
the beginning." One murder has some- desolating liquors; and if we had a full and
times struck the sober part of the commu- particular statement of the real cause of the
nity with horror, from land's end to land's death of every child, wife, and parent, of
end. What indignation was felt towards drunkards, every newspaper might fill co-
Thurtell, and Burke, and Bishop; and thou- lumns with details of the murderous effects
sands seemed to exult when the drop fell, of these pernicious beverages. Intoxicating
and freed the world from the cruel hand of drinks, as testified by several witnesses be-
Greenacre. But do we well thus to be fore the House of Commons, and by a thou-
angry at the individual who destroys a soli- sand other medical testimonies, predisposed
tary life, while at the same time we harbour us for the cholera, prepared amongst us an
among us, and actually commend, a de-asylum for that destroying angel, and led
structive beverage which has murdered, or him through the length and breadth of the
been the occasion of the murder, of tens of land. Not, indeed, that alcohol asks for
thousands ? As long as we continue to use, the aid of the cholera, the pestilence, or the
or to sanction the use of intoxicating drinks, plague. This giant pest, as if independent
we are actually bestowing our smiles and of heaven, earth, and hell, can destroy alone
praises on a worse than Bishop, Burke, or -can with a magic spell, to which even
Greenacre. God, hereafter, will “ make Satan himself never yet laid claim, poison
inquisition for blood;" and in the investi- the soundest frame; and with marvellous
gation will not pass over the neighbour or rapidity inspire the soul, which before was
parent who first put the inebriating cup into meek as a lamb, with every infernal pas-
the hand of his child or acquaintance, and sion, and render it callous to every feeling
both by example and precept inculcated the of humanity, purity, justice, and religion.
use of a poisonous beverage which eventu- For the truth of the following narrative I
ally changed the victim that it infected into have the most satisfactory evidence :--A

ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
most industrious and pious woman had the deprived her of one limb after another, until
misfortune to be the wife of a notorious at last, after days of torture, his victim, un-
drunkard. He had constant work, and able to suffer any longer, died under his
good wages; but, notwithstanding, would hand. What, we ask, would have been the
get so much in arrear at the beer-shop, that horror and the indignation of the country
his poor wife was sometimes obliged to pay, at hearing that such a crime had been com-
out of her own small earnings, the debt that mitted in a Christian land? And if it had
he had contracted for drink, in order that been discovered that the demon that im-
she might thus prevent their goods from pelled the guilty man to this deed could be
being seized. A little before her death she expelled from among us, is there an energy
had been confined, and, before having pro- which young or old could command, but
perly recovered, went one evening to bring would have been employed for the purpose ?
him home from the public-house. Not being Now, the fiend that effected all this misery
ready to accompany her, she waited some and crime—that first robbed the husband
time for him in the cold and rain. The con- and father of a human heart—that deprived
sequence was, she took a chill which con- him, or rather impelled him to deprive him-
fined her again to her bed; inflammation self, of a fond and pious wife, and his chil-
rapidly followed; medical advice was needed, dren of a kind and godly mother--the fiend
but the wretch that should have hurried to that did all this was alcohol, concealed in
obtain it was drinking himself drunk at the the insidious draught of beer, or what is
public-house, and late in the evening came called, but falsely called, "a wholesome and
home in a state of beastly intoxication; and, nutritious beverage.”
heedless of the pangs and groans of his wife, We are sometimes told that poisonous
crawled into her bed. During the night the gases are in the atmosphere, and even in
paroxysms of pain were such, that, in turn- our food. Granted, they may; but nature's
ing to obtain relief, she rolled out on the compounds, intended for the daily use of
floor; and, being unable to help herself, man, are none of them chargeable with
there she lay on the cold boards until the prompting the human family to commit
morning. He all this time was in bed; but, those outrages which, by all parties, are at-
from the stupefaction occasioned by what tributed to the use of intoxicating drinks.
he had been drinking, remained deaf to her When we consider the ingenuity that has
cries. When the monster did awake, and been employed in producing these pernici-
discovered the scene, he procured medical ous liquors, and the countless millions of
aid, but it was too late. In a short period, ills that have sprung from their influence,
the spirit of the unhappy sufferer was sum- surely we shall cease to call them "a good
moned to the bar of Heaven, to bear witness creature of God.” As well might we attri-
against the villain who, at the altar of God, bute to him the extraction of chlorine or
had sworn to nourish and cherish her until prussic acid, and recommend their daily use,
death. The period of her death will not as impiously assert that he formed, or in-
soon be forgotten. The heavens seemed on tended intoxicating drinks for the human
fire, the lightnings flashed, and the thunder constitution. Breathing the wholesome air
rolled horrifically; and the moment in which never impels a man to murder his wife, or
she breathed her last was marked by one of hate his children. Bread, and the other
the most vivid flashes of lightning the spec- nutritious bounties of Providence, are never
tators ever beheld. All nature testified chargeable with being the incentives to bar-
against the cruelty, still I am not aware barity and cruelty; nor can other poisons,
that one person that evening understood generally speaking, be subjected to such an
the voice. Although the thunder re-echoed imputation. It is alcohol that, pre-emi-
the cry of her blood, perhaps not a single nently above other articles of diet, possesses
individual that tight denied himself the power either slowly or rapidly to infect the
poison which had occasioned this suffering body, stupify or madden the mind, and
and death. A family of six or seven chil- harden the heart. Other poisons, for the
dren was thus bereft of their only guide; most part, do their work at once, and in-
and but a little time rolled away before the stantly destroy the unhappy victim that
pregnancy of her eldest unmarried daughter swallows them; but intoxicating drinks
told the sad tale, that suffering and death are often work slowly, and by degrees under-
not the only evils attendant on drunken- mine both the health and morals of their
In looking at this case, let us sup- votary, and hardly ever allow him to die
any husband, instead of shooting, alone in his iniquity. Wives, children,
or cutting the throat of a wife whom he neighbours, and friends, are all involved in
was about to destroy, should have adopted the wide-spreading eddy of the devouring
the plan of depriving her of life by a slow element. The plague and the cholera were
and highly-torturing process, so that, in- not half so contagious, nor even famine so
stead of slaying her at once, he had, by that petrifying to the human heart. 6 Even the
refined cruelty which the savage Indians of sea-monsters," says the prophet, “ draw out
America are said formerly to have exercised, the breast; they give suck to their young
ness.
pose that

CONNECTED WITH DRINKING.
7
ones: the daughter of my people is become at self-immolation, may have his life for
cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness. a while prolonged to allow him to sue for
The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to mercy; but the drunkard, with reason and
the roof of his mouth for thirst: the young conscience besotted, and with passions
children ask for bread, and no man breaketh burning with an infernal flame, presents
it unto them.” Such were the effects of himself, uncalled for, at the bar of that
famine; but how would the prophet have Judge who has said, that neither “ thieves,
been shocked, had he been told that all this nor covetous, nor drunkards shall-inherit
hardness of heart would afterwards exist the kingdom of God.” We need not com-
in a land of plenty, and of religious know- ment upon this awful passage, we leave
ledge? Yet such destitution of human every Christian to weigh in his own con-
feeling presents itself to our view, through- science the import of the words, “ Shall
out the length and breadth of the land, and not inherit the kingdom of God." We ask
how few are the Jeremiahs that lament, or him to consider what it is for one soul to
the priests that rush with the censer to stay be rejected from that only eternal abode of
the plague which has so furiously begun! In bliss, and then to endeavour to find words
every insidious form, whether as beer, wine, to express the horror that reverberates to
or ardent spirit, the desolating pest is ra- his inmost soul, at the thought of hundreds
vaging our country. The Dane, the Nor- of immortal beings being excluded from
man, or the Frank, no longer threatens our the kingdom of heaven, and doomed to
shores; and yet are we besieged in our own that misery from which there is no redemp-
dwellings with an enemy more potent than tion. If we have no balance by which the
they. Our sons are made slaves before our value of the life of one human being can
eyes; our fair countrywomen are dishonoured be estimated, much less are we capable by
in our streets; our most valuable citizens are any standards, scales, or calculations that
ruined, beggared, and slain by a worse than we can command, to arrive at even a very
Vandal assassin; and we may almost add, distant approach to the worth of one im-
“there is none to pity.” The cruel and mortal spirit. Could we take in our hands
premature death of the unhappy woman to the balances in which the Creator deter-
which we have just referred is far from mined the weight of the mountains and the
being an isolated fact. Let those who sigh hills, and by which he apportioned to each
for the miseries and abominations of the orb in the immensity of space its relative
land, turn their attention to this subject, and appropriate gravity, still, in these
and only calculate the evils that, under their mighty standards of equity and truth, we
individual notice, have been the effects of should find that the whole material uni-
drunkenness; let them obtain a correct verse, if weighed against one human soul,
census of the suffering, want, disease, would be light as a feather. We have no
crime, and death, that in their own neigh-compasses that can span the circle of those
bourhoods are known to have been the dire years that are to fill eternity, and we have
results of drinking, and let the information no arithmetic that can tell their duration.
that each one can collect be added together Yet the soul must live for ever in bliss or
into one grand sum total of misery and in torments. And if one soul, one lost
guilt, and a scene will be presented, to soul, is of such value, what, then, must be
which the horrors of war, pestilence, and fa- the worth of myriads? And yet, if we
mine will furnish but an imperfect parallel. consider the number of persons who an-
In speaking of the amount of life that nually die drunk, and who annually destroy
has been wantonly sacrificed by intoxica- others and send them unprepared to the
tion, we must not forget the disease and divine tribunal, instead of myriads, we must
premature dissolution that all medical men say that millions have already perished in
and physiologists agree in attributing to consequence of drinking. There is reason
this direful poison ; but as we shall make a to believe that the Christian church has not
distinct head of the subject of disease, we yet represented or depicted to itself a thou-
need not here anticipate that topic. There sandth part of the magnitude of the evil.
is one point, however, which must not be Our souls have thrilled with horror as we
passed over, namely, the solemn considera- have heard of Juggernaut and the Suttees
tion, that by drunkenness so many of our of India, or of Moloch, and the valley of
countrymen are hurried, unprepared, into the son of Hinnom; but at the very mo-
the presence of their Judge. Hundreds ment that we are pouring forth the tears of
every year die drunk, and, therefore, die
our pity over India or Israel, we ourselves,
in the committal of a crime which prevents by using or encouraging the use of intoxica-
the possibility of repentance. They die in ting drinks, are dragging along the pon-
the very act of sinning against God. The derous wheels of the British Juggernaut,
man who murders another may live after are heaping and kindling piles quite as
the deed, and repent of the crime ; and cruel and impious as those of Hindostan,
even he who attempts suicide sometimes, and are listening to the timbrel and pipe of
from being unsuccessful in his endeavour the drunkery which so heartlessly mock

8
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
the shrieks of the starving and perishing | have referred were once sober, every one
family of the drunkard. Surely there is was taught to drink. What, then, must
a voice in all this amount of misery and be the responsibility of the parent, neigh-
crime, that cries, “touch not, taste not, bour, or friend whose precept or example
handle not." Paul uttered these exhorta- led to such an awful result? Surely the
tions concerning “ things which perish in past ought to be a warning to all. The
their using,” much more, then, does it be- Destroying Angel has slain already a mul-
hove us to apply them to those drinks titude which we tremble to calculate, and,
which, instead of perishing in their using, therefore, the church ought to put on bow-
cause their recipients to perish, and im- els of mercy, and cry, “ Is it not enough?
pregnate the immortal spirit itself with a Stay now thine hand.”
poisonous stain which eternity will be too 2. Dishonesty in all its complicated forms
short to extract or purge away. We shall has awfully increased within the last ten or
hereafter show, that when intoxicating twenty years. From parliamentary docu-
drinks are brought to that baneful perfec-ments we learn, that the number of criminals
tion to which the discovery of alcohol has committed in England and Wales, includ-
advanced them, their effects on our ma- ing London and Middlesex, during seven
terial frame are such, that unless a miracle years, commencing with the year 1812, was
from heaven change the laws of our con- 79,137, while in a subsequent period of
stitution, we must be corporeally, mentally, seven years, ending with the year 1831, the
and morally ruined by their influence. Mo- number amounted to 152,574, showing an
deration in the use of such a poison, were increase in the latter period of no less than
not our taste vitiated, and our judgment 73,437, and that the total increase in 1831,
corrupted by our taste, would be deemed was almost equal to the whole amount of
not merely absurd, but the extreme of cru- crime in 1812, proving that in the short
elty and presumption. “If by eating distance of twenty years the offences and
meat," said the holy apostle, “ I make my committals of a single year had nearly dou-
brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while bled. By another calculation for ten years
the world standeth, lest I make my brother ending 1834, we find from parliamentary
to offend.” Animal food is allowed by all, returns, that the number of committals for
as an article of diet, to be much more im- 1825, was 14,437, and in 1834 the sum had
portant than alcoholic drinks, and yet from swelled to 22,451, so that the increase of the
this highly nutritious aliment the apostle single year, 1834, above that of 1825, was
declared himself ready to abstain altogether, 8014. In Ireland things were still worse :
if he discovered that his partaking of it in that country in 1823, the number com-
would lead a brother into sin. He knew mitted was 14,683, but seven years after, in
that all men are responsible for the influ- 1834, the committals were 22,381, showing
ence of their example that none of us a total increase of the year 1834, above the
liveth to himself—that we are all parts of year 1828, of 7698. In Scotland consider-
one great moral constitution—and, there- ing the comparative smallness of the popu-
fore, that we ought to deny ourselves even lation, crime has increased to almost an
what in itself is lawful, if we saw that equal degree. In 1824 the total number of
another could not follow our practice persons charged with offences was 2057,
without falling into sin. Now this is pre-
while in 1833, ten years after, 3289 indivi-
cisely the case respecting intoxicating duals were apprehended, showing an in-
drinks. Our apparent moderate use of crease of 1833 over 1824 of 1032. Thus,
them, and our unjust commendations of then, we have placed before us the alarming
them as the “good creatures of God," and fact that, within a very few years, crime has
nutritious articles of food (although it shall increased to an awful degree. We know it
be shown that they are neither), may lead will be objected that the population has also
others to use them, who, not being pos- increased.
We grant that it has, but still
sessed of our self-control, may fall into it will be seen that crime has progressed
ruin. In such a case we “ destroy him much faster. In 1821, the population
for whom Christ died," and, therefore, God of England, Scotland, and Wales, was
6 will not hold us guiltless." Every 14,072,331, and in 1831 it was 16,260,381,
drunkard received a first lesson in tippling, yielding an increase of 2,188,050. The aug-
and the righteous Judge of quick and dead mentation of the population is therefore as
will not forget the teacher of so delusive two to sixteen, or about one-eighth, but the
and deadly a practice. Jeremiah speaks of increase of crime is as nine to twenty-five,
some in whose “ skirts was found the blood or about three-eighths, and consequently full
of the souls of poor innocents,” and when one-fourth, or one quarter, greater than that
God shall trace the crimes of intoxication of the population.
to their origin, he will not be unmindful of Here also the efforts made to educate and
the hand and tongue that first proffered moralise the people must not be forgotten.
and commended the poisonous draught. These exertions ought to be reckoned
Every one of the murderers to whom we against the increase in the population, and

CONNECTED WITH DRINKING.
9
under ordinary circumstances would have vation, declared, to the committee of the
prevented the progress of crime, so that House of Commons, that every crime com-
although the people had multiplied, of- mitted in the army was occasioned by
fences and committals would have decreas- drunkenness. If we will also open our eyes
ed. Both the character of our holy religion to what must have occurred under our own
and the effect that it has produced, in individual notice, we must all confess that
thousands of instances, upon the morals of the far greater number of crimes can be
mankind, allow us to anticipate such a re- traced to habits of drinking. We have
sult. But what has actually been the case another striking testimony confirmatory of
in our own country up to the present time? this reasoning, in the fact that crime has in-
The faithful ministers of the gospel have creased in proportion as beer and spirit
increased, Bibles have been multiplied and licences have been multiplied. In 1818,
sent into almost every house, religious the number of beer and spirit licences was
tracts universally distributed, home mis- 86,459, but in 1833 they amounted to
sionaries have been employed, Sunday, 139,007, giving an increase of 52,548. The
National, and Lancasterian schools insti- consumption of spirits and beer had also
tuted beyond any former precedent, and yet, advanced at an equal ratio. In 1801 the
with all these benevolent energies at work, number of gallons of distilled spirits was
crime has awfully abounded. From this 3,547,388, but in 1831 the consumption
fact the enemies of knowledge have asserted amounted to 8,941,072, so that in the latter
that our schools have been a curse rather year 5,393,684 gallons more than in 1801
than a blessing. It seems to have escaped had been swallowed of these deleterious
the notice of these objectors, that every liquors. A reference to the malt-duty will
human being who employs the use of his present a similar result. It was also shown
faculties, and has arrived at maturity, is a by more than one witness before the com-
person of education. The savage has been mittee, that whenever an increase of duty,
educated to be a savage, the Turk to be a or any other circumstance, caused a decrease
Turk, and the clown to be a clown. The in the consumption of intoxicating drinks,
question therefore is, not whether the peo- that crimes immediately decreased ; and that
ple shall be educated, (that every one must the contrary was the case whenever the
be', but whether they shall be educated people obtained facilities for procuring
aright. Now, for some years past, the peo-
them.
ple have been taught the great truths of the Facts also will not allow us to conclude
Gospel on a much larger scale, and in a that crime is chiefly connected with the
much more rational and engaging form than drinking of ardent spirits. In Gloucester-
at any previous period, and yet crimes have shire probably there is as little ardent spirits
terrifically abounded; to attribute the mul- drunk as in any part of the country, while,
tiplication of offences to education in the on the contrary, beer-shops have been multi-
truths of religion, or to reading and writing, plied to an enormous degree; and in the
is as unphilosophical as it is absurd ; nor is year 1835 crime increased nineteen per
it a jot more rational to suppose that if The Parliamentary returns for 1836
people were educated in clownishness and state, that, in twenty-three agricultural
vandalism, they would make better mem- counties having the largest agricultural
bers of society. The increase of population population, crime has increased in twenty,
also cannot properly be said to have been and in some to the amount of thirty-two per
the cause of increasing iniquity, for we have cent. These are beer-drinking counties, and
statistics to show that there is less crime in the beer-shops and crime have very naturally
the densely crowded, than in the thinly increased together. We know also that in
peopled parts of the country. The multi- Preston in Lancashire, drunkenness chiefly
plicity of Bibles, of religious and scientific arose from beer drinking, and that while
books, and of faithful preachers of the word, this was the practice, criminals were con-
cannot have originated or cherished vice. stantly being committed from that town, but
We must therefore look after some other no sooner had total abstinence decreased the
cause, and to discover a cause in every re- consumption of beer, than crime began to
spect adequate to these results, no length- decrease also. And why should not this be
ened scrutiny is necessary. On the autho- the case? The intoxicating principle in
rity of superintendents of police, of sheriffs, beer, in wine, and in spirits, is the same,
of coroners, of jailers, and chaplains to and therefore differs only in degree or
Houses of Correction, we are assured that quantity, and we know that the beer-sellers
"nine-tenths” of the crime that has come vie with each other in endeavouring to
under their notice originated directly or in- manufacture the liquor that shall be most
directly in the use of intoxicating drinks. efficacious in destroying the reason and in-
Mr. Wontner asserted, “that ninety-nine flaming the appetites of their customers.
cases out of a hundred were owing to in- The hop may be stupifying, but still it is
temperance." Several military gentleman only to enter an alehouse, and observe the
of high respectability and extensive obser- language and manners of the company, to
cent.

10
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
perceive that a man may be as perfectly beverage which, instead of allaying, increases
equipped for theft and murder in a beer- the sensation. He is disposed for action,
shop as in a gin-palace. Country thieves but his reason is impaired, and therefore,
generally prime themselves in a jerry-shop. cannot prudently guide his volitions. He
At Woodchester in Gloucestershire, in 1836, views, at least until he is dead drunk, every
a dispute arose in a public-house between object under the greatest excitement, and
two beer drinkers who were partially in- consequently cannot exercise that calmness
toxicated, and one of them drew his knife of judgment which is so essential to human
and stabbed the other to death on the spot. proceedings. The power that animates him
In the city of Gloucester also," about the is unnatural, it is neither from his body,
same time, a similar murder was committed nor from his mind, but from a senseless ex-
by a beer drinker. Hence we perceive that citing spirit which he has introduced to his
intoxication, whether by beer, wine, or frame, and which rules his nerves and di-
spirit, drowns the reason, sears the consci- minishes his judgment. Just in proportion
ence, and hardens the heart, and therefore as alcohol stimulates him, his intellect is
qualifies the victim that it poisons for the weakened. He barters away his natural
committal of every crime.
animal spirits and his reason, and receives
Of the 22,451 criminals committed in in exchange the vile inspirations of strong
1834, by far the greater number consisted drink. Hamlet upbraids his mother with
of thieves. In giving this enumeration, it having been accessory to the death of a
must be remembered that we include only handsome, noble, and generous husband,
those who were actually committed, and and of throwing herself into the arms of an
when it is considered that perhaps one-half ugly and ruthless murderer. The tippler is
of those who are guilty of theft or dishonesty guilty of similar wickedness and folly, he
escape apprehension, it will be seen that dethrones his own reason, and introduces
the number just stated will give us but a in its stead a tyrant and an assassin. David,
very imperfect idea of the actual amount of the man after God's own heart, is deposed,
offenders. And yet these, whether detected and the impious Absalom is advanced to
or not, have been chiefly induced, through the empire. Now when a man has thus
the use of strong drinks, to disgrace them- voluntarily sacrificed the whole, or a part of
selves and injure their neighbours. In that discretion, which was given him to re-
some instances the youthful purloiner has gulate his conduct, he is in danger of mak-
been educated in dishonesty by his drunken ing a thousand mistakes, and of being the
father, mother, or other associate. In
dupe of every designing knave, and hence
others, want and starvation, induced by the pot-house and the taverns are as regu-
drinking, have prompted him to steal. larly the gymnasia of vice and dishonesty,
Habits of extravagance, in which beer, as the academy or the college are the
wine, and spirit-drinking form a principle schools of useful learning. There are few
ingredient, have brought many a man to thieves who are condemned, and few per-
ruin, and led him to commit those crimes sons who have watched their career but
which have doomed him to a prison. How must acknowledge this fact, and conse-
often too, in the beer-shop, have plans of quently admit, that if you can annihilate the
theft and dishonesty been concocted and taste for strong drinks, you will cut the
matured, and how many a strippling, while sinews and pierce the very heart of dis-
under the influence of liquor, has been honesty.
beguiled to cast in his lot with desperadoes. On looking at theft, it behoves us not
Many also find it absolutely necessary to merely to consider the amount of property
drink largely before they can muster courage which is abstracted and generally wasted ;
to take their neighbour's property, or this can bear no proportion to the value of
threaten his life. Take away from them the that moral principle and character, which
intoxicating cup, and if you do not make must be sacrificed, before any one can be
them honest, at any rate you bereave them guilty of stealing, or of unjustly taking or
of the demon, without whose aid many are withholding his neighbour's goods. The
incapacitated to bring themselves and others dishonest person commits the greatest de-
to ruin. Hence the incalculable blessing predation upon himself; his respectability
of total abstinence. He who never drinks is in many instances destroyed for life;
intoxicating drinks can never become a even if he repent, he is viewed with sus-
drunkard, while, on the contrary, he who picion. Hypocrisy is not deemed impossible
uses them has nearly all the chances against to him who has been guilty of robbery,
him.
In proportion to the quantity of and therefore, the sincerity of his pe-
spirit in what he drinks thirst is created, nitence is questioned by many; so conscious
the nerves are excited, the brain is affected, are those who have become dishonest, of
moral feeling is benumbed, and reason the difficulty of retrieving their characters,
thrown off its guard. He is thirsty, but that few make an effort to do so. Having
reason does not guide to the best liquor to once passed the boundary of integrity, they
satisfy his appetite, and he drinks the very often become reckless, and hurry to commit

CONNECTED WITH DRINKING.
ance.
sexes,
some crime, which shall terminate their in- either continue to drink himself, or com-
famy by transportation or death. As we mend to his neighbour so deleterious a
have no balances that will correctly show draught? Now, dishonesty is worse than
the value of human life, or of a human soul, the cholera, and has been ten thousand
so also have we no standard that can fully times more destructive. The former preys
estimate the price of that character and only upon the body, but the latter upon the
integrity, which give to our existence and soul; the former renders our frame a mass
immortality their chief worth and import- of disease, but the latter makes our morals
Heaven bars its gates against an pestilential; and yet the latter, as we have
impenitent thief, earth shuns his society, already seen is, in nine cases out of ten, the
as a wretch that cannot be trusted, and even effect of intoxicating habits. Every thief,
in perdition, the lot of impenitent thieves and dishonest person, might have been a
will be one of no common degree of infamy. valuable member of society, and the state
The fondest parents have been known to is not in a condition to sacrifice thousands
disown the child that has been convicted of citizens without feeling the loss, much
of pilfering; the tenderest of mothers has less can it afford to render them depraved,
spurned him from her breast, and the and expose itself to all the evils that must
kindest of fathers driven him from his door, be attendant upon their crimes. We could
and few persons have charged either of not look on a hundred thousand slain with-
them with injustice. We have mentioned out a bleeding heart, but those whom strong
these facts only to show that the crime of drinks have rendered dishonest or vicious,
dishonesty is greater than may at first be are worse than slain. These are dead
supposed. And with this truth before us, while they live ; intemperance is therefore
let us consider that the country contains its a far greater scourge, and a far more expen-
forty, or perhaps its hundred thousand sive evil than the late tremendous war, which
thieves, and that the alehouse is their cost us so much treasure and blood. It
school, and strong drink the fiend that has “has cast down many mighty men wound-
inspired and corrupted most of them. Let ed, many strong men have been slain by it."
us also reflect that, through the use of In speaking of drinking as originating
these liquors, thousands are annually edu- dishonesty, we must not forget the more
cated and trained in dishonesty; the num-
refined shufflers and swindlers, who make
ber of dishonest females is appalling, and use of this pernicious beverage, for the pur-
the children of both
from nine years
pose of accomplishing the most unrighteous
old and upwards, that have been condemned transactions. The following well authen-
as "incorrigible thieves," present a spectacle ticated tale, may be taken as an example
terrific in the extreme. To produce proofs of what has been again and again practised
on this subject, would be to quote nearly in the commercial world. A gentleman had
the whole of the evidence given before the offered a certain sum per pound, for an
Committee of the House of Commons. article which his neighbour had to dispose
Every prison, and house of correction in of; the price was objected to, but the buyer
the country testify to the magnitude of the was requested to sit down and take a glass
evil, and agree in attributing its increase, in of wine. After spending the afternoon in
our highly civilised nation, to the prevalence a great deal of apparent friendship and fa-
of drinking. To have among us many miliarity, they were about to part without
thousands of thieves, our own countrymen, having come to an agreement, when, just as
born on our soil, and that might, but for these the one had mounted his horse, the very
venomous drinks, have been the strength and hospitable host insisted upon his having sa
glory of the land, is a solemn fact which ought stirrup glass” before he left. The glass was
to make us inquire, whether liquors that administered and taken, and the recipient
have corrupted and destroyed so many va- perceived, by its instantaneous effect upon
luable citizens, ought not to be expelled his head and nerves, that it was a draught
from our tables and our dwellings? We all of no common potency; and now, when the
have felt our blood chilled, as we have shuffler thought that he had succeeded in
watched the progress of the cholera, and destroying the reason of his customer, he
the multitudes it slew, and were all anxious
informed him that he should have the wool
and willing to make any sacrifice to drive at the price he had offered. Fortunately
the pest from the land. Now let us suppose the buyer, who was a very methodical man
that there was among us a drink which, of business, had presence of mind enough
instead of being an intoxicating beverage, left to take out his pocket-book, and make
might be termed a cholera liquor, and whose as good a memorandum as his hand, palsied
use continued that awful scourge among us, by the poisonous glass, would permit. He
should we deem the man a patriot or a left, but had a narrow escape with his life while
christian, who, after having looked at fifty returning home; the liquor unfitted him to
or a hundred thousand of his countrymen, maintain his balance, and his horse threw
including some of his own children, who him into a pond. In the course of time the
had been slain by the poisonous bowl, would wool was sent home, and eventually the

12
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
bill; but now mark, the price charged was not be cheaply purchased, if procured by
not that which had been agreed upon after our individually dashing from our lips a cup
the glass in question had been administered, of poison, and resolving never to taste again?
but that which had been previously refused, 3. Prostitution awfully prevails in con-
and this sum would have been demanded sequence of drinking, It
may
be said that
and enforced, had it not been that the swind- this crime has abounded in nations not
ler was reminded of the “ stirrup glass," proverbial for drunkenness. Granted, but
and shown the rough memorandum which still it must be admitted, that the force of
was made at the time, and which, from the example and education on this subject has
awkwardness of the scrawl, bore witness to rendered countries destitute of the light of
his face of the strength of the liquor he had the gospel distinguished for chastity. And
dispensed, and the robbery which he in- if such has been the result of mere pagan
tended that it should enable him to per- education, surely we have reason to expect
petrate. Now this is not a solitary case. quite as beneficial an effect from christian
How often have designing travellers in- tuition. But what, alas! is the fact? Why,
vited tradesmen to the inn, to take an even- that at a period when christian schools, and
ing glass, and then have obtained orders for christian efforts of the most promising cha-
articles of an inferior quality, at an unjust racter are at work, thousands of our deluded
price, and which were not really wanted by countrywomen are seduced from the paths
these deluded men ! Often are little trades- of virtue, and in their turns become the
men in great distress to make up the money seducers of others. From the evidence on
for these foolish and injudicious purchases, this subject taken before the Committee of
and in consequence of not being able to the House of Commons on drunkenness,
dispose of a stock, which ought never to there is reason to believe, that within few
have entered their shops, have been brought years, the crime has much increased, and
to ruin. An examination into the various all the witnesses were agreed, that a very
methods of refined swindling, practised in large proportion must be attributed to beer
pot-houses and taverns, by the aid of strong houses and gin-shops, and the general in-
drinks, would bring to light a system of creased consumption of intoxicating drinks.
knavery and dishonesty, not less heinous We need not here stay to prove what to
in the sight of God, injurious to human so- every one must be evident, that these sti-
ciety, and dishonourable to the characters mulating liquors inflame the passions, and
of the guilty agents themselves, than the produce an utter recklessness of character.
open plunder of the highwayman or the And this, be it observed, is not so much
burglar. Indeed of the two thieves, let me the case with him who is dead drunk, as
have to do with him who boldly practises with those who are partially excited, or
his dishonesty, rather than with the mis- thrown off their guard. Aristotle long ago
creant, who has not courage to become a argued, and argued justly, that he who is
highwayman, and who, instead of present. but partly inflamed with wine, is more in-
ing a pistol to my heart, and publicly de- jurious to society, than he who is thoroughly
manding my life or my money, presents, drunk. “ The sober man," he observes,
under the guise of friendship, the intoxicat- “ reasons correctly; the man who is tho-
ing cup to my lips, that he may first rob roughly intoxicated does not reason at all;
me of my reason and prudence, and then of but he who is partially excited by liquor,
my money. Here again we cannot but endeavours to reason, but reasons badly,
remark on the value of character that is and therefore falls into mischief.” Thou-
thus sacrificed. The money gained or lost sands of unhappy individuals enter the gin-
by this shuffling is little, compared with the shop or alehouse, and, after having drunk
dishonesty that is cherished, and the in- a portion, sometimes a very small quantity
tegrity that is lost. Some have said, that of the intoxicating poison, come out again,
“ honest man is the noblest work of not as they went in, but with passions in-
God," and if so, what language can suffi- flamed, their reason impaired, their con-
ciently execrate that infamous poison, sciences seared, and their moral feeling de-
which qualifies and prompts thousands to stroyed; and consequently, are just ready
dishonesty, and enables as many thousands to be themselves seduced, or to become the
more to accomplish, unseen, their nefarious seducers of others. Hundreds of unhappy
and dishonourable purposes? We must females can date their ruin to the cause
again repeat, that if the use of intoxicating just mentioned, and myriads of youths have,
liquors were abolished, the incentives, the from the same influence, fallen into sin,
sinews, the weapons of dishonesty would have become a mass of living putrescence, and
be destroyed, and with this incontrovertible have been borne to the grave before they have
fact before us, we ask all who profess to scarcely arrived at maturity. The scene
imitate that Saviour who laid down his life that the bare mention of these facts presents
for our redemption, whether the rescuing is one that makes our blood chill in our
of thousands of our fellow citizens and bre- veins. One's heart sickens at the thought
thren from degradation and misery, would of so many promising youths, slain by sen-
an

CONNECTED WITH DRINKING.
13
too
come.
suality and dissipation, and so many of the strong drink, like wolves or she bears, prowl
softer sex, that might have been the beauty through our streets and by-paths, seeking
and glory of the land, but who, directly or for prey. Who that could have looked upon
indirectly, from the use of these poisons, Eve or Rachel, or the Virgin mother of
have been doomed to infamy, or have be- our Lord, or on the many bright
examples
come the pests of society. The value of of female excellence that still grace society,
woman as the “help meet” for man, has would ever have imagined it possible for
perhaps been
never as yet duly appre- woman to fall so low? But what grade of
ciated. In
many. instances, her infamy is there to which alcoholic drinks
invaluable powers to bless society have cannot level the children of Adam? Mur-
been blighted, rather than elicited and ma- ders, thefts, cruelty, sensuality, and prosti-
tured. Were her education such as to call tution, are among its commonest and easiest
forth into exercise the fine perceptions and achievements. Look at the holy Noah,
sensibilities of her nature, and fully qualify who had escaped the corrupt influence of a
her for that station to which she was des- world whose pollutions called for the deluge,
tined by Providence, her worth would then lying senseless, and uncovered in his tent.
be more clearly understood. But even in And look also at the righteous Lot, whom
her present condition, degraded and hum- Sodom could not seduce, entering, without
bled, as in too many instances it is, who any fear or misgiving, the bed of incest; and
can duly estimate the importance of the then learn somewhat of the worse than
affectionate sister, the filial daughter, the brutalising influence of intoxication. We
faithful wife, the tender mother, the kind may boldly affirm that hell itself hath not
mistress, the attentive servant, and the a poison, and that the prince of darkness
assiduous nurse? Take away any of these,
cannot mix a bowl, which can so speedily,
and what a wilderness our earth must be- and effectually change men or women into
If she tempted to the first act of incarnate demons, as the intoxicating cup.
transgression, she has shed rivers of tears “ Wine and strong wine,"
says Hosea,
in consequence of that offence, and not- “ take away the heart.” This the devils
withstanding all, has waited, and still waits, know, this human history attests, and shall
to be our solace and joy, amidst the toils we any longer continue to drink a cup
and pains and vicissitudes of life. From her worse than that “ of demons?” Verily it
worth, then, let us try to calculate the loss behoves us, not merely as Christians, but as
that
any
nation must sustain, when only a patriots and humane persons, to resolve
few of its daughters become unchaste and never again to taste or recommend so de-
depraved. The ruin of but one female, leterious a drink.
and the consequences of that ruin, even the Prostitution, it should further be observed,
tongue of an angel would be inadequate to is, in too many instances, the effect of what
describe. What then must be the result might be termed a very moderate portion of
of having thousands of females rendered this misnamed “ good creature of God;"
the bane of society?* In the evidence to for the seducer would not like for his vic-
which we have alluded so often, it was shown tim to drink too much ; and street-walkers
that drinking, in hundreds of families, know that much strong liquor would un-
has reduced the boys to theft, and the girls fit them for their trade, and therefore
to prostitution. These habits also have use the cup more moderately than many
commenced as early as the thirteenth or professing Christians. And if the moderate
fourteenth years of their age.
use of alcohol has promoted seduction, we
house keeper was stated to have prostituted know also that women, who have been rob-
his own daughter, for the purpose of in- bed of their character, often become se-
creasing the attractions of his house. The ducers in their turn, and direfully avenge
official tables of population for 1830 give a the injury they have endured. These un-
total of 18,600 illegitimate children for happy creatures are not unfrequently the
England and Wales. Were these unfor- handmaids of the alehouse and the distil-
tunate mothers, many of whom are thus lery. It was stated before the Committee
doomed to infamy and poverty all their days, of the House of Commons, that at a dinner
to tell us the truth, hundreds would testify, party, composed chiefly of distillers, one of
that intoxicating drinks led to their ruin; these very patriotic and chaste gentlemen
but, bad as it may be for the parent to be gave as a toast, “The distillers' best friends,
in disgrace, and ashamed to own her off- the poor prostitutes of London.” We should
spring, the evil is not here seen in a tithe have said, that the very refined taste of this
of its enormity. Would we gain some idea manufacturer of poison induced him to use
of the curse, we must glance at those thou- a more vulgar epithet than the term prosti-
sands of wretches whose minds and feelings tute. The toast awfully demonstrates how
are unsexed, and whose bodies are a mass intimately drinking and the transgression of
of disease, and who, under the influence of the laws of purity and chastity are connected
* In London alone, it is said there are 80,000 of together, and therefore in a most affecting
these degraded women.
manner, points out the duty of total absti-
One pot-

14
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
nence. For here we have a crime which de-
tion presents one of the readiest issues for
grades beneath the brute creation the fairest their money, they drink and carouse until
and most interesting of the human family, they have rid themselves of acquisitions
and which enervates for life, or brings to an which were a burden. Besides, the intoxi-
untimely death, the choicest youths of the cating bowl has the mysterious power of
day. As we shed the sympathising tear with drowning remorse, the sense of degradation,
the parent who is following to the grave his and the dread of punishment. Under its
only child, whom this vice has slain, we cannot influence human beings can commit crimes
but exclaim, “Died Abner as a fool dieth !" at which demons must blush; and then can
Yet it must not be forgotten that the incen- smile at infamy, death, and damnation.
tive and the cherisher of this abomination is Moderation inspires them to become incar-
notintoxication, but what thousands would nate fiends, and intoxication makes them
call moderate drinking. We very well know reckless of consequences, and prevents their
that what is properly termed drunkenness repentance and return to virtue! We
would unfit these guilty partisans for their would again ask, whether the moderate or
crimes. It requires but a moderate cup to immoderate use of bread, of animal food, or
rob the female of her modesty and self- of the healthful atmosphere, would prompt
government, and her seducer or accomplice, or qualify persons of Christian education to
of his moral principle. Moderation is a the committal of these deeds? We boldly
term of very indefinite signification. The affirm, that among all the provisions that
quantity which one man professes to use God has made for our sustenance, and
without injury would render another sense- among all the poisons that the ingenuity of
less or mad. Intoxication begins as soon man has extorted from those recesses in
as the first draught is taken; the liquor which the benevolence of nature had locked
operates instantaneously through the nerves them up, there is not an article of diet or
upon the brain, and commences its awful of death, that can exert powers of corporeal,
work of dethroning reason, inflaming the moral, spiritual, and eternal destruction, to
passions, and corrupting the heart. Scarcely such an extent as intoxicating drinks. Satan
has it been tasted but it begins to anni- tempted, and man fell; but it remained for
hilate all that constituted the man, and to inebriating substances to consummate our
substitute, for the intellect and feeling which degradation and the ravages of the curse,
it has destroyed, the insinuations and inspi- and to neutralise the means for our resto-
rations of a fiend. The murderer drinks ration. To the wine-press, the malt-house,
moderately: he takes enough to inspirit him the mash-tub, and the distillery, belong the
for the deed, but not so much as would pre-eminence of having annually spread more
cause his sight to fail, or his hand to falter. disease, prompted to more crime, and led
The thief, to fit himself for his work, drinks to more ruin, temporal and eternal, than
moderately. Without the recklessness and the desolation of war, pestilence, and fa-
demoniacal courage that alcohol gives, he mine, put together. And when the Judge
would be unable to rob his neighbour, and of the universe shall give to each human
to risk the consequences; and were he to being according “as his deeds shall be,"
drink too much, he would be too stupid to tremendous must be the responsibility of
find his way to the house, or the property him who manufactured, sold, commended,
on which his heart is set. The female
or gave away a poison, which all knew had
street-walker drinks moderately. Were she the stupendous power of slaying the body,
not to drink a little, she could not put on corrupting the morals, and ruining the soul.
the brazen front which her pursuit de- With such consequences, temporal and
mands; and were she to drink too much, eternal, before us, is it too much to call
her guilty paramours, sensual as they are, upon every one, who loves God or loves
would be disgusted. It was under the in
man, to abstain?
fluence of a moderate cup that the youth 4. Sabbath-breaking is, on a most exten-
was beguiled or inflamed to cast in his lot sive scale, promoted by the use of intoxicat-
with the murderer, the thief, or “the ing drinks: this generally commences on
stranger that flattereth with her lips," and the previous evening. Drunkards, ay, and
to commit crimes, for which the laws of his many self-styled moderate drinkers, in-
country, or the laws of God, the gallows, dulge in strong liquor on a Saturday even-
or disease, have mulcted him with death. ing to a much greater extent than on any
We know that each of these violators of the other day, with the exception of the Sab-
laws of God and man is in the habit of in- bath. În consequence of this, many stay
dulging in intoxication ; but then this is up till a late hour, and thereby unfit them-
after their work is done, and their wages selves for the Sabbath; and by this infringe-
are obtained. The gains of unrighteousness ment upon the hours of rest, they violate
never spend well. The thief and the mur- the Lord's-day before it has begun. The
derer, and often the prostitute, are much servant who, by any practice for his own
more uncomfortable when they are rich pleasure, disables himself for the service of
than when they are poor; and as intoxica- his master, is as guilty of an injury to his

CONNECTED WITH DRINKING.
15
employer as he who actually robs him of that are perishing on the plains of pagan
his property. The Sabbath is peculiarly India or China; but what can Heaven think
and especially the “ Lord's-day;" all its of the sincerity of our aspirations, when, by
hours are his, and therefore he who, by sit- the use of intoxicating drinks, we are abet-
ting up late on a Saturday evening, either ting and promoting Sunday orgies and
at his counter, his books, or his glass, unfits bacchanalia, at which India would blush,
himself for devoting the Sunday to religious and China and Arabia be horrified? The
exercises, is, to all intents and purposes, a
crimes committed on the Sabbath through
Sabbath-breaker. And further, we know drunkenness and moderate drinking, could
that the over-excitement of our frame is at- not be recited in a brothel without produ-
tended with debility, which more than cing a blush; and the numbers that are
balances any previous pleasurable, but un- directly or indirectly) implicated in these
natural animation. Dr. Farre says, that offences, must far surpass any calculation
" it is a law of our constitution that the cir- that has hitherto been attempted. Let
culation falls off in a greater degree than it every Christian open his eyes to the Sab-
is forced.” By placing our thumb upon the bath iniquities which, in his own vicinity,
bulb of a thermometer, we may raise it drinking promotes, and he must conclude
eight or ten degrees, as the case may be; that the offenders in the whole country
but if we remove it, the mercury will sink
could be counted by millions rather than
to the point of temperature at which it stood by thousands. A million Sabbath-breakers,
before. Not so our animal spirits : if we
ail made Sabbath-breakers by drinking a
raise them ten degrees, they will sink, as
poison, which alike wages war on the vitals
soon as the unnatural stimulus is gone, of the body, and the noblest principles of
twelve or fifteen. Now, the tradesman or
the mind! Who can look at such a scene
mechanic who has been toiling at his books
without horror? If the Sabbath is lost,
or his anvil for six days, wants repose at the what compensation can be made to the
end of the week; and what is so suitable to soul? Intoxicating drinks rob wives and
the body as
children of food and clothes, and every
earthly comfort: but this is only a small
" Kind nature's sweet restorer, balmy sleep?"
part of the injury; they deprive them of
or what so calculated to soothe his mind as the Sabbath, and therefore of the bliss,
the doctrines, the consolations, the pro- which is an antepast of the joys of Paradise,
mises, and the prospects of Christianity? and of the instruction that would conduct
He who has his body re-invigorated by re-
them thither. If the soul of one sinner is
freshing sleep, and his mind nerved by the of more value than the whole material uni-
divine sentiments of the Gospel, knows the verse, then what is the value of that instruc-
sweet import of the word “ Sabbath,
tion without which the soul must perish;
rest; but he who, after the toils of the or of that Day, which Divine goodness has
week, dooms his stomach, his nerves, his apportioned for our edification !
brain, and, consequently, his already-jaded
Sabbath was made for man," and among
body and mind, to the excitement of stimu-
the bounties of Heaven it stands as one of
lating liquors, imposes upon his constitu- its richest boons.
Myriads of immortal
tion a task which it is ill able to bear, and spirits has it reclaimed from death, solaced
which must eventually break it down. From under affliction, supported under toil, in-
this circumstance, chiefly, many feel so tor- structed, purified and conducted to heaven.
pid and languid during the Sunday; and
For want of its blessings millions have
from dizziness, head-ache, and various spe- perished. The inhabitants of the glory
cies of debility, are mentally unfit to con- above, or the abyss below, are the only
template and digest the invigorating truths persons that can duly appreciate the worth
of the Gospel; and thus rob their immortal
of the Sabbath. What, then, can be more
spirits of that divine nutriment, which awful than the thought that this glorious
would strengthen them to endure the ills day, which Jehovah himself has blessed
and frowns of the world, and the trials and hallowed,” should be lost or profaned?
and duties of a Christian. Among the
But to what an awful extent this is done,
wicked, the Saturday evening's debauch the police reports of all the great towns and
is usually followed, if the means can any
cities in the country can testify. "Into 14
way be obtained, by an entire Sunday of of the more prominent gin-shops in the
drunkenness. In every city, town, and Metropolis there entered in one week only,
hamlet, the gin-shop or the ale house is the no less than 142,453 men, 108,593 women,
common place of rendezvous on the Lord's- and 13,391 children; the women and chil-
day. It is probable that, on a Sabbath-day, dren united nearly equalling the men, and
the worshippers of Bacchus in Britain alone surpassing them in the grossness and depra-
far out-number the votaries that Greece or vity of their demeanour. The total num-
Rome could, at any time, reckon as the de- ber of men, women, and children amounted
votees of that sensual deity. We meet on
to 249,438.* This vast multitude entered
the Lord's-day, and pray for the myriads
* Parliamentary Report, p. 307,
39
or
" The

16
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
14 gin-shops. What, then, must be the the disunion of those whom God hath unit-
number that enter all the various houses ed; these, and many others which I do not
in the Metropolis in which intoxicating name, are the effects of drinking and drunk-
liquors are sold? Now, it must be remem- enness, which I deplore.” * These are
bered, that a far greater number crowd into sentiments which, if printed in letters of
those haunts of dissipation on a Saturday blood, would convey but a very inadequate
evening and Sunday morning, than during idea of the misery and suffering which they
any other period of the week. Were the suggest. We would recommend to every
last-mentioned multitude to be multiplied Protestant a careful perusal of the letter of
by 10, and divided by 7, you would then the Catholic Dr. Doyle, which was read to
have upwards of 300,000 men, women, and the committee of the House of Commons.
children, in the Metropolis alone, that fre- If the “profanation of the Lord's-day," and
quent gin or beer-shops on the Lord's-day. other crimes connected with drinking, are
Doubtless many of these enter more than such as to move the heart of one who is too
once, so that this would considerably re- often accused of being destitute of sympathy,
duce the number; but against this reduc- then what ought to be the feelings of Pro-
tion you may place the persons who, at testants, who profess to have purer feelings
their own houses, either wholly or partially and a purer creed? The laws of the land
intoxicate themselves on the Sabbath; and are said by some to be sufficient to guard the
therefore the amount of Sabbath-breakers, Sabbath from being violated by drinking.
who are made such by tippling, is terrifi- But the farce that is here acted is probably
cally large. From the hour of eight till without parallel. Happily the laws have
nine on a Sunday morning, 300 persons lately undergone some change; but what
have been observed to enter one gin-shop have been the facts of the case ? Why,
alone. Some of these " whited sepulchres," the gin-shop has been thrown open at four
as Dr. Farre terms them, are open as early o'clock in the morning, and the pot-house has
as four o'clock on the Sabbath morning; so dispensed its poisons at as early an hour; and
that the work of poisoning the bodies and after men, women, and children, had, by
morals of the people is carried on both early hours of debauch, deprived themselves of
and late. Into only one of the many tea- reason and feeling, they were then turned
gardens in London, 4,000 or 5,000 persons out of the shrines of Satan that they might
have been known to enter of a Sabbath go to the house of God. The cup of de-
evening; and numbers of these continued mons was given them first, and after they
drinking intoxicating drinks, in these haunts had well drunk, they were to have offered
of vice, until midnight. Dr. Farre, in them the cup of salvation. It was the
his evidence before the Sabbath Observ- opinion of several very observant witnesses,
ance Committee, gave it as his opinion, that if the alehouse is at all to be open on
that the excitement produced by stimulat- the Sabbath, it would be better to keep it
ing liquors on the Sunday is quite as inju- open also during the hours of divine wor-
rious to the health, as it is to the morals of ship. Persons who have been drowning
the people. Were it necessary, we might their reason with spirits, who have been
turn from this great city to Bristol, Man- inspiriting themselves with gin, or render-
chester, Liverpool, Leeds, &c., and from ing themselves stupid with porter or ale, are
these descend to all the inferior towns and totally unfit for the worship of God. Their
villages in Britain, Ireland, and Wales, and minds and feelings are much more in unison
endeavour to calculate the crowds that with the depravity and blasphemy of some
throng to the temples of dissipation on the filthy sty of a drunkery, than with the holy
Lord's-day; but such a process of investi- exercises of Christian devotion, or even the
gation is superfluous, as every one who re- peaceful duties of their own domestic hearths.
quires information has only to inquire into It is rather marvellous, that our vaunted
the Sabbath-breaking of his own district, Christian laws should grant a dispensation
and then consider that every parish is equally, from its injunctions chiefly to the dispensers
or perhaps more extensively, guilty; and we of poisons. The grocer, who sells whole-
are sure, if he is a Christian, his heart will some food; the baker, who distributes the
recoil at the result of his calculations. The staff of life ; and the butcher, whose shop is
following words of Dr. Doyle, Roman Ca- hung with a highly nutritious article of diet,
tholic Bishop of Kildare, in a letter to the must all, after a certain hour on the Sabbath
secretary of the New Ross Temperance So- morning, refuse to accommodate a customer;
ciety, deserve particular notice : “ Rash but government has taken upon itself the
swearing, profanation of the Lord's-day, awful responsibility of legalising the breach
blasphemies without number; the poverty, of the fourth commandment; and, as if to
the nakedness, the destitution, the ruin of perfect its guilt, does this in especial favour
families; the frauds, the thefts, the rob- of those who sell the liquor which dethrones
beries; the seduction of innocence, the cor- the reason, hardens the heart, and corrupts
ruption of virtue; the disobedience of chil-
dren, the infidelities of servants; the discord,
* Parliamentary Report, p. 258.

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS.
17
the morals of the people! The merchan- so wantonly introduced into the bodies and
dize of the grocer, the baker, and the souls of the people.
butcher, would produce none of these evils. A very little consideration will show us,
Even gluttony, unassociated with drinking that the state is not the only party im-
(though it is a question whether it can exist plicated in the aboundings of Sabbath
apart; the stomach must be bribed by in- breaking which drinking occasions. Far is
toxicating drinks or it would scourge the it from uncommon in pious, not to say im-
epicure with nausea, until it had cured him pious families, for the best beer, or wine, to
of his sensuality)—even gluttony, we say, be handed round and especially commended
would lead to few, if any, of those vices on the sabbath; and thus children and ser-
which spring from strong drinks. The vants are taught by their parents and masters,
human cormorant, after he has fed himself to attach a very high value to intoxicating
to loathing, like the boa constrictor, seeks liquors on a Sunday, more than any other
repose; and therefore neither murderers, day! We are all, to a very great extent, the
thieves, nor prostitutes adopt gluttony as an creatures of education. We came into the
auxiliary to their purposes. It is drink, intoxi- , world without an idea in our heads; our
cating drink, that inspirits them for every vice, esteem and disapprobation are, for the most
and enables them to sin without compunc-part, communicated by others. The Kams-
tion; and our wise and prudent and Christian chatdale, the Indian, and Frenchman, if
legislators, while prohibiting people from brought up to together, would, in the main,
procuring the staff of life, encourage the gin- have agreed in their national taste, although
palace and the pot-house to dispense their now, different kinds of training have made
poisons on the Lord's-day, and thus ruin them so unlike one another, that some have
the morals and the health of the population. doubted the identity of their origin. It is
All this is said to be done to increase the well known, that the relish of the English
comforts of the poor. But it hardly requires for strong drinks is greater than that of
the understanding of a child to perceive any other people under Heaven, but this
that more bread and less gin, more meat appetite is not natural. None except the
and less beer, would vastly enlarge the hap-children of drunkards are born with a thirst
piness of the people, and do so without any for these poisons. The taste and the smell
danger to their morals. With what propriety, is at first repulsive, but after many a temp-
then, is the grocery locked up, and the tation, perhaps a drenching, and many a
drunkery thrown open, on the Sabbath day? commendation from our parents or guar-
We are no advocates for legislative enact- dians, our resistance gives way, and we
ments in matters of conscience; but here we drink them in the course of time with a
have laws, which, by legalizing the sale zest, and it may be, to our ruin. The youth
of intoxicating drinks on the Sabbath, are that was hung yesterday, was brought to
actually sanctioning, abetting, and encou- the gallows by drinking. The first drop of
raging the transgression of a divine command, intoxicating liquor he ever tasted was given
and by allowing the distribution of these him by his pious mother. He always had a
liquors are prompting the people to trample glass of the best beer given him on a Sunday as
upon everything human and divine. If a treat; and while he was at home, his father's
legislators have the right, and we implore cask kept him from the ale-house. But he
them to show by "what authority they do was apprenticed at a distance, and willing
these things ;” but if they have the right to to keep up the family custom, and gratify the
close some shops on the Lord's-day and to appetite his mother created, he goes to the
open others, motives of humanity, apart tavern every Sunday, to obtain something
from religion, might and ought to impel as good as what he used to have at home.
them to close the doors of the gin-palace There he falls in with bad company, money
and the tavern, and open those of the gets short, he robs his master, loses his
grocer, the butcher, and the baker. If they character, becomes a vagabond, and at length
must, in pampering the vices of the people, commits the crime which has cost him his life,
set at nought the laws of God, then let them and broken the heart of his mother. Yonder
legalize the sale of what is wholesome, and wretched woman who prowls about the
prohibit the traffic in what is pernicious. streets in search of her prey, was the other
Let them not open the drunkery on the day an interesting little girl in the sabbath
Sabbath, and license landlords to make men, school, the joy alike of her teachers and
women, and children demons, and thus parents; but she always was treated on
curse the nation with a spirit more malig- Sundays, when she had learnt her cate-
nant than the legion which inhabited the chism well, with a drop of good beer.
man who dwelt among the tombs. It Her seducer knew the power of the draught
should be remembered, that the priests of which her parents had so often so highly re-
our day are not exorcists; and if they were, commended; he persuaded her to drink, ac-
we query whether God would allow their complished his purpose, and doomed her to a
power to extend to a spirit which had been life of infamy: deserted by her friends, and
с

18
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
66
frowned upon by all, she has left home, and or made weak." And he adds again, for
now infests the town, and hastens to fill up the purpose of warning those who partook
the measure of her iniquity, and bring of meat offered to idols, and who could do
herself to the miserable end and unwept so without injury to themselves, but never-
grave of the prostitute. These representa-theless, by their example grieved others,
tions are not fictitious nor solitary. Hun- made them stumble, offend, and become
dreds are wanderers from home, are trans- morally weak, "Now," says he, “walkest
ports in a foreign land never to return thou not charitably, or according to love,
again, are the inmates of the workhouse, the universal love of the gospel. Destroy
or lunatic asylum, or are just entering not him with thy meat for whom Christ
a premature grave, in consequence of that died." Could there have been a more
appetite which sprung from early tuition, moving appeal ? Christ died for that brother;
and which has grown out of moderate he not merely gave up a morsel of meat,
drinking. Youths when they become their or a cup of wine, but he gave his blood for
own masters, having, in numberless in- that brother: and, Christians! can you lay
stances, neither their parents' beer nor wine- claim to the spirit of Christ, if, for the
cellars, nor moderation, spend their sab-pleasure, the momentary pleasure, of eating
baths in a tavern or pot-house. Nothing meat, or drinking what is admitted by all
is more common, as the families of beer, scientific men to be a poison, and therefore
wine, or spirit drinkers grow up, than unnecessary to a person in health, you con-
for as many to go to the temple of Bacchus, tinue to use those meats or drinks, which
as to the sanctuary of Jehovah; and thus others cannot use with moderation, but are
the idolatry of our Christian country is destroyed and ruined for ever by their in-
quite as heinous and debauched as the fluence? Had the drink been nectar, had
orgies of Greece or Rome. And what every pleasure resulted from its use, and every
prospect have we that things will be better, inconvenience from its disuse, the Apostles
so long as godly parents and ministers re- would have dashed the cup from their lips,
commend the Circean bowl? You, as a and publicly have pledged themselves
christian, declare that poisons which rob neither" to touch, taste nor handle" it again,
men of their reason and health, are necessary if they had perceived that their liberty had
for food, and are " the good creatures of led others into sin. They walked chari-
God;" the drunkard cordially agrees with tably," kata aruan, in charity, or ac-
every word, and you drink in moderation, cording to the dictates of that love of which
and he drinks himself drunk. He knew the Son of God, in shedding his blood for us,
it was wrong to get drunk, but it greatly has given so illustrious an example. None
mitigated his remorse, to think that the of them lived to himself. In eating and
cup which sunk him beneath a brute had drinking they were guided by love to God,
been recommended-perhaps, the first cup and love to man, and " whether they ate or
had been given him, by a person renowned drank, they did all to the glory of God."
for godliness. Only imagine how things They felt that they were " debtors to all
would have been altered, if, instead of com- men, to the Jewand the Greek, the bond and
mending the pernicious liquors, you had the free," and that they owed men, not only
told him the plain truth-that these drinks the gospel, but the advantage of a good ex-
are poisons,--that they generate disease, ample, and of a life of love. Could they
crime, and death,--that they are the device have seen murders, thefts, unchastity, sab-
of man, and not the work of God, that bath breaking, as the consequences of wine
they have destroyed myriads in the present drinking, and have known that their own use
world, and in the world to come, and that of that beverage ruined thousands, would
therefore you were determined never to they have drunk again? We know they
taste again. What if you had added, that would not. They knew that he who sets
a million of your own countrymen and an example which leads others into sin, is
countrywomen had already abandoned as guilty of the blood of his brother, as he
them, and done so with infinite advantage who neglects to warn him, or by false doc-
to their health, their comfort, their morals, trine leads him to ruin. "We must walk
and their souls. Had you thus by precept, in love, as Christ also hath loved us." We
persuasion, and practice, condemned the must not only lay down our cups, but even
intoxicating bowl, the drunkard would not our lives, if necessary, for the brethren.
have taken the draught again, with the David longed for the water of the well of
feeling that men, eminent in the church, Bethlehem, and yet when his three mighty
encouraged him to drink, or recommended men brought him a cup of it, he would not
the liquor that threatened “to drown him drink it; and why? The water was the
in destruction and perdition.” " It is sweetest he ever drank: it was that of
good," saith the Apostle, “neither to eat which he first drank; every sweet remem-
flesh, nor to drink wine, nor anything brance of youth and home was associated
whereby thy brother stumbleth, is offended, with it, and yet he could not drink it now.

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS.
19
reason
The thought that three of his friends might ralising consequences, and which you know
have lost their lives in procuring it, made is originated and connected with the use of
him dread to touch it, he called it the these poisons. We shall hereafter show
blood of these men,” and he poured it out the poisonous nature of these drinks, and
as a libation before the Lord. Here no one shall enter into their history, sacred and
had been killed by the cup, only some one profane, and thereby prove that they are
might have been killed, and David could not intended for man; but for the present,
not drink even water, if it endangered we will not use the argument for total
the life of one of his subjects. Things abstinence derived from that source; we
are different with us; we have not the here urge the great Christian duty of self-
mere possibility of death, our drinks have denial, and universal love, as a reason why
already slain thousands, and therefore we all should abstain.
ought to abstain ; while we drink these
5. If we
consider the injury that in
drinks we are drinkers of blood! Murders various forms is inflicted upon families, we
in every calendar, thefts in every part of have another dreadful catalogue of crime
the country, prostitution with its attendant presented to our view. The husband who
diseases and ruin, sabbath-breaking with has solemnly vowed at the altar of God,
all its awful consequences in both worlds, to nourish and cherish the woman to whom
stare us in the face and tell us to abstain. he gives his hand, if he neglect to fulfil his
The sabbath, the day which Jehovah himself promise is guilty of perjury. Yet nothing
has blessed and pronounced holy, is made one is more common, than for the lover of strong
of the most unhallowed days of the seven. drinks to violate every sacred obligation
Better let men labour, than leave their own that he entered into, in the presence of
workshops and enter the pot-house. The angels and men. The tears of deserted,
want of leisure on other days prevents hun- starving, wretched, and dying women,
dreds from running to excess; but on the whose misery must be attributed solely to
sabbath we compel them to play, and we the drinking habits of their husbands, flow
baptize them with the spirit of a fiend, which in torrents in every part of the country,
dethrones their
and fits them The men that are thus dead to every
for every vice. By using and commending humane feeling, and every religious bond,
these drinks, we encourage the violation of have been robbed of a heart by the intoxi-
the Lord's day, and the spread of sensuality. cating cup. Once they loved their wives,
Is it any wonder that God is offended, that but they were persuaded to drink, and the
the Spirit is withheld, and that we teach liquor that has captivated their taste, has
and pray, and preach to so little advantage? alienated their affections from their own
If the church cannot part with a cup of poison flesh, and their own homes. The scriptures
for the good of others, is it any wonder tell us, that men should “ love their wives
if God refuse to impart the Holy Ghost? as their own flesh," or rather " as Christ
“ Be not drunk with wine, but be filled with loved the church ;” but intoxication pre-
the Spirit,” is his command. We should get vents the possibility of complying with
our inspirations from Heaven, and not such an injunction, and thus alike bids de-
from the tap or the wine-bottle ; for although fiance to the laws of Heaven, and the
some may drink with moderation, yet our ex- duties of humanity. Well has it been
ample is an incentive to others who have not said, that “ intoxicating drinks have visited
our control, and therefore are led into sin. the earth with a second curse," and on
Tell us not that the grace of God will coun- none has it alighted with such tremendous
teract the evil, and that consequently we fury, as on the unhappy wives of tipplers.
may drink. There is no text that tells us The history of these broken-hearted women,
that divine influence will extract a poison like Ezekiel's roll, is written within, with
which has been wantonly introduced into “ lamentations and weeping and woe."
the body, and which has the malignant Compelled day after day to toil for an in-
power to infect the mind. We must not fant family, to subsist on the coarsest and
“tempt the Lord our God," or make un- scantiest food, to hear her children cry for
necessary experiments upon omnipotent bread, without having any to give them, to
power and goodness. We must not “ sin be herself and her children clothed in rag's,
that grace may abound.” “ All things are with neither bed nor furniture to repose on,
lawful, but all things are not expedient." or give comfort to the family; to have to
We must not give "an occasion of offence" endure all this, while the husband is spend-
to any; he that causes but “ one little one ing in the ale-house what might make all of
to offend," to stumble, or fall into sin, them comfortable, is to the mother a bitter
"good had it been for that man,
if a mill- cup of affliction, and to the father a crime
stone had been tied round his neck, and he of no ordinary magnitude. But this is not
had been cast into the sea." We call on all. Mothers themselves, from having ac-
you, then, Christian reader, before you tastequired a taste for strong drinks, pawn their
these drinks again, to consider the awful own and their children's clothes, rob them
violation of the Lord's day, with its demo- of almost every morsel of bread, and often
C2

20
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
desert them, or with their own hands put the worse for our training. We may be
them to death. The lioness, the she-bear, told, “ Human nature of itself is bad;" we
the tigress, the vulture, and the adder, grant it, and therefore conclude, that there
nurse and protect their young and study is no need of making it worse by the de-
their safety; but alcoholic liquors change praving influence of inebriating poisons.
human females into monsters, for which Man, we allow, can, without drunkenness,
the vocabulary of earth, or even the abyss be as vile as one could suppose a fiend
beneath, cannot find a name, nor the world could wish; consequently, it is altogether
of savage or venomous creatures produce a superfluous to add to his nature the in-
parallel. “ Can a woman forget her suck- spirations of the drunkard's cup, and thus
ing child, that she should not have com- finish his character as an incarnate demon.
passion on the son of her womb? Yea, she He can commit murders, adulteries, and
may forget;" but the question of the pro-thefts, if left to himself, but he can sin with
phet, and the phraseology he employs, show less remorse, and with much more recklessness,
that the occurrence then was rare; had he, when a moderate glass or two have in-
however, lived in these days, he would flamed his passions. In countries in which
have seen that for parents to starve their paganism did the work of alcohol, and
children, for mothers to forsake their off- added every depraved stimulus to his nature,
spring, was far from being uncommon. the inspiriting bowl was not needed to arm
Such is the transforming influence of the human beings for desperate acts of cruelty
drunkard's cup.
The conduct of Medea and iniquity; but in a country in which
has been deemed too atrocious to be true, Christianity has awakened reason and con-
but the history of the effects of the Circean science to their proper sphere in the soul,
bowl of Christian Britain has more than men find a difficulty in violating the most
realised the cruelties of the fable. The sacred ties of nature and religion, until
sorceress alluded to killed her children at they have first destroyed their moral sen-
once, but baptized women in England, by sibility by the benumbing influence of the
a slow and cruel process, bring their own tankard or the bottle. Hence, as already
children to the grave through neglect, star- observed, in our country crimes are com-
vation, and disease. Horace intimates, mitted at which heathens would blush, and
that Rome, at a period which nourished a these are perpetrated in the broad light of
Nero, could not bear to see Medea ficti- the gospel. Strange to say, but we have in
tiously practise her cruelties on the stage ; our land the two extremes of morality and
what then shall we say for the morality of immorality. We have the purest religion
the nineteenth century of our redemption, that ever shone upon man, and the blackest
when these execrable deeds are practised vices that ever darkened his character; and
in the open day, and he who abstains from these existing the one in the presence of
the accursed bowl, which has changed the other, and what is still more awful, the
mothers into monsters, is deemed a mad- latter, in thousands of instances, neutralising
man or persecuted for such folly? Proof the instructions of the former. Now, what-
this indeed, that the drunkard is not the ever other agencies may be at work, we all
only person who is besotted by these drinks ; know full well, that there is not a power
the accursed cup has robbed us all of our which demons can command, which can so
humanity, and rendered us deaf to the effectually resist and withstand the gospel,
piercing cries that salute us from every as the cup of the drunkard. Rome in the
quarter. Were we not Infatuated by the lowest state of pagan degradation and sen-
sorceries of alcohol, we should arise as one suality, could not boast that her prisons were
man, and banish the pest from the land. crowded with juvenile culprits, and that some
The crime of parents in forsaking, stary- of her infant thieves merited, at the age of
ing, and destroying their children, is not nine years, the epithet “incorrigible," or
all. For want of clothes, thousands of the that mothers were base enough to train
rising generation are kept from the Sunday- their children for this guilty distinction.
school on the Sabbath, and from our cha- It was reserved for Christian Britain to
ritable day-schools in the week; they are present to the god of thieves whole heca-
therefore educated in vice, and perfected tombs of youthful offenders, and to do this
in depravity in the drunkard's school; in an age more renowned than any other
and consequently, we have a race of Van- for the multiplicity of schools, in which
dals trained to worse than barbarism in science and religion were brought down to
a Christian country, and under the very the capacities of infants, and their blessings
shadow of the mercy-seat. We have what placed within the reach of the poorest
is still worse; we have children, whom our cotter in the land. And to this scene of
schools have civilised, re-transformed into juvenile delinquency we have been brought
worse than savages. The alehouse and heby drinking. The superintendents of po-
gin-shop, in one short day, can undo all lice, the jailors, the judges, and the chap-
that we have done by the labours of years, lains of prisons, ay, and the teachers of
and render those whom we have taught, Sunday-schools, are all unanimous in at-

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS.
21
are
tributing the increase of youthful crimi- and lost their reputation in consequence of
nality to the accursed influence of strong drinking. In these, more than in any other
drinks
. Thus, our intoxicating stimuli instances, we have an exemplification of
have opened a new page in the history of the great danger of what is ambiguously
crime. We all knew the capacities of called “ moderate drinking.” Many of
adult offenders for works of iniquity, but these “ who have erred through wine" and
depraved humanity itself stands aghast when strong drink, we have good reason to be-
the child of nine years is discovered to lieve were partakers of divine grace, and
have surpassed the oldest criminals of an- therefore had supernatural power to with-
cient imes in the crafty and precocious stand temptation, and yet they have been
turpitude of his offences. This premature betrayed. Nor is this to be wondered at, if
adroitness in iniquity, Christian, has been we consider the 'nature and insidious cha-
obtained from the influence of that cup, racter of inebriating liquors. The liquid
which the Total Abstinence Society im- fire which exists in all of them produces
plores you to abandon! And is it too much thirst, and the inspiriting poison acts im-
to ask you, as a patriot, and a professed mediately upon the stomach, the nerves,
follower of Him who died for our redemp- and the brain, and through these upon the
tion, to give up a beverage which has al- intellect; but as the stimulus is neither
ready begun to poison society at its fountain nutritive nor permanently strengthening to
head? If infants trained in the drunkard's the body, nor morally or intellectually in-
school, learn to commit crimes at which vigorating to the mind, the material part of
veteran culprits would blush, then what, our nature is exhausted by the excitement,
think ye, will be the manhood and the and the soul is prompted to vigorous action
maturity of this early ripeness in depravity? without a moral motive as its source, or
Will not your own sons and daughters be- mental vigour as its guide; nothing there-
come more sinful, from associations which fore is more easy than to fly again to the
you will find it difficult to prevent? These glass as a remedy for this unnatural thirst
juvenile culprits will become a pest to and debility; and under the unhallowed
society, and will be the decoys of those inspirations that felt, to commit
who have been subjected to better training. crimes at which the sober reason, and con-
"One sinner destroyeth much good,” and science of the professor would have been
the ingenuous heart of youth is especially shocked. Thousands have thus fallen
open to the contaminations of vice, because before they have been aware ; and when a
less aware of its consequences, and less crime has been once committed, nothing is
vigorous and firm to resist. Surely the more easy than its repetition, especially if, as
scene of husbands practising cruelties to- in this case, the spirit that betrayed us is
wards their wives more heinous than deemed a necessary principle of stimulation
murder; of mothers deserting their own to our frame. A thirst is created, which,
offspring, or training them for every vice; like the daughter of the horse-leach, cries,
of children matured in infancy for debauch, Give, give,” and depression is felt which
sensuality, and dishonesty; of the sighs and nothing seems so likely to remove as the
prayers of godly parents neutralised; of the tankard or the wine-glass; increasing thirst,
pious instruction of years in Christian fa- unnatural excitement followed by unnatural
milies or Sunday schools, turned in one debility, lead to increased potations, and
short day into a curse, and an instrument eventually, sometimes rapidly, the drinking
of cunning in depravity; and more than habit is perfected, and the ruin of the
this, the body prematurely doomed to christian or of the minister is completed.
disease and the grave, and perhaps the Let our church books be examined, let the
soul to perdition, ought to address us in numbers expelled from communion be
language more awful than the thunder, counted, and the cause of their fall be fairly
and more thrilling than the groans of the told, and we shall find that nineteen out of
lost, to abstain from a beverage which has twenty of every act of backsliding and
been the occasion of such an amount of apostacy may be traced, directly or indi-
misery and ungodliness. If we refuse to rectly, to drinking. Let us also look round
make a sacrifice, which, as shall hereafter our congregations, and enumerate those
be shown, could be done with such mani- opening buds of promise, which have been
fest advantage to our own health and hap- withered and blasted, and let us also in-
piness, the indignant Judge of all will quire after the influence that destroyed
exclaim to us, “ When ye spread forth your our hopes, and the peace and respecta-
hands, I will hide mine eyes from you; yea, bility of the offenders, and we shall find
when ye make many prayers, I will not that in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred,
hear : your hands are full of blood.”
these besotting drinks have been the remote
6. Under the head of crime occasioned or proximate cause. I have seen the youth-
by these drinks, we must not pass over the ful professor, whose zeal talent, respec-
fact, that so many professors of religion tability, and consistent piety, have promised
and ministers of the gospel, have fallen much to the church and the world, led on

22
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
The
se,
are not.
from moderate to immoderate draughts, in prompt us to vow never to touch or taste
the end become a tippler, dismissed from again. But we have not to tell of one, but
the church, disowned by his friends, him- of many, that have been ruined.
self a nuisance to society, and his family in ministers, the hopeful ministers of the sanc-
rags. O Zion! “ thy precious sons, com- tuary, that have fallen are not a few. And
parable to fine gold, how are they,” through as to members and young people of the
drinking, “ esteemed as earthen pitchers, highest promise, that have been lost to the
the work of the hands of the potter?” I church through drinking, these might be
have seen the generous tradesman, by whose counted by thousands. Here we would
zeal for the gospel, and at whose ex not exaggerate, but would call on the
too, the ministers of religion have been ministers and officers of the churches to
introduced into a destitute village, and record the facts of drunkenness that have
eventually a house erected for God, and a come under their own notice, and we query
flourishing church formed, himself exclud- whether they will ever be able to put the
ing himself from the church, by his love intoxicating cup to their lips again.
of strong drink. Would to God these Should any one ask, how it is that the
instances were solitary! But, alas, they gospel and the grace of God have not pre-
Almost every Church, and every vented this backsliding and apostacy? We
minister have to weep over spiritual hopes reply that the office of the Spirit of God is
blasted, and Christianity outraged by these to eradicate sin from the soul, and not to
noxious drinks. Nor must we conceal the extract alcohol from the nerves or the
fact, that the ministers of religion have
brain. We never wondered how it was
fallen a prey to these accursed fluids. We
that the grace of the gospel did not ex-
have not the least doubt, if the falls of godly tract arsenic or prussic-acid from the frame.
ministers were to be followed up to their ori- In such cases we have concluded that if any
gin that it would be found that the excitement person was presumptuous enough to take
which led to their ruin, was obtained from these poisons, the King of Heaven was
the wine-cask or the beer-barrel. Men of righteous in leaving him to perish. Were
first-rate talent, respectability, and apparent a man wantonly to feed upon provisions
piety, men that could not ascend a pulpit which produced an unnatural thirst, we
without attracting crowds to hear the word, should not charge the gospel with impo-
nor address an audience without the people's tency because it did not neutralise the
hanging on their lips, have had their ardour effects of his diet. And if a man will drink
quenched, and their characters implicated what produces thirst, what creates an un-
by these desolating liquors. The fine gold holy excitement, what debilitates his frame,
has become dim; the voice of the lute and shatters his nerves, makes him sleep under
the harp, which delighted all, is silenced ; the Word, or stupifies his mind, ought we
the preacher that edified thousands is now to charge Jehovah the Spirit with want of
dead while he liveth ; the lips that fed energy because he refuses to abstract from
many are not silent in death, but have the body a poison that should never have
been smitten dumb by alcohol; the been taken? Far more in accordance with
spirit that inspirited the churches, is the divine principles of moral government
doomed to the grave before the man is is it, to warn off the danger, and if the
dead; he who ought to be officiating in warning be not heeded, to allow the evil to
the sacred vestments of the sanctuary, is grow to a magnitude that shall prove that
doomed to wear the shroud of death before God is true, and in the end constrain of-
Nature has paid her last debt; the father fenders voluntarily to repudiate their own
that taught him to drink has abandoned folly. The backslider in heart shall be
him, and the deacon that compelled filled with his own ways." “ Ephraim is
him to take the glass that has been his joined to idols, let him alone." The church
destruction, has driven him from his door. has too long been indifferent to the voice of
We may say of these sons of Zion, “ Her revelation concerning drunkenness, and
Nazarites were purer than snow, they were equally heedless of its malignant influence
whiter than milk, they were more ruddy in upon the righteous and the wicked; the
body than rubies, their polishing was of evil has therefore grown to a head. Mil-
sapphire, but now they are not known in lions have been ruined in both worlds by
the streets." We must here also observe, the use of these liquors. A book of lamen-
that if but one member of the church had tations, quite as affecting as that which the
backslidden, if but one angel of the church spirit of God dictated to the weeping pro-
had fallen, or but one hopeful convert had phet, might be composed respecting the
been lost by the use of alcoholic drinks, the crimes and miseries occasioned by drinking:
thought that only one had been betrayed Britain at this moment could furnish mate-
and corrupted, ought to make us resolve to rials for such a mournful theme far more
abstain. The consideration that what had ample than what the sword and the famine
destroyed one, might injure many, would, presented to Jeremiah. Were our “ heads
were not our hearts more than usually hard, waters and our eyes fountains of tears, and

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS.
23
66
were we to weep day and night," such ex- Dioclesian depredations are acted over
pressions of sorrow would convey but an again; the bloody days of other times are
imperfect idea of the wide-spreading deso- come back; and the fires of Smithfield
lation. Tears, however, are unavailing in rekindled; and protestant ministers plead
such a case; more than tears are therefore the cause of the fiend, and actually lodge
asked. By total abstinence we can stay the
in their houses the demon that thus "scat-
plague which our boasted temperance and
ters fire-brands and death” in the sanc-
moderation have spread. Could the sym- tuary of God! For so long as we continue
pathetic prophet have been told that by to use intoxicating drinks we practically
abandoning the use of a cup of poison, he recommend the spirit which bas already de-
might restore his much-loved Zion to her stroyed millions, and, unless driven from
pristine beauty, and her ruined sons and the land, will yet destroy millions more.
daughters to happiness and honour, would Every one who has attended but a very
he have hesitated, or staid a moment to little to the progress of the gospel in the
consult a vitiated taste or unnatural appe- South Sea Islands, must have noticed how
tite? Rather, had he ever been so besotted much the labours of the missionaries have
as to use such a beverage, the cup in one been impeded, and what havoc has been
moment would have been dashed from his
made of the churches, by the introduction
lips, and most solemnly would he have of these detestable poisons. We all know
vowed never to be misled again. Let us go what a scourge they proved to Pomare.
and do likewise, “that our sons," instead The chief thing that rendered the religion
of being ruined, “may be as plants grown of that monarch questionable, was his taste
up in their youth; and our daughters," in- for strong drinks. In the Sandwich Islands
stead of being the prey of the seducer, drinking is the chief antagonist that mis-
may be as corner-stones polished after the sionaries have to contend with. The Rev.
similitude of a palace.”
Mr. Stewart, chaplain to the American
The following calculation ought not to navy, in the narrative of his visit to the
be unheeded. There are in our country at South Seas, has given us some awful details
least 8000 voluntary churches, and upwards of the effects of these liquors both on the
of 11,000 established churches, making in islanders and the British seamen that occa-
all about 20,000. Now let us suppose that sionally land among them. The Rev. Mr.
each church has had to dismiss one member Williams, in his last publication, has con-
for drinking, and also has already been de- firmed the same statements. That labori-
prived of two members that would have ous missionary having been absent for some
come to the sacrament but for the influence time from his people at Raiatea, found, on
of liquor. This calculation is below the his return, that" spirits had been introduced
mark, because if some churches have lost and stills set up.” He tells us, that out of
none, others have lost twenty or thirty, as his flourishing and numerous church and
their church books can testify; but we have congregation, “not a hundred had escaped
taken the average low enough, and what is the contamination of these liquors, they all
the affecting truth? Why that 20,000 mem- appeared maddened with infatuation.” “I
bers have been expelled from communion, could hardly believe," he says, “they were
and 40,000 kept from communion by these the same people among whom I had lived so
accursed poisons, making a total of 60,000 long, and of whom I had thought so highly."
individuals of whose services the church Do we wonder that with such a scene be-
has been thus wantonly deprived! These fore him, he calls alcoholic drinks, " Poisons
divided into congregations of 500 each, of the body and of the soul ?” He informs
would constitute 120 churches. What could us that “the gigantic chief, Tamatea, who
we think of the papists if they had power was six feet eleven inches high, was, before
and came to England and levelled with the conversion, much addicted to drunkenness,
ground one hundred and twenty sacred edi- and when drunk, if disturbed, became des-
fices, and burnt sixty thousand protestants ? perate; would seize a club, spear, or any
But here we have what is worse. Persecu- other weapon, rush out of the house and
tors “can only destroy the body, and after wreak his vengeance upon friend or foe,
that they have nothing that they can do ;" man, woman, or child, whom he might hap-
but alcohol in the insidious form of beer, pen to meet. Several persons had fallen
porter, wine, (gin, &c., "can destroy both victims to the ferocity which the juice of
body and soul in hell," and yet we ourselves the kava-root produced.” After conversion
kindle this fire that desolates so many to Christianity, this eminent chief " made
churches and ruins so many souls! The a vow of total abstinence, and kept it until
persecutor, the Vandal, the Goth, the Turk, death.” How many a professor of Christi-
or the Saracen is no longer needed to devas- anity, who cannot allow his liberty to drink
tate Christendom; we have what is worse what poisons himself and others to be in-
than all these in our own houses, and what fringed upon, the example of Tamatea
has annually proved a thousand times more must condemn! This unsophisticated chief
baneful. The days of Nero are returned; knew that to vow to abstain from what

24
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
cited.
threatened to ruin himself and thousands argue that if they introduced to their frames
more, instead of subjecting himself to a poison which would infest their bodies
slavery, was an act of the holiest emanci- and infect their minds, the grace of God
pation and liberty. To say that we will would work a daily miracle to satisfy their
not pledge ourselves to abstain from wines vitiated taste, and would therefore abstract
and strong drinks, because the pledge would the pestilent spirit from their brains and
enslave us, is to demonstrate that we are their bones. No! these christians be-
slaves already, and voluntarily submitting to lieved that we are not to "do evil that
the tyranny of a taste for liquors which have good may come,” and that we are pro-
done more to desolate the church than hibited from "tempting the Lord our God;">
Nero or Dioclesian. When the parliament and thus making “the principles of the
of Tahiti consulted the queen respecting New Testament the foundation of their
the admission of intoxicating drinks, she proceedings, they determined totally to ab-
said, “Let the principles contained in the stain from so deleterious a drug. And when
New Testament be the 'foundation of all we look at the scourge which intoxicating
your proceedings ;" « and immediately they drinks have inflicted on the British churches,
enacted a law against trading with any and which, a thousand fold greater, they
vessel that brought ardent spirits.” The in- still threaten to inflict, can we do better than
habitants of those islands, in many of which follow their example ?
total abstinence had of necessity been prac-
tised, Mr. Williams tell us, are o in stature
and intellect the finest upon earth.” The en-
gravings we have seen of them exhibit an
athletic form, and proportion of limb of
CHAPTER II.
such perfection, that, in their presence, the
beer and gin drinkers of Britain appear On Diseases, Deaths, &c. from Drinking.–1. The
pigmies and skeletons, or mere bloated
Testimonies of the most distinguished medical men.
2. Alcohol a Poison. 3. The Physiology of the
masses of deformity. And their intellectual
Human Frame examined in connexion with Drink-
proceedings demonstrate that we are far be- ing. 4. Effects of Intoxicating Drinks upon the
hind them in mental acumen and moral Stomach, Brain, Nerves. 5. The many Diseases
which may be traced to these Poisons. 6. Cases
sensibility. These discerning Christians
7. Testimonies of Coroners, &c. respecting
passed an act for national total abstinence, deaths from Drinking. 8. Signatures of distin-
and did so because they saw that "the prin- guished Medical Men. 9. Longevity. 10. Synop-
ciples of the New Testament” demanded
tical Table of Diseases from Alcohol. 11. Weekly
such a measure.
Table of Mortality in London.
It was not so much any
isolated text as "the principles" of the Book
On this topic it may be necessary to ob-
generally that guided their determination.
They saw that love to God and man is the
serve, that the inebriating principle in all
grand “principle” of the Book; and that
intoxicating drinks is spirits of wine or al-
cohol, and that alchol is a poison. Whether
this love enjoins us to do nothing, to eat
ardent spirits, wine, beer, porter, or cider
nothing, to drink nothing, which would
be drunk, what is called the strength of
prove the means, directly or indirectly,
of making a brother "stumble, offend, be- drunk, is allowed by all medical men, che-
these liquors, and for which alone they are
come weak," or fall into sin. This love
mists, and physiologists, to be an acrid poi-
forbids us from “destroying by our meat
or drink him for whom Christ died." These
Dr. Dods, in his examination before
the Committee of the House of Commons,
simple-hearted islanders saw all this, and
stated that “Writers on medical jurispru-
resolved on total abstinence. They did not
dence rank alcohol among narcotico-acrid
allow a metaphor, borrowed from the use of poisons ;” and he adds that “small quan-
wine, the commendation of a medicinal
tities, if repeated, always prove more or less
draught, or the miraculous production of an
innocent beverage, to beguile them from injurious,” and that “the morbid appear-
ances seen after death, occasioned by ardent
" walking charitably," or according to the
dictates of universal" love." They showed spirits, exactly agree with those which re-
a maturity of critical and spiritual judgment substance ranked in the same class.”*
sult from poisoning, caused by any other
Sir
in allowing “ the principles” of the gospel Astley Cooper has declared, “No person
to explain the metaphor, the medicine, and
the miracle, instead of arraying the meta-
has a greater hostility to dram drinking
than myself, insomuch that I never suffer
phor, the medicine, and the miracle against any ardent spirits in my house, thinking
the principles of the gospel. Intoxicating themevil spirits ; and if the poor could witness
drinks were about to desolate their churches, the white livers, the dropsies, the shattered
to cover the island with crime, to corrupt
and besot the rising generation, to take them
nervous systems which I have seen, as the
back to heathenism, and they nobly resolved
consequences of drinking, they would be
aware that spirits and poisons are synony-
to drive the abomination from their land.
They did not wax presumptuous enough to
* Parliamentary Report, p. 221.
son.

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS.
25
mous terms." A testimony, similar in general anasarca. Very striking effects
sentiment, was signed by nearly five hun- also are produced upon the nervous system,
dred medical men of the first respectability as is manifested in the imperfect muscular
in Edinburgh, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Brad- contractions visible in a state of intoxica-
ford, Brighton, Cheltenham, Derby, Dublin, tion, in tremors, palsies, and other ma-
Gloucester, Kilmarnock, Leeds, Leith, Lin- ladies, which not unfrequently afflict the
coln, Manchester, Nottingham, Worcester, victim of intemperance. Emaciation and
York, &c. Dr. Mussey says, " That alcohol debility, which are very common charac-
is a poison to our organization, and tends teristics of those given to habits of spirit
to pervert our moral feelings, is evident drinking, proceed from the constitution being
from observation.” And he adds, “What robbed of its proper supply of nourishment,
is poison? It is that (substance, in what-while at the same time it is compelled to
ever form it may be, which when applied to carry on increased action, and increase the
a living surface, whether external or in- process of absorption beyond that of nutri-
ternal, disconcerts life's healthy movements. tion : besides, the glands through which the
It is altogether distinct from substances absorbent vessels pass, being kept under
which are in their nature nutritious. It is constant irritation, become enlarged, har-
not capable of being converted into food, dened, and variously altered in their struc-
and of becoming part of the living organs. ture, till at last they cease to carry on the
We all know that proper food is wrought functions to which they are destined, and the
into our bodies. The action of animal life fluids which they used to transmit become
occasions a constant waste, and new mat- effused in the surrounding parts. The dis-
ter has to be taken in, which, after diges-eased deposits which occur at the heart and
tion, is carried into the blood, and there along the blood-vessels seem to be produced
changed," and assimilated so as to supply all by the efforts of the minute vessels which
the waste of the frame. “ But poison is in- supply these organs to resist the injury that
capable of this. It may indeed be mixed might result to larger blood-vessels from
with nutritious substances," as arsenic for their increased action, produced by the pre-
rats, “but if it goes into the blood, it is sence of ardent stimuli; in other words, a
thrown off as soon as the system can accom- given amount of blood, with a given force, and
plish its deliverance, unless nature has been in a given time, circulates through a set of
too far enfeebled by the influence of the tubes, contractile and expansible up to a cer-
poison. Such a poison is alcohol ; such, in tain point; these tubes are of a certain
all its forms, mix it with what you may. It length and diameter, and in their healthy
is never digested and converted into nourish- condition are capable of affording passage to
ment." The same is true of it as of arsenic the blood, according to the usual rate and
and corrosive sublimate. Dr. Dods, to quantity; but when their diameter is di-
whom we just now referred, in his evidence minished through the influence of spirits, and
before the Committee of the House of Com- when the frequency and force of the circula-
mons, gave the following physiological ex- tion is, from the same cause, considerably in-
planation of the effects of this poison upon creased, the vessels become strained at some
the human constitution:“Alcohol coagulates part of their course, and the vital energies
the albuminous and gelatinous parts of the instantly attempting to prevent or repair the
structure, and corrugates the solid parts, injury, throw out fluids which become coa-
as the muscles, &c. Its effect on the blood- gulated, and remain as mechanical obstacles
vessels seems to be twofold increased
to the proper discharge of future functions.
excitement and contraction in the diame- Many lamentable specimens of morbid de-
ter of the vessels; this tends to produce en- posits are furnished by habits of intempe-
largement in some parts of the blood-vessels,
and many 6 wearisome days and
or effusion should their coats give way at restless nights” become the purchase of
any part of their course. Diseased deposits such thoughtless indulgences. On the same
are frequently formed where a branch is principle might we explain enlargement of
given off, or in some wider portions of the the heart, of the aorta, and other parts of
blood-vessels, which give rise to most pain- the arteries, apoplexy, coma or lethargy, and
ful symptoms, such as are common in gout the like ; always taking into the account the
or rheumatism. Increased excitement, also, influence of vital action, and a combination
from the use of stimuli, maintained for a of other causes aiding or resisting the various
given time, diminishes, in proportion, the results. It were easy to extend my remarks
healthy functions of the organs, and leads on this part of the subject to a much greater
slowly, though certainly, to alterations both length, but enough has been said to con-
in structure and function : in this way we vince those who will yield to facts, of the
may account for diseased livers, diseased kid- injurious effects of ardent spirits, when used
neys, diseased hearts, and symptoms which even moderately for any length of time. If
indicate these in the effusions of serum, the thoughtless consumers, or zealou ad-
which occur in different regions of the body, vocates of strong stimuli, would accompany
and is called dropsy, water in the chest, and us to a few post mortem examinations of
rance,

26
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
individuals who have persevered in such liver was gibbous at the extremity, com.
habits, or were called to witness, like us, pletely rounded, white within, and its pecu-
the sufferings they previously endured, they liar structure very much obliterated. The
would feel horrified at their own folly and artery of the dura mater, or outer mem-
ignorance, and if they were wise would never brane of the brain, wus blood-shot. He
touch the bowl again. But whatever men died of injury of the brain from alcohol.'**
may think, and however they may act, still He also stated, “That cases of disorganiza-
it is true that the use of ardent spirit, now so tion from the abuse of fermented liquor,
prevalent, is one of the greatest evils that ever with every other variety of disorder, and also
has befallen the human race. It is a second demoralization of mind, resulting from the
curse, which seems destined completely to same cause, had frequently come before him
destroy every blossom of beauty and virtue, as a consulting physician.'+ He asserted,
which the first left blanched and drooping that by demoralizing the mind, it led " to
here and there upon the face of the earth.”* pauperism, riots, murders, suicide." I He
We have given this passage, because it says, that “diluted spirit destroys as effectu-
contains a physiological explanation of the ally, although more slowly, than the undi-
baneful effects of intoxicating drinks upon luted, and therefore, that the addition of
our constitution, furnished by a gentleman water does not make any change in the
of accurate observation, and who, in his me- property of distilled spirit.”Ş Again, “ Al-
dical capacity, has repeatedly seen most cohol destroys the lacteal absorbent surface,
affecting illustrations of the facts he has and the lymphatic absorbents take up the
stated. These words of Doctor R. G. Dods more, and the man begins to waste, in
ought to be printed in letters of gold, and such a case, immediately."||
He adds,
hung up in the most prominent place of that " spirits destroy life by the destruction
every room of moderate as well as of immo- of the balance of circulation, by excitement,
derate drinkers. But before making any and subsequent collapse, or the disorganiza-
remarks on this affecting exhibition of the tion resulting on the reaction therefrom."
evil influence of alcohol, we will give a few He affirms, that “cholera was more fatal to
quotations from the evidence of Dr. Farre. drunkards than to others, and also that
On the Committee handing to this emi- “ fewer recovered under treatment by the
nent physician the paper which contains the diffusible stimulants of alcohol and opium,
testimony of nearly five hundred distin- than by a milder and more discreet treat-
guished medical men, to which we just now ment."** He mentions an instance of post
alluded, after reading the words, “By the mortem examination of a person who died
following certificates it will be seen that from mania, produced by alcohol, in which
ardent spirit is ascertained by medical he “the brain, to use a strong ex-
science to be in a strict sense a poison, and pression, may be said to have sweated blood,
that the use of it as an article of diet, espe- and the case decided a disputed point in
cially among the poorer classes, is the direct anatomy, whether or no the dura mater, or
cause of an incalculable and appalling amount living membrane of the skull, and the in-
of disease and death," the Doctor said, “It vesting membrane of the brain, consisted of
is strictly so in regard to the destruc-
two layers, for in this instance the blood
tion of life. Undoubtedly that is the fact; it was effused between these two layers and
destroys the gastro-hepatic system, produc- formed a distinct lamina of blood between
ing a variety of liver diseases, as in flamma- them, marking the extreme point to which
tion, especially the chronic hepatitis, what the circulation was forced.”++ As con-
Baillie termed the small white tubercle of firmatory of his statements, the Doctor
the liver ; also cancerous affections, as the instanced the case af a woman who died of
large fungus of the liver, and completely obli- jaundice and disorganized liver from drink-
terates the fine structure of that organ. With ing a quart of malt liquor daily while living
respect to the stomach and intestines, it de- a sedentary life; and of “a farmer of a
stroys the villous surface of their lining most vigorous constitution who was blind,
membrane, so that death is inevitable. The
and injured in other important functions, at
very root of the absorbent system is de- the age of forty-two, in consequence of ale-
stroyed. But great as the destruction is upon drinking.”All medical men seem to be
the gastro-hepatic system, I have seen again agreed on the sentiment which Doctor Dods
and again the patient fall from the rending advanced in another place, that “ diseases
of the brain by the excessive forcing of the of the brain, of the liver, of the heart and
circulation, before the disorganization of blood vessels, of the kidneys, of the stomach,
the liver had gone to the point of producing of the pancreas, of the bladder, of the skin;
dropsy, which is the usual precursor of that apoplexy, insanity, mental delusions,
death.”+ Speaking of the post mortem ex- delirium tremens and spontaneous combustion,
amination of the body of a drinker, he says,
“ He died of sanguineous apoplexy.
His
* Parliamentary Report, p. 102.
+ p. 98.
$p. 103.
p. 104.
* Parliamentary Report on Drunkenness, p. 224.
#p. 107.
+ Ibid. p. 102.
says,
# p. 103.
** Ibid.
t7 Ibid.
| p. 105.

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS.
27
all spring from the use of alcoholic drinks."* and lighter than water, is at once taken up
6 mental dejection, morbid irritability, ungo- by the venous absorbent capillaries and
vernable passion, frightful delusions, con- circulated through our frame. * It has been
firmed insanity, aneurism, and the perpetra- found in the blood and the brain, and
tion of the foulest crimes, as duelling, mur- has, in such circumstances, actually ignited
der, suicide, &c.,"† the same physician on light being applied to it. If conveyed
attributes to strong drinks as their origin. into the stomach in connexion with any
Children also are said to be stunted in their nutritious matter, as in the case of beer or
growth, and often unhealthy all their days, wine, in which we shall hereafter show
or perhaps sent to their grave in infancy in there is a very small portion of nutriment
consequence of the diseased constitution indeed, the substantial part is left in the
which they have inherited from drinking stomach, while the alcohol is circulated
parents, or from having alcohol in some form
through the frame. But as it is an acrid fiery
or other early administered to them. I In poison, it irritates and stimulates the whole
cases of disease also it is allowed by all system. In an instant it affects the nerves,
parties, that the profoundest skill of the and through them the brain; it moves the
physician is often entirely counteracted by heart and pulse with an unnatural rapidity,
the folly of nurses and others, who most in- and communicates its fire to the very extre-
discreetly administer these stimulants to the mities of our bodies. Who has not felt his
sick. The reader by this time must be head in one moment affected by a mere
satiated, or we could multiply medical taste, yea, by the smell of a small quantity
opinions and testimonies to almost any ex- of wine, or his feet warmed in an instant
tent, and all agreeing in the statement, that all by a glass of gin? Now we have in these
the diseases which we have mentioned, and instances examples or proofs that this pesti-
a great many more, are produced and cherish- lential drug paces through the length and
ed by the use of these intoxicating beverages. breadth of our constitution. It leaves no
The examples already given, show us part unvisited, unstimulated or uninjured.
that alcohol, whether diluted or not, is a
We may apply to it the words of Shak-
poison, and that belonging to the class, dif- speare,
fusible stimuli, it circulates through the
“ The leprous distilment, whose effect
whole frame. Mr. Higginbotham, an ex- Holds such enmity with the blood of man,
perienced surgeon in Nottingham, informs That, swift as quicksilver, it courses through
us that, “ unchanged in its property, it pass-
The natural gates and alleys of the body,
es through the brain, lungs, heart, liver,
And, with accursed poison, it doth infect
The thin and wholesome blood.”
and every organ of the body, through every
muscle, and bone ; every part of the system
We have good evidence that it leaves no
is washed with it, and no part wants it.”
part, which it visits, as sound as it found it.
Dr. Beaumont has shown from his experi; of the circumstance, that St. Martin, to whom
We tell the reader who has not heard
ments on the stomach of St. Martin, that all
the fluids that enter the stomach are im-
we have before alluded, was a young Ca-
mediately absorbed. It seems that the nadian, who was shot across the stomach.
stomach is only capable of digesting what
The ball took off a portion of one of his
is solid, and therefore it always dismisses ribs, a part of his liver, and left an orifice
which never closed. Dr. Beaumont, who was
every fluid before it can commence the im-
portant labour of digestion. When milk was
attached to the army as surgeon, undertook
taken, Dr. Beaumont found, on looking hole in his stomach remained, so that it was
to cure him. The wound healed, but the
into St. Martin's stomach that it was imme-
diately changed into curd, the solid parts necessary to bind on it a little pad to prevent
were detained and digested, while the whey,
his food from coming out.
After the cure
he went home and married. But Dr. Beau.
or liquid part, was instantly absorbed by the
venous capillaries which open upon the
mont considering that such an opportunity
surface of the stomach that they may carry
for investigating the mysterious process of
away the fluids, and thus remove them from digestion might not again occur, sent for
an organ where they are not wanted, and
him, and kept him between two and three
in which they would injure digestion.
It years under his roof. The result of his ob-
is now a well known fact, that the gastric servations are most valuable ; so much so,
juice is the only fluid employed in digesting intended the event for the good of the hu-
that we cannot but believe that Providence
our food.
This is produced by nature in a
pure state, and in the exact quantity needed
man family. Now, among the experi-
to chyme the food. To dilute this most
ments which Dr. Beaumont made, one
was to discover the effects of fermented
marvellous fluid, would be to injure it, and
therefore the liquids, whatever may be the liquors on the organs of digestion, and
he found that when St. Martin drank
kind we may drink with our meals, must be
these, “the mucous membrane of the
removed out of the way before digestion can
Hence alcohol, which is thinner
stomach was covered with inflammatory and
ulcerous patches, the secretions were vitiated,
* Parliamentary Report on Drunkenness, p. 223.
+ p. 224. * p. 219.
# Dr. Combe on Digestion, &c., 78, 79.
go on.

28
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
and the gastric juice diminished in quantity, functions better when it is “ inflamed and
and of an unnaturai viscidity, and yet he ulcerated” than when it is sound and healthy?
described himself as perfectly well, and Were we to apply to our hands and feet and
complained of nothing. Two days subse- tongues a poison which would blister and
quent to this, the inner membrane of the ulcerate them, should we be able to work
stomach was unusually morbid, the inflam- better, talk better, or move about with more
matory appearance more extensive, the spots pleasure ? What madness, then, to subject
more livid than usual; from the surface of so delicate an organ as the stomach to these
some of them exuded small drops of grumcus inconveniences ! But it must not be forgot-
blood ; the ulcerous patches were larger and ten that it is in the stomach, and by the help
more numerous ; the mucous covering thicker of the gastric juice that the food undergoes
than usual, and the gastric secretions much that vital change which fits it for nutrition.
more vitiated.
The gastric fluids extracted If what we eat is not digested, it cannot
were mixed with a large proportion of thick nourish us. Now, Dr. Beaumont found that
ropy mucous, and a considerable muco-pu- you could not mix the gastric juice even
rulent discharge, slightly tinged with blood, with distilled water, which is allowed to be
resembling discharges from the bowels in one of the purest diluents in nature, without
some cases of dysentery. Notwithstanding injuring its properties, and staying digestion.
this diseased appearance of the stomach, no He put a piece of meat into a phial of pure
very essential aberration of its functions gastric juice, and another piece into some
was manifested. St. Martin complained of that was diluted; both were subjected to the
no symptoms indicating any general de- same heat, but the meat in the phial that con-
rangement of the system, except an uneasy tained the undiluted juice was digested best
sensation and tenderness at the pit of the and soonest. And if it could not be im-
stomach, and some vertigo with dimness and proved by so simple a substance as distilled
yellowness of vision on stooping down and water, much less could it be improved by
rising up again.” Dr. Beaumont further mixture with such a poison as alcohol, which
observed, that “The free use of ardent both ulcerates the stomach, and hardens the
spirits, wine, beer, or any other intoxicating food which is taken. Alcohol is an antiseptic;
liquor, when continued for some days, has we put bodies into it to preserve them from
invariably produced these changes." decay. Can anything, then, be more ab-
I have introduced these experiments and surd than to saturate our food with an
observations of the effects of fermented
antiseptic that it may dissolve the better?
liquors upon the stomach, for the purpose of Should we commend the wisdom of the potter
shewing that this insidious poison com- who should first harden the clay that he might
mences its work of destruction as soon as it render it more plastic ? And yet we are
comes in contact with the digestive organs. guilty of greater folly in swallowing a drink
It does not wait until it has spread through which renders the food harder, and more
the frame, but it actually attacks the very difficult of digestion, and boast of doing so for
first member it touches. The mouth and
the purpose of increasing its digestibleness !
palate dismiss it immediately. It would Fermented liquor, instead of improving the
probably cure the worst of sots of his pro- gastric juice, ulcerates the stomach, and even-
pensity, if you could fix a plug in his throat, tually corrupts this marvellous solvent with
and doom him to keep his mouth full of gin purulent matter, and instead of increasing its
and water or strong beer for a whole day. quantity, actually lessens it, and at the same
It is a query whether his tongue, subjected time covers the lining of the stomach with
to twelve hours' action of alcohol upon its sores and ulcers; and are these things good
surface, would have any skin on it at night. for digestion ? Let us put them together,
But the tongue is far less liable to hurt from and look at them again, or rather let us
such a source than the inner coats of the prescribe the following remedy for dyspepsy.
stomach, and the blood vessels. These deli- 1. Food rendered indigestible by an anti-
cate organs are, therefore, peculiarly suscep- septic poison. 2. The gastric juice dimi-
tible of injury from this “ acrid poison.” nished to a less quantity than the digestion
The stomach, which is one of the most im- of the food positively demands. 3. The
portant laboratories of our frame, is injured same juice diluted with the pus that has
as soon as this vile spirit enters it. It be- exuded from an ulcer. 4. A stomach covered
comes, as actual observation has now demon- with sores and inflammatory wounds pro-
strated, " inflamed and ulcerated." The gas- duced by the fiery irritations of an acrid poi-
tric juice is greatly lessened and vitiated, and son! The physician who should prescribe
in a short time mixed with a large proportion such a remedy for the dyspeptic would be
of thick, ropy mucous, and a considerable muco- deemed more fit for St. Luke's than a dis-
purulent discharge, slightly tinged with blood,
pensary;
and yet this is the panacea, the
resembling the discharge from the bowels in heal-all, that every medical adviser recom-
some cases of dysentery." And will any one mends who directs his patients or his friends
say that the gastric juice is bettered by being to drink fermented or distilled liquors for
thus mixed with the corrupt discharge of indigestion or any other disease! We should
ulcers? or that the stomach can perform its scarcely pour salt into a fountain in order

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS.
29
nerves
cure.
that the stream might be sweet, nor would | heave sigh for sigh over their shattered
a chemist render his retorts and jars fusible
and disordered digestive organs.
or corrosive that his gases might be the purer; Warriors and lawyers, parsons, senators, and
yet this is what we do in drinking alcoholic huntsmen, all suffer from bile, indigestion,
drinks. We pour a poison into the blood and a swimming in the head. The lords
which corrupts and inflames it, and we do and the ladies of creation have changed the
so to make it pure ! We ulcerate the sto- lovely rouge of nature for the sallow tinges
mach to render it more capable of its func- of jaundice, bile, or disorganized liver.
tions! And what is the result of all this? Every newspaper has its long advertise-
Why that indigestion is become a national ments of antibilious quackery, and the pill-
disease. The athletic husbandman, whose box is become an essential part of the furni-
frame, in former years, was braced with ture of the toilet and dressing-case. Morison,
nerves of iron, and who laughed at the weak- and a thousand other quacks, have reaped
ling who talked of being nervous, now, from princely fortunes in catering for stomachs and
drinking ale and cider, trembles like an nerves which alcoholic drinks have ulcerated
aspen leaf; and this sturdy rustic who, in or shattered. “Doctors," as Abernethy said,
the days of our fathers, never felt that he “ have multiplied beyond all precedent, and
had a stomach, now goes to the druggist for diseases have kept pace with them.” Never
carbonate of soda, or keeps in his bed-room were there such host of physicians, nor of
a box of antibilious pills! The medical wit- maladies which they feel incompetent to
nesses before the House of Commons, agreed
These diseases are not in the pure
in stating that indigestion among the labour- atmosphere of heaven, are not in the whole-
ing classes is altogether a new disease, and all some farina of wheat, the starch of potatoes,
equally agreed in attributing it to strong or the fibre and gelatine of animal food.
drinks. On hearing a youth complaining of These painful affections belong not essen-
being nervous, an old woman, the other day, tially to the frame which God has given us.
exclaimed, “Nervous! nervous ! People had They are not natural, but acquired, and
no nerves when I was young!” They had acquired from the use of alcohol more than
what was better. They had nerves in a from any other source. We drink a poison,
healthy state, and therefore they were never innoculate ourselves with disease, and then
reminded, by diseased tremours, that they impiously exclaim, “That it has pleased
had any nerves at all. Savages, that have God to give us a diseased constitution !"
none of our stimulants, have scarcely more That it has pleased him to associate poison
than one disease among them, and that dis- and pain together is a wise provision, to
ease is death not sudden, or from apo- deter us from infecting our bodies and
plexy—but from the shaft of the warrior, or shortening our lives; but that it has pleased
the gradual decay of nature, unless famine may him arbirtrarily, and without any fault of
have intervened. Our strong and wholesome ours, to scourge us with indigestion, ner-
ales and ciders, as they are called, our potent vousness, apoplexy, and aneurism, is a re-
wines and cordials, as they are puffed, instead flection on his Goodness that falls little
of bracing, have shaken, the nerves of the short of blasphemy. “ He doth not willingly
nation, and made us tremble at a shadow. afflict nor grieve the children of men.” What
Some, perhaps, have it in their power to can be more impious than to manufacture
gratify a vitiated taste more than others, and a deleterious spirit; to destroy millions'
by stimulating their frames till, to use the worth of nutritious food; to drink a pesti-
strong language of Dr. Farre, their “brains ferous bowl and send the poison through
rend,” may feel little of nervousness, and our veins; and then charge a God of love
consequently have a short life and a merry with arbitrarily dooming us to disease and
one, and rush into eternity uncalled for, and a premature tomb !
Dr. Dods tells us, in
Lefore they have “accomplished as an hire- the passage already quoted, that “ alcohol
ling their day.” Some may have a particu- coagulates the albuminous and gelatinous
larly robust frame, so that it may have taken parts of our structure, and corrugates the
them sixty or seventy years to break up solid parts as the muscles, &c.” Surely na-
their constitutions; but these are exceptions, ture never intended that we should thus
and their number is gradually decreasing, curd the juices of our frame, or contract
and we are getting weaker and weaker as a and wrinkle the muscles which God intend-
people. Indigestion is born with us, and ed for the vigorous and pleasurable move-
the infant that hangs at his mother's breast ments of our bodies! Under the increased
pines day and night under the pangs of dys- excitement of alcohol, the same physiologist
pepsia, while the nutritious stream, that informs us that “the circulation is quicken-
nature has provided for his sustenance, poi-cd," and the “diameter of the vessels,
soned with the alcohol that his mother through which the blood has to flow, is
drinks, feeds the disease, and condemns him diminished.” More work is demanded at
to a life of suffering. The ploughman, who the very time that the capacity of these
breathes the purest air of heaven, and the wonderful tubes for their labour is de-
delicate lady, who cannot inhale a volume of creased. In the wise economy of nature,
the wholesome atmosphere without a cold, “ a given amount of blood, with a given

30
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
force, in a given time," and through pipes men of athletic form and bulk superannuated
of a given and proper diameter” is to be before they are fifty ; unable to read, write,
circulated; by drinking intoxicating drinks, or cast accounts, because of a dizziness in
we increase the quantity of Arid which we the head; unable to think, speak, or act,
have changed into fiery contaminated blood, because of their nervous affections? These
we increase the force that propels it, we short- gentlemen, though six feet high, like senti-
en the time in which it is to be done,-and mental girls, have a supposed hysterical ball
at the same moment, decrease the diameter in the throat, and must have a smelling-
of the tubes through which it is to pass bottle, or a perfumed snuff-box, to keep them
and is it any wonder that blood vessels from fainting; must wash in eau-de-cologne
burst, sometimes on the brain and cause to keep up their spirits, or must carry cam-
instant death; sometimes in the lungs, phorated or other lozenges in their pockets
and afflict for life that mysterious purifier to prevent their swooning in company.
of the blood ? Is it wonderful that by the These all know that the bottle would be an
bursting of over-worked, over-heated, and instantaneous reviver ; but then they have
poisoned vessels, “ diseased deposits” should learnt by experience that excitement from
be formed which may ulcerate the lungs, such a source would only, after the fumes of
ossify the heart, produce cancers and cal- the spirit had evaporated, or rather, per-
culi of various descriptions and kinds ? haps, intoxicated every nerve, muscle, and
Bleeding at the nose, hæmorrhoidal and blood-vessel of their body, render them
other diseased fluxes and swellings occur more dyspeptic, bilious, and tottering.
from the same cause. As alcohol, especially What a wonder that they do not allow
seeks the heart, the seat of life, and propels Nature to finish their education in dietetics
it with a deadly velocity, and seeks the She has taught them that partial abstinence
brain, the seat of thought, intelligence, and from these drinks is good, and if they would
moral judgment, and, by loading the blood but listen to her suggestions, she would
vessels of that delicate organ, encumbers the show them that total abstinence would be
head, is it to be wondered at that palpita- their effectual cure. It will soon be seen
tion of the heart ensues, or that the mind is that what are laughed at as the vagaries of
too confused to think, or that the eye be-tea-totallers, are, after all, the benevolent dic
comes dim, the ears deaf, and the tongue tates of our constitution, and that Nature
clammy? Persons that drink stimulating has preached total abstinence from the days
liquors have a swimming in their heads, a of Adam. By headaches, by indigestion,
dimness before their vision, a ringing in by trembling nerves, palpitating hearts, ery-
their ears, a nervous sense of obstruction in sipelatous and dropsical limbs; by bile, hæ-
the organs of speech, a supposed ball rising morrhage, consumption, asthma, and hepatic
up in their throats, and a palsied shake of affections, she has long been calling upon
the hand, and tottering of the limbs. And men to abstain from these poisonous pota-
nothing could be more natural than that it tions.
should be so. The brain, whence all the The writer of this essay always in using
nerves of the frame beautifully and delicately these drinks, observed the rules of modera-
ramify in ten thousand different directions, tion, but nevertheless was doomed for years
is put under a confused and unhealthy ex- to a miserable existence from this cause
citement, and therefore all the messengers alone. My nervous feelings were such that
which it sends forth, to accomplish volition, I have often risen up to walk to see if my
to collect information, or bring home intel- limbs would move, and repeatedly have
ligence, are injured, weakened, and doomed spoken aloud to ascertain if my speech was
to be partakers of the confusion of the head. not altogether gone. A constant mist
Hence, vision is misty from the intoxication floated before my eyes, sounds rung in my
of the nerve of the eye,- the hearing is ears; an unnatural weight, or sensation of
diseased from the unnatural action of the weight, oppressed my head, and made it
nerves of the ear,—and the tongue, the painful to stoop; a knock at the door shook
throat, the hands, the feet, are all equally my whole frame, and family prayer was
disturbed in the performance of their duty. repeatedly postponed from inability and
Unnatural sounds are heard, unnatural want of voice to pass through the duty.
sights are seen, unearthly voices are uttered, Flatulency to a degree that seemed to
and the whole man is more like a puppet threaten all the functions of life was my
danced by wires than a being who has nerves, daily companion, and has often compelled
brain, and a human soul associated with me to rise up by night and exert myself
these, to regulate his movements, and guide most vigorously to remove the indesirable
him in the interpretation of his sensations. tightness across the chest which it occasion-
It must not be supposed that what has ed Biliousness rendered almost every kind
just been described are the feelings of the of food nauseating. The greater part of
intemperate alone; they are the associates of the wholesome and nutritious "good crea-
moderate drinking in ten thousand instances. tures of God" were placed under the ban of
What is more common than to meet with my diseased stomach. whose healthy powers

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS.
31
man.
extra sermon.
were destroyed by this accursed creature of ciple I have adopted. Nothing can be more
My heart used to beat so loud after absurd than for a man whose employment
retiring to bed, that for some time, I could or profession calls for mental exercise and
get no sleep. My rest was never refreshing, excitement, to drink intoxicating or any
because a diseased stomach and stimulated stimulating drinks. Surely commercial cal-
brain and nerves tortured me with dreams, culations and enterprizes, preparing for the
sometimes the most horrific that can be bar, the pulpit, or the senate, are excite-
imagined; besides what is vulgarly termed ments enough, without stimulating the head
the cramp and nightmare, which arose from with a material spirit. I know, from a good
the action of alcohol on my nerves and many experiments, that a glass of wine, in
muscles, used frequently to disturb my the fatigue it produces, is quite equal to an
rest. Constipation, which sometimes seemed
The old mode of passing
to bid defiance to the strongest medicine, the Sunday was enough to shatter a brain
made me wretched from day to day. Fre- and nerves of iron. 1. The excitement and
quently have I expected every minute to faint, mental activity in preparing for the pulpit
especially when in company. The feeling which greatly exercised the brain. 2. The
that I should instantly fall down dead labour of going through the service, which,
haunted we every where. I used, when whether pleasant or painful, still agitated the
from home, always to take a card in my brain. 3. When service was over a glass of
pocket lest I should drop dead in the street, wine, which immediately went to the head.
and my friends might not hear of me.
In 4. Dinner and another glass of beer or wine.
reading the word of God, or the Church still going to the brain and nerves. 5. After-
service, I was compelled to select short noon service, all mental and exciting to the
chapters, and the length of the thanksgiving brain. 6. Tea or coffee, all highly stimu-
used to shake my whole frame. Such are a lating, and operating immediately upon the
few of the evils I endured. Physicians told nerves and brain. 7. Preparations for
me my disease was clerical, and I must give evening service still agitating the head. 8.
up study, drink weak brandy-and-water, or a Reading, prayer, and sermon, each a mental
glass of wine per day. Having drunk more effort, and keeping the head excited. 9.
wine and brandy than usual during the cho- After service a glass of wine, which in-
lera, I providentially discovered that spirits flamed the already jaded-headed. 10. Sup-
disagreed with me, and gave them up entirely. per, attended with some alcoholic drink to di-
My nerves got better, and my health alto gest the whole and give sleep! And to all this
gether improved. Still I took a little home- may be added a stomach, rendered by these
brewed beer daily, and occasionally a little intoxicating potations, unfit for the work of
wine, and dear enough had I to pay for the digestion, and while the brain and nerves
indulgence. The arguments of James Teare, were suffering from exhaustion, dyspepsy
four years ago, induced me to try " total prevented the food from being changed into
abstinence," and all my complaints almost the nutritious aliment that nature demanded.
instantly fled. I am never troubled with Thus the body was doomed to extraordinary
bile; I never need medicine. I hardly labour and exhaustion, and was at the same
know that I have either a head, stomach or time robbed of the support which well-
nerves, because they never pain me.
digested food would have furnished. Could
eat whatever comes to hand without fear of anything be more absurd than such a mode
bile or indigestion. I can sleep soundly, of proceeding? Rest and wholesome diet
and am rarely troubled with dreams. are the two resources of our frame when
can read and study for days together with- worn out by labour; but in this case both
out pain or injury. Indeed mental exercise were denied. The brain, by study, preaching,
seems to be advantageous. I can preach four praying and alcohol, was not allowed a
times on the Sabbath, and often without minute's rest. And as digestion was im-
the least fatigue. But, for total abstinence, paired, the waste of the body was not sup-
I am sure that I must now have been on plied by nutrition, and instead thereof was
the superanuated list of ministers; while, inflamed with a poison. Is it any wonder
from adopting that principle, my life is plea- that ministers, commercial men, senators
surable and my labours refreshing. I used and others, often become paralytic, or are
to feel such fatigue on a Monday as to be disabled by dyspeptic and nervous affec-
unfit for anything; but now I can rise at tions? I will leave others to judge whether
four or five o'clock on a Monday morning, my present mode of life is or is not most
and commence the closest study without the likely to conduce to health. Let us take
least inconvenience. I have mentioned my the Sabbath. 1. Rise at half-past five, and,
own case, because I have reason to believe before leaving home, take a small portion of
that in my former feelings I had a thousand food, and then a gentle walk into the coun-
brother dyspeptics among studious and pro- try. 2. Short service, prayer ting, or
fessional men, who could enter into all the preaching for about an hour. 3. Gentle
feelings that I have described, and who walk home, by which the blood is drawn
might obtain a cure by following the prin- from the head to the feet, and the brain is
I can

32
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
rested and fitted for the next service. Break- of the body to perform extra labour, and,
fast, if necessary, is also now finished, which, at the same time, robs them of the nutriment
by causing a tendency of the blood to the which all need to enable them to perform their
stomach, equally rests the brain, and keeps extra task. Were a farmer or a manufacturer
up a healthful circulation. 4. The ten to rob his labourers of a considerable portion
o'clock service, easy to the head and nerves, of their daily bread, and then to apply to
because each have been enjoying repose. them all a whip and compel them to do
5. After service, the brain, instead of being double work, he would only treat his men
excited by alcohol, allowed to rest. 6. as the drinker of alcoholic poison treats his
Dinner of nutritious food, but nothing own body. By injuring the digestive organs
alcoholic taken, either to render the food the system is deprived of a portion of the
indigestible, ulcerate the stomach, or agitate wholesome aliment which it demands, and
the head. 7. Afternoon or evening ser- by stimulating the frame, every organ is
vice, for which the body, re-invigorated with flogged on to an unnatural degree of labour
food, and the brain with rest, are amply and waste; great exhaustion and fatigue
prepared, and the labour itself becomes must therefore be the result. The writer
rather refreshing and bracing than other- can speak experimentally. When he drank
wise. Lastly, The services ended, a light these stimulants, bodily or mental exertion
supper, if any, nothing stimulating, or in- was always followed with extreme fatigue ;
toxicating drunk, the brain and nerves are but now he can pursue either, to a much
allowed to rest or simply cheered by conver greater degree, with scarcely any sense of
sation, until balmy sleep grants herrefreshing weariness, and, what is more remarkable,
hours of repose.
with a less quantity of nutritious food.
We have merely placed these two modes There is reason to believe that what was
of living in juxtaposition, that the reader, formerly eaten was never properly digested
whether a physiologist or not, may judge or assimilated, while, from this circumstance,
which of the two he deems most conducive and from the excitement of these liquors, an
to health and bodily comfort. Surely, it unnatural appetite was created ; but now a
hardly needs the consideration of a child less amount of food is taken, nothing stimu-
to perceive that great corporeal or mental lant is drank, and more bodily strength is
exercise cannot require the addition of a felt and consequently less fatigue from even
poisonous stimulant to add to the fatigue of a far greater degree of labour.
It is re-
the frame. Bodily exercise, whether with markable that all who have given total ab-
the hands or feet, is excitement ; mental stinence a fair trial have felt the same. I
exercise, whether in the college, the senate- have under my eye, masons, plasterers,
house, the laboratory, the study, or count- reapers and harvest-men, sawyers, carpen-
ing-house, is excitement, and makes a great ters, blacksmiths, hawkers that travel miles
demand upon the nerves and the brain. every day with a pack at their back, men
What need, then, in either of these cases, that work in factories for twelve hours
to add the debilitating impulses of strong a day, shopkeepers, medical men, minis-
drinks? Let the digestive organs be kept ters, students, delicate females, mothers
healthy, and, in most instances, they will be, nursing their children, men working in
if this poison is kept out of the stomach ; sugar-houses for twelve or sixteen hours in
let nutritious food be taken, and then the the day exposed to a high temperature of
gastric juice and the other fluids employed heat, men working in a brick-yard exposed
in preparing the food for its office as an to damps and cold, persons who have drunk
aliment, will send through the whole frame to excess, and those who never drunk more
a fluid which will gently excite without ex- than moderately,--and yet all of these with-
haustion, and will supply the constant waste out a single exception have adopted "total ab-
of the system. But alcoholic drinks, as Dr. stinence," not only without any inconveni-
Mussey has remarked, " cannot be digested." ence, but with much actual advantage.
The stomach, as Dr. Beaumont observed in There is one testimony which all give, which
the case of St. Martin, does not digest is " That they can perform their labour with
water, much less can it digest alcohol, which a less degree of fatigue.” And all this, as
is lighter and less substantial than water. every physiologist must admit, is perfectly
It seems that whatever liquid enters the natural. As we have said before, Labour is
stomach, is strained or filtered through the excitement, study is excitement. Many a
venous capillaries; the solid parts are left mechanic has to use his head and his hands
behind for digestion, and the liquid is sent at the same time, and therefore is hourly
through the body; alcohol therefore cannot under the impulses of a double excitement;
be nutritious because it cannot be digested and will any medical man, who knows his
In its native character, as a diffusive poison, business, say that a third excitement is
it visits every organ of our frame, and carries needed to prevent fatigue? The man that
its heat and excitement to the most extreme would say so has yet to study the physiology,
parts of the system, and injures and de- ay, and pathology, of his profession, and is
ranges the whole. It calls on every power a mere certificated quack, in whose hands

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS.
33
In many
OT
sweetness.
no one ought to trust his life or his health. never has any poor being suffered more
He who has much labour and much excite- deeply from its scourge. Under its influ-
ment wants nutrition, not stimulus. But ence she has been robbed of all the softness,
alcholic drinks are stimulating poisons which delicacy, and modesty of her nature. By it
cannot nourish, but rather add to the fatigue she has been changed into a virago, scold,
of the body by the very momentary impulse tyrant, and impassioned demon.
they seem to give, and poison it at the same instances it has made her affectedly senti-
time. I have been particularly interested mental, or worse than brutally hard-hearted,
in perceiving the good effects of “total ab- or a capricious dissatisfied despot, whom
stinence" on females of delicate health. I no one could please. Her brain and nerves,
know one case of a lady of a very weak and consequently her intellectual and bodily
constitution, who always was attended by a energies have been impaired and ruined by
doctor, but who, on totally abstaining from it. It has introduced to her frame every de-
all intoxicating drinks, became healthy and scription of disease, and contaminated her
strong, immediately dismissed her medical mind with every vice. Such have been its
attendant and threw away her physic. effects in ten thousand cases on the fairest
Another, for six years, had been the subject part of creation. We could scarcely
of the most distressing pains of the sto- pardon the miscreant who would wantonly
mach, back, spine, head and limbs. Nurs- pour upon
the “rose of Sharon"
ing her children was attended with the “the lily of the valley” a liquid that
most painful sensations and weariness. She would wither its beauties and destroy its
adopted total abstinence, lost her ailments,
Yet woman, the loveliest and
and since has nursed two children without fairest flower upon earth, is daily being
once complaining of exhaustion. What is blanched, contaminated, or destroyed by
worthy of remark, the children are much this deleterious liquor. If we blush not at
stronger than either of the others were at the thought that strong athletic men should
the same age and enjoy uninterrupted health. be changed by alcohol into trembling effe-
This is all perfectly natural. No alcohol minate women, yet let us not push the bowl
has been taken by the mother and she has further round and change woman into a
not suffered from the exciting fatigue of vixen, a weeping sentimentalist, an impas-
that stimulus. The nutritious food with sioned fury, or a torpid and insipid dyspep-
which nature has supplied her for her tic. No one can rationally and seriously
infants has not been poisoned with alcohol, contemplate the effects of even moderate
and the children have suffered nothing from drinking upon female health and character,
flatulency or other complaints that torture without feeling the most imperative motive
infancy. Their digestion has not been in- to abstain. By the ancient Roman laws it
jured, or their tender nerves and brain ex- was death for a woman to drink wine. Both
cited by spirits in any form, and therefore Pliny and Polybius attest this fact.
The
are healthy and strong: The command punishment may have been severe, but the
given to Samson's mother was not arbi- prohibition was natural.
God never in-
trary, but physiological. Had his mother tended her delicate system to be inspirited
drunk either wine or strong drink it would by alcohol. And the rude Roman knew
hare required a constant miracle from God that if she drunk these poisons, she would
to extract the poisonous stimulant from become “dead while she lived," and there-
his frame, and to heal the hourly injuries fore, by execution, he doomed her at once
that it would have inflicted on his sto- to the grave, lest her morals, contaminated
mach, brain, nerves and muscles. Alcohol with wine, should render her manners more
might have made a weakling and a pigmy pestiferous to society than the most pesti-
of Samson, and therefore God enjoined lent putrescent carcase,
“total abstinence” both on him and his We have dwelt thus largely on the effects
mother.
of alcoholic drinks on the nerves, brain,
Can anything, too, be more absurd, and whole constitution of moderate drinkers,
than that the delicate frame of woman because, as all drinkers were first moderate,
should be excited and poisoned by this sti- and as all diseases must have been incipient,
mulant? The tissues of her system are pe- we believe it will be admitted by all who
culiarly fine and tender, her mind is parti- have examined the subject, that “the Tem-
cularly sensitive; the brain and nerve of perance and moderation” of which many
her frame are much more liable to excite- boast so loudly, are the cause of a very great
ment than those of the other sex. She is proportion of the diseases that now prey
“the weaker vessel," and to this circum- upon the people. We are not about to
stance owes that softness, sympathy and deny that there are other causes of disease.
refinement of feeling which constitute the Want of cleanliness, want of exercise, of
glory of her being, and make her a "help proper clothing, of wholesome air, of a nu-
meet” for man. To all the thousand in- tritious variety of food, all tend to disease.
juries that intoxicating stimuli can inflict, Over-exertion by undue labour of body or
her constitution is peculiarly exposed, and mind, improper exposure to sudden changes
D

34
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
organs.
of temperature, and epicurean and sensual it is forced, then comes the collapse, or the
indulgences, all have their appropriated and depressed feeling, from the abstraction of
associated maladies and scourges. But still alcohol, and then the desire for renewing
among all these sources of disease, alcohol the dose: but the further law of stimulants
stands pre-eminent as a destroyer. Few is, that the dose must be increased to produce
men would have argued that because there the desired excitement, and thus a fatal habit
were other causes of death and disease, is established, by which structures, essential
therefore Jenner ought to have left the to life, are disorganised." These remarks
small-pox to sweep away its millions annu- have a response in the feelings not only of
ally. After we have done our utmost for drunkards, but of those who boast of being
human health and longevity, still there will temperate. Elevation and depression, or,
remain ample materials for pain and mor- to use the doctor's words, “ Excitement and
tality. Even the misanthrope need not collapse," is the law of their existence. Now
fear that if alcholic drinks are abandoned, they are in high glee, their brain, nerves,
there will be but little suffering left for his muscles and blood vessels being stimulated
malignity to carouse upon. And he whose by the poison; and now, that the spirit,
morbid charity leads him to dread lest the after inflicting injuries that years may not
curse which God has pronounced should be repair, has escaped, or perhaps insidiously
frustrated, may dry up his tears, because it departed from the brain to some lurking
is not our intention to interfere with any place in the system, the collapse is felt, and
divine arrangement. To the sentence, “dust ennui, depression, exhaustion, or melan-
thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return," choly, make a clamorous demand for more
we bow with submission; but we cannot of the drink of death. Thus there is no re-
admit that because God has doomed us to gularity in the movements of the various
die, therefore man has a right to invent a
The "balance of circulation is de-
poisonous drink which shall shorten and stroyed,” and as this occurs every time that
embitter the period of our reprieve. Dr. alcohol, in any form, is taken, disease must
Dodd, and he spoke from observation, de- inevitably ensue. In those cases in which
clared, that “inebriating liquors have visited the poison is taken at the rate of a glass or
the earth with a second curse," which seems two per day it may, especially in strong
destined to destroy every blossom of beauty constitutions, take some time to mature the
and virtue which the first left blanched and malady which in the end will be fatal ; still
drooping here and there upon the face of the the foe, “steady to his purpose," keeps the
earth. This second curse, be it remembered, end in view, and what terminated in dropsy,
is from man; and we ask, what right he has consumption, or ossification of the heart,
to undertake to curse himself or others with commenced in a solitary glass of wine or
a poison? “Vengeance is mine, saith God, porter. All things have a beginning, and
I will repay." We are not to "avenge our-
often the most tremendous consequences
selves"
upon our enemies; what right then have resulted from a cause deemed at first
have we to administer poisons to our innocent too insignificant to be noticed. Such espe-
children and friends ? Deep, at the great day, cially is the case in drinking. It was only
will be the responsibility of him that first a glass, a social glass, or a medicinal glass,
mixed the intoxicating bowl; but blacker that was first given and received; this pro-
still will be his guilt who, in the very pre- duced a pleasurable excitement, gratified
sence of the myriads that it had slain, still the taste, and created a thirst for more.
commended and pushed round the deadly The hilarity experienced was followed with
goblet. If we have a grain of feeling and depression, which seemed imperatively to
humanity left, we must perceive that enough ask for a further supply of the poison. By
have already been slain by drinking. It is little and little “the fatal habit is esta-
only to open our eyes to perceive that there blished, by which “structures, essential to
are scourges enough to human frailty with-life, are disorganised," “ blood-vessels burst,"
out our calling forth that poisonous spirit, “ diseased deposits” are formed, which be-
“that stings like a serpent and bites like come the nucleus of various fatal disorders,
an adder.” Now it is the opinion of all or congestion, inflammation and effusion
scientific medical men, that alcohol de- may originate dropsies and other most pain-
stroys and injures by stimulating. Dr. ful and destructive affections. It ought to
Farre says, that alcoholic drinks kill by be especially noticed that this pestilent
“destroying the balance of circulation, by principle generally seeks for an asylum
excitement, or subsequent collapse, or the where it may practice its deadliest deeds in
disorganization resulting on the re-ac- some important and vital organ of the body.
tion therefrom." And again, “In violent It sometimes makes the brain more par-
death from alcohol, the patient dies simply ticularly the seat of its venom, and victim
from the apoplexy of excitement and the col- of its cruelties. At another time, it hides
lapse of exhaustion.” He also adds, “The itself in the inmost recess of the heart, or
law of over stimulation is this, that the cir- coils around it like a serpent; now it fixes
culation falls off in a greater proportion than upon the lungs; now upon the kidneys,

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS.
35
upon the liver, the bladder, the pancreas, in hastening death is still more awful.
the intestines, or the skin. It has dimmed, One witness, before the House of Com-
blunted and destroyed all the senses; it mons, stated that the coal-whippers and
has smitten all the nerves; it has loosened others in London, who are beer-drinkers,
all the muscles and palsied all the limbs. “die like rotten sheep.” An officer of high
It can reduce the body to a skeleton, or respectability states that, in the West Indies,
cause it to bloat and swell until it expires of four hundred and fifty out of one thousand
corpulency. It can agitate the heart until of his men died in four months from drink-
it throbs and bursts, or it can reduce pulsa- | ing rum. In America, it was computed
tion until it becomes almost impalpable. It that 40,000 persons died annually from
can distract the head until the brain "sweats drinking. Dr. Gordon, of the London Hos-
blood," and horrified reason flies away and pital, stated that, from accurate observations
leaves the man a maniac or a madman. It
on his own patients, he knew that 75 cases of
can render him insensible to pain, or it can disease out of every 100 could be traced to
doom him to years of excruciating torture drinking. He also declared that most of
and morbid sensibility. It can paint his the bodies of moderate drinkers which, when
cheeks with the deepest bloom, or throw at Edinburgh, he had opened, were found
over them the hue of the sepulchre. It can diseased in the liver, and that these symp-
almost give him wings to fly, or render him toms appeared also in the bodies of tem-
a mere log: At its command his eyes perate people which he had examined in
brighten with joy, wax red with madness, the West Indies. He more than once says,
or become dim with debility and despair. that the bodies whose livers he had found
But we might multiply antitheses almost diseased were those “of moral and religious
without end, and show that man, under people." This same witness observed that
the influence of strong drinks, has verified “the mortality among the coal-whippers,
them all. Not only his body has suffered, who are brought to the London Hospital,
but his mind and his morals exhibit is frightful.” He also adds, that the mo-
evils still more malignant and deadly, and ment these beer drinkers are attacked with
yet every one of them could be traced to
any acute disease, they are unable to bear
the same pernicious origin. Of the latter, depletion, and die directly." John Henry
we have given sufficient examples already, Gell, Esq., coroner for Wesminster, gives
and for the existence of the former we might the following statement of inquisitions
appeal to every hospital and medical man of deaths from drunkenness, which had
in the country, and indeed to all who have come under his own notice, from July,
opened their eyes to the effects of strong 1833, to July, 1834, in Westminster
drinks on the different persons that have alone :
come under their notice. By the testimony “1833. July 27. James Phillips, aged
of all the medical practitioners that were 40, accidentally drowned. Had been drink-
examined before the House of Commons, ing.
it was admitted that nearly all the disease August 5. Elizabeth Martin, aged 64,
in the army and the navy, the greater part accidentally burnt; was drunk when her
of the mortality of our countrymen in fo- clothes caught fire.
reign lands, that "nine out of ten” of all August 19. Allan Allingham, aged 72,
persons that enter our hospitals, owe their accidental, by a fall; he was drunk at the
disorders and complaints to drinking in- time.
toxicating liquors. The evidence from all August 26. Alexander Macpherson, aged
the lunatic asylums also proves that full 45; accidental, by a fall; then drunk.
one-half are deprived of their reason, and August 30. John Jacob Schmid, aged
become insane, idiotic, or mad from the 32; died from having cut his throat when
And if to the one-half that his mind was excited by excessive drink-
have become deranged from immoderate ing.
drinking, be added those whose stomachs, Sept. 13. George Bathurst, aged 33;
nerves, and brains, have been injured from found drowned. He had 4007. left to him
what is called moderation, we have no when he took to drinking, and, at times,
doubt it would be found that “ninety-when under the influence of liquor, was
nine” out of a hundred go to those asylums mad.
solely from the use of these poisons. I Sept. 30. Mary Steers, aged 55; found
never heard of a person who totally ab- drowned; had been drinking.
stained going mad, and I firmly believe Oct. 11. James Horam, aged 45; acci-
that when total abstinence shall become dental, by a fall when he was intoxicated.
general, that every madhouse may be closed. Nov. 11. William Williams, aged 55 ;
I never knew a person become insane who apoplexy; had been drinking the night be-
was not in the habit of taking a portion of fore, was subject to fits from drinking.
alcohol daily.
Nov. 29. Susan Steward, aged 33; died
But if such are the frightful effects of from excessive drinking. She was in mid-
alcohol in producing disease its influence | dling good circumstances.
same cause.
D 2

36
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
KO
Nov. 30. Henry Higgens, aged 48; apo- the other sex, some in early youth, lunatics,
plexy, brought on by excessive drinking. - lifting the razor to their own throats,
Dec. 17. John Dunn, aged 37; apoplexy; hung by their own hands,-plunging into the
had been drunk daily.
river, and sinking like lead, as if the water
Dec. 28. Eliza Briganshaw, aged 20 : refused to support a drunkard, their
found drowned; was upon the town;
when “brains rent” of apoplexy,
their blood-
in liquor had said that she would drown or vessels bursting,—their wounds erysipelatous
poison herself.
and stinking of alcohol,-maddened by drink
1834. Jan. 25. Richard Hurles Pontifex, administering to themselves, a stronger poison
aged 40; lunacy, hanged; frequently came than alcohol, -or bereft of reason, shatter-
home late at night intoxicated.
ing their bodies by accidental, but fatal falls,
April 3. John Kearnes, aged 30, brick- or walking heedlessly into the devouring
layers-labourer; visitation of God; been flood. We beseech you to weigh these facts
a great drinker at times; was drunk the in all their bearings on time and eternity.
night before the morning of his death. Here, in the inquests of one coroner in the
April 23. William Duggind, aged 40; brief space of one short year, you have twenty-
died from excessive drinking; was a man four of your own brethren and sisters, lost
in good circumstances.
to society, sacrified by their own hands, and
May 21. Edward Rowley, aged 22; acci- ushered into eternity uncalled for and un-
cidentally drowned; he had been drinking prepared. We should send a fleet round
all day; went into the water, could swim, the world, if so many citizens had been de-
but sank without a struggle.
stroyed by a foreign foe, and yet we en-
June 12. Robert Blair, aged 39; lunacy, courage and commend the domestic demon
poisoned ; his wife had left him in conse- whose ravages infinitely surpass those of
quence of his drunken habits; he had been any foreign enemy. Christians, can you tell
drinking before he poisoned himself.
the worth of these lives and souls? Would
June 25. James Brittlebank, natural you for the wealth of both Indies stand in
death; was drunk and had been fighting ; their stead at the bar of God? Would it
erysipelas had ensued.
not cause your heart to burst, if you thought
June 25. Thomas Sims, aged 55; hunacy, that the end of your son or daughter
cut throat; great drunkard, was intoxicated would be like theirsThese, remember,
before he committed the act.
were once “ moderate drinkers, total ab-
June 26. William Keith, aged 35; acci- stinence” would have saved them all from
dentally drowned; could swim ; had been degradation, disease, lunacy, poison, and
drinking previously to going to bathe ; was death. It was the beer, or the spirit that
a drunkard.
sparkles so brilliantly in your glass, and
June 27. John Branch, aged 35; lunacy, even bewitches you, that fascinated them
cut throat ; had been a drinker ; smelt of and allured them to ruin. Look at it again.
rum when wounded.
Let your cup, like Joseph's, for once divine,
July 9. William Emerson, aged 29; by and it will tell that the very cordial,
rupture of blood-vessel ; had been a great (alas! it can go to the heart, perhaps it has
drinker, and attributed his illness to it. gone to your heart already,)—the very cor-
July 12. Margaret Thompson, aged 24 ; dial you so highly commend, can ruin you
lunacy, hanged; had drunk so that it was and your family in both worlds. O that
considered to have injured her mind."* God would give a tongue and an emphasis
Christian reader, before you proceed any to the prediction, such as should constrain
further, let me entreat you to read again you to vow that "your tongue shall cleave
this black catalogue of disease, crime, and to your mouth, and your right hand forget
death. Look at woman in her twentieth her cunning, before you will touch or taste
or twenty-fourth year drowned, a lunatic or again!”
hanged by her own hand, and remember The examples just given are from the
that these females were once as pure as that note-book of one coroner, and exhibit the
infant daughter that now clings to your records of one short year. What, if we had
bosom, and on whom you smile with so the inquests of all the coroners of the coun-
much affection. They too must have been try for the last twenty years, what may we
at one time moderate drinkers, perhaps suppose would be the character of the ca-
their parents taught them to drink, and talogue ? Our hearts sicken at the thought
commended to them the liquor that ruined of the disease, the debauchery, the suffer-
them. The liquid that was their destruc- ing, the cruelty, the madness, the suicide,
tion has just as much power to poison that the murders, and miserable deaths that
infant which you now so doatingly admire, would be presented. We need not the cup of
and the catalogue shows that respectability the diviner, the past history of drunkenness,
in circumstances is no protection against all of which originated in " moderation,"
this accursed bane. Look again, also, at is sufficient to show us the future, except
that, as the love of strong drinks is increas-
* Parliamentary Report, p. 290.
ing by the increased facilities of gratifying

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS.
37
so vitiated a taste, there is reason to believe, tions made above were, therefore, extorted
unless the plague be stayed, that the crimes, from him by the scenes which, in his capacity
and diseases, and infatuation of our children as coroner, he had witnessed. What man,
will unfold a scene, black and destructive
after reading these statements, can either
beyond any previous precedent.
vend or give away any “liquor containing
The following testimony from Mr. Wak- alcohol?” To do so must betray an ob-
ley, Member of Parliament for Finsbury, tuseness of feeling little creditable to our
and Coroner for Middlesex, is submitted to patriotism or Christianity. An army of
the serious consideration of the humane 15,000 fellow-subjects dead on the field of
reader. 6 At an inquest held June, 1839, battle would fill us with horror, yet, accord-
on a person who had died from the effects ing to Mr. Wakley, fifteen thousand citizens
of intemperance, Mr. Wakley, Coroner, of London are annually slain in the most
made the following remarks :'I think in- brutal manner by alcoholic drink. Either
toxication likely to be the cause of one half of let us hasten to stay this carnage, or, for
the inquests that are held.' Mr. Bell, the consistency's sake, let us renounce the name
clerk of the inquests, observed, that the of Christians.
proportion of deaths so occasioned, were If medical men, at least those who have
supposed to be three out of five.' Then,' scientifically studied the physiology of dis-
said Mr. Wakley, 'there are annually 1,500 ease, would only favour us with the result
inquests in the Western Division of Mid- of their anatomical and pathological obser-
dlesex, and, according to that ratio, nine vations, the reports of coroners, black and
hundred of the deaths are produced by hard horrific as they appear, would sink into
drinking. I am surprised that the Legis- insignificance. These gentlemen know full
lature, which is so justly particular about well that by far the majority of the diseases
chemists and druggists vending poison, is which have come under their notice have
not equally so with the venders of gin.' been caused by the use of alcoholic drinks.
On another occasion, not very long after, We have not the number of physicians and
the same gentleman observed, “I have surgeons in the country, much less can we
lately seen so much of the evil effects of get at a list of their patients for the last ten
gin-drinking, that I am inclined to become
years ;
but had we both before us, and, at the
a tee-totaller. Gin may be thought the best same time, sufficient knowledge to trace
friend I have; it causes me to hold annually diseases to their direct or indirect causes,
one thousand inquests more than I should we might then have some idea of the ills
otherwise hold. But beside these, I have occasioned by moderate, as well as by im-
reason to believe that from ten thousand to moderate, drinking. We should then per-
fifteen thousand persons in this metropolis die ceive that millions of persons have doomed
annually from the effects of gin-drinking, themselves to pains and anguish for life,
upon whom no inquests are held. Since I and have hurried themselves to a prema-
have been coroner, I have seen so many ture grave, by the use of these stimulants.
murders by poison, by drowning, by hang- We would invite professional men them-
ing, by cutting the throat, in consequence selves, before they recommend these poisons
of drinking ardent spirits, that I am aston- again, to review their anatomical and sur-
ished the Legislature does not interfere. Igical observations. Ancient augurs used to
am confident that they will, before long, consult the liver and the intestines of birds,
be obliged to interfere with respect to the that they might benefit their countrymen;
sale of liquors containing alcohol. The gin- in the diseased brains, kidneys, hearts, livers,
seller should be made as responsible as the blood vessels, stomachs, and limbs, of the
chemist and druggist. And I think it is bodies they have opened or dissected, prac-
right the publicans should know that even titioners of our day have a fund of real, not
now they are, to a certain extent, respon- delusive, information, which might benefit
sible in the eye of the law. If a publican
the people to an incalculable degree. To
allows a man to stand at his bar, and serves their honour it may be told that five thousand
him with several glasses of liquor, and sees medical men in America have come forward
him drink until he gets intoxicated; and if and given their testimony against alcoholic
that man should afterwards die, and a sur- drinks. In doing so, they have acted as
geon should depose that his death was became disinterested patriots and Chris-
accelerated by the liquor so drunk, then tians. By recommending spirits, wine,
would the publican be liable to be punished beer, and cider, they all know that they
for having aided in bringing about that might multiply patients and wealth a thou-
death."
sand fold. But they also know, that he
These remarks appeared in most of the who enriches himself by increasing, en-
public papers of the time, and they are the couraging, or even neglecting, the maladies
more valuable, because Mr. Wakley, not of others, differs little from the beast, or
long before he became coroner, in his place the vulture which fattens upon carrion ;
in the House of Commons, spoke rather and, therefore, they have made declarations
sneeringly of the tee-totallers : the obserya- which ennoble their character, while, at the

38
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
every form.
and many
same time, they must limit their practice chairman of the board said, that “he
and their gains. Several gentlemen of
wondered that Mr. Beaumont should so
equal integrity and honour, have already, strenuously advocate a practice which he
boldly and honestly, in our own country, knew must so deeply injure the business of
pronounced their veto against these perni- their profession." A Surgeon, a friend of
cious drinks. Mr. Higginbotham, an emi- mine, who is a tee-totaller, and recommends
nent surgeon, in Nottingham, in a letter, total abstinence to his patients, stated, the
dated Scarboro', Aug. 1836, says to his other day, that, "if his patients followed his
friend, who was troubled with an affection advice, he should loose a hundred and fifty
of the throat.—“I want you to give a fair pounds a year in his practice immediately."
and full trial of total abstinence from all He resides in a small town. I have under
stimulating liquors, and also from tobacco, in my eye a most distressing case of dyspepsy
I am fully persuaded that and reputed spinal affection, which other
many chronic diseases are brought on and surgeons and physicians had treated in
continued by their use. I consider I shall vain, but which this Gentleman, without
do more in curing disease and preventing any aid from alcohol, relieved in a few days,
disease in one year by prescribing total absti- and in a short period effectually cured. To
nence, than I could do in the ordinary course of these testimonies I might add the names of
an extensive practice of one hundred years. I many eminent medical men in America.
have already seen diseases cured by total absti- Charles A. Lee, M.D., of New York; Ben-
nence that would not have been cured by any | jamin Silliman, M.D., L.L.D., Professor of
other means.
If all stimulating drinks and Chemistry in Yale College, New Haven ;
tobacco were banished from the earth, it Dr. Oliver, Professor of Theory and Prac-
would be a real blessing to society, and in a tice, in Dartmouth College
few weeks they would never be missed, not others give it as their opinion that stimu-
even as a medicine. No one,” he adds, lating drinks are unnecessary to the human
"can for one moment doubt that alcohol, frame; that they originate the most painful
which is the basis of all intoxicating drinks, and distressing diseases, and conduct to
can pass through parts of the body in a premature death.
state of irritation or inflammation, but the The following most valuable testimony
parts must be further injured, and I have no against the use of these drinks was ad-
doubt that thousands fall into a premature dressed to Messrs. Meredith and Howard,
grave by the temporary relief from exhaus- Secretaries to the New British and Foreign
tion it gives when labouring under these Temperance Society, and is copied from
affections. This gentleman, it should be the Third Report, page 19. The gentle-
remarked, has practised total abstinence man who sent it is Julius Jeffreys, Esq., an
himself for thirty years. At a meeting held eminent medical practitioner, now resident
in Dublin last month (Nov. 1837), in the
in London, but who has passed many years
presence of 1,200 persons, in the Rotunda, in India. He is the inventor of the cele-
Dr. Orpen, a distinguished physician, said, brated respirator.
“It is my conviction that those who belong
to such a society as this (meaning the Tem- “Gentlemen,--In forwarding you a docu-
perance Society), will seldom have occasion ment which I hope will prove of much value
for medical men. The diseases of your chil- to the cause of total abstinence from intoxi-
dren will be diminished by adopting the cating drinks, it may be well that I should
principles of this society, and the public briefly relate the course through which I was
health immeasurably improved. In fact, led to procure it.
every year adds to my conviction that if the “Extensive opportunities of observing the
public would act with common sense, and habits of life of various classes, and of dif-
relinquish those drinking habits which have ferent races, amongst the inhabitants of
so long domineered over society, they Hindostan, during a residence of many years
would enjoy such a portion of health as in the East, brought before me abundant
would starve almost all the physicians. evidence, that in using no alcoholic drink,
That is my simple statement, contrary they are exempted, in a remarkable man-
to my own personal interest and advan- ner, from the more complicated forms of
tage. It costs you nothing--receive it, disease-their diseases being chiefly those
and you shall find yourself both healthier incidental to that deleterious climate-while,
and richer than you have hitherto been." when willing, they can habituate them-
A medical man from Bradford, Mr. Beau- selves to efforts of labour of a surprising
mont, stated, at a Total Abstinence public kind. Upon my return to England, in
meeting, held in Birmingham, about a 1835, I had here also opportunities of a
month ago, that “he had asked a board similar description, the nature of my pur-
of medical practitioners their opinion suits causing me to see much of the work-
of total abstinence. Only one opposd the ing-classes, and to acquire a knowledge of
principle, and that from motives that re- their habits. The contrast was very strik-
flected little credit on his character. The ing, and equally painful. With bodily

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS.
39
to serve.
frames, by nature, incomparably more people need only an excuse for the use of
robust than those of the debilitating climates stimulants at all, to render certain their abuse
of the East, I found my fellow-countrymen, of them-abuse so dreadful and so general, as
with few exceptions, undermining their to threaten with destruction the very frame-
constitutions, or more rapidly destroying work of society--as to be the cause of nearly
themselves, by drink. The fact became all the crimes against the law, and nearly all
forced on my conviction by evidence on the poverty in the land, rendering almost
every hand, that to persist longer in pro- abortive the numerous efforts for the Chris-
posing to our people moderation in the use tian education of the people. They, there-
of alcoholic drinks, was in effect to mock fore, who, opposed to the principle of ab-
them. Moderation in the use of these staining from intoxicating liquors, would
drinks is, in fact, inapplicable to the case
recommend to this nation a moderate use of
of the great bulk of the people of England. them, however excellent their intentions
For a nation in our state, the Scriptures may be, are, in effect, mockers of their
have provided a more strict and certain countrymen, and triflers with their country's
course, and have pronounced, in language calamities.
abundantly clear, that total abstinence- “It has appeared to me, therefore, that
the cutting off the right hand, and the the first and most needful measure was to
plucking out of the right eye'- is the only draw up a document setting these preju-
step which can be accepted in the first in- dices in their true light, as the offspring of
stance, or blessed as remedial; and we early and ignorant times, and as having no
appeal to the wonderful success of societies foundation in physiological truth, and to
founded upon this principle, against oppo- procure the assent to it of the leading mem-
sition, scorn, and neglect, on all sides, as bers of my profession, and, subsequently, of
unanswerable evidence of Divine support. as many other of its learned practitioners as
« The Jews of old were not involved in would favour it with their signatures. Such
drunken habits, like our nation ; but, in a document appears below, with the signa-
respect to them, the Scriptures are silent as tures attached, up to this date. To each of
to any recommendation of the habitual use the parties it was sent, enclosed in the fol-
of the smallest portions of these stimulants; lowing letter, in print, commending to their
nay, they do honour to those who habitually attention the important object which it was
abstained from them; while the occasional
I have now the pleasure of pre-
use of them, only, is ever suggested in the senting the document to the New British
Scriptures, and that, for the most part, and Foreign Temperance Society, for pub-
medicinally, which thoroughly accords with lication in its journals, and to be employed
physiological truth, which Scripture is ever at the Temperance meetings throughout the
found to do with all true science. But our country.
rude ancestors, alike ignorant of scriptural
“I have the honour to be,
and of physiological truth, imbibed, as an
“Gentlemen,
incentive to war, a craving after the daily use - Your obedient and very faithful servant,
of intoxicating drinks, and a strong preju-
“ JULIUS JEFFREYS.
dice in favour of the constant use of them, London, May 11th, 1839.”
as necessary for imparting strength. This
prejudice has kept its ground, almost unop-
The letter and document referred to
posed, till of late.
above, are printed in the Third Report of
"Some years ago, a strong opinion the New British and Foreign Temperance
against the use of distilled spirits was readily Society, a work that ought to be in every
subscribed to by many hundred gentlemen house. The letter appealed alike to the rea-
of the medical profession, including all its son, the scientific knowledge, and humanity,
leading members; but very little benefit of medical men, and then invited them to
resulted from it. Strong fermented liquors, sign the document, which expressed that
the belly-gods of Englishmen, were not total abstinence from all intoxicating drinks
assailed ; and they who committed excesses was not only safe, but highly beneficial to
upon these, forming the bulk of our coun- all, but especially to those who have
trymen, were little likely to adhere, even to habitually to pursue very laborious employ-
their resolutions against distilled spirits,
though supported by the highest medical The following distinguished medical men
authority.
added their signatures :
“ The notion, that the habitual use of
wine or beer is needful for Englishmen, Batty, Edward, Esq., M.R.C.S., Lecturer
though an idle prejudice of ignorant times, on Midwifery, at the Medical School,
is still almost universal beyond the field of Royal Institution, Liverpool.
temperance operations. Now, this preju- Baylis, C. 0. Esq., surgeon to the South
dice, though it were not founded in error, Dispensary, Liverpool.
would, nevertheless, to England as it is, be Beaumont, Thomas, Esq., M.R.C.S., Brad-
in effect destructive ; for the bulk of our ford,
ments.

40
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.
Berry, Samuel, Esq., M.R.C.S., Surgeon Assistant Physician to St. George's Hos-
to the Town Infirmary, Birmingham.
pital.
Birkbeck, George, M.D.
Howship, John, Esq., M.R.C.S., Surgeon
Blundell, James, M.D.
to Charing Cross Hospital.
Brodie, Sir Benjamin C. Baronet, F.R.S., Hughes, John, M.D., Liverpool.
Serjeant Surgeon to the Queen, Surgeon Jeffreys, Julius, Esq., M.R.C.S.
to St. George's Hospital.
Julius, G. C., M.D.
Brookes, Benjamin, Esq., M.R.C.S., Sur- Julius, G. C., jun., M.D.
geon to the British Lying-In Hospital. Key, C. Aston, Esq., M.R.C.S., Lecturer
Burrows, John, Esq., Liverpool.
on Surgery, and Surgeon to Guy's Hos-
Chambers, W. F., M.D.F.R.S., Physician pital.
to the Queen, and the Queen Dowager, Knight, Arnold James, M.D., Sheffield.
and to St. George's Hospital.
Ledsam, J. J., Esq., M.R.C.S., Surgeon to
Chavasse, Thomas, Esq., M.R.C.S., St. the Eye Infirmary, Birmingham.
George's Hospital, Birmingham.
Lee, Robert, M.D., F.R.S., Lecturer on
Chowne, W. D., M.D., Lecturer on Mid- Midwifery at Kinnerton Street Medical
wifery and Physician to Charing Cross School, and Physician to Lying-In Hos.
Hospital.
pital.
Churton, Joseph, M.R.C.S., Liverpool. Lewis, William, Esq., Manchester.
Clark, Sir James, Baronet, M.D., F.R.S., Long, David, M., Esq., Surgeon to the
Physician to the Queen and the Queen's South Dispensary, Liverpool.
Household, &c.
Lynn, W. B., Esq., M.R.C.S., Surgeon to
Clutterbuck, J. B., Esq.
the Westminster Hospital.
Conquest, J.T., M.D., Physician to the Macilwain, George, Esq., M.R.C.S., Sur-
City of London Lying-In Hospital. geon to the Finsbury Dispensary.
Cooper, Bransby, Esq., M.R.C.S., F.R.S., Mackenzie, J. D., M.D., Physician to the
Lecturer on Anatomy, and Surgeon to Liverpool Infirmary Lock Hospital.
Guy's Hospital.
Macrorie, D., M.D., Physician to the Fever
Cooper, George, L., Esq., M.R.C.S.
Hospital, Liverpool.
Dalrimple, J., Esq., M.R.C.S., Lecturer on Manifold, Esq., M.R.C.S., Liverpool.
Surgery at Sydenham College.
Matterson, William, Esq., M.R.C.S., York.
Davies, Thomas, M.D., Lecturer on Medi- Matterson, William, jun., Esq., M.R.C.S.,
cine, and Physician to the London Hos- York.
pital.
Mayo, Herbert, Esq., M.R.C.S., F.R.S.,
Davies, John Birt, M.D., Liverpool.
Surgeon to the Middlesex Hospital.
Davis, David D., M.D., Physician to the Merriman, Samuel, M.D., Physcian Accou-
Duchess of Kent, and Professor of Ob- cheur to the Westminster General Dis-
stetric Medicine in University College. pensary.
Davis,
--, Esq.
Middlemore, Richard, Esq., M.R.C.S.,
Eyre, Sir James, M.D.
Surgeon to the Eye Infirmary, Birming-
Ferguson, Robert, M.D., Physician to the ham.
Westminster Lying-Inn Hospital. Morgan, John, Esq., M.R.C.S., Lecturer
Fowke, Frederick, Esq., M.R.C.S.
on Surgery, and Surgeon to Guy's Hos-
Frampton, Algeron, M.D., Physician to pital.
the London Hospital.
Morley, George, Esq., M.R.C.S., Lecturer
Gill, William, Esq., M.R.C.S., Surgeon to to the Leeds' School of Medicine.
the Northern Hospital, Liverpool. Nelson, John Barrit, A.B., M.D., F.C.P.S.,
Godfrey, J.J., Esq., M.R.C.S., Liverpool. &c., Birmingham.
Grant, Klein, M.D., Professor of Therapeu- Nightingale, Robert, S., Esq., M.R.C.S.,
tics in the North London School of Surgeon to the Eastern Dispensary, Li-
Medicine.
verpool.
Granville, A. B., M.D., F.R.S., Physician Parkin, John, Esq., M.R.C.S.
Accoucheur to the Westminster General Partridge, Richard, Esq., M.R.C.S., F.R.S.,
Dispensary.
Professor of Anatomy at King's Col-
Green, Thomas, Esq., M.R.C.S., Surgeon lege, and Surgeon to Charing Cross Hos-
to the Town Infirmary, Birmingham. pital.
Great Rex, Charles Butler, Esq., Liver- Pinchin, R. L., Esq., M.R.C.S.
pool. 1
Quain, Richard, M.R.C.S., Professor of
Hall, Marshall, M.D., F.R.S., L. and E., Anatomy at the London University, and
Lecturer on Medicine at the Sydenham Surgeon to the North London Hospital.
College, and Consulting Physician to the Reid, James, M.D.
Westminster General Dispensary. Roots, H. S., M.D., Physician to St. Tho..
Hay, Alexander, Esq., Surgeon to the South mas' Hospital.
Dispensary, Liverpool.
Roupell, G. L., M.D., Lecturer on Materia
Hope, I., M.D., F.R.S., Lecturer on Me- Medica, and Physician to St. Bartholo.
dicine at Aldersgate Street School, and me vs Hospital,
TO

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS.
41
Scott, John, M.D.
the publicans, “The Devil's decoy." Isaiah
Stanley, Edward, Esq., M.R.C.S., F.R.S.,
says, “Wo unto them that are mighty to
Professor of Anatomy, and Surgeon to drink wine and men of strength to mingle
St. Bartholomew's Hospital.
strong drink.” Such may be able for years
Teale, T. P., Esq.,M.R.C.S., F.L.S., Sur- to indulge in this poison without perceiving
geon to the Leeds General Infirmary. its consequences upon their own frame,
Teale, Joseph, Esq., M.R.C.S., Leeds. but "wo unto them !" the example they
Thomson, Anthony Dodd, M.D., F.L.S., set may be the destruction of hundreds.
Lecturer on Materia Medica, and Phy- Your child, your neighbour, or friend may
sician to the London University.
not be possessed of your constitution, or self
Thomson, Henry U., M.D.,
control, and therefore what seems to inspirit
Travers, Benjamin, Esq., M.R.C.S., F.R.S., you, may poison his frame and ruin his
Surgeon Extraordinary to the Queen, morals. Hardy as may be our frame, and
and Surgeon and Lecturer on Surgery to however impregnable to disease our system
St. Thomas's Hospital.
may appear to be, yet there is vigour enough
Ure, Andrew, M.D., F.R.S.
in the virus of alcoholic drinks to under-
Ure, Alexander, M.D., Lecturer of Che- mine our health, and bring us to an untimely
mistry at the North London School of end; and when we enter the world of spirits,
Medicine.
and perceive how many our "mightiness to
Vaux, George, M.D., Birmingham.
drink strong drink" may have tempted and
Walker, -, M.D.
ruined, our bodily strength, instead of being
With such testimonies then before us, a matter of congratulation, will be our con-
and knowing that thousands more might be demnation.
added; for every city, town, village and The Rev. W. Scoresby, when detailing
hamlet, has its living victims whom alcohol deaths from drunkenness, mentions, “That
has smitten ; surely it behoves us to pause in Liverpool, in 1829, he had ascertained
before we again use or commend so deadly 31 cases of deaths from drinking, out of
a poison. Our bodies are not our own, but which, fourteen were those of females. Of
belong to our Creator, and therefore we these, one had fallen into a tub of hot water,
have no right to subject them to disease, and was scalded to death; a female, from
and render them unfit for the duties of fighting when drunk, received a blow of
life. We have seen from the most disin-
which she died—another woman was burnt
terested and scientific testimonies of accre- to death, another female when tipsy, jump-
dited medical physiologists, that disease on ed out of a window and was killed, another
the one hand, is produced by these stimu- woman, when drunk, hung herself; one
lating drinks, and that health, on the other
man by stealth got at a puncheon of rum,
hand, is promoted and often restored, by and by sucking the liquid fire through a
abstaining from them. What right then reed, brought on almost instant death;
have we wantonly, in the face of evidence, another cut his throat, and another hung
which every day's observation corroborates, himself from drinking. One died of a rapid
to drink a beverage which has been and still disease brought on by tippling. Two boat-
continues to be the cause of so much misery, men in a drunken quarrel fell overboard
crime, and mortality? Perhaps your con- and were drowned. One man, under a
stitution at present is good, and therefore, depression that followed a fit of drunken-
as yet, you can drink without perceiving ness, cut his throat, and another from the
much injury to your system. Still you must same cause hanged himself.
not forget the case of St. Martin ; he, after from being drunk, fell so heavily down a
drinking, complained of nothing, except short flight of steps that he was killed im-
"an uneasy sensation and tenderness at the mediately. Another died suddenly at the
pit of the stomach, and some vertigo with public-house where he had been drinking.
dimness and yellowness of vision on stoop- A woman returning from a revel drunk,
ing down and rising up again," and yet at died in the night; and another wretched
the same time, his stomach was ulcerated, female, when drunk, fell into a cellar, and
the gastric juice lessened and corrupted, was killed on the spot. One child was
and thus the foundation was being laid for killed by its mother, who was staggering
chronic indigestion and numerous other drunk, falling upon it; and another was
diseases. The injury to yourself and others overlaid and killed by its parents, who were
may be so much the greater from the pre- both dead drunk.”* Here, Christian read-
sent iron constitution that enables you to er, you have cruelty, crime and carnage, to
swallow poison with, as you imagine, little loathing. You have heard of Juggernaut
or no inconvenience. Dr. Farre speaks of and Moloch, and have deplored the un-
a hoary-headed drinker, who was the pre- happy victims which have been sacrificed
sident of a drinking club, who had buried to these idols, but you must remember,
three generations of associates, and who for that neither Moloch in Israel, nor Jugger-
the example he set in drinking, and the
ruin he brought upon others, was termed by
# Parliamentary Report, p. 380.
One person

42
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
as
We
92
naut in India, ever destroyed so cruelly | Professor added, that he could furnish
and brutally, or so many annually, as are many illustrations of the murderous in-
now destroyed by the beer, wine, and spirits fluence of these drinks, "some even worse
of your country; and yet you, as a moderate than those given above." Dr. Cheyne
drinker, by using and commending these showed that in the West and East Indies,
poisons, are actually dragging along in the mortality among the troops in 1827
triumph the car of the British Apollyon, amounted to one in every sixteen, and that
and as you smile over your glass, are kind- the chief cause of these deaths was drink-
ling the pile of Tophet. Taking the deaths ing. * In many instances, the profanity
from drunkenness in Liverpool for one year and impiety that drinking induces, is truly
an average, the Rev. Mr. Scoresby horrible. In a company of gentlemen who
concluded that the persons who die acci- had indulged in a long debauch, one of
dentally in the United Kingdom from the their number reclined on his chair and
same cause, must amount to “ six thousand died: it being observed, after some time,
four hundred persons annually! " that he looked very grim and cadaverous,"
query whether Juggernaut or Moloch could one of the party replied, " that it was no
ever boast of receiving sixty or seventy heca- wonder, for he had been with his Maker
tombs of human victims in any single year. for two hours, and that he knew this to be
The Druids, the South Sea Islanders, and the case, only he did not like to spoil the
even the cannibals of ancient or modern mirth of the company" by making it
times, could never vaunt of such reckless-known. This occurred a little later than
ness of human blood as Christian Britain the middle of last century in Dumbarton-
displays at the present time. Yet all these shire, and will show us that death, crime,
lives that have been destroyed, and souls and impiety, as the companions of drinking,
that have perished, were duly prepared for are not of yesterday's growth, but have
future immolation by moderate drinking revelled in carnage and iniquity for years,
and moderate drinkers. Their parents and and during that time have destroyed mil-
christian friends gave them the first glass lions. John Dunlop, Esq., who gave the
and commended the poison which captivated above statement, declared that “
many
their taste, destroyed their self control, and hundred thousands of British subjects every
doomed them to untimely deaths and to year die of drink directly, or predispose
premature judgment. Is it a wonder that, themselves byit to mortal disease." "Thus,"
in our day, considering the means employ- he
says,
“it was understood by all ranks
ed, conversions are comparatively rare, and in Scotland, that drinking led to predis-
that we preach and pray almost in vain ? position to cholera, and also that contact with
Surely the Father of mercies must be in- the disease which was highly dangerous; and
dignant, and the Holy Spirit grieved, at instances might be advanced of men, women,
seeing so many immortals rendered in and children sitting upon a cholera coffin,
body a mass of disease, and in mind, a mass with a corpse inside, drinking themselves
of moral corruption, by the wanton use of a speechless.”I Perhaps, reader, you tell me
poison, which before our eyes is seen to that there is poison in bread, and poison in
destroy so many thousands.
the atmosphere; but did you ever know
In the evidence of Professor Edgar, it is breathing the wholesome air which God has
said, that “in the county Down, one compounded, or eating the wholesome food
young man presented a list of twenty-two which he has created, produce such im-
persons of his own acquaintance, and within piety and madness? This occurred, re-
five miles of his residence, all of whom had member, in moral Scotland, since 1830,
perished miserably from drunkenness. and among a people better acquainted with
Another young man in the county An- the gospel than any nation upon the earth.
trim, presented a list of twenty-seven persons
Yet you perceive that alcohol, which, if a
within the circuit of a few miles, all of
moderate drinker, you recommend, can
whom had within his own recollection come deprive these people of reason, conscience,
to an untimely end, directly or indirectly, morality, and even human feeling: beasts
from drinking. A gentleman who lived that want “discourse of reason," would act
within six miles of the same young man,
with less indecency, than did these educated
made out a list of forty-seven persons, in a people in the examples stated above. Nor
district within two miles of his residence, will facts allow you to conclude that these
all of whom were known to have cut short examples are rare: enter the country pot-
their days by drinking. Within two miles house, the tavern, the travellers'-room, the
of Portadown, and in three months, thirteen London clubs, or tea-gardens-enter them
individuals perished miserably from drunk- on the sabbath-day, and listen to the filthy
enness; three of them were drunk in the jests, the profane oaths, the impious scoffs
same house at night, and were found dead at everything sacred, virtuous, and awful,
in the same bed the next morning!” * The and you will soon learn, that the instances
* Parliamentary Report, p. 427.
* Ibid, 429.
+ p, 408
# Parl. Rep., 408, 409.

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS.
43
given above are not solitary. And what has been in extensive practice as a medical
is more awful still, you need not go out of man, in and about the metropolis for
your own vicinity to get a sight of these thirty years, further states, that this evil
whited sepulchres” or “hells;” and if leads to sabbath-breaking, thieving, murders,
you will visit them, you may find there the and cruelties of every description :" he adds,
children that the other day wept under
6. that madness is a frequent consequence
your instruction in the sabbath-school ; of the excessive use of spirits, and that in
and perhaps, the son and the daughter, those cases where any hereditary tendency
that were once the joy of your house, to
or predisposition to this malady exists, it is
whom you first gave the poisonous cup, easy to conceive how the powerful stimulus
and whose taste is increased to such a of fermented drinks will be both likely to
degree, that they will now drink and die, call it into action, and to aggravate its
and break your heart. James Upton, Esq. symptoms.” After reading such testimonies
of Throgmorton Street, in his Report in and extracts, we may use the expressive
1817, says,
The magnitude and enormity words of Professor Edgar: “ From all cor-
of the evil (drinking) is such, that I am respondents, whether officers of excise,
really at a loss where to begin and where magistrates, or clergymen, there comes a
to end. The vital interests, both of nations most affecting cry of distress. Benevolence
and individuals are involved in it, no less groans in every heart over the wide-spread
so, the domestic and public peace, and ruin, and the eyes of the benevolent of
general safety. The evil is far more ex- every denomination are at present turned
tensive than can be conceived by common with intense anxiety to the British Legis-
minds, or superficial observers; its opera-
lature." How far the Legislature may be
tion, I had almost said, is felt more or less able to stay the widely spreading scourge,
in almost every family : I witnessed, when is a question that may be difficult to solve ;
a student in Edinburgh in 1784, its fatal something, doubtless, our senators might do,
consequences in the infirmary, by an en-
but as the evil is one of domestic custom
largement of the liver, to an extent almost and arrangement, the reformation must
unprecedented in this country. Many very begin at home. Laws simply viewed as
excellent men have become subjects of legislative enactments are not very pow-
incurable stomach complaints and wasted erful, and severe penalties in enforcing
away, in middle life, where there has been them, have in numberless instances aggra-
counting-house application; persons, too,
vated the evil, when the tastes and passions
who would have been shocked to be con- of the people have been adverse to obe-
sidered otherwise than sober men, seeing dience.
Even the laws of Heaven are not
they only took one or two glasses a day. obeyed, so long as the disposition of man is
Travellers again, go much further, and
adverse to them, and hence the necessity of
generally die of brandied stomachs: in regeneration to change the moral taste
these stomachs, there is not the least power
and inclination of him who becomes the
of either taking or keeping nourishment.
servant of God. Our legislators may make
The next degree is diseased liver, with what laws they please, but the nation must
deranged functions of stomach and brain, be cured of its love of strong drinks before
dropsy, arterial ossifications, mental de- those laws will be heeded. As long as the
rangement, paralysis, serous apoplexy, and parent, the friend, the minister, the chris-
death. In this incurable state of things, all tian, the senator, calls for his ale, wine, or
social, parental, filial, and religious feeling spirits, and drinks himself and commends
are completely destroyed, and every possible the poisons to others, the laws of God and
immorality is let loose to occupy their man must be set at defiance. These de-
place. Such is the dreadful vacuum and structive liquors deprive men of reason
craving sensation of stomach (all our mo- and self-control; debilitate the frame, and
derate drinkers feel a sinking in the stomach) produce an insatiable appetite for more
which drinking produces, that I have no stimulus; inflame all the sensual appetites
doubt, in order to quiet it, a man will and of our nature, and arm them with a giant's
has sacrificed everything dear to man. This impetuosity, ruin men's health and cir-
is not all; this mode of life excites artificial, cumstances, and render them reckless and
sensual, and unchaste appetite, and you have desperate, so that they “neither fear God,
an offspring possessing only half natural nor regard man;" and on a people thus
life. A vast number of women have been
bereft of health, intellect, moral feeling, and
taught to drink, in the middle and higher self government, laws are powerless, and
classes, by taking indiscriminately quack legislative enactments against drunkenness
medicines containing alcohol, hot seeds, and mere waste paper.
And why trouble our
essential oils, such as Rhymer's tincture senators? They have already enough to do.
for gout in the stomach, Solomon's Balm Why raise and cherish a demon at our own
of Gilead," &c. * This gentleman, who fire-side, and then call upon parliament to
destroy the fiend? Would it be wise for
* Parliamentary Report, 424.
every family in the country to send for the

44
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
eggs of the cockatrice, or the cubs of the or as capable of giving immortality to our
tigress, to hatch and feed and cherish these bodies as the tree of life in the garden of
destroyers until they bit and poisoned and Eden, still, if partaking of either would
devoured our children, friends, and most become an occasion of sin to ourselves or
valuable citizens, and then, after filling the others, we ought to abstain. Paul said,
land with reptiles and beasts of prey, to
“He could wish himself accursed from
call upon the Queen and her parliament to Christ for his brethren after the flesh.”
sweep them away? Why introduce the Jesus Christ sacrificed himself for the sal-
monsters at all? To send for a plague vation of men; martyrs gave up life, and
worse than the cholera, and then call upon all that was dear to life, rather than encou-
the Lords and Commons to drive it out of
rage or patronise any one sin of their time ;-
the land, is not acting like rational beings but what claim can we lay to their spirit,
or Christians! Yet this is what we are their society, or their glory, if we refuse to
doing, so long as we continue these drinks part with a poison which has swept its
in any form in our houses. We teach our millions from the face of the earth ? Medi-
children to drink a liquor which poisons cal authorities, magistrates, police reports,
their bodies, their minds, and their morals; and ecclesiastical calculations have demon-
and then are astonished that government strated that every species of disease is
does not check, that religion does not originated, that crimes at which humanity
control, and that God does not subdue blushes are perpetrated, that the church to
the aboundings of vice. In obedience to a most awful extent is robbed of its mem-
the solicitations of this infatuating spirit, bers, and that death in every horrid and
we throw ourselves, or hurl our children painful form is promoted by these accursed
from the pinnacle of the temple, and won- poisons, and if these facts are not sufficient
der that God does not send his angels to to enkindle feelings of indignation toward
prevent any 'injury; too inconsiderate to such a pest, and prompt us to penitence
reflect that it is said, “Thou shall not and abstinence, there is reason to fear that
tempt the Lord thy God.” We are not to we would not repent, though one rose
swallow poison ourselves, nor administer from the dead."
the same to others, and then expect a mi- When speaking of the crimes that are
racle from Heaven to extract the virus, or committed through drunkenness, in order
turn it into blessing. Just as rational would to meet the objection, that iniquity has
it be to use and commend the use of abounded among people not addicted to
arsenic or hemlock, and expect the senate drinking, we showed that the moral and
to control or dilute and change these intellectual character of our day is different
poisons, as to drink alcohol in any form or from that of any of those nations. Among
state, and call upon the government to save them, education and religion were on the
us from being destroyed. Let the reforma- side of immorality; the people were trained
tion begin at home; let us sweep to be vicious, and their very godliness was
leaven of malice and wickedness" from the extreme of criminality; they therefore
our houses; let us neither drink, nor recom- did not need the poison of a stimulating
mend others to drink so pestilent a liquor; liquor to destroy their reason, sear their
let us brand it with the deepest execration, consciences, or harden their hearts. “Their
and whether in the barrel, the pipe, or the minds and consciences were defiled.” But
puncheon, let us write in the largest cha- among us things are different. Our schools
racters, the word POISON upon it, that and our religion are calculated to make the
our children may take warning, and then people humane and moral, and would do
the evil will be banished, and we shall be so were it not for the influence of alco-
a saved and a happy people. We shall holic drinks. In attributing so much dis-
then no longer look for legislators to ease 'to inebriating liquors when but
work miracles, nor presumptuously expect moderately used, perhaps we may be
God to interfere to remove a scourge
reminded that diseases have prevailed among
which a depraved taste and heart have those nations whose circumstances of ne-
prompted us to introduce. We shall pre- cessity restrained them from alcohol. We
sently show that neither wines nor ales are grant all this: but still we must
say,
that
necessary to man, and shall fairly confute as our facilities for moral and intellectual
the delusive interpretations that have been culture are more numerous, so the means
put upon the wines mentioned in Revela-
of preserving health are also much greater
tions; and we shall also expose the great than those of any ancient nation. Our
deception respecting the nutritious quali- habits are more cleanly, our country is bet-
ties of ales, beer and porter : but were we ter drained, our cities and towns have their
not capable of doing this, still the evils common sewers, the diet of the people is
already detailed, as the natural results of more nutritious, clothing is more comfort-
drinking, ought to constrain us to enter able, our houses better ventilated, and op-
into a vow of total abstinence. Were wine portunities of recreation and exercise more
nectar,were the nutriment of beer, ambrosial, I numerous than those of any previous period,
66 this

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS.
45
and we ought therefore to be the healthiest to be fled, and their vile substitutes are a
people upon earth. We grant that in all the wine-bottle or beer-barrel. Even the hos-
departments mentioned above, much, very pitality of friendship and the cheerful inter-
much remains to be done, ay, and would course of relatives, seem no longer to flow
instantly be done but for the talent and from human sympathy and religious prin-
property that is annually wasted on inebri- ciple, but to be drawn directly from the
ating poisons; but still, after making every cask or decanter: to such a degree are we
deduction, the advantages in favour of unnerved in body and perverted in mind
health infinitely surpass those of former and morals! Were this love of strong
times : and yet, with all these blessings, we drink removed, we should become the most
are getting the weakest and sickliest people moral and healthy of the nations. Science
alive. Strong men are become-not wo- has already done wonders in tracing out
men ; women, though the weaker vessels, what is useful and what is pernicious to our
would blush at our effeminacy—but trem- constitution. Although life has been so
bling spectres or bloated and inflammatory dreadfully sacrificed and tortured, yet within
automatons, borrowing their spirit and cou- the last half century Science has added not
rage, not from any native nerve, intellect, less than ten or twelve years to the period
or moral principle, but from the inspira- of our existence; and if, while having to
tions of a poison. The day labourer now contend with all the counteracting influence
must get his vigour, not as in ancient days, of alcohol she has done so much, how much
or as nature would dictate, from nutritious greater would have been her blessings but
food, but from a spirit which all men agree for this destructive liquor! Hitherto, also,
has in it no aliment whatever. For the chemistry has employed itself chiefly in
ploughman, remember, drinks his beer not preventing disease, or in discovering reme-
for the nourishment it contains, but for the dies; but let its penetrating eye be turned
sake of the stimulating poison. Even he more directly and extensively to the exami.
has philosophy enough about him to know nation of what is nutritious and what is
that he eats bread for nutrition and drinks deleterious, and we shall approximate to
beer for its spirit. The finer it is, and con- that happy state in which the inhabitant
sequently the less of solid matter it con- shall no more say I am sick.” That human
tains, and the lighter it weighs—for its life shall be very greatly prolonged beyond
weight decreases just in proportion as its its present limits is one of the plain decla-
strength increases-the more he esteems it. rations of prophecy. The following is Dr.
The carpenter has not strength to saw a Lowth's translation of the 65th Chapter of
plank or drive a nail until he has borrowed Isaiah, verse 20-23.
courage from the tankard. Eating is likely
“ No more shall there be an infant short lived,
to be superseded, human stomachs and di-
Nor an old man who hath not fulfilled his days;
gestive organs are being supplanted; and, For he that dicth a hundred years old shall die a
indeed, from being poisoned with alcohol,
boy,
95
And the sinner that shall die at an hundred
are getting so troublesome that could they
shall be deemed accursed.
be parted with, many would dismiss them
And they shall build houses and inhabit them;
from their bodies and throw them to the And they shall plant vineyards and eat* the fruit
of them :
worms before their time. Drink, drink is
They shall not build and another inhabit;
everything. Every one tells us he has a
They shall not plant and another eat:
diseased stomach, and cannot live without For as the days of a tree shall be the days of my
drink. From the prince to the peasant the
people,
And they shall wear out the works of their own
great mutiny against wholesome food is
going on. Although the population has My chosen shall not labour in vain,
increased, the evidence before the House of Neither shall they generate a short lived race."
Commons showed that in some of our large
towns, as Bristol for example, bakers, but-
Every one who has read the sacred origi-
chers, and the venders of nutritious food,
nal must allow that this translation is literal;
have decreased, and alehouses and gin-shops and, without staying in this place to settle
for the sale of poison have multiplied ten
the point respecting the number of years
to one, and while the grocer becomes a
that it allots to man, it must be evident to
bankrupt for want of custom, the innkeeper
all that it apportions to the inhabitants of
drives his blood horses, and the gin-seller
this world a much longer period of life than
builds a palace. In our time the tradesman
threescore years and ten. A little reflec-
cannot keep his books, the senator get up
tion will show us that Scripture has placed
his speech, the barrister defend his client,
no specific limit to human life. The pas-
nor the parson compose his sermon, with-
sage of Moses so often quoted, “The days
out seeking inspiration from alcohol. Were
of our years are threescore years and ten,"
either of these to dine or sup without a
is neither a decree nor a prediction, but a
little of this poison, he tells us that he
could not proceed with his calling or pro-
* Shall eat," not drink, the fruit of the vine, if
alcohol may be so called, for it is rather the fruit of
fession, Genius, talent, and religion seem fermentation, than of the vine,
years
hands.

46
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
136
plain historical fact. That psalm was evi- Herodotus tells us that the average life of
dently written during a time of great mor- the Macrobians was 120 years, and that they
tality, and Moses simply states that “ three never drank anything stronger than milk.
or fourscore years" was the utmost limit then I knew one man who was 104 years old, and
allowed them by disease, or by the decree was a very lively, brisk old man. Speaking
that doomed them to die in the wilderness. of his wife, he said to me, "She is but a girl
But he does not say that the men of other to me, for she is only 70, and, therefore, more
generations shall not be permitted to live to than 30 years younger than I am.” Another
a longer date. On such a topic he is altogether man in the same town, Devonport, was
silent. So the text in Genesis, "His days shall upwards of 100. I have at present in my
be an hundred and twenty years," merely church an old man, Richard Poulston, who
promises that number of days to the ante- is upwards of 100. He joined the church
diluvians previous to the flood, but it does after he was 96. At that time he often at-
not say that the men of other times shall tended divine worship four times of a sab-
never exceed that limitation. Indeed, we bath, walked several miles, and ascended
find immediately after the deluge, that the two very steep hills, that he might enjoy the
patriarchs and others had their lives pro- preaching of the gospel.
longed far beyond that duration. In the I mention these facts to show that our
Tables of Mortality for England and Wales, life is not of necessity confined to "three-
commencing at 1813, and ending with 1830, score years and ten.' Indeed, no one can
being a period of eighteen years, we find have visited sick beds, and have witnessed
that from the age of 81 to that of 124, up- how long, beyond all expectation, the vital
wards of 245,000 persons were buried. Of spark has lingered about its clay tenement,
these 11,173 lived to the age of 90, and 707
without perceiving that, in many instances,
lived to the age of 100 years; 18 lived to disease has had a hard struggle before it
110; 3 died at 120, and one man lived to could dislodge the soul from its earthly
be 124.
dwelling. We have all seen what a tedious
The following well-authenticated in- and painful amount of sufferings individuals
stances of longevity are copied from Baker's of delicate constitutions can endure before
Curse of Britain, page 24, 2d edition :- their spirits can be induced to depart to
their long home. While, therefore, we
Years
Year's
allow that the thread of life is brittle, and
EleanorAymer lived 103 John Mount...
Ellen Prichard..... 103 Margaret Patten.... 137
can be snapped asunder by a very slight
104 Juan Morroygota... 138 accident, yet we must also grant, that in
Her Sisters...
108 Rebecca Pury...... 140 the ordinary course of things, the period of
St. John the Silent.. 104 Dumitor Radaloy... 140
our dissolution may be deferred to a very
James the Hermit... 104 Countess of Desmond 140
St. Theodosius...... 105 Mr. Ecleston...
distant period. Let mankind be properly
Thomas Davis.. 106 Solomon Nibel..... fed and clothed ; let them inhale the health-
His Wife..
105 William Evans.....
ful atmosphere, and have plenty of exer-
Ann Parker... 108 Joseph Bam.....
St. Authony
105 Col. Tho. Winsloe.. 146
cise; let their houses be well ventilated,
Simon Stylites. 109 Llywark Hen...... 150 their persons be kept clean, and their minds
Mrs. Ann Wall. 111 Judith Crawford.... 150 be usefully and cheerfully employed, and
Paul the Hermit. 113 Catherine Hyatt.... 150 such men as Old Parr will no longer be
St. Epiphanius..
115 Francis Consist.
Arsenius
120 James Bowels..
prodigies of longevity. Now, every man
Romualdus...
120 Thomas Parr
...... 152
who drinks alcoholic drinks must of neces-
Apollonius of Tyana, 130 Thomas Damma.
sity cut short his days. He may live to be
Margaret Darley. 130 Robert Lynch.
Francis Peat. 130 Mrs. Letitia Cox ... 160
eighty, but he would have lived longer but
William Ellis.. 130 Sarah Rovin
for these poisons. “He that shall die at a
Damberger.
130 Henry Jenkins.. hundred years old, shall die a boy," says
Peter Garden. 131 Johu Rovin...
Isaiah, intimating, that at such an age,
John Gordon.. 132 Peter Porton....
John Taylor 133 Mongate..........
instead of the vigour of the frame being
Catherine Lopez... 134 Petratsch Czarten.. 185 decayed, it will not have arrived at matu-
Margaret Forster... 136 Thomas Caen ... ... 207 rity; so that instead of the shrivelled and
From the statistics of Russia, it appears,
wrinkled members which we now some-
that in 1838 there were in that country the
times see at fifty, it shall not be an uncom-
following instances of longevity:
mon sight to have men as old as Moses,
whose "eyes have not waxed dim, and
Years
whose natural strength has not abated."
850 persons had reached from.. 100
Nothing would be more likely to hasten so
glorious a period than the banishment of
alcohol from the world. We should then,
probably, have but one disease among us,
and that would be death: not death at the
age of thirty or forty years, but men would
come to their graves “in a full age, like as
a shock of corn cometh in his season.'
143
143
145
146
152
152
154
160
164
169
172
185
185
Years
to
120
120
121
3
5
110
116
121
126
131
145
150
160
165
105
115
120
125
130
140
IIIIIII
155
3
1
1

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS.
47
Order III. Exanthemata, Rashes.
Gen. 11. Erysipelas, St. Anthony's fire.
Order IV. Hemorrhagiæ, Fluxes of Blood.
Gen.
$ 12. Epistaxis, piles.
? 13. Homoptysis, spitting of blood.
Order V. Profluvia, catarrh, &c.
Gen. 14. Dysenteria, bowel complaints.
count.
CLASS II. Neuroses, Nervous Diseases.
Order I. Comata, Loss of Sensation, Thought, and
Voluntary Action.
Gen. 15. Apoplexia, apoplexy.
16. Paralysis.
Order II. Adynamiæ, Fainting.
Gen.
{ 17. Dyspepsia, indigestion.
18. Hypochondria low spirits.
Order III. Spasmi, Spasms.
19. Convulsio, convulsions.
20. Epilepsia, fits.
21. Palpitatio, palpitation of the heart.
Gen.
22. Pyrosis, water brash.
23. Cholera.
24. Diabetes.
We know that some are ready to exclaim,
that they do not wish to live so long. Per-
haps not; and yet few are willing to go
when their end comes. Even the Christian
fees the physician at no common cost to ward
off the last enemy.
“ All the days of our
appointed time should we wait until our
change come," for it is not improbable that
the evening of the longest day of life will
find us with our work but half done, and
therefore very ill prepared for our final ac-
But if life is, after all, a despicable
boon of Providence, and if it is desirable
that it should be shortened by poison, then
wisdom would suggest that the shortest and
speediest bane would be the best. It will
not at all lessen the crime of suicide in the
sight of God, that we administered to our-
selves the deleterious drug by drops, and
especially not, as in so doing, we embit-
tered by disease the few fleeting hours we
allotted to ourselves, and became not merely
useless, but positively injurious, to others.
Our moderate drinking may have destroyed
many. A very short life, and one entirely
barren of any good deed, may be redundant
of fruits that shall embitter the whole of a
long eternity. We are none of us isolated
characters. We cannot sever the bond that
unites us to the whole human family, and
therefore we eat not to ourselves, nor drink
to ourselves; we live not to ourselves, nor
to ourselves do we die. We are altogether
the Lord's, and are consequently bound to
present to him our body, and to take care
that we do not, by indulgence, render that
body a mass of disease. The lame and the
maimed among the Jews were neither re-
ceived as a sin-offering or peace-offering.
We owe to the Lord the longest and the
best life we
can live, and are under a
solemn obligation to see that our vigour is
not diminished, nor our days shortened
by poison in whatever form administered.
And we owe to him our souls, and there-
fore must watch lest we be overcome with
surfeiting and drunkenness," and thus unfit
our spirit for the high and holy duties of our
heavenly vocation.
The following is a synoptical view of the
classes, orders, and genera of diseases,
which may be induced by alcoholic drinks:
Order IV. Vesania, Insanity.
(25. Melancholia, melancholy.
26. Mania, madness.
27. Amentia, idiotey.
28. Delirium tremens, fearful madness.
Gen.
CLASS III. Cachexiæ, Bad habit of body.
Order I. Marcores, Wasting disease.
5 29. Tabes, consumption,
Gen.
30. Atrophia, no nourishment from food.
Order II. Intumescentiæ, Swellings.
S3). Anasarca, dropsy.
Gen. 32. Hydrothorax, dropsy in the chest.
(33. Ascitis, dropsy in the abdomen.
Order III. Impetigines, Cutaneous diseases.
34. Scrophula.
Gen. 35. Scorbutus, scurvy.
36. Icterus, jaundice.
CLASS I. Pyrexiæ ; febrile diseases.
Order I. Febres ; fevers.
Gen. 1. Febricula feverish affections.
Ebrieta, ebriety.
Order II. Phlegmasiæ, Inflammations.
2. Gut. Rosacea, red pimples on the nose
and sometimes whole face.
3. Ophthalmia, diseased eyes.
4. Phrenitis, inflammation of the brain.
5. Pneumonia, inflammation of the lungs.
Genera
6. Carditis, inflammation of the heart.
7. Gastritis, inflammation of the stomach.
8. Hepatitis, inflammation of the liver.
9. Nephritis, inflammation of the kidneys.
(10. Podagra, gout.
CLASS IV. Locales, Local diseases.
Order I. Dysorexiæ, Diseased appetite.
Gen.
$ 37. Polydipsia, constant thirst.
38. Anorexia, loathing of food.
Order II. Dyalises.
39. Vulnus, wounds.
40. Contusio, bruises.
Gen.
41. Dislocatio, dislocations.
42. Fractura, fractures.
I have copied this table from Dr. Beau-
mont's Essay on Alcohol, and for the sake of
the English reader have added an interpre-
tation of the technical terms employed.
Here we have forty-two diseases, some of
them most malignant ones, traced to alco-
holic drinks as their origin.
The following Table of Mortality for the
week ending January 18, 1840, copied from
The Times of January 25, 1840, will show
the reader how many persons in London
alone, in one week, died of the diseases just
mentioned, and probably were brought to
their end prematurely through the moderate
or immoderate use of alcoholic drinks.

48
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
.....
same cause.
1
..... 159
26
sons.
Small-pox
3 dered incurable by alcohol. Croup both
Measles
20
originating and proving destructive from
Scarlatina
51 susceptibility to cold, occasioned by the
Hooping-cough
21
Diarrhoea, dysentery, cholera,
Croup
5 typhus, influenza and erysipelas, in a majority
Thrush..
of cases, occasion death from the injudicious
Diarrhoea..
use of alcoholic drinks, and, in too many
Dysentery
instances, the patient, by immoderate or
Influenza..
3 even moderate drinking, has made himself
Typhus...
27 obnoxious to these diseases. Of syphilis it
Erysipelas
3 may be said, that were unholy passions no
Syphilis..
longer excited by alcohol, chastity would
Epidemic, Endemic, and contagious prevail, and, as a consequence, this horrid
diseases
144 disease, which brings so many to a prema -
Diseases of the Brain, Nerves, and ture grave, be banished from the land.
Senses.
Epidemic, endemic, and contagious diseases,
Diseases of the lungs and other organs are, in nine cases out of ten, both propagated
of respiration.
373 and rendered mortal by strong drinks. Dis-
Diseases of the Heart and Blood-eases of the brain, nerves, senses, lungs, and
vessels
30
other organs of respiration; of the heart
Diseases of the Stomach, Liver, and and blood-vessels; of the stomach, liver, and
other Organs of Digestion...... 51
other organs of digestion; of the kidneys,
Diseases of the Kidneys.
3
joints, bones, muscles, and skin, may, in most
Childbed Diseases, &c.
instances, be traced to alcohol, and are, in
Diseases of the Joints, Bones, and
quite as many cases, rendered fatal by the
Muscles
8
use of this liquor. Thousands of women
Diseases of the Skin....
2
in their confinement are brought to the
Diseases of uncertain Seat........ 103
grave by the cold, the inflammation, the
Old Age, or Natural Decay..
91 unnatural excitement and collapse connected
Deaths by violence, privation, or in- with the drinking of these intoxicating poi-
temperance. .
Deaths by violence are generally the
result of drinking; and premature old age
Total Deaths from all causes.. 997 an invariable consequence. Every medical
The reader should observe that there is pathology of his profession, must subseribe
man who understands the physiology and
not a death mentioned above but
to these sentiments, and, as the friend of
been hastened by alcoholic drinks; and
his species, ought to encourage the efforts
most of them may have originated from
made to abolish these destructive beverages.
the
of these destructive liquors.
What is remarkable is, that only 91 died
of old age ; only 244 lived beyond the age
of 60; 753 died before they arrived at that
period ; 392 deaths occurred between 0 and
CHAP. III.
15, and 361 between 15 and 60. Here
then are only 91 deaths occurring from age
or natural causes; the remainder, amount-
The Great Loss, Waste, Expenditure, &c., con-
nected with drinking, 1. Vast sums Spent in
ing to 906, are all from unnatural causes,
Intoxicating Liquors. 2. Hospitals, Lunatic Asy-
and, with few exceptions, might have been lums, Infirmaries, Dispensaries, Prisons, Courts
prevented. From this awful example of of Justice, Police, &c. &c. 3. Property lost on
land. 4, Property and Life lost at Sea.
5. Pro-
unnecessary mortality, the “cry of blood”
perty stolen. 6. Poor Rates, Time Misspent, Ex-
ascends to the throne of Divine Justice,
pense of Medical Men, Drugs, &c. 7. Small
and against none is it so loud as against quantity of Manual Labour required to produce
those who drink, sell, or recommend alco- these beverages. 8. Barley, Grain, Apples, Grapes,
holic liquors. To these it may emphatically
wasted or rather converted into poisons. 9. Lands
unprofitably employed. 10. Labourers deceived
be said, “ Your hands are full of blood ;" and cheated by these drinks.
nor will God, when he makes inquisition
for blood,” forget their recklessness. We have already seen that crime, disease,
In confirmation of these remarks, it is and death are, to a most awful extent, the
only necessary to observe the character of effects of drinking; in this chapter it will
the diseases just enumerated. For example, be shown, that the waste and expenditure
small-pox is an inflammatory disease, and that can be legitimately traced to this bane..
in the majority of cases is rendered fatal by ful practice, are truly appalling. Probably
these heating drinks; measles often prove there are but few sins which are not expen-
fatal from the inflammatory liquors admi- sive. It generally costs a man a great deal
nistered. The same may be said of scar- more to be wicked and sensual than to be
latina. Hooping-cough is frequently ren- godly and liberal; and drunkenness, and
may have
use

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS.
49
9
وو
even what some call moderate drinking, may hundred millions" sterling is rather below
be very easily shown to be one of the most than above the sum which is annually spent
expensive of vices.
We have every reason
and wasted on these detestable poisons.
to believe, that upwards of one hundred We ought to consider the number of per-
millions sterling are squandered annually by sons that drink malt liquors, and the num-
this destructive passion. I have in my pos- ber of gallons drunk by each person in the
session several calculations which would course of a year, before we shall be able to
confirm this opinion, but I have copied the arrive at the truth respecting the consump-
following from the late publication of T. tion of fermented drinks, and when we reflect
Beaumont, Esq., Surgeon, in his Essay on that these beverages are now in almost every
alcoholic drinks.
family, and that beer-shops to retail them
“ 32,823,034 bushels of malt,
have multipied beyond any former precedent,
brewed by public brewers
we shall be warranted in concluding, that the
and licensed victuallers,
quantity drunk, very far exceeds our present
taken at 12 gallons to the
calculation. There is the following number
bushel, and at 2s.per gallon 39,387,628 of brewers in the country.
Deduct for malt liquor ex-
Brewers of strong beer not exceeding
ported...
225,641 20 barrels..
8,894
Exceeding 20 brls. & not ex. 50 brls. 7,894
39,161,987
50
100 10,294
6,223,592 bushels of malt
100
1000 19,430
brewed by private families,
1000
and upwards.. 1,668
cost of malt at 7s. 6d. per
Brewers of table beer..
10
bushel
2,333,847 Retail brewers under Act 5. Geo.
Hops one pound per bushel,
IV., c. 54...
21
at Is. per pound.
311,176
Interest upon capital, wear
Total brewers, 48,211
and tear of private brewing
When it is considered that nearly half
utensils, &c.....
1,050,230 of these brew to the amount of 1,000 gal-
lons and upwards, the quantity of beer
Total for malt liquor 42,857,243 which they prepare for public consump-
6,420,342 imperial gallons of
tion must be immense.
wine, at 22s.6d. per gallon 6,750,000 The following is the latest parliamentary
Cider, Perry, home made
returns of the retailers of beer.
wines..
1,500,000 Sellers of strong beer only, not being
20,528,889 imperial gallons of
brewers.....
994
spirits to cost the consumer 17,250,000 Beer retailers, whose premises are
Police, jails, and prosecu-
rated under £20, per annum..... 39,765
tions, &c. &c....
2,000,000 At £20, or upwards.
15,427
Loss of labour, (taken by
Retailers of beer, cider, and perry to
Mr. Buckingham at 50 mil-
be drunk on the premises, or not
lions), say..
35,000,000 to be drunk on the premises...... 39,104
Retailers of cider and perry only.... 1,608
105,357,243
Allowed for medicinal pur-
Total.... 98,898
poses, &c. ...
5,357,243 These calculations were taken from Par-
liamentary papers for 1836; the same docu-
Annual cost 100,000,000 ments for 1839, give an increase of brewers
« In these fermented liquors, there will 279, and an increase of sellers of these
be 63,780,095 gallons of spirits, and in the drinks, 7,470.
distilled spirits, 29,528,889 gallons of alco- Here then we have upwards of 48,000
hol, making a total of 93,308,984 gallons of brewers of beer, and nearly 100,000 re-
intoxicating spirit, and showing an excess of tailers of these demoralizing drinks; and
alcohol in fermented, above distilled liquors if we could add to these, the number of
to the amount of 34,251,206 gallons," and persons that brew at home for their own
therefore the inconsistency of medical men use, it would be evident to all, that the
and others who disclaim against ardent malt liquor which is at present consumed
spirits and yet encourage the people to drink in the country, must amount in quantity
those fermented drinks, in which they often and value to an enormous sum.
take double the quantity that they would A great deal also of the gin which is
if they drank only gin or brandy and water. sold in London and other places, is sold at
I could give the reader several other cal- a considerable rate below the prime cost of
culations, but it is a query whether as yet, that article, showing that dilution and
it is possible for us to arrive at the exact adulteration are carried on to a very large
truth on this subject, but the following ob- extent ; it is not very easy for us to cal-
servations will show the reader that, “ one culate the quantity of water made hot by
L

50
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
112
99
drugs, and sold to the people in the name enormous rents, and generally live at a
of spirits. We believe also, that illicit most extravagant rate, showing, that they
distillation and smuggling, bring a large have a vast trade, and vast profits; all of
portion of ardent spirit into the market, which, is paid for by the foolish purchasers
which, of course is not accounted for in of these beverages.
We may therefore
Parliamentary returns. A receipt for ma- justly conclude, that the calculation given
king gin, was presented to the Committee above, falls very far below what is really
of the House of Commons on drunkenness, wasted on these poisons. Bakers, butchers,
this receipt had been produced in a court &c., would soon be bankrupts if they imi-
of justice, the parties having disputed about tated the extravagance of publicans.
the price. In adorning the gin-palaces of Our hospitals, lunatic asylums, infirm-
London, vast sums are spent; it is a well aries, and various other dispensaries for
attested fact, that on one of these buildings the sick, cost us upwards of two millions a
not less than £6000 was expended, in year; and these are chiefly used and oc-
preparing it for this infamous traffic.
cupied by those whom moderate or excessive
The Parliamentary returns for the year drinking have doomed to accidents, disease,
ending January 5th, 1839, furnish the or insanity. We ought, considering our
following table of manufacturers, dealers, means of physical and moral health, to be
and retailers of spirit.
the strongest, and most religious people
Distillers and Rectifiers
upon earth; and should be so, but for
Dealers in spirits not being Re- these alcoholic poisons. In reporting the
tailers.
2,966 number of persons mad or diseased through
Retailers of Spirits whose pre- drinking, medical men generally refer ex-
mises are under
£10 15,761 | clusively to those who were notoriously
Ditto at £10 & under 20 19,518 addicted to drinking ; but such a reference
Ditto
20
25 3,166
cannot include a tithe of the truth,
Ditto
25
30 1,996 disease and disorganization, in many in-
Ditto
30
40 3,644 stances originating in moderate drinking,
Ditto
40
50 2,352 and by this practice rendered hereditary,
Ditto
50 and upwards 4,826 ought to be taken into account, and were
this done, we should see that the doors of
Total
54,341 these hospitals and asylums are kept open
It is probable that the rent and taxes of chiefly by the drinkers of alcoholic drinks.
the premises of these manufacturers, dealers County and town prisons, hulks, trans-
and retailers, amount to at least £2,000,000 ports, courts of justice, criminal prosecu-
annually, and the rent and taxes of the tions, houses of correction, magistrates,
premises of the brewers and beer sellers, police establish ats, sessions, litigations
would amount to an equal sum.
and actions connected with drinking, fees
It is generally allowed that an immense to lawyers and barristers, constables, &c.,
manufacture, and adulteration of wine takes together with the fines paid, and time lost
place, the quantity of wine imported, the in prisons, and houses of correction, cause
still greater quantity vended, and the price an expenditure and waste to the amount of
at which a great deal is sold, fully de- six or seven millions. The justice depart-
monstrate this fact. There are 21,590 ment of government costs upwards of a
persons licensed to sell wine. I once saw million annually, and the preventive ser-
in London, a paper containing the death- vice half a million more; and yet these
bed agonies of a wine merchant, whose sums are not a quarter of what is paid for
departing spirit was horrified to the utmost, trials, police fines, &c., by the country.
at the thought of meeting in another world, Now from all parts of the United Kingdom,
the souls of the persons whom he knew from all judges, magistrates, jailers, police
that he had murdered, by the poisonous reports, and chaplains to prisons, we have
adulteration of wine. A full exposure of but one testimony, which is, that drinking
the poisons thus employed, may be found is the cause of nine-tenths of the crime,
in the prize essay, Bacchus.
quarrels, misdemeanors, and actions that
There is reason to believe, that cider
and home made wines are consumed to a The property lost both by sea and land,
much greater extent, than is generally in consequence of the aboundings of this
supposed; and also, that adulteration in-vice, is truly astounding; how many houses
creases the quantity of beer and porter, have been burnt down, through the care-
very greatly beyond the amount of Parlia- lessness of persons wholly, or partially
mentary returns.
It is not at all impro- intoxicated! It was under the inspirations
bable, that full one third more of these of strong drink, that the incendiary first
different drinks is consumed, than is conceived the idea of burning his neigh-
accounted for to the government.
bour's property; and it was in an ale-house,
It should be remarked, that the manu- or gin-shop, that, by a moderate portion
facturers and retailers of these drinks, pay of alcohol, he primed himself for the dis-
occur.
.

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS.
51
our
charge of so malignant a purpose. What | The young officer prepared to resist; the
a large amount of valuable goods also is American said, “ Sir your case is hopeless,
every day injured, spoiled, or lost, through you must surrender, your men are all drunk
the stupid, careless, and reckless conduct of below. The officer however did resist,
tipplers. In these cases, the employer and was shot dead; his men had all been
suffers severely, and the careless offender is drenched with rum and laudanum.* A
often heavily mulcted, so that both master and merchant ship was driven on shore at St.
servants are losers to a great extent. What Maloes, when the people boarded her they
quantities of valuable property are also
found all her sails set, even the top-gallant
stolen and wasted, by those who are ad- sails at the mast head, and all the people
dicted to drinking? There are in
drunk on board, except a little boy who
country thousands of thieves who live by was at the helm : the boy said, that the
plunder, and yet there is scarcely one of master had died at sea, and as soon as the
these who is not a drunkard.
breath was out of his body, the crew hoisted
Several witnesses before the House of up a cask of wine or spirit, with which
Commons, referred to the amount of pro- they got drunk till the vessel came on
perty lost every year at sea, through the shore at St. Maloes.t The St. George,
baneful influence of intoxicating drinks; 98 guns, was lost through drinking. The
we find from Parliamentary documents, Edgar and the Ajax, from the same cause.
that in the short period of six years, “not Spirits being on board, was the cause of
less than 2,687 ships and vessels were the loss of the Kent, the Rothsay Castle
stranded or wrecked; and 218 were lost, with a 100 souls on board, the Lady of
or missing; making the total of nearly the Lake, the Hibernia, and many others
three thousand vessels which were greatly that might be named, were lost through
injured, or entirely destroyed in that short these pernicious drinks. On board“ the
period. In one hundred and thirty of these St. George, there were 550 men, and nearly
ships, the whole crew perished, and the all perished; the boatswain's yeoman with
number of persons who were drowned some other men, had got drunk in the
amounted to three thousand four hundred boatswain's store-room, and set fire to the
and fourteen." Here then we have ships ship.”' “The Ajax, 74 guns, was burnt
of great value, and cargoes more valuable at the mouth of the Dardanelles, in 1806,
than the ships, all sent to the bottom of by the drunkenness of the purser's steward ;
the sea ; and, what is still more distressing, there were 350 people drowned.”I Here
here are three thousand four hundred and we see, as in all other instances, madness,
fourteen souls launched into eternity, presumption, misery, destruction, and death,
few of them, we fear, but ill prepared for the constant attendants of alcoholic drinks.
their final account! The loss, viewed under The
we have mentioned are not
this aspect, is incalculable! In one in solitary; every ocean, sea and river, every
stance, when the shipwreck of a large port and harbour, every shipowner and
packet seemed to all appearance inevitable, merchant, whose trade is in the mighty
the sailors got tired of working at the waters, can tell long and mournful tales of
pumps, and the shout went forth, as is ruin and death, which can be traced solely
awfully the case in such instances, “ To and entirely to these devastating and de-
the spirit-room," the purport of which was, structive drinks. The bottom of the sea
that those persons, seeing death inevitable, has been rendered a dark and gloomy char-
wished to die drunk, and for a few moments nel house, in which the dust of myriads of
to drown their sorrow. A post-captain our countrymen is reposing, and awaiting
who was on board, knowing what would the summons of the archangel's trumpet,
be the certain result, took his stand at the and in that awful day, when the sea shall
door of the spirit-room with a pistol in give up its dead, how many, alas! shall we
each hand, and declared in the most solemn see arise from their watery grave, who,
manner that he would shoot the first man though unprepared for another world,
who attempted to force it; finding it im- hurried themselves into the presence of
possible to indulge in their drunkenness, their Judge, in consequence of the corrupting
the men returned to the pumps, and, by influence of inebriating liquor! Christian,
the blessing of God, the vessel was brought shall this scourge destroy for ever? Pa-
in safe, and all the persons on board pro- triots, shall a spirit more tremendous than
videntially saved."*
A gallant young
the billows or the tempests, be commissioned
British officer who had received the com- by you to overwhelm and devour the cost-
mand of an American prize, soon after the liest treasure, and the bravest hearts of your
capturing ship had departed, was accosted country? Total abstinence would clear
by the American master, who had been the seas of this worse than piratical curse ;
left on board, and desired to give up his but, if reckless of the consequences, you
sword and the command of the vessel. still continue to harbour and commend
cases
* Parliamentary Report, 255.
* Parliamentary Report, 330,
* 329.
+ 331.
E 2

52
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
I 09 yeron
this bane, you cannot remain guiltless of parents, that ought to be supported by their
the dire results that must follow.
children, are left destitute in consequence
It would be difficult to calculate the of the drinking habits of the latter; wives
numbers that, in a state of drunkenness and children are doomed to the workhouse,
have, on board their various ships, been because the father and husband is a drunk-
launched into eternity, nor can we estimate ard; many individuals, disabled through
the wealth that reckless intoxication drunkenness, or rendered a mass of disease
has wantonly thrown into the depths of by what some would call moderate drink-
the sea.
The most experienced brokers ing, are obliged to subsist upon parochial
and others connected with the naval and relief; and numbers, solely from the impro-
mercantile affairs, gave it as their opinion vidence that intemperance induced, are now
that " nine tenths” of all the losses at sea, living upon parish pay.
We
may
therefore
have been occasioned by the use and abuse at once conclude that in some years six
of intoxicating liquors. Aware of this fact, millions of poor-rates have been levied and
not less than one thousand ships now sail paid for the support of the victims of strong
from America, without any spirits or strong drink. We all know that what is spent in
drinks on board ; our merchants are so these liquors would, if paid into a good
well convinced of the comparative safety of benefit society, provide for the father of the
these ships, that in Liverpool, until these family in sickness and old age. There are
are chartered, vessels that continue to carry few moderate drinkers that are content to
intoxicating poisons cannot command a spend so small a sum as one shilling per
cargo.
It is also a fact, that insurance week in these poisons; but this amount
societies demand a less premium of these paid into a well-regulated benefit society
temperance ships than of any others; and would make a very respectable provision for
thus all attest the immense loss on the one them in sickness and old age. I have be-
hand that drunkenness has occasioned, and the fore me the tables of an equitable club, esta-
unspeakable advantage on the other that must blished on principles that would prevent its
be the result of total abstinence. Some ever being ruined by the number or age of
tell us that the sea is richer than the land, its members; these tables show that by
and we know that it has inherited its richest paying one shilling per week, from the age
treasures from the madness of men whom of thirty to that of sixty-three, a man might
strong drink had bereft of reason. The vessels secure for himself the sum of twelve shil-
that have been wrecked were valuable, but lings a week during sickness, of eight shil-
these can bear no comparison with the rich lings a week from the age of sixty-five until
cargoes which are frequently buried in the his
death, and of ten pounds to bury him
deep through the intemperance of seamen. after his decease. Now, when we consider
ing into consideration, therefore, the that a much greater amount than one shil-
property and goods that are annually burnt, ling per week is, on an average, spent in
damaged and lost by land and sea, through these contaminating drinks, we see how
this vice, we are fully warranted in assuming well almost every family might have been
that no less than three millions is wasted provided for without the intervention of
every year in these different departments, parochial aid; and therefore that drinking,
and every farthing lost through drunken- not merely immoderately, but moderately,
For in this calculation we do not is the cause of the great demand that is
comprehend what may have been destroyed made for the relief the poor. ad
independently of drinking; we argue from Time misspent and productive labour
the fact stated by the brokers and other lost, is another item that must enter into
mercantile men, that full nine-tenths of our calculation of the cost of drinking. It
what is burnt, lost, or destroyed, can be has been estimated that if the mechanics of
traced to this source.
London suspend their labours for one day,
The poor-rates also, of which many so no less than £50,000 would be lost. And
bitterly complain, are greatly increased by if London be reckoned at one-twentieth of
drinking. These have sometimes amounted the population of the United Kingdom,
to "seven or eight millions in a year," and were all the labourers and mechanics in the
yet the most competent witnesses before the country to play for one day, £1,000,000
Committee of the House of Commons gave would be lost; and were they to pass one
it as their opinion that by far the greater day in idleness in every week of the year,
number of paupers were made such by the then £52,000,000 would be annually lost.
use of stimulating liquors. Some gentle- Now, though we are happy to say that every
men stated that “two-thirds," and others labourer and mechanic does not lose one
that “nine-tenths” of the sum levied was day a week by drinking, yet, as many drunk-
spent on persons who were brought to the ards spend two, three, or even four days in
parish, directly or indirectly, by drinking. some weeks in the pothouse and some
And it is only for us to examine our own spend nearly all their time there-we may
vicinities to discover that this statement ap- conclude that the calculation just made is
proaches very near to the truth. Aged not very incorrect. It is computed that
ness.

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS.
53
there are "siæ hundred thousand drunkards” nence, that then a sum of money equal to
in the United Kingdom; these are, many twice the value of our foreign trade will
of them, the best workmen and get very be spent on the produce of our agriculture
high wages, and on an average do not work and manufactories. It is well known that
half their time; and therefore, indepen- if what is now wasted in gin, beer and
dent of what they spend in money, sacrifice wine, were not thus spent, it would, never-
in the mere loss of time the worth of some theless, be laid out in the British market
thousands, if not millions, annually. But and circulated through the country. I know
beside these, there are the moderate drink- of few persons that have enough of the
ers, that occasionally lose a day; or, in good things which the fields, the looms, and
consequence of the disease which alcoholic the various arts of the nation can produce.
drinks generate, are doomed to spend many
The families of drunkards, and also of mo-
days in idleness and a sick chamber, and derate drinkers, in hundreds of instances,
thus, on a moderate calculation, waste a vast want more food, clothing, furniture, and
sum every year. And many of these, be it
other comforts of life. More cottons, silks,
remembered, must be superintended by their woollen cloths, books, and domestic uten-
wives and daughters, and therefore keep their sils, would be bought were the sum men-
nurses from other labour. Let all these tioned above differently circulated. More
things be duly weighed, and it will be also of the ornamental productions of our
found that the estimation given is not far ingenious countrymen, more of the works of
short of the truth. The amount may seem artists, and more of foreign luxuries would
large, but we are persuaded that our coun- likewise be purchased. Now, the pros-
trymen are not at all aware of the magni- perity of a people mainly depends upon
tude of the loss that the nation sustains the manner in which the wealth of the na-
from the consumption of these liquors. tion is distributed. If a hundred millions
Should the calculation, after all, be ob- of property be disbursed so as to be con-
jected to, we may mention another source fined to a few hands, or to employ but few
of needless expenditure connected with individuals, then but comparatively little
drinking. From the disease that alcohol good arises to the community; but if, in-
induces, vast sums are spent annually in stead of this, you can lay it out in such a
medicine and medical men. Druggists and manner as shall give full employment to the
doctors have increased to an alarming ex- bulk of the inhabitants, you then benefit
tent, and all seem to prosper amazingly, and
all. The poor man's ability to labour is
yet all are gaining their wealth from the national wealih, quite as valuable as the
aboundings of disease.
Could we get a
gold or the lands of the nobleman, and
correct enumeration of the druggists and therefore if the time, and talent, and mus-
medical men of Great Britain at the present cle of the artizan and ploughman are wasted
time, we should be startled. Now, the in an alehouse, or doomed to idleness, you
goods sold by druggists, and dispensed at a have a national calamity quite as great as
high price by apothecaries, are those on would arise from letting the fields lie fallow,
which but little manual labour is bestowed ; or allowing the gold of the rich man to
and, therefore, while millions every year slumber in his coffers. The wealth of the
are spent in medicines, yet the country de- nation, whether consisting in money, lands,
rives but little advantage therefrom; and talent, or labour, may be compared to the
thus the productive energies of the labourer blood in the human system, and the various
and mechanic are doomed to idleness, be- members of society to the blood-vessels
cause of the money, which, if spent in through which this nutrient fluid glides.
clothes and wholesome food, would have The health and strength of the body depend
given them ample employment and remu- upon having this precious juice sent through
neration, is wasted in drugs, medicine, beer every part of the frame. Were only the
or gin. Let all these items be put together larger vessels supplied, the body must waste
and we shall perceive that upwards of one and decay. There are millions of smaller
hundred millions are annually wasted tubes that are spread over the whole sys-
through the use of these poisons. In the tem, or are deeply imbedded in the recesses
Parliamentary returns for the year 1838, of our constitution, that every moment need
our exports are valued at fifty millions; but this valuable aliment; and when this living
grievous oftentimes are the complaints, and and invigorating stream flows through the
gloomy in the extreme the forebodings lest whole, visits every part, fills every vessel
this foreign demand should be decreased by whether large or small, and supplies and
the competition of other nations. It is satisfies the natural cravings of every organ,
only for us to look at what is wasted at then perfect health must be the result. So
home in drinking, to perceive that when in the civil constitution, let the capital of
the attention of the people shall be aroused the country be duly distributed, let the
to contemplate the consequences of this whole political body be employed, and you
vice, and to adopt, as we are persuaded must have a prosperous and a happy people.
they will adopt, the principle of total absti- We are much more dependent on foreigners
9000

54
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
can turn over.
than we suppose. By giving up the use of keeper, the gin seller, and the maltster,
intoxicating drinks we can instantly give an would soon find a more honourable and
order to the British market that shall dou- useful channel for their capital, and if they
ble our foreign trade, and thus become to did not get so much, what they obtained
ourselves our best customers. The progress would spend better. There is a fatality
of machinery, as a productive power, can- attends the money which has been won
not be stopped; we must therefore increase from the sale or manufacture of alcoholic
the consumption, and this would instantly drinks. In few, if any instances, does it
be done were the time, talent, and money spend well. It often never reaches the
wasted in drinks, turned into a different second generation, and rarely gets into the
channel, and circulated through the hands hands of the fourth. The ire of heaven
of drapers, grocers, and mechanics of every seems to rest on what destroyed the health
trade and calling.
and corrupted the morals of the people.
It may be said, that money spent on beer, The physiological, domestic, and moral
gin, &c. is circulated, and therefore the history of brewers, spirit-sellers, and pot-
community is benefitted. From what has house-keepers, is one of the gloomiest pages
been said already, it will be seen that the
that we
The venders of
circulation through this medium is diseased, these drinks have had before their eyes the
inflammatory, and deadly, and, therefore, destructive effects of their traffic, and there-
destroys rather than enriches the nation. An fore ought, from principles of humanity, to
acquaintance of mine, an accountant, who have been the first to declare for total ab-
had an extensive experience and knowledge stinence. They might have made a mo-
of the manner in which money is disbursed mentary sacrifice, but God would have
through the firms of various trades and mer- amply compensated their philanthropy.
cantile houses, had the curiosity to inves- The increase of national prosperity in every
tigate the amount of manual labour requisite department that would have been the con-
to manufacture a pound's worth of ale, or sequence, would not have passed them by
to produce clothes, furniture, &c., to the without a blessing. From what has been
same amount ; and he found that in making advanced, we have therefore seen that the
strong drinks, the paltry sum of fourpence morals, the health, and the prosperity of the
in the pound was all that was paid to the country, are deeply injured by the use of
labourer, while in the manufacture of stimulating liquors, and that intelligence,
clothes and other useful articles not less morality, health and prosperity must be the
than six shillings in the pound came into happy effect of their abandonment, and
the pocket of the mechanic. What a great therefore that total abstinence is the best
difference there is between fourpence in policy.
the pound and six shillings in the pound ! In speaking of the waste and loss occa-
The former dividend is only one eighteenth sioned by alcoholic drinks, we must not
of the latter! But even this calculation pass over the enormous quantity of barley
will appear to fall very far short of the consumed in brewing and distillation. Forty
truth; if we consider the vast amount of millions of bushels of barley are, some
manual labour necessary to prepare the raw years, in a great measure destroyed, by
material before it can be made into gar- being converted into malt, and afterwards
ments, &c. by the mechanics and others. into a liquid poison. We all know that
And thus, were our money differently wheat, or potatoes, or peas, or cnions, are
spent ; were it withdrawn from poisons, not so good after they have begun to sprout
and laid out on what is nourishing and and
grow.
We consider it a great calamity
useful, the trade and happiness of the nation when, in a wet season, the corn has grown
would receive an increase to the amount of before it could be housed. We know that in
seventeen-eighteenths, or upwards of ninety such cases a great part of the nutrition is
The day is fast coming when it destroyed, and that what remains is scarcely
will be seen by all, that what is unjust or wholesome. We cry out in language of deep
wicked or corrupting is, at the same time, execration against the miller, or the baker,
impolitic to an equal degree.
that buys up grown wheat and converts it
which the revenue receives from the duties into bread. We should not think of making
on these destructive and demoralizing liquors soup of peas after they have sprouted ; and
is little, compared with what it would ob- we all know how insipid potatoes and
tain from the taxes arising from other articles onions become after they have begun to
that would immediately be consumed were shoot.
We are fully convinced that in all
drunkenness and the use of inebriating
these examples a considerable portion of
liquors immediately abolished. The farmer the substance of the seed or root is gone.
too would perceive that if there was a less In fact, it is this substance which produced
demand for barley and apples, there would and fed the sprout.
Why then adopt this
be a triple demand for corn, meat, hides, very plan with barley? The reader pro:
and indeed everything that his farm can pro- bably may know, that the first process of
duce. And even the brewer, and the inn- malting is to make the grain sprout, and in
per cent.
The sum

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS.
55
man.
doing this the maltster exactly imitates It is allowed by brewers, on all hands, that
what would take place at the proper season six pounds of barley will make a gallon of
of the year were the barley thrown into the good ale. In these six pounds you have
ground. Barley, in the degree of nourish- ninety-six ounces, and in these you have full
ment it contains, is next to wheat. Sir eighty-eight parts of solid nourishment; but,
Humphry Davy ascertained that 1000 parts gentle reader, you will do well to observe,
barley contained 920 parts that are nutri- that in your gallon of beer you have not ten
tious, or that twenty-three parts out of ounces of nourishment. So that in manu-
twenty-five are substantial food; so that in facturing beer you actually lose very nearly
barley there are only eight parts out of a eighty parts out of eighty-eight, and all that
hundred but what will afford sustenance to you obtain in the place of it is upwards of
A medical man at Munich had a three ounces of spirits of wine, or alcoholic
number of persons under his care to feed, poison, and which constitutes the strength
and he found, from some considerable ex- of the liquor. What would you think of
perience, that soup made out of pearl barley, the man who should buy ninety-six ounces
split peas and potatoes, which, when it of wheat, and by making it grow, drying
had boiled about three hours, he poured it, pouring hot water upon it, giving a part
upon some bread cut small, yielded one of to the pigs, and throwing a part down the
the most satisfying, wholesome, and nutri- gutter, should waste upwards of eighty
tious diets, he could produce.
He ascer-
ounces, and should leave for himself and
tained that nineteen ounces of this soup family only ten ounces? What, if he did
afforded sufficient nourishment for a full- this for the purpose of getting about four
grown person.
There was no animal food ounces of poison which will injure his
or fat in it, he only added to it a little salt health, destroy his reason, and corrupt his
and a little vinegar. I have made a meal heart? Would you say that God sent the
on this preparation, and therefore know that grain to be thus wasted, or would you call
this statement, which may be found in the the poison which the ingenuity of this pro-
London Encyclopædia, under the article digal had extracted “a good creature of
“ food,” is perfectly correct. I mention God ? Much has been said of waste and
this fact, because, in the case just narrated, extravagance, but we know of no instance
the gentleman found that no other substance or example that will bear any parallel with
was a substitute for the barley, he tried the prodigality that is practised in convert-
flour, rice, and other things, but the soup ing barley into malt, and malt into beer.
was never found to be so nutritious and Cleopatra is said to have dissolved 'a pre-
strengthening. The fact, therefore, shows cious gem in her glass, and to have drunk it
the very great nutrient properties of the at a banquet, as a proof of the little value
grain. Proust, who made a great many ex- she could afford to set upon what was costly;
periments upon barley, declares that he but gems are less valuable than the food
found in it "a peculiar proximate princi- which God has created for the sustenance
ple,” which, from the Latin name of the of life, and therefore he who destroys the
grain, he has called “hordein." He de precious grain of the earth destroys what is
scribes it as “ a yellow woody powder, gra- more valuable than pearls, and his crimi-
nular to the touch, and resembling sawdust nality is not a little enhanced, that he does
in appearance. It was insoluble in water, this for the purpose of producing a poison.
whether boiling or cold.” This hordein is, Should any one doubt what has just been
no doubt, the peculiar nutrient principle of stated, let him weigh a pint of beer and a
which the gentleman at Munich spoke so pint of water, and he will then find that a
highly, and which rendered his Bavarian pint of beer weighs lighter than a pint of
soup so very satisfying. But the reader water, showing that it is not a very substan-
will observe that, in converting the barley tial beverage, although so much grain has
into malt, this hordein, of which there are been squandered and spoiled to produce it.
fifty-five parts out of a hundred in the Let him apply a heat to his pint of beer,
grain in its natural state, is reduced to twelve and at 170 degrees the spirit will begin to
parts in the hundred, so that forty-three go off in the form of a fiery vapour. At
parts are actually gone; the sugar and the 212 degrees his beer will boil, and then
gum of the barley are increased, but then steam will begin to depart; if he will con-
those are nothing like so nutritious as the tinue the boiling long enough, every par-
hordein ; and it is well known also, that ticle of the water will be evaporated in the
the starch which is increased in the malt, form of steam, and the powder which will
though not equal to the quantity of hordein remain, and which is all the nutriment of
that is lost, is not soluble and, therefore, is the liquor, will weigh about an ounce. If he
not found in the beer. This most substan- had condensed and weighed the spirit that
tial part of the malt is left in the grains, escaped, he would have found it to have
and given to the pigs, or found in the bottom weighed, if the beer was strong, upwards of
of the cask after the beer has been drawn half an ounce. If he will condense the
off, and, in most instances, thrown away. steam and weigh that, he will have fourteen

56
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
Ounces of water, and, as stated already, changed it into a poison. If the reader will
there will be left somewhere about an ounce take the trouble to analyse his wines, whether
of food. If he will taste this powder and home made or foreign, he will find alcohol,
examine it, he will hesitate about admitting water, and an extract of a colour, quality,
it to his stomach. With the farina of wheat, and quantity that will convince him of the
or of barley, it is not fit to be compared. folly and prodigality of wasting the fruits of
It has been grown, roasted, scalded, boiled, the earth, by changing them into alcoholic
embiterred, fermented, and drenched with poisons. All the medical testimonies we
water and alcohol, till it seems neither fit have given prove that the ardent spirit ob-
for the land nor the dunghill, much less for tained from malt, apples, or grapes, "holds
a human stomach. Such then is the waste a natural enmity with the blood of man,"
and the wickedness of getting beer out of and therefore we are better without it. As
barley. If we examined distillation we for the fourteen ounces of water which will
should find the matter still worse ; for in be found in every pint of beer, cider, or
producing spirit, no nourishment whatever wine, we can obtain it much purer from the
is left in the liquid, and therefore all the pump than from the beer-barrel, and the
goodness of the barley is wasted or converted nutriment in either can bear no comparison
into an undiluted poison.biti blog with a mouthful of common wheaten
In the manufacture of cider we are bread.wings van die
equally guilty of waste and extravagance. --To what purpose then do we waste forty
The apple is a nutritious fruit. It is parti- millions of bushels of barley, and devote
cularly suited to our climate, and is intended 1,048,000 acres of land to the production of
to be to us, what the grape is to other lands, grain and hops, all of which might be em-
and would we attend to its culture more, the ployed in a more useful, benevolent, and
grapes of Palestine could hardly compete profitable manner? The land, if let to the
with it. The apple can sustain human life, poor, would be sufficient to relieve the
and horses can perform a great degree of parishes from the burden of almost every
work and labour when fed by it. Sheep and pauper. The produce would make two or
cows can be fed and fatted with it. A neigh- three millions of persons happy, and these
bour of mine fatted a fine pig on apples and poor people would pay as good rent for the
barley-meal, and the flesh obtained from this land as is now given by the wealthier
kind of feed was most delicious. It thrived farmer, while, by spade husbandry, which
much better upon apples and meal than it their capital, alias leisure, enables them to
would upon potatoes and meal, and not half employ, they would obtain a much more
the quantity of meal was used. Here, then, abundant crop. We complain of crime,
we have the two substances, barley and disease and pauperism, and yet to produce
apples, usually employed and wasted to all three together, we sacrifice forty mil-
produce a desolating spirit, converted into lions of bushels of grain, and worse than
wholesome animal food. In producing allow to lie fallow one million and forty-
cider, we have a wholesome and nutritious eight thousand acres of excellent land. The
fruit converted into poison. If the reader land God has given us, he has watered it
doubts this statement, he has only to serve from his clouds, and warmed it with his
a pint of cider as we have directed him to sun, but never did he intend that we should
treat a pint of beer, and collect first the use his ground and clouds and sun to cor-
spirit, then the water, and, when both water rupt, starve and destroy, any portion of the
and spirits are evaporated, to weigh the por- human family. d and nu dorandi
tion of dust or powder that will be left From what has just been advanced, we per-
behind. Here he will find that the nutri-ceive what a deception and fraud is prac-
tious portion is small indeed, not perhaps tised upon the labouring man, by his being
more than a quarter of an ounce. The taught to believe that beer is a highly
remarks made concerning apples might, in nourishing beverage, and essential to his
some degree, be applied to the manufacture strength and labour. The spirit warms and
of wine from grapes, except, as we shall stimulates him, just as a spur or a whip may
presently show, that the ancients under- quicken the movements of a wearied horse,
stood the way of preserving the juice of the but neither the spirit in the one case, nor
grape without allowing it to ferment, and the whip in the other, imparts any real sub-
therefore retained its nutritious qualities. stantial strength : indeed both must be in
In scripture, “to eat the fruit of the vine," the end the cause of increased debility. A
as well as to drink its juice, “is a common hard-working man wants nothing to in-
expression,” showing that the grape, both crease his circulation, his labour keeps his
when ripe and when dried, was, with the heart and pulse in a healthy tone, and his
Easterns, a common article of food. We blood naturally flows at a rate most con-
are not denying that the juice was ex- ducive to vigour and longevity. All that he
pressed, and in some
allowed to needs to repair the waste of his system, is
ferment; we are merely asserting that it was good nourishing food. Why then cheat
an article of food, and that fermentation him with spirit instead of giving him bread?
cases

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS. O
How dreadfully also he his robbed, by pay- yet the whole of this, by being converted
ring the enormous sum he does for the small into poison, is worse than wasted, for the
and coarse portion of food that is in his vile spirit, which the depraved taste and
pint of beer, porter, or cider. In the pint perverted ingenuity of man extracts from it,
of liquor which costs him twopence, he has stalks through the land with all the powers
perhaps one ounce of most indigestible of a destroying angel, and carries disease,
food. To get a pound of it, he must pay misery, desolation, and death, into every
two shillings and eightpence, must drink house that it enters. Smit Doitatiom
nearly two gallons of water, and swallow, Forty millions of bushels of malt, at 8s.
perhaps, little less than a pound of acrid per bushel, are worth 16,000,0001.; and,
poison. Surely divine providence never supposing bread to he eightpence the quar-
intended that nutrition should be obtained tern loaf, sixteen millions sterling would
at such a roundabout, dangerous, and ex- purchase three thousand eight hundred and
pensive a rate as this. What if bread or meat forty millions of quartern loaves, and con-
were sold at the price of two and eightpence a sequently would supply upwards of two mil-
pound, a famine must immediately ensue, lions of persons with two pounds of bread
and yet this is the price that brewer and land- per day for a whole year. What epithet
lord charge for their self-styled nutritious could fitly designate the wretch who would
drinks, which they impregnate with poison recklessly throw into the bottom of the sea a
into the bargain. Strange to say, also, these sum of money, or a quantity of bread suffi-
persons are monopolizing the trade of the cient to feed two millions of poor people for
country, and paralysing our manufacturing a whole year? But if, instead of doing so,
and mechanical industry. If men pay at he actually converted it into a poison, which
the rate of two and eightpence a pound for could alike produce disease of body and
nourishment, is it any wonder that trade demoralization of character, and then com-
should be bad, and the drunkard's family mended and distributed the venomous sub-
should have scarcely any clothes or other stance-the term demon would be deemed
necessaries of life? If money is spent on an appellation far too gentle for such a man;
these poisons it cannot be a matter of sur- and yet this is what we are all doing so long
prise that the families of moderate drinkers
as we manufacture, dispense, or commend,
are often but scantily provided for, and, for alcoholic drinks. We not merely waste
want of labour, plunged into the deepest what would actually feed two millions of
distress ? Surely among all our teaching, people for a whole year, but we convert this
we ought to give a few lessons on nutriment, wholesome grain into a destructive spirit,
and thus enlighten the public on this highly which poisons and destroys many millions ;
important subject, that men may no longer and thus, instead of feeding two millions,
be the dupes of the ignorant or the design- we poison perhaps not less than twenty.
ing, and “spend their money for that shich 1. This chapter, then, has shown, from in-
is not bread, and their labour for that which
controvertible evidence, that by manufac-
satisfieth not.??
turing and using intoxicating drinks, we are
We should consider it a dire calamity if changing the bounties of Providence into
upwards of a million of acres of the best poisons; we are wasting shipping, and other
land in the country were on a sudden de- property and capital to an unparalleled
luged, or by any other scourge rendered un-
degree; we are robbing the labourer of
productive; but in growing barley for malt, employment and the poor of bread, in the
the ground which God has blessed has its pro- most reckless and unprecedented manner:
ductive energies employed to produce dis- and beside all this, we are, by these abomi-
ease, crime, and, alas! in many instances, nable liquors, wasting human life, corrupting
perdition. The miasmata that arise from the
the morals of our children and neighbours,
pestilential regions of Sierra Leone, are not and, what is worse still, we are drowning many
mear so destructive to mankind as the fields
in perdition. Not merely intemperance,
in Britain which are cultivated for the pur- but moderation, is equally active in this
pose of producing grain to be converted into work of desolation, and, therefore, to the
alcohol. Were all the acres thus employed patriot and the Christian only
one course
to be immediately inundated, or converted can remain, and that course is Total Absti-
into the most unhealthy marshes, the loss to
tot in gevolle teodora
the country would not be equal to what it is petitiup anon ti bosista stolar
at present doomed to suffer from the abomi-ort to distrit the
outwa
nable misuse of so many millions of bushels og guitar tabo en la
of valuable grain.id rooslutio ad sensu. od agung or solt aivode solean
Were thirty-six millions of bushels of din en bois sobre el
wholesome grain to be thrown annually into boot to obimnom og se
the sea, how deeply we should deplore the wood ad gone
loss; but in forty millions of bushels of othewolle en huishoes
barley we have at least thirty-six millions of assistangede Vorama Tomas
bushels of wholesome farinaceous food, and contentorist od hr boel tot
nence.

58
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
Patrefactive Fermentation.
4. Distillation.
5.
ron or saccaron.
not commence.
CHAPTER IV.
stated that the following things are abso-
On Fermentation, Alcoholic Drinks, Nutrition, &c,
lutely necessary to the vinous fermentation
1. Sugar, or Saccharine Matter. 2. Requisites to
of the juice of the grape.
Fermentation. 3. Vinous, Acetous, Panary, and 1. As already shown, there must be sac-
charine matter and gluten.
Proportion of Alcohol in different Intoxicating
Beverages. 6. Gin, Brandy, &c. 7. Alcohol un-
2. The temperature should not be below
known to the Ancients. 8. The natural Strength 50, nor above 70 or 75 degrees.
of different Fermented Wines. 9. Malt Liquors. 3. The juice must be of a certain consis-
10. Nutriment in Barley, Apples, Figs, &c. 11.
tence.
Pigs fed on Apples. 12. Small degree of Nutri-
Thick syrups will not undergo the
ment in Wines. 13. Letters to Brother John quoted.vinous fermentation.
An excess of sugar
14. Inebriating Liquors not needed for Food, for is unfavourable to this process, and, on the
Thirst, nor for Medicine.
15. Spontaneous Com-
other hand, too little sugar, or, which is
bustion. 16. Adulteration of Beer, Wine, Porter,&c.
the same thing, too much water, will be de-
SUGAR, or saccharine matter, is allowed by ficient of the necessary quantity of saccha-
all scientific men to be the base of alcoholic rine matter to produce a liquor that will
drinks. The terms sugar, saccharum, and keep, and, for want of more spirit, the
saccharine, are all derived from the Hebrew vinous fermentation will almost instantly be
sacar or shacar, or from the Arabic shacca-
followed by the acetous.
When we come to speak 4. The quantity of gluten or ferment
of the wines of Scripture, we shall show
must also be well regulated. Too much or
that 730, shacar, which is generally rendered too little will impede and prevent fermenta-
a strong drink," in the Bible, is palm or tion.
date wine. 66 This liquor," says Dr. Shaw, 5. Grape juice will not ferment when air
“has a more luscious sweetness than honey." is completely excluded. When air has once
been admitted in sufficient quantity to cause
The Arabs used the word , ku saccharon, fermentation to begin, it will then proceed
for date wine, by way of eminence, because
without the admission of more, but until
of its sweetness, and also for saccharine some has entered the fermenting vat it will
Hence, Columella directs,
substances generally. Dioscorides, about
35 B.C., says: “There is a kind of honey
that in making unfermented wines the
called saccharon, which is found in India vessel should be completely filled and im-
and Arabia Felix." Arrian, in his Periplus mediately closed.
of the Red Sea, mentions it as an article of
6. By boiling down the juice, or in other
commerce, and terms it
σακχαρ, ,
words evaporating the water, the substance
sacchar.
The Romans used the words saccharum becomes a syrup which, if very thick, will
not ferment.
for honey found in reeds, canes, &c. We
need not add that the English term sugar
7. If the juice be filtered and deprived of
is the same word as the Hebrew and Arabic its gluten, or ferment, the production of
shacar, the Greek sacchar, and the Latin
alcohol will be impossible.
saccharum. We also find that these terms
8. Fermentation of grape juice proceeds
have always been applied to sweet or sac-
very slowly if the quantity fermented is
small.
charine substances. This saccharine ma-
terial, then, has in every age been the base
It appears that Donovan borrowed several,
of alcohol. For, as fermentation is a che-
if not all, of these rules from Chaptal, who
mical process, and has always taken place
was an agriculturist, chemist, and wine
according to the same natural laws, it has
manufacturer on a large scale. And the
reader will do well to bear these conditions
ever required the same base, and therefore
sugar was as necessary to the production of necessary to vinous fermentation in mind,
alcohol in the days of Moses or Solomon as
as we shall have occasion to appeal to them
in our own time.
when we come to speak of the unfermented
wines the ancients. It should also be
But sugar alone is not sufficient to the
production of alcohol. Science has long observed, that most of these rules apply to
since demonstrated that there must be a
the fermentation of malt liquor, except that
portion of gluten, barm, or yeast, mixed
in making beer, there does not appear to be
with this sweet solution, or else vinous fer- such a necessity for the admission of air as
mentation will not take place. In grapes
is requisite to the fermentation of the juice
and apples gluten is found in different pro-
portions, and hence in fermenting the juice
The reader may be reminded that there
of these fruits, the addition of yeast is not
are four, if not more, descriptions of fer-
required ; but in the malting of barley a
mentation; the vinous, the acetous, the pu-
certain portion of its natural yeast or gluten trefactive, and the panary. The vinous is
is destroyed, and to make up for this defi-
the only one that produces inebriating
ciency, barm is employed in the fermenta- drinks, and it is to this species of ferment-
tion of beer.
ation alone that the rules just given apply.
Donovan, in his work on “ Domestic
By the acetous fermentation, vinegar is
Economy," in Lardner's Cyclopædia, has produced. It takes place at a higher tem-
of the grape.

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS.
59
.....18.25
......
perature than the vinous. Every one knows
Per cent.
Per ceut.
that beer, cider, or wine, exposed to heat Calcavella ........18.10 Ditto Muchat
Lisbon......... ..18.94 Constantia
will soon turn sour,-a very little increase
.19.75
Malaga ...
17 26 Tent..
. 13.20
of temperature has been known to spoil a
Bucellas..
18.49 Sheraag
1553
whole cellar of these liquors.
Red Madeira ......18.40 Syracuse.
15.28
The putrefactive fermentation takes place
Malmsey
16.40. Nice
.. 14.63
Marcella..
in the decomposition of bodies, and of course
...25.87 Tokay
9.88
Pitto
..17-26 Raisin wine
.25.77
alcohol is not the result. By this process, Red Champagne...11.30 Grape wine.. .18.11
the elements that compose various bodies
White
.12.80 Currant wine
....20.55
are separated and set free in their original
Burgundy 11.55 Gooseberry wine... 11.64
Ditto
.11.95 Elder wine, Cider,
state. In putrefaction bodies are decom-
9.57
White Hermitage...17.43
& Perry
posed, but by vinous fermentation a new
Red
,,,,,...12.82 Stont
6.80
chemical composition takes place.
Hock..
14,37 Ale.
8.88
Ditto
8.88 Porter
The panary fermentation occurs in the
Palm Wine..
4.79 Brandy
.53.39
manufacture of bread. Some scientific men
Vin de Grave..
..12.80 Rum
.53.68
assert that this process is nothing more than Frontignac.
12.79 Hollands.
.51.60
Roussillon..
the vinous fermentation, others that it is
.17.26 Whisky, Scotch ...54.32
Cape Madeira.....18.11
the acetous. In consequence of there being
a small portion of spirit in brewers' barm, For these analyses, the most genuine
or from some other cause, a weak kind of liquors were obtained, and, as a proof that
alcohol has been detected in the oven of the per centage may be depended upon, I
the baker. Some time ago a speculation have in my possession several other tables
was set on foot for the purpose of condens- which differ but very little from the one
ing and collecting the spirit, but upwards of given above.
twenty thousand pounds have been squan- The difference between distillation and
dered upon this scheme without
any
ade- fermentation is, that by the application of
quate return, and we believe the project is heat the distiller obtains a larger quantity
now abandoned.
of spirit from the saccharine base than does
If the panary fermentation is the same as the brewer. Fermentation is necessary to
the vinous, still it is impossible that any precede distillation, otherwise there would
spirit should remain in bread after it is be no alcohol to extract. In wines and beer
baked; because alcohol is given off at the you have a portion of the grape, or the malt
heat of 170 degrees; and, as the baker's held in solution, but in ardent spirits you
oven must be much hotter than this, what- have nothing but alcohol and water.
ever quantum of spirit may be in the dough Gin, rum, brandy, whisky, &c., when
must be evolved during the process of pure, are nothing but alcohol and water;
baking. If panary fermentation really did and the fiery spirit in each of them is ob-
produce alcohol, still none of it would re- tained by heat and fermentation from
main in the bread after it came from the oven, various saccharine substances. Gin, whis-
because the whole must have been extracted ky, and British brandy are distilled from
by the heat necessary to bake the loaves. grain : rum from sugar and molasses; and
Consequently those advocates for strong foreign brandy from grapes; but in neither
drink, who tell us there is spirit in bread, of these is there the least particle of nou-
display the grossest ignorance, both con- rishment. It is the aim of the distiller to
cerning distillation, and the heat at which convert every atom of the substance he
alcohol is obtained.
distils into spirit. The more he can atten.
Vinous fermentation produces alcohol, or uate his liquor, the lighter it is, the thinner
the intoxicating spirit of all our modern it is, the less it has of anything like nutri-
inebriating liquors. That which intoxicates, tion, the greater his success and profit. He
whether in gin, rum, brandy, whisky, has not the least idea of leaving anything
wine, beer, or cider, is the same principle, in the form of food for the stomach of his
and is called alcohol, or spirits of wine. It
An inflammatory, stimulating,
may exist in different proportions in differ- poisonous liquid is all that he produces,
ent liquors, but still the intoxicating prin- and to obtain this he destroys millions of
ciple in all alcoholic drinks is the same bushels of wholesome grain.
kind of spirit. According to the experi- Alcohol was unknown to the ancients.
ments and analyses of the most careful They appear to have known something of
chemists, the following degrees of alcohol the distillation of plants and flowers, but
are found in different intoxicating beverages nothing whatever of the modern art of
of our own day.
obtaining spirits of wine, or pure alcohol,
Per cent.
from the grape, or from grain. The ninth
Port, average of 6 Sherry, average of
17.92 century is the earliest period at which any
kinds
4 kinds
,, highest
mention is made of alcohol; and spirit did
, , , highest ...... 19.83
lowest
lowest....... 12.25 not come into general use until the latter
Madeira, highest... 29.42 Claret, average of part of the sixteenth century; previous to
lowest......19.34
4 kinds
Stribson
customer.
Per cent.
23.48
.......25.83
21.40
و و و
14.43
و و و و

60
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
that period it was confined to the shop of enough and intoxicating enough for our
the apothecary. Es eji atyslaad sus si boste palate ; how dissatisfied then should we be
It is well known that grapes adapted to with the wines of Scripture! Those who
produce the strongest wines will not yield tell us that the Bible recommends wine,
more than eight per cent. of spirit, and would do well to get us some of the wines
therefore not be stronger than modern ale. mentioned in the Word of God; until they
France is said to be the most suitable climate do this, it is useless to attempt to convict us
in the world for the growth of a grape of running counter to the voice of Revela-
that will produce a strong wine, yet the tion. We believe that oil, pulse, &c., are
French wines are generally spoken of as spoken of quite as highly in Holy Writ as
weak. The fact is, the strongest wine which wine, and yet our opponents are wicked
the pure juice of the grape would yield by as never to taste any of these substances,
fermentation would be comparatively weak, we know also that water is highly recom-
and therefore, until distillation was dis. mended by our Creator himself, and yet our
covered, and pure spirit was obtained to very sanctimonious lovers of strong drink
mix with wines, the most potent alcoholic are impious enough to laugh at water-
drinks were far from being strong. In drinkers as persons who are beside them-
Warm countries the grapes were too sweet selves. Weighed in the even balances of
to produce much alcohol. We all know the Sanctuary, the tee-totaller, who rejects
that sweet apples will not yield strong cider, the brandied wines of modern times, and
consequently the wines of all very warm which have scarcely the least resemblance
countries must have been very weak indeed. to the wines of Scripture, would be found
The analysis just given shows that palm to be quite as good a Christian as he who
wine, which was the shacar, or "strong rejects the oil and the water of which the
drink," of Scripture, contains less than five Holy Spirit has spoken in terms of such
per cent of alcohol, and therefore, is only high commendation. The strongest wines
about half as strong as our ale, and yet of hot countries, if they had any, could
this strong drink" is supposed to have have in them but a very small portion of
been more potent than their common alcohol, and could not have been brandied,
wines. It is highly probable that the because distillation was then unknown; but
strongest grape wines of the ancients had we have seen that port and sherry are mixed
in them a less quantity of alcohol than our with this fiery poison, until very frequently
common table beer. But the analysis given they are full one fourth spirit, and there-
above shows that modern wines contain, fore are five, six, or seven times stronger than
some fifteen and some twenty-nine per cent. any of the drinks ofantiquity could have been;
of spirit. Port, which is one of our favourite and, supposing it were our duty to drink the
wines, ranges from 21 to 25 per cent. ; a very latter, will any man say that we are under
considerable proportion of the sherry that is an obligation to partake of the former?
drunk would be found to be equally potent. We will presently prove that there is not a
And this large amount of strength, liquid single text of Scripture which ever invites
fire, or poison, is obtained by mixing them us to taste of intoxicating liquors; but
with brandy or some other species of alcohol. could one be produced, still it would not
A filthy sort of brandy, called “old strap," follow that, if the Word of God recommends
is added to port and other wines to render us to drink poison at the rate of three or four
them acceptable to our English palate. For per cent., therefore we ought to take it at the
it should be observed, that we are the most increased ratio of twenty or twenty-five
drinking people alive, and foreigners, know- per cent. One is almost ready to conclude
ing our taste for potent liquors, add a that a little of the stupefaction of alcohol
greater quantity of alcohol to the wines im- must have been felt, before any person would
ported to this country than to those which have reasoned that an invitation to drink
they prepare for any other nation. Our weak wine would put us under an obligation
home-made wines have generally a portion to become bibbers of those which are highly
of brandy added to them, and when this is adulterated with a strong and “acrid poi-
not the case, many of them are the mere son." de 197
il te
result of sugar, yeast, and water, and there-We have said that sugar is the base of
fore, neither British nor foreign wines can alcohol. This saccharine matter is gene-
afford us any criterion by which to judge of rally found in the grape, though not always
the character of those drinks which are the in the same degree; in malt it is produced
simple and genuine product of the juice of by the process of maltings and because sac-
the grape. Still, the fact that port, sherry, charine matter is deficient in our own native
&c., must be brandied to impart unto them fruits, in making wine from them we add a
a sufficient degree of alcohol to please our large proportion of sugar. godt
vitiated appetite, is a cogent proof that we - It should be borne in mind that sugar
are far from being satisfied with the unadul- holds the third or lowest rank among nu-
terated produce of the grape. The fer- trient vegetable substances, and can bear no
mented juice of the vine is not strong comparison with the farina of wheat, the

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS. KO
61
hordein of barley, or the starch of potatoes. and in most instances thrown away. God
Majendie fed a dog on sugar ; it did very placed in the barley in its natural state gum
well for a few days, but in a short time it to the amount of four per cent. officious
became weak and diseased, and in less than man changes this arrangement of Provi-
three weeks died in a most pitiable con- dence, and by malting, increases the gum
dition. No labouring man would be able from 4 to 15 per cent., and then in his prodi.
to pursue his daily calling, were you to allow gality “precipitates" nearly the whole of
him no other aliment than sugar.
Now the this mucilage, and afterwards in most cases
design of malting is to change the very nutri- washes it down the common sewer.in ist
tive hordein of barley into sugar; that is, to
It is also sometimes stated that the quan-
convert a highly nutrient grain into a sub- tity of starch in malt is greater than in bar-
stance not one tenth so nourishing; and then ley. This is granted ; but still it has been
the object of brewing is to change this sugar shown that the drinker of beer is not bene-
into a poison. But this is not all. In the fitted by this circumstance ; for, in the first
production of alcohol the sugar is decom- place, what is gained in starch is lost in
posed, and the carbon, oxygen, and hydro- hordein, which is an exceedingly nutritive
gen which constitute its elements, undergo element of barley. In the grain you have
a new chemical combination. Carbon and starch 32, hordein 55, total 87. In malt,
oxygen to the amount of forty-eight per starch 56, hordein 12, total 68. So that the
cent. unite to form carbonic acid, and in barley has after all an advantage over the malt
that form are wasted ; while fifty-two per to the amount of 19 per cent. Then, in the
cent. combine in the form of alcohol or second place, supposing that malting actually
poison. 2 Thus the sugar, which is less increased the nutritive properties of the
nutritive than barley, is after all wasted at barley, yet he who drinks beer will not be
the rate of nearly 50 per cent. for the pur- benefitted by the change ; for it is admitted
pose of producing a poisonous stimulant. by all, that starch is one of the most insoluble
Here, then, we have human ingenuity of bodies, and therefore is not dissolved in
exerted in the work of destroying the boun- the wort, but is partly left in the grains, and
ties of Providence to a most frightful degree, partly precipitated to the bottom of the cask,
and this, too, is done in a country in which and eventually thrown away alone with the
thousands have not bread enough to satisfy the gum or mucilage which the hops precipi-
cravings of nature. Hordein, a most nutritive tated. According to Sir Humphry Davy,
species of farina, is to a great extent changed barley contains ninety-two per cent, nourish-
into a saccharine substance containing not ment; but, according to the best analysis,
one-tenth the same amount of aliment The beer does contain six per cent., a plain
frost malts our potatoes, and renders them proof that there is but little starch, gluten,
more saccharine, but are they improved ? gum, or mucilage, in the malt liquor for
The sugar into which a portion of the barley which the poor man pays so dearly, and to
has been changed, is by the brewer dissolved manufacture which good wholesome grain
and converted into two poisons; the one in has been wasted to the amount of eighty-
the form of carbonic acid is allowed to six per cent. And what is worse, all this
escape, and the other, in the form of alcohol, prodigality is practised for the purpose of pro-
is retained to be drunk, and destroy men's ducing a spirit which all scientific chemists
reason, morals, health, and prospects in and medical men have branded as an acrid
both worlds; and then, as if to perfect this poison. We utter our bitterest execrations
wickedness and presumption, we are gravely against the wretch who adulterates bread;
told that these poisons are "the good creatures yet in the manufacture of beer, wholesome
of God!” Much has been said by some con- grain is to a fearful extent wasted, and what
cerning the quantity ofgum or mucilage which is allowed to remain is either mixed with a
malt contains beyond barley, and which is poison or converted into a most deleterious
said to be held in the beer in a state of solu- spirit. The public fountain is poisoned, for
tion. But, unfortunately for this theory, the by means of brewing, water, one of the
testimony of Dr. Paris, a zealous advocate choicest gifts of God, is rendered intoxica-
for the use of beer, completely overturns it. ting and pernicious to men's health and
His words are, “Hops constitute the most morals; and then a thousand allurements
valuable ingredient in malt liquors. Inde- are adopted for the purpose of inducing all
pendent of the flavour and tonic virtue ranks among us to come and drink this de-
which they communicate
, they precipitate, structive beverage. God: 16 toetade ed
by means of their astringent principle, the I have not in my possession an analysis
vegetable mucilage, and thus remove from which will show the quantity of mucilage,
the beer the active principle of fermenta- gluten, sugar, &c. contained in apples, pears,
tion." The gum or mucilage, therefore, dates, or grapes, in their original state, or
instead of being held in solution and admit- in the juice of these fruits previous to fer-
ted to the stomach as an article of nutrition, mentation, but there is no doubt that in the
according to the high authority of Dr. Paris, manufacture of fermented liquors from these
is “precipitated" to the bottom of the cask, fruits, there is as great a waste and destruc-

62
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
on.
tion of their nutritive properties as that of nourishment in a pint of cider is not
which takes place in the process of malting worth mentioning; the alcohol it contains
and brewing.
is poisonous, and the water might be ob-
The Americans have found that cows, tained in a much purer state from the pump
sheep, or pigs, can be fatted on apples at a or the spring. At the dinner mentioned
cheaper rate than on any other material, above, the writer of this Essay was present.
and that it is far more profitable to convert Indeed the report which appeared in the
these fruits into animal food than to grind public newspapers was furnished by his
them, and ferment the juice into cider. One pen. Thomas Neale was for many years
gentleman, whose orchard used to produce one of my hearers.
cider to the value of 300 dollars per year, We have seen from the declarations of
on adopting the principle of total abstinence, Scripture, that grapes in the East were
resolved to employ his apples in fatting pigs, considered an article of food. In Palestine
and his profits doubled, for instead of three and Assyria, the people were in the habit
hundred dollars which his cider used to be of “ eating the fruit of the vine." Raisins
worth, his pork produced six hundred. The or dried grapes are often spoken of as articles
following demonstration of the nutritive of food. Highly nutritious food is not
qualities of apples has appeared in most of needed in very hot countries, and human
the public prints, and may be fully relied life could be sustained by figs, grapes, or
“ On Thursday, Dec. 28, 1837, the dates; but who would think of feeding a
members of the Ebley Mechanics' Institute man on modern port or sherry? The fol-
dined at the Ebley Coffee House, in the lowing quotation from Johnson's "Letters
Borough of Stroud, in the county of Gloster, to Brother John on Life, Health, and Dis-
and partook of a pig which had been fed ease," will place this matter in a strong
upon apples. The owner, Thomas Neate, light. The author asks “Are stimulants
a member of the Stroud Total Abstinence by which I mean ardent spirits, wines, and
Society, had read in a Temperance publica- strong ales-are stimulants necessary? Are
tion that, in America, pigs had been fatted they pernicious ? or are they neither one or
on apples, and resolved to try the experi- the other? I assert that they are, in every
ment, and commenced on the 10th of Octo- instance, as articles of diet, pernicious; and
ber; the pig was then so poor, that every even as medicines wholly unnecessary; since
rib could be counted. For the first fortnight we possess drugs that will answer the same
he gave it nothing but apples and grains, intentions, in at least an equal degree. But
and it improved amazingly ; after that it is only as articles of diet that we have
period, he substituted bean-meal for the here to consider them.
grains, and the increase of flesh was still 6 Wines, spirit, and ale, are all alike, as
greater. On the 10th of October, when the it regards the fact of their being stimulants ;
experiment began, the pig was computed, they only differ somewhat in kind and de-
by the best judges, to weigh about fourscore gree.
I shall speak for the present only of
pounds, and eight weeks after, when it was wine, for the sake of convenience.
killed, it was upwards of nine score, so that whatever I shall say of wine, is to be con-
it increased in flesh at the rate of more than sidered as equally true of the others; and
10lbs. per week. During the period of if what I have taught you in my preceding
fatting, it consumed four sacks of apples, letters be true, what I shall now say of sti-
and two bushels and a half of bean-meal. mulants must be true also.
The apples and the meal cost 11. 6s. and “If wine be productive of good, what is
for this sum nearly five score of pork was the nature and kind of the good it produces ?
obtained. The apples were boiled; but as Does it nourish the body? We know that
they needed no washing, and were cooked it does not; for the life of any animal can-
as soon as the water boiled, much less fuel not be supported it. Besides, if you
and labour was required than would have have understood what I have said of the
been necessary in dressing potatoes. The nature, manner, and mechanism of nutri-
flesh when roasted was of the finest flavour, tion, you will see at once, from the very
and all who partook of it declared that they mode in which the body is nourished, that
never had tasted its equal." This experi- whatever is capable of nourishing, must be
ment proves most unequivocally the highly susceptible of conversion into the solid mat-
nutritive properties of apples, and conse- ter of the body itself. But fluids taken into
quently the waste of God's bounties of the stoinach are not capable of being trans-
which those are guilty who convert them muted into solids, but pass off by the kid-
into cider. What if Thomas Neale had
neys, as every body knows.
ground the apples and made them into * If, indeed, the fluid drink contains
cider, and given it to the pig for wash, in- solid matters suspended in it, then these
stead of the animal becoming fat, it would solid matters can be assimilated to the solid
have decreased to a perfect skeleton. And body, and so are capable of nourishing it;
why delude the labourer by giving him as in the instance of broths, barley-water,
cider for food or for wages? The quantity | &c. &c. ; but the fluids in which these solid
But

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS. VEO
63
ments.
particles are suspended must pass out of the that it is injurious. Nor is the truth of this
body by the kidneys.
medical maxim at all wonderful. The finest
"If then it be said that although wine is hair , introduced among the machinery of a
incapable of nourishing the body wholly watch, is sufficient to derange its move-
and by itself alone, it may yet contain some
And when one considers the ex-
nourishment, it is clear that this nourish-quisite delicacy of those properties on which
ment must depend upon whatever solid life and health so manifestly depend, -I
particles are suspended in it.
Now if you
mean, contractility and sensibility, as well
evaporate a glass of wine on a shallow as that of the whole nervous system ; one
plate, whatever solid matter it contains, cannot certainly feel surprised that anything
will be left dry upon the plate, and this brought in contact with them, which is not
will be found to be about as much as may strictly proper to them, should disorder the
be laid upon the extreme point of a penknife nicety of their delicate functions. You will
blade; and a portion-by no means all, but admit, at once, that the practice of drinking
a portion of this solid matter, I will readily is followed by a high degree of morbid sensi-
concede, is capable of nourishing the body bility-witness the nervous and tremulous
-a portion which is equal to one-third of anxiety of the debauchee in the morning
the flour contained in a single grain of following a debauch. But I have long since
wheat.
shewn you that increased sensibility and
“But, still, I am entitled to ask, what rigorous contractility are incompatible, and
good you propose to yourself by drinking that whatever augments sensibility, must
wine ? Because if you really drink it for have the effect of lowering contractility. If
the sake of the nutriment it affords you, wine, therefore, heightens sensibility it must
then, I say, why not eat a grain of wheat, diminish contractility; and thus by impair.
instead of drinking a glass of wine; from ing that property, impairs the health and
which grain of wheat you would derive just strength which depend upon that property.
thrice as much nourishment as you would “ Again, what is a poison? Is it not any
from a glass of wine? Why go this ex- substance which, when taken into the sys-
pensive, and as it were roundabout way, in stem, has the effect of disordering some one
order to obtain so minute a portion of nu- or more of the actions which make up the sum
tritious matter, which you might so much of life, and which, if taken in sufficient
more readily obtain by other means? quantity, will destroy life itself? This is the
* Wine, therefore, possesses no power to true definition of poison. Is it not also
nourish the body; or at least in so minute the strictly true definition of ardent' spirit ?
a degree as to make it, as an article of Spirit has the effect of disordering the
nourishment, wholly unworthy of notice. nervous system to so great a degree, as to
“Well, then, does it strengthen the produce intoxication ; exciting the brain,
body! Let us see. I have proved to you,
sometimes to madness, always to folly, and
in my former letters, that health and quickening the pulse in an extraordinary
strength depend upon a high degree of con-
Is not this to disorder the func-
tractility; and have proved, also, that a tions of life? It is the effect of prussic acid
high degree of contractility can only exist to lower the nervous system below the
when the body is rapidly and well nourished. natural standard. It is the effect of ardent
Whatever, therefore, is capable of strength- spirit, first to excite the nervous system
ening the body, must do so, by increasing above, and then to depress it below, the
the contractility of its fibre; and what- natural standard also. Both of these effects
ever is capable of heightening contracti- are poisonous--both will destroy life if car-
lity, must do so, by a rigorous and rapid nu- ried far enough: neither will destroy life,
trition of the body. But we have seen that if not carried far enough. Prussic acid,
wine possesses scarcely any nutritious virtues therefore, and ardent spirits, are equally
at all. How then can it strengthen the poisons; though neither will destroy life
body? It cannot :-It is manifestly, de- alone, unless taken in sufficient quantity.
monstratively and glaringly impossible. But But would you willingly continue to swallow
to nourish and strengthen it, are the only prussic acid daily, merely because you
two good things which any kind of diet is admired its delicious flavour; comforting
capable of contributing to the body. I have yourself the while, by saying that it could
just proved that wine possesses no power to do you no harm, because you did not take it
effect either of them ; it follows, therefore, in sufficient quantity to destroy life? And
as a direct necessity, that it is productive of above all, would you thus take it, knowing
no good at all.
it to be unnecessary ? But if you be im-
“Is wine certainly pernicious? I have penetrable to argument, you dare not deny
already proved, it is unnecessary and it the result of direct experiment.
“Mr.
has ever been universally held, by medical Brodie found, that by the administration of
philosophers, that whatever is unnecessary a large dose of ardent spirit to a rabbit, the
is detrimental. The simple fact then, that pupils of its eyes became dilated, its extre-
wine is unnecessary, is a sufficient proof mities convulsed, and the respiration labo-
manner.

64
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
rious; and that this latterfunction was gradu- | medical practitioner, that they are pernicious,
ally performed at longer and longer intervals, even when taken in small quantities. And
and that at length it entirely ceased. Two what he has said concerning wines, he wishes
minutes after the apparent death of the to be understood to an equal extent con-
animal, he opened the chest and found the cerning beer and all fermented liquors. In
heart acting with moderate force and fre- the Cheltenham Free Press Newspaper for
quency;” now mark what follows, “ circu- March, 1838, in the list of deaths, a Mr.
lating dark coloured blood.
The same
's disease is mentioned, and it is ad-
phenomena resulted from the injection of ded, that this is the sixth death of persons
two drops of the essential oil of bitter al- belonging to Stroudwater Brewery, within
monds, the acting principle of which, is the last few months. All these men drunk
prussic acid, diffused in half an ounce of strong beer; all became very corpulent, and
water, into the bowels of a cat." Here all died before their time. What a confirma-
then we have a direct and irrefragable proof tion of the truth of the sentiments quoted
that ardent spirit is not only a poison, but a above; and could we add to them the
poison of the same nature as prussic acid, history of all demised beer-drinkers through
producing the same effects, and killing by the country, what an awful catalogue of
the same means, viz., by paralysing the mortality might be presented ! iero
muscles of respiration, and so preventing A careful review of the sentiments al-
the change of the black venous blood into ready advanced will lead us to the conclu-
vermilion, or vital blood.
sion, that intoxicating drinks are far from
A great deal of mischief has arisen from being necessary either as articles of food,
the misapplication of the term strength,' drink, or medicine.
to the intoxicating power of strong drinks, 1. They are not necessary as articles of
as they are called. Potions are said to be food. The design of eating is to supply the
strong,' and thence may have arisen the waste that is continually occurring to our
silly notion that they possess the power of bodies. By perspiration, respiration, la-
strengthening the body. People seem to bour, exercise, &c., our bodies are continu-
suppose that by swallowing strong drinks' ally decaying. It is calculated that we all
they swallow strength; as though strength have a new body in the space of seven
were some tangible substance which can be years. The Psalmist says, “Thy youth is
chewed, swallowed, and assimilated, like a renewed like the eagle's.” A sentiment
potato. We say that onions have a strong which is as physiologically correct as it is
smell;' and we might as well expect to poetically beautiful. Our "youth" and
derive strength from smelling onions, as to “strength" are literally renewed or
do so from drinking fluids which have a made. I lately saw the bone which had
stronger flavour. And this of itself is been taken from the leg of a young lady.
another proof of their mischievous tendency, She had, while at school, jumped from a
for whatever affects us strongly cannot be form, and injured the tibia bone of her leg,
chip in porridge;' and if it be not good and it began to decay. Her father, who
and necessary, it must, of necessity, be not was a surgeon, removed it, and, what is
only simply injurious, but very much so.- -I most astonishing, a new bone immediately
have drunk a gallon of beer daily for the began to grow in its stead, and actually
last thirty years,' once boasted a certain supplied the place of the one taken away,
hostler, and I never was better in health so that she was able to walk with but little
than I am at this moment.' The next day difficulty. I had the pleasure of examining
a fit of apoplexy laid him dead in the ditch.” the bone and seeing the young lady walking
“Letters to Brother John," pp. 250-262. about. A more striking proof than this of
I have given this long quotation from the the powers of nature to reproduce our
above highly scientific work, written in a bodies could not be brought forward, nor
most popular style. In it the physiology of could anything more evidently show the
Life, Health and Disease,” is delineated wise and benevolent laws that regulate our
in a manner level to the capacity of a child, being. To keep a machine or a musical
and with a degree of vivacity and interest instrument in constant repair, nothing could
far surpassing that of many a bewitching answer the purpose so well as that it should
novel. I have quoted the sentiments above be renewed daily. Yet this is what is ac-
the more readily, as the writer does not tually done for the preservation of our bo-
appear to have had, when he composed his dies in health and vigour. I cannot put
valuable scientific volume, the least idea of this matter in a stronger light than by
the existence of such an institution as the giving another quotation from " Letters to
Total Abstinence Society. I have also Brother John." There is arising from
transcribed them, because it is the opinion every point of your body a countless number
of thousands, that although ardent spirit is of little vessels, which are at this moment,
injurious, yet that wine, beer, cider, &c., are and every moment of your life, actively
actually good and nutritious; but here we engaged in the pleasant task of eating you
have the testimony of an eminent scientific up. They may be compared to a swarming
New

CONNECTED WITHI DRUNKENNESS." KO
65
30
The
host of long, delicate, and slender leeches, soon as they entered the stomach, were ab-
attached, by innumerable mouths, to every sorbed by the venous capillary tubes which
point in your fabric, and having their bodies are spread over that organ, and consequently
gradually and progressively united together, carried out of the body by the kidneys.
until they all terminate in one tail; which Milk was immediately coagulated, the whey
tail perforates the side of one of the large absorbed, and the curd digested ; soups, by
veins at the bottom of the neck at the left these little tubes were filtered, the solid
side; so that whatever is taken in at their parts retained for digestion, and the liquid
mouths is all emptied, by the other extre- or water taken into the veins. The same
mity, into that vein, where it becomes is the case with beer, cider, and wine.
mixed with the blood contained in that vein. water which they contain, and the spirit, or
Now, my dear John, for a moment turn strength, which is lighter than water, are
your eyes inward, contemplate these greedy taken up by the absorbents, and the very,
little cormorants, complacently, if you can- very small portion of solid matter which is
observe their activity-remark their un- left, is, if not too hard for such a process,
wearied assiduity—behold the dogged per- subjected to digestion. I have seen the
severance, the unerring certainty, the beau- filthy matter which remained after evapo-
tiful precision, with which they are devour- rating a glass of good port wine, and sure I
ing you. See! mouthful after mouthful is am, that there are few persons, however
going going. They never tire nor are they fond of drinking, but would be disgusted
satisfied; for every atom which each mouth at the thought of having to masticate and
sucks up, and converts into fluid, is in- digest what more resembled cinders or
stantly conducted along the tail, by which ashes than food. The extract from a pint
it is discharged into the above-mentioned of good home brewed beer was quite as
vein. Thus, though for ever feeding, they uninviting. What then, we ask, is there in
are for ever hungry. ''Tis true they take in a pint of ale or porter to satisfy the wants
but small mouthfuls at a time; but when of a hard-working man? In a pint of water
it is considered that these mouths are mil- there a
are sixteen in a pint of beer
lions in number; and that they are never
or porter fourteen ces of water, nearly
shut, but constantly at work, night and day, an ounce of alcohol, and part of an ounce
you will easily see that the entire body of the extract of barley; the water and the
would speedily be devoured, and carried alcohol go immediately into the veins, and
away into the blood, if there were no contriv- while the alcohol poisons, the water, if not
ance to build the body as fast as these little needed, unnecessarily dilutes the blood,
vessels eat it down and carry it off. These overcharges the vessels and loads the kid-
vessels which I have just introduced to your neys and bladder; while there remains less
notice are the Absorbents.a9than an ounce of indigestible extract of malt
To supply the constant decomposition of in the stomach to be digested. Is it any
our bodies, which, in the passage just quoted, wonder that all beer drinkers feel a con-
is so well described, is the design of eating. stant pain and sinking in their stomach ?
Our food is digested, converted into blood, and that they are always craving for more
and circulated to every point, both external drink? But it may be said that a man who
and internal, of our frame, and by this means drinks a pint of good ale finds himself im-
we are nourished and our strength is re- mediately the stronger and the better. Of
newed. Animal food, wholesome bread, course he does, because the liquid fire that
nutritious vegetables and fruits, when pro- he has drunk has stimulated him ; but then
perly digested, amply and suitably supply stimulation and nutrition are two very dif-
the waste and absorption of the body. The ferent things. There are a hundred things
gastric juice is produced in exact proportion that may produce excitement, but are at
to the wants of the system. In a labouring the same time the very opposite to nourish-
man the expenditure and exhaustion is ment. The very excitement causes a greater
much greater than in one who is inactive, degree of waste, greater absorption and ex-
and it is a well-known fact that in the
A hungry fainting woman, who
stomach of the former there is a larger sees her child fall into the flames, will in-
quantity of gastric juice ready to digest or stantly feel herself strong as a lion for its
chyme a greater quantity of food ; and for
Here is excitement, here is stimu-
this reason, the secluse, if he eat as much lation. But dreadful is the absorption that
as the plowman, must suffer from indiges- is going on to accomplish all this, and dread-
tion, because his stomach finds it difficult to ful will be the fatigue that she will feel from
digest more than his absorption actually exhaustion when the excitement has sub-
requires. It must also be observed that sided. She can tell that stimulus is not
nothing but “solid substances” can be di- nutrition, her pallid face shows that the
gested. The stomach cannot digest water reverse is the fact, and that excitement is
or any other liquid, and therefore cannot exhausting. The case of the labourer is
turn it into blood. Dr. Beaumont found, much the same, only, that instead of being
in the case of St. Martin, that liquids, as moved by the anxiety and fondness of a
haustion.
rescue.

66
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
mother, he is impelled by an ounce of al- permitted to escape from the stomach into
cohol. But he is excited too much, and the bowels. Is not this a beautiful ex-
the exhaustion of such a man must be far emplification of the importance of the sen-
greater than that of the tee-totaller, who sibility of our organs? and said I not truly,
partakes of a nourishing meal, and subjects when I called it, our guardian angel?'
his body to no other fatigue than that which For what is the sensibility of the pyloric
arises from his steady labour. He who valve by which it is enabled to distinguish
labours hard and drinks alcoholic drinks has between perfect and imperfect chyme ?-
to do double work. There is the outward what is it, I say, but a watchman, a senti-
exercise of the anvil, saw, or pick-axe, and nel, posted at the entrance into the bowels,
the inward excitement of the spirit he has in order to watch over our safety; to see
drunk, and which most unnaturally moves that nothing be allowed to enter that is
and impels his brain, stomach, and every likely to disturb or irritate them; to take
vessel, nerve, and muscle of his frame. care that nothing injurious, nothing offen-
Have you never noticed hay-makers and sive, nothing which may be in any way
others, how anxiously, after having drunk a hostile to their safety; nothing, in fact,
little, they look for the return of the bottle? which has no business there, be permit-
It is the exhaustion which drink and labour ted to trespass within the sacred pre-
together have produced, that compels them cincts of organs so important to the health
to long and beg for more stimulus. I have and welfare of the whole being, of which
seen the orator, under the double excitement they form so vital a part. What mischief,
of alcohol and an impassioned theme, when therefore, do those persons inflict upon
he has concluded his speech almost ready to themselves; what a wide door for the ad-
die. I have seen the tradesman, under the mission of all sorts of evil do those persons
double stimulus of wine or ale and busi- throw open, who, perpetually stimulating
ness, ready to drop. I have seen the stu- the pyloric valve by the unnatural stimuli of
dent, exhausted by alcohol and study, sink ardent spirit and highly-seasoned sauces,
into the grave. The world that we inhabit, enfeeble, wear out, and eventually destroy
in its joys and sorrows-in its pains and its sensibility, so that whatever the caprice
pleasures-in its beauties, sublimities and of the pallate throws into the stomach, is
miseries—in its bodily exercises and mental tumbled, right or wrong, assimilated or
toils and in the prospects presented to the not assimilated, good, bad and indifferent,
righteous and the wicked, has excitement altogether, without let or hindrance, into
enough to exhaust the strongest energies, the bowels! for the sentry-box is deserted-
without flying to the bottle or the tankard the watchman is dead." Is it any wonder
for a double portion of fatigue. “Sufficient that beer-drinkers, wine and spirit drinkers,
to the day is the evil thereof." By the food sometimes die of stoppages, inflammation
therefore that nourishes, and not by the of the bowels, and various other internal
liquor that stimulates and exhausts our complaints? Sometimes we see the strong
bodily vigour, we must be sustained and
man, as he seems to be, to-day in his field,
fitted for the duties and fatigues of life. to-morrow in his coffin, and the next day he
But it is not merely by cheating us into the must be buried, because that flushed and
belief that we are nourished, when we are only bloated body of his is a mass of putrescence!
stimulated, that alcoholic drinks injure us; An inquiry into the cholera, in connexion
their bad effects upon the frame generally, with the effects of beer and wines upon the
but especially upon the stomach, have al- digestive and other organs, would prove
ready been seen in the ulcerated organs of how greatly ardent stimuli predisposed us
St. Martin ; and the following passage from
for that scourge. I may be told that beer
Johnson's Letters, to which we just now and porter drinkers present to us a stout
referred, will exhibit to us the same truth and corpulent frame. We grant that some
in a very striking light. Speaking, p. 137, of them do, but this is not the case with
of the spyloric valve," he says, “let us all. I know more sallow-faced, pale, thin,
suppose that there is floating in the chyme sickly-looking drinkers of beer, than cor-
a particle of food which has not as yet been pulent tipplers. These have their stomachs,
sufficiently acted upon by the gastric juice: liver, and blood poisoned with alcohol and
I will tell you what happens. As soon as the other trash found in malt liquor. I have
the pyloric valve feels the presence of the seen the thin, tallow face of the moderate
smooth and bland chyme, it instantly cpens beer drinker become almost instantly ruddy
and allows it to pass, but no sooner does the with health on the adoption of total absti-
particle of food that has not yet been re-
But the red-complexioned drinkers
duced to chyme attempt to follow, than the of beer and wine are not always so healthy
valve instantly closes the aperture, and re- as they appear to be. It is a common
fuses its permission; this particle of food saying, that “the fat of such men is not
must therefore return to the upper part of good.” The beer and porter drinkers
the stomach, to be again submitted to the of London are the worst subjects that enter
agency of the gastric juice, before it can be the hospital. A good medical authority has
nence.

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS.
67
told us that they." die like rotten sheep.". ounce of food that is in his cup; let him have
They cannot scratch their fingers but it is the money, and he will buy food and clothing,
death. In hundreds of instances inflam- will be a stronger man himself, and will re-
mation and speedy dissolution are the con- turn, in the goods he purchases, all the
sequence of a slight bruise of the hand. money he receives to the farmer and manu-
From a slight cut, at which a child would facturer, and incalculably promote the com-
have smiled, I have seen the stout athletic mercial health and prosperity of the country.
beer drinker, in less than a week, laid in 2. Intoxicating drinks are not necessary
the grave. In Bartholomew's hospital, sur- as a beverage to quench thirst. Any one
geons dread to have to cure porter
drinkers. who will try the experiment may, by the
Corpulency is not health ; it is rather a dis application of heat and a condenser, evolve
ease. Fat is nothing more than a deposit the alcohol from his beer, cider, or wine,
of the superfluities of the system. Its in- and then set fire to it; and as the flame is
crease never adds to a man's strength. He burning, we ask him to reflect whether so
could perform his labour better without it, fiery a poison is likely to quench thirst or to
and would feel none of that dread which now benefit the delicate tissues of the body
unnerves him at the thought of a fever or through which it is to circulate? The very
any other disease being epidemical. He is nature of the drink is to produce heat;
of a full habit, and can neither bear much every person who has drunk these liquors
fatigue nor much disease. The fact is, his has experienced the excitement and warmth
corpulency has unfitted him for the present which they occasion, but heat and excite-
world, and therefore he is hurried out of it ment are both conducive to perspiration,
before his time. Look too at the palsied absorption, exhaustion, and consequently
hand and trembling steps of the young man
thirst. It is generally allowed that com-
whom alcohol has made old! Hark at his bustion is the result of the violent action of
difficult breathing and sepulchral cough! bodies and gases upon each other.
The
Lungs that might have braved the hyper- heat of our bodies may, in a great degree,
borean cold, or the scorching torrid heat, be the effect of circulation. When the
require the protection of better apparatus circulation is stopped, the limb is cold: the
than nature has provided, to allow them to chill of death is suspended action or circu-
breathe the temperate air of Britain with lation. By circulating the blood through
impunity. "The beer-houses have been our feet or hands with increased activity we
my death,” gasped a young man of five- warm them. Increased exertion makes us
and-twenty, who was dying the other day, perspire ; increases therefore the absorption
and whom I visited in his last moments. of our frame, and consequently produces
The alcohol of the beer had, in connexion thirst. Only think, then, of the madness
with midnight damps, ulcerated his lungs, of giving a burning stimulating liquor to a
and he died of a galloping consumption. labouring man, or indeed to any one, to
His neighbour of the same age, and often quench his thirst! You pour into his frame
his pot-house companion, in a few weeks a fiery liquid to quench his thirst! You in-
made the same confession, and followed him crease the excitement, the circulation, the
to the grave; and thousands since that have absorption, the perspiration, and consequent
followed in the same train. Well have our exhaustion of the body; and do this, you
vendors of strong drinks selected for their say, to quench thirst !! Why not, in the
signs most of the lusus naturæ and mon- plenitude of such wisdom, pour oil upon
sters of creation. Their poisons disorgan your fire when you wish to extinguish it?
ise the human frame, make monsters of or naphtha, turpentine, and pitch upon the
men, and prey upon their vitals. Were the child whose clothes have just ignited? The
beasts of prey that are now chained in our latter, remember, would be just as prudent as
menageries and zoological gardens to be let the former. The cases are perfectly parallel :
loose, they would not commit such depre- in the one there is too much fire, and to extin-
dations as are at this moment being perpe- guish it you add more! and in the other there
trated by the red, black, and white lions, is too much warmth and exhaustion, and to
bears, griffins, &c., of the publicans. Tell diminish it you administer a liquid stimulating
us not, then, that malt liquor, or wine, or fire! In hot climates the mortality among
spirit is needed by the labouring man, the our troops and officers has been attributed
tradesman, or the scholar: these all want to ardent spirits, and correctly so. The heat
nourishment, not stimuli; their vocations of the country is exhausting; the fatigues of
are stimulating and exhausting enough, and military duty are exhausting ; and, if to this
let them be fed with bread and other nutri- you add an exhausting, stimulating liquid
tious aliment, but do not poison, exhaust, poison, you increase the labour of the sys-
and deceive them with intoxicating drinks. tem beyond what it can bear, and the man
Instead of giving the labouring man poison, dies before his time. It was not the climate
give him bread; or the worth of his beer or that killed him; man is made to live in all
cider in money. What a shame to make climates; it was not labour that killed him ;
him pay so enormously for the ounce, or half- labour is conducive to health; it was ardent
F 2

68
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
e
en homobora obrang
irode arrants
spirit that exhausted and slew him. You would be to increase the evil which drink-
gave him rations of rum, and the liquid fire ing is intended to remove.
kindled fevers and inflammations; or, by Nothing can be more fallacious than the
unnatural absorption, consumed the re- opinions that generally prevail respecting
sources of his body and brought on emacia-drinking. We are probably become the
tion, collapse and death. The heat and most drinking people upon the face of
labours of the hay-field, of the smithy, the the earth, and thus are continually over-
foundry, or the sugar-house, are exhausting loading our system with some fluid or other,
and tend to thirst ; but who, to prevent and by this means producing disease. Many
this, or to cure would add to heat, and persons drink from habit, and not from
thirst, and fatigue, the excitement and ex- thirst. From this cause, some who have
haustion of a burning stimulating liquor? become tee-totallers have, on giving up their
Every man who drinks beer, wine or spi- | beer and wine, begun to drench themselves
rits, knows that they increase heat and with water, or tea and coffee, and then have
thirst. Often does the tippler call for water said that total abstinence did not agree with
to quench the burning heat and thirst that them. But why thus overload the system
strong drink has kindled. On the other with fluids which nature never demanded
hand, our harvest-men, our smiths, sugar- by the gentle whisper of thirst? Abernethy
bakers, sawyers, carpenters, and others who has recommended us not to drink until three
have adopted total abstinence, complain hours after dinner. Dr. Beaumont found
less of thirst and fatigue than formerly. that the stomach cannot digest food except
These men having, in time past, felt the at a hundred degrees of temperature. He
exhaustion of drinking, and having now, found also that a gill of cold lowered the
in their own experience, an increase of heat of St. Martin's
stomach twenty degrees,
vigour, possess a proof which baffles contra- and consequently delayed digestion until its
diction that total abstinence has the sanc- accustomed heat was recovered. The writer
tion of nature. Those, too, who labour in has found all his sensations of indigestion
damps, as bricklayers, brickmakers, and return from foolishly drinking cold water
others, find that they are now less liable to at his meals, and which was not demanded
cold. Intoxicating drinks used to spread by thirst. And why be always drinking ?
over their frame an unnatural heat, and this There is a great deal of moisture in all
was followed by an unnatural degree of
Animal food is perhaps full
cold, which, connected with the chilling one-half water. Bread contains in it water,
damps of their labour, brought on chills, for we do not like it when it is entirely dry.
rheumatism, and various other diseases, Potatoes are quite three-fourths water, and
which, by total abstinence, they now entirely other vegetables are charged with a great
escape. Experience shows that neither in
or even greater amount. Many complaints
warm temperatures nor in cold ones, are are no doubt the consequence of diluting
strong drinks necessary. Captain Ross, in the blood with so much liquid, and espe-
the frozen regions, found that his men en- cially so when these drinks are charged with
joyed better health and suffered less from spirit. If drink is wanting, the veins will
frost without these liquors than with them.
convey
the intelligence to the stomach, and
The writer has travelled in the midst of the stomach to the brain, and we shall feel
frost and snow, and drunk brandy and water thirsty; but if not thirsty, why keep load-
until he was himself nearly frozen ; he has ing our bodies with liquor? The gastric
travelled in the same kind of weather, and juice, as Dr. Beaumont discovered, is unfit-
drunk nothing but water, and been com- ted for its work by being diluted with even
fortably warm. The brandy increased cir- the simplest liquid, much more, then, must
culation and produced heat for a short time; it be injured when that liquid is charged
but then Dr. Farre's law of the forcing sys- with poison. The animals are in many
tem was regularly observed; after every glass respects wiser than we are. When left to
of spirits,“ The circulation fell off in a greater themselves they all eat and drink like philo-
degree than it was forced,” and much more sophers. God sends the sluggard to the
intense cold was felt as the consequence. ant, the inconsiderate to the crane and the
Mr. Hoskins, in his late visit to the Pyra- swallow, and he rebuked Balaam by an ass.
mids, found, by his own experience, and We might learn from the same source a few
that of others, that the water of the Nile useful lessons in dietetics, and especially in
was, in that hot country, the most refresh- drinking. They drink when they are
ing and invigorating beverage. And he states thirsty, and would we go and do likewise,
that spirit drinkers very soon became we might save ourselves many a pain.
incapable of enduring the climate. This Nature always carries in her hand a rod,
is perfectly natural. If the absorption is
and if we will drink what is not wanted,
great, and the perspiration profuse, nothing she will most certainly make us smart for
can better supply this waste than the sim- our folly. Alcoholic drinks, then, are not
plest beverage; and that beverage is water. necessary to quench our thirst, and indeed
To drink alcoholic drinks at such a time rather increase than diminish it, and unne-
we eat.

CONNECTED WITH DRAMA
WITH DRUNKENNESS.
83
69
may
cessary potations of even the simplest liquids poisons are used in medicine.
But, it
rather injure than benefit our health and be replied, that a healthy man does not
vigour.
want medicine, and further, that in cases of
3. These drinks are not needed as medi-sickness, poison is generally administered
cines. In the quotation already given from to produce disease rather than to cure it.
Mr. Higginbotham, it was stated that if There is perhaps in the system an affection
alcohol was instantly abolished “as a medi- which the physician cannot reach, and, know-
cine it would not be missed." A surgeon ing that by producing disease in some other
of considerable practice, and who is a great part he can perhaps draw it to that part, he
enemyto total abstinence, speaking the other administers a poison or applies a blister.
day of the value of spirits as a medicine, I That is, he produces a disease which he can
asked him “If there was no other medicine cure, in order to attract or dislodge one
that would supply its place.” “ Yes," he which otherwise he cannot cure. But it
replied, “ammonia would do as well.” would be just as reasonable for a healthy
“ Then,” said I, “why do you use spirits ?" man to be always applying to his body a
“Merely," he answered, “because they are blister, as for him to be daily drinking a
always at hand.” Such is the testimony of spirit which he says is medicine, and which
an enemy:
Dr. Evans, at a temperance
will worse than blister his stomach and the
meeting, at Gloucester, declared, “ That pyloric valve.
there was no medicine which so soon ren- If it be objected that persons in sickness
dered a disease intractable as spirits, and often feel almost instantaneous relief from
none required to be administered with so spirits, we reply, that it is granted by all
much care. I once knew a healthy wo- that spirits are exciting ; that they go to the
man seized with English cholera; a physi- head and animate the mind; but at the
cian attended her, successfully treated the very time that they excite and divert the
disease, and in a few days pronounced her feelings, they feed the disease. They may
out of danger.
He had been successful in go to the head and nerves, and stimulate
curing numbers of the same malady, and them, and at the same moment flee to the
therefore knew all the symptoms of conva- seat of the malady, and often render it in-
lescence. The next day when he called he curable. “ Art thou in health, my brother?"
found her dying. “ What have you given said the insidious Joab, and at the same
this woman ?! “Nothing, sir,” responded moment stabbed his victim in the fifth rib.
the nurse. “You may," said he, "refuse Besides, in most cases, rest is necessary for
to tell me what you have given her, but the suffering patient ; why then produce an
something has been administered.” “Only a unnatural degree of exhaustion and absorp-
little home-made wine,” was then the answer. tion? If you would not send him to his
The woman, the mother of a young family, labour, why stimulate every nerve and
died the next day: the physician, who was organ in his body? If perspiration is requi-
a very feeling man, told me he could not site there are sudorifics much more healthy
refrain from tears, and he said to the nurse, than alcohol, and might be administered
“Remember," exclaimed he, "had you ap- with much less danger.
plied a pistol to that woman's head, and When we consider the fiery nature of
blown out her brains, you would not more alcohol, and the heat it produces when cir-
effectually have deprived her of life.” In culating through the body, the accounts we
this case the alcohol brought on inflamma- have heard of spontaneous animal combus-
tion of the bowels, which baffled the power
tion are far from incredible. Donovan relates
of medicine to subdue, and thus the church seven instances of this description of igni-
was deprived of a member, and a young tion, and M. Julia de Fontenelle has lately
family of a mother. Hundreds of thousands read a paper to the Academy of Sciences, at
of others have been swept from the world Paris, in which he relates fifteen cases of
by the same cause.
If there is the least spontaneous human combustion. We will
inflammation in the body, alcohol aggra- relate two examples out of many: “Mary
vates it; if there is the least wound, this Clues, aged fifty, was much addicted to
vile spirit seeks it and poisons it. By drink- drinking. At five o'clock one morning
ing spirits for a cold, the lungs, already a smoke was seen issuing out of her win-
tender, are often poisoned and ulcerated dow, and the door being broken open, some
beyond recovery; and hence the frequency flames which were in the room were soon
of consumption in our country. All disease extinguished. Between the bed and the
may be said to be remedial in its design. chimney were found the remains of the unfor-
In most instances it arises from an effort of tunate Clues.
One leg and a thigh were
nature to dismiss from the system something still entire, but there remained nothing of
that is injurious, and it is only when it has the skin, the muscles, or the viscera. The
to ren-
gone too far for the rest of the
fabric te bones of the cranium, the breast, the spine,
der assistance, or is aggravated by our own and the upper extremities, were entirely
folly, or that of others, that it becomes fatal. calcined. The furniture had sustained
may be told, that if alcohol is a poison, little injury. The side of the bed next to
We

70
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
99
the fire had suffered most; the wood of it time superstitious, and knowing him to be
was slightly burnt, but the feathers, clothes, a very wicked man, reported that the devil
and covering were safe.
Nothing ex- had come, set him alight and sent him, alive,
cept the body exhibited strong traces of to the shades below, for his wickedness."
fire.” Most of the examples hitherto re- There is nothing incredible in these nar-
corded are those of females. It would seem rations. When we consider the fiery na-
that their frames are more delicate than ture of alcohol, the increased circulation it
those of men, and therefore are more liable produces, and that the body of the unhappy
to be rendered combustible by spirits ; but victim is drenched and saturated with this
the following narrative from the Medical inflammatory spirit, it is not wonderful that
and Surgical Journal will show the dread- the gas proceeding from such a combustible
ful effects of spirits on the stronger fabric mass should ignite. We know that phos-
of the other sex :
phoreted hydrogen and other substances
“ Thomas Williams, a sailor, aged 38, will spontaneously take fire, and we cannot
who has for a long time used himself to tell, as there is phosphorus in the body, but
drink a large quantity of spirits, especially this may be so acted upon as to produce
of rum, was in a smuggling vessel in the spontaneous combustion, or even the in-
month of November, 1808, which landed creased circulation in a body so inflammable
at Aberforth, having several barrels of rum may occasion ignition. With the philosophy
on board, which they managed to get on of the thing, however, we have little to do;
shore without discovery, and took them to the facts are incontestible, that a number
an old house in the village which they had of persons, addicted to ardent spirits, have
previously taken for the purpose. When all been burnt to death, and the fire in several
was right, they began, as they termed it, to cases has been spontaneous. Its peculiar
enjoy themselves, and to partake plenteously character has also been manifest, from the
of their booty. This man, who had been fact that, in many instances, the clothes and
noted for the quantity he could take, now bed furniture have not been burnt. Like
took considerably more than he had been the Greek fire, also, it appears that water
accustomed to. He became so exceedingly increases its intensity.
intoxicated, and lay in this state for such a “A man in London once drank a pint of
length of time, that his companions became gin; he soon fell into a state of insensibilty,
alarmed, and sent for a surgeon to Cardigan; and died in the street. On internal exa-
he being from home, myself and the other mination, there was found in his stomach a
apprentice attended for him. After ascer- fluid which had the smell of gin, and a like
taining the beverage he had been taking, quantity was found in his brain ; on a fire
the best antidote we could think of was being applied both ignited. A strong case
oil ; this we agreed to administer; I offi- of this kind occurred at Edinburgh, and
ciating, and the other holding the candle, another in America. A young physician,
it being late in the evening. As soon as the in the state of Maine, applied his lancet to the
candle came in contact with the vapour from vein of a confirmed drunkard, who had just
his body, to our great surprise, it caught fire, come out of a fit of intoxication. The blood
commencing about the face, and extending exhaled a strong odour of whiskey, and on
throughout the whole surface of the body, the application of a taper it burnt for some
burning with a blue flame. We, being seconds with a blue flame.” At the close
greatly agitated, thinking we had set him of last year, 1839, an occurrence was men-
on fire, thought it best to depart, first having tioned in all the public papers, which fully
thrown a pail of water over him to extin- corroborates these facts. A gentleman, by
guish it. This only added fuel to the fire, the name of Taylor, had entered a cab, but
it burning with greater severity.
when the driver arrived at the Angel, Isling-
return we related the circumstance to our
ton, and opened the door, he found his
master, who could scarcely credit it. The
passenger dead. A surgeon was called,
next morning, he and myself went to see who tried to bleed him, but in vain. He
this unfortunate victim. On our arrival, opened his head, and found alcohol in his
we found only part of the being we went brain, which, on the application of fire,
to see; for all the parts, excepting the head, burnt with a blue flame. A considerable
legs, and part of the arms, were consumed. portion of spirit was also detected in his
The ashes which remained were black and stomach. These facts were stated at the
greasy, and the room in which it lay had a inquest which was held by Mr. Wakley,
peculiarly offensive smell. The shirt, which and who, to obtain correct information on
was of flannel, was not burnt, but charred. the subject, deferred the inquest for a day or
We ordered the remaining parts to be put two, that the surgeon might fully ascertain
into a shell. Two days afterward, from whether it was really alcohol which was in
curiosity, we again went to see if the remain- the brain and the stomach. The experi-
der was burnt, but found it as before. There
ment fully confirmed this fact. Several
was no inquest. His companions, as well similar well-authenticated facts are
as those people who heard it, being at that
tioned in Bacchus, p. 332, all of which show
On our
men-

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS.
man.
that alcohol cannot be digested, and in no but is actually mixed with perhaps four
form whatever, can be fit for the body of ounces of an acrid poison! I have known
It cannot nourish a healthy man, it good workmen that would spend three or
cannot quench the thirst of a thirsty man, four shillings, and the whole of one day in
and it may very soon poison, inflame, and a week on this detestable liquor. Three
kill a sickly man, and therefore ought to shillings a week, six shillings, nine, twelve,
be abandoned by all.
twenty shillings a week, are sometimes thus
One very great mistake exists respecting wasted. Five, ten, twenty, fifty pounds a
the difference between beer, wine, and year are, in thousands of instances, spent
ardent spirit. We have shown that the on these liquors, by persons whose families
stomach cannot digest anything but what is are in the greatest straits, and perhaps
solid, and that whatever is eaten or drank, starying for food and clothing. And yet
is, as it were, filtered by the capillary absorb- professors of religion encourage this waste,
ents, the solid parts remain for digestion, and “cast out as evil” the names of those
and the liquid is taken into the veins. Now who would expose the delusion, and destroy
beer, cider, and wine consist of spirits and the iniquitous practice of drinking.
“ These
water, and an extract; the water and the things ought not to be.”
spirit, which is lighter than water, are, as If inebriating liquors, manufactered at
soon as possible after they are swallowed, home, are nevertheless poisonous, then what
taken up into the system, and the extract, must be the character of those which have
which in bulk is not worth mentioning, and been adulterated ? Respecting porter, Dr.
in quality is worse than the husks which Lardner informs us, that “it is absolutely
swine eat, is left behind for digestion. This frightful to contemplate the list of poisons
being the case, then, the drinker of beer, and drugs with which it has been doctored.'
cider, or wine, is just as much a drinker of Opium, henbane, coculus indicus, and Bo-
spirits and water, as he who goes to the gin hemian rosemary, which is said to produce
or brandy bottle direct.
There is spirit a quick and raving intoxication, supplied
enough in a pint of good beer to make a the place of alcohol. Aloes, quassia, gen-
good strong glass of gin or brandy and tian, sweet-scented flag, wormwood, hore-
water, and perhaps the spirit tippler has an hound, and bitter oranges, supplied the place
advantage over the porter drinker, that he of hops. Liquorice, treacle, and mucilage
does not take into his stomach the filthy of flax-seed, stood for attenuated malt liquor.
extract of malt, grapes, or apples.
We Capsicum, ginger, and cinnamon, or rather
showed just now, from Dr. Farre, that spirit cassia-buds, afforded to the exhausted drink
though diluted is not changed in its nature the pungency of carbonic acid. Burnt flour,
and character as a poison. The beer and treacle or sugar, communicated a peculiar
wine drinker, therefore, often swallows as taste, which many people fancy. Prepara-
much alcoholic poison a day as he who tions of fish, assisted, in cases of obstinacy,
drinks spirits. 'Tis true it is diluted, and with oil of vitriol, procured transparency.
therefore operates on his frame less rapidly, Beside these, the brewer had occasion some-
but, though slow, it is just as sure a poison times to supply himself with potash, lime,
in the end as when taken unmixed.
salt, and a variety of other substances,
The best home-made beer, cider, or wine, which are no other harm than serving in
has therefore just as much poison in it as
the office of more valuable materials and
it has alcohol, consequently the phrase, defrauding the consumer."
66 wholesome home-brewed beer” is an ab- In the Essay on Brewing, published in
surdity. You cannot make alcohol whole- the Library of Useful Knowledge, we find
some; dilute it or mix it with whatever that in the manufacture of beer, sugar,
extract you will, it is still a poison, and the molasses, honey and liquorice are used for
whole design and result of brewing is to malt. Broom, opium, gentian, quassia,
produce a poison, and the more that is pro- aloes, marsh trefoil, opium, coculus indicus,
duced, the more successful the manufac- ignatia amara, tobacco, nux-vomica, are
turer imagines he has been. All who suc- used for hops, and the last mentioned are
ceed pride themselves in brewing good beer, known to be highly poisonous. Saltpetre,
that is strong beer, alias, more than usually salt prunella, or common salt, mixed with
poisonous beer. What a delusion then is wheat or bean flour, jalap, the fiery liquid
practised upon the people, by persuading called spirit of Maranta, bruised green cop-
them that these stimulating poisons are good peras, lime, marble dust, oyster shells, egg
or nutritious! There is more real, solid, shells, sulphate of lime, hartshorn shavings,
substantial nourishment in a penny loaf the herb bennet, or common avens, nutgalls,
than in a gallon of the best beer. And yet and the subcarbonates of potash and soda,
the penny loaf only costs a penny, while, in are used to prevent acidity. Sweet flag,
some cases, the gallon of beer costs twenty- coriander-seeds, carraways, orange peel,
four pence, or two shillings; and what is
orange peas, long pepper, capsicum, grains
worse still, the penny-worth of food in the of paradise, have been employed for flavour
beer is not merely coarse barley bread spoilt, and pungency. Coculus indicus, bitter

ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
S.
2
.
.
bean, nux vomcia, and opium, which are lead ; this appears to have been rather an
strong poisons, are used for the purpose of old practice: in the year 1696, several persons
producing intoxication. Here the reader in the Duchy of Wirtemberg were poisoned,
will perceive how avarice has invented, and in consequence of drinking wine adulterated
the most heartless cupidity has studied, to with ceruse, or white lead. A disease called
enrich itself at the expense of the health, the lead colic” raged in Poitou in the
and lives, and morals of the people. If sixteenth century, for upwards of sixty
alcohol of itself is a poison, here we have it years, and is now well known to have been
saturated or supplanted by the most dele- occasioned by the abominable adulteration
terious drugs. From Parliamentary Re- of wine with lead. Towards the end of
turns we find that some years the duty paid the 17th century nearly every individual
to government for
of three regiments in Jamaica was afflicted
£.
d. with colic, arising from the lead that was
Nux-Vomica was 631 4
mixed with the rum. The adulteration of
Er Extract of ditto.
4 7 6 cider with lead has before now produced
Coculus Indicus
569 19
the lead colic in England to an awful extent.
Grains of Paradise 3,191 2 2
It seems that lead has the peculiar power
of correcting ascescence. In France, and
The reader will also observe, that the especially in Paris, large quantities of sour
consumption of these articles, which are wine, sold for the purpose of making vinegar,
chiefly employed in manufacturing beer have been converted into wine again by
and porter, has of late years increased means of litharge, or a species of red lead.
rather than diminished. Nux-Vomica, for Brandy is often rendered pale by the same
example, which is a horrid poison, paid in destructive ingredient. Geneva has been
1830, £191 duty, but in 1833, it paid known to prove fatal, in consequence of its
£517 15s. ; Coculus Indicus paid in 1829, admixture with “ sugar of lead." In 1811,
£139 15s, but in 1833, £569 19s. 5d. ; all the passengers of the Highflyer coach,
thus the instruments of disorganisation, who dined and drank wine at Newcastle on
demoralisation, and death, were never more January 17th, were taken ill with extreme
used than at present. Increased appetite sickness, and one gentleman who had taken
and demand afford those who prey upon the more wine than the rest, was brought
health and morals of the people such an almost to the grave; and a Mr. Bland of
ample opportunity to indulge their nefarious Newark, who drank some negus, which was
and deadly practices.
made from this very wine, was taken ill
Wines and spirits we know are adulte- soon after, and actually died before medical
rated to a greater extent than beer. We aid arrived ; and on the inquest being held,
have already mentioned the horrid death of the jury returned a verdict of “ Died by
the wine seller, who was smitten with in- Poison."
sufferable remorse, at the thought of the The “Vintners' Guide” contains directions
many that he had murdered by his devices for clearing cloudy or muddy wines, and
in adulterating wine. I heard a medical sugar of lead is one of the ingredients re-
man very lately recommend port wine to a commended ; lead, in its worst form, has
sick lady, and he told me that he did so, been found in champagne ; and persons
because the arsenic in the wine would be have died, or become paralytic, from drinking
useful in her complaint; however, he did white wine, which had been poisoned with
not cure her by the poison, though I am lead. It is well known that sugar of lead,
happy to say, that in her case, total ab- ceruse, or white lead, litharge, or a species
stinence has effected a perfect cure, and of red lead are mixed with acids or sharp
therefore, succeeded in a disease in which tasted wines to remove their acidity.
all the doctors failed. A respectable in- The following receipt for making and doc-
dividual states, that " in the Isle of Sheppy toring wines may be found in "wine guides.”
many persons are employed in picking up For Port-take of good cider 4 gallons, of
copperas stones from the sea-beach, which the juice of red beet 2 quarts, brandy
being taken to a manufactory, copperas is 2 quarts, logwood 4 oumces, rhatany root
extracted, and then shipped to Oporto, to bruised } a pound; first infuse the logwood
be sold to the vine-dresser and wine mer- and rhatany root in brandy, and a gallon
chants, and by them is mixed with the port of cider, for one week, then strain off the
wine, to give it its peculiar astringent quality. liquor, and mix the other ingredients; keep
We have testimonies the most unques- it in a cask for a month, when it will be fit
tionable, that modern wines are manufac-
for use.
tured and adulterated to an awful extent. A chemical analysis of a bottle of port has
“ The Vintners' and Licensed Victuallers' produced the following results :-spirits of
Guide will furnish anyone who will wine 3 ounces, cider 14 ounces, sugar
consult it with the most shocking directions 1} ounce, alum 2 scruples, tartaric acid
on this subject. One of the most poisonous 1'scruple, strong decoction of logwood 4
ignredients which these adulterators use is ounces. blue

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS.
73
If a butt of sherry is too high in colour, , been charged with 24 per cent. of alcohol,
take a quart of warm sheep or lamb's blood, because distilled spirits was then unknown;
mix it with the wine, and when thoroughly nor can we believe that it was made out of
fine draw it off, when you will find the cider, logwood or lead ; and the wines
wine as pale as necessary.
being different, the argument from Scrip-
To colour Claret.-Take as many as you ture can have no weight with any reflect-
please of damascenes, or black sloes, and ing mind.
stew them with some dark coloured wine, Thus on whatever aspect or side we
and as much sugar as will make it into a look at this question, we see the reason-
sirup. This will colour either claret or ableness, propriety, advantage and duty of
port.
total abstinence. The nourishment of malt
Frenchmen have been known to purchase liquor is a delusion; numbers of medical
large quantities of Herefordshire cider, and men have set their faces against its use.
manufacture it into fine sparkling cham- I know a physician, who, with strange in-
pagne. We
consistency, recommends weak brandy and
Bitter almonds are used to give a nutty water, but who, most unequivocally con-
flavour to wine,--sweet briar, Orris-root, demns beer and cider. Brewers hardly ever
clary, cherry laurel water, and elder flowers, drink even their own good ales.
Several
form the bouquet of high flavoured wines; spirit merchants tremble to drink their
alum renders meagre wine bright ;--brazil own gin, and many wine sellers know that
wood, cake of pressed elder berries, and bil- there is death in their wines. In the
berries render pale faint coloured port of a
evidence before the House of Commons, it
deep purple: oak saw dust, and husks of fil- was stated that medical men have, in several
berts, give additional astringency to unripe cases, destroyed and ruined their patients
red wines ;-the crust of port wines, which is by recommending them to drink spirits,
supposed to be an unquestionable evidence Let the nation then awake from the lethargy
of age, is often produced by a saturated into which it has been thrown, by these in-
solution of cream of tartar, coloured with fatuating and maddening drinks, let science,
brazil wood or cochineal.
let religion do their duty, then the accursed
The following table of the exports of spell will be broken, and Britain shall be
wine from Oporto to the Channel Islands, as prosperous, as happy, as enlightened
and of imports from the Channel Islands and moral, as the high privileges and
to London, may give the reader some idea blessings she can command declare that
of the extent to which the manufacture of she ought to be.
wine is carried :
Some persons who have adopted total
Pipes Exported from Imported in the abstinence have immediately begun to eat
2
Oporto to the Chan-
same year from a great deal more than they did formerly,
nel Islands.
the Channel
to make up for the beer and wine that they
Boom
have abandoned, and in a short time have
Pipes.
b. 1826.
38
become ill, and thus have said, that total
- 1827. 99
abstinence did not agree with them. And
1828
73
75
of course it did not under these circum-
81829
90
stances, because they exchanged drinking
2 1830
147 for gluttony, and soon began to suffer from
1831
143 plethora or indigestion. Now it is found
1832
368
from much observation, that a tee-totaller can
1833
862
live on less food than a moderate drinker. He
suffers less from absorption and exhaustion,
According to the Custom-House books what he eats is better digested, and there-
of Oporto, for the year 1812, 135 pipes and fore his system does not demand so much
20 hogsheads were shipped for Guernsey : nutriment, and if he eat more because he
in the same year there were landed at the drinks less, he will suffer in some way or
London Docks, 2,545 pipes and 162 hogs- other; those who by drunkenness have lost
heads, from that Island reported to be all appetite for food will, on becoming tee-
port wine.com
totallers, have a good appetite return in a
If the reader should require more facts short time, but those who felt the cravings
upon this subject, he may find an abun- which moderate drinking occasions will,
dance in Bacchus, on the adulteration of on practising total abstinence, find that they
wines; and as he reads them, he must can do with less food than formerly,
blush for those Christians who dare in-
Otom
sinuate that the deadly wines of modern tregu
hata hu
times are the same as those referred to in
the Sacred Volume. “ The wine that
cheereth the heart of man,” that our Lord
made at the marriage of Cana, or that he Botoga
adaan
used at the first sacrament, could not have
oben
Bestube
Islands to London.
Pipes.
• 293
. 99
ta

74
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
66
mentation.
CHAPTER V.
tion of mind, convulsions, madness, apo-
plexy and death, are among the natural
History of Inebriating and of Unfermented Drinks. effects of the use of this poison. It was
1. Various kinds of Intoxicating Substances. 2. stated to the committee of the House
Obstructions to Fermentation in Hot Countries.
3. Boiling of Wines mentioned by Pliny, Colu- of Commons, that in some parts of the north
mella, Mr. Buckingham, and others. 4. Drugs of England beer-drinking has brought on
mixed with the Juice of the Grape, shown by quo- the vile practice of eating opium. Some of
tations from Columella, Pliny, Homer, Louth, &c.
5. Different kinds of Wine, innumerable, proved
the poor women there are in the habit of
from Virgil, Pliny, Columella, &c. 6. Various taking it very largely. In the book of
meanings of the word Wine. 7. Receipts for Genesis we twice read of "myrrh: in each
making Unfermented Wine, from Columella and
Pliny. 8. “Vinum Lixivum,” “Semper Dulce,"
place the Hebrew word is 21%, Lot. The
Aigleuces,” &c. 9. Testimony of Aristotle con-
Arabic term for the same gum is ledum, or
cerning Wines that would not Intoxicate; of Poly- ladanum, whence we have also the Greek
bius, Pliny, Horace, and Plutarch. 10. Dilution
andoy and andavoy, the Latin ladanum, and
of Wines. 11. Grecian Wines. 12. Roman Wines;
Opimian, Falernian the only Wine that would burn.
the English laudanum. All these words
13. Inerticulum, or Amethystos, Sober Wine; are evidently derived from the same root, and
Cato's Family Wine, &c. 14. Pliny and Dr. Ure refer to the same substance. Wine mingled.
on Filtering Wines, and thereby preventing Fer-
15. “ Utilissimum Vinum” of Pliny.
with myrrh was offered to our Lord at his
16. Plutarch on Wines that would not Intoxicate. passion; but he would not drink it. This was
17. Theophrastus, Delphin notes on Horace. 18. a stupifying draught--wine mixed with
Unintoxicating Wines the most popular. 19.
Ancient idea of the term Drunkard, Tricongius.
opium, or some preparation of that drug,
20. On the terms Wine, Port, Sherry, &c.; Gleu-
resembling laudanum, was administered to
cos, Hepsema, Siræum, Passum, Defrutum, Sapa, criminals for the purpose of lessening their
Protropum, Mustum, Stum, &c. 21. Wormwood
sense of pain. And we shall presently have
Wine, Wine drunk by Noah, Lot, Pharaoh. 22.
occasion to show that ancient eastern wines
Grapes eaten; Chaldeans, Assyrians, Persians.
23. Wines of Homer, Alexander, and Androcydes.
owed their chief intoxicating quality to stu-
24. Romans, Ancient Britons. 25. Testimonies pifying and poisonous ingredients.
of the Ancients respecting the injurious effects of The plant called wild hemp is used as an
intoxicating Wines; Aristotle, Pliny, especially
inebrient in some parts of the East. The
Philo-Judæus.
people manufacture its leaves into a ball,
BEFORE we enter on the history of inebriat- which they call “bang," and which they
ing liquors, it may be proper to mention a swallow. It produces tranquillity of mind,
few of those substances which either pos- makes them laugh and sing involuntarily,
sess an intoxicating quality, or have been and, like opium, it is said to stimulate
rendered so by fermentation.
courage and excite sensual propensities. It
Milk, the most nutritious of all beverages, seems that the common flax plant possesses
and which contains in itself both food similar properties, and we know that flax-
and drink, and therefore, without exception, seed is used to give a greater intoxicating
the most perfect of all liquors—milk, by some power to beer.
nations, has been converted into an inebri- In some of the South Sea Islands they make
ating beverage. The Tartars and Calmucks an intoxicating liquor from a root called "ka-
distil mares' or cows' milk, and obtain va," a species of pepper. The mode of pre-
about six ounces of strong spirit from paring it is filthy in the extreme. The servants
twenty-one pounds of milk ! They are are employed to chew it, and spit it, when well
almost as wise and economical as we are in chewed, into a bowl, and after enough is
making beer from barley.
prepared, water is poured upon it to make it
Most persons are aware of the extent to of a sufficient strength; after being well
which opium is used among the Turks, and mixed and strained, about a quarter of a
the listless idleness and sensuality that it pint is drunk. It is disagreeable to the
pruduces.
The Koran forbids them the taste, produces stupefaction, and in time re-
use of wine, and, as a substitute, they have duces those who drink it to skeletons.
recourse to opium. This pestiferous drug Filthy as this liquor appears, could the Eng-
has been imported into China in very large lish tippler tell all that has been put into
quantities, and so extensive has been its use, his beer, wine, gin, &c., to make them suffi-
and so demoralising its influence on the ciently potent, he would be little disposed
Chinese, that the government of that coun- to revile the beastly taste of the South Sea
try has taken alarm, and refuses to trade islanders, or to pique himself on his own
with us in tea, unless we cease to import more refined appetite.
into their country this baneful narcotic. It In Java and Savu the nations make wine,
is a lamentable fact, that some of our own which they call “tuac," from the fan-palm.
countrymen and fair countrywomen have On cutting the buds a juice exudes, some of
adopted the use of this poison. Poor Cole- which is partly converted into sugar, and
ridge deeply bewailed his folly in using so partly into wine, by fermentation. This
pernicious a drug.
" The dreams of an liquor, in its unfermented state, is the com-
opium-eater" appear not to have been fabu- mon drink of the natives.
lous. Paralysis, lowness of spirits, aliena- In some parts of India wine is prepared

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS.
75
corn.
from the liquor in cocoa-nuts. In Persia terical and epileptic affections which are so
they make wine from peaches; which is also painfully felt by many of the fair sex, should
done in South America. A saccharine juice be attributed solely to the quantity of strong
capable of fermentation is also obtained by tea which they are in the habit of drinking.
wounding the sugar-maple tree.
Our grandmothers, who drank neither of
The American Indians make wine from these stimulating beverages, were far stronger
palm juice, and a kind of ale from Indian and healthier than the men of the present
generation. That will doubtless be a happy
The yellow flower, rhododendron, a native period, both for the health of the body and
of Siberia, infused in hot water, produces a the vigour of the mind, when stimulants of
liquor which makes those that drink it out- all descriptions are banished, and their place
rageous.
shall be supplied by healthful exercise and
Tea, especially green tea, made very strong, rational mental discipline. One of the great
and taken in large quantities, produces a evils of the fall is idleness. People want
species of intoxication. The Chinese poets excitement, but are too idle to rise in the
dwell upon the praises of this beverage. In morning betimes, to walk, to labour, or to
China, also, spirit is distilled from millet, and think, and, as a substitute for natural exer-
likewise from rice: from the latter they also tion, fly to tea, coffee, opium, or alcohol.
make beer, into which they infuse the seeds The effects of these stimulants are very dif-
of the thorn-apple to make it narcotic. The ferent, but still in each case the excitement
Turks also use the seeds of the thorn-apple is artificial, and arises neither from the
as an inebrient; and sometimes heighten the proper circulation of healthy and nutrient
exhilarating powers of coffee by the addition blood, nor from the rational and moral ele-
of opium.
vation of the soul. The “ opium” of the
The protoxide of nitrogen, when inhaled Turks, the "bang" of the east, the “kava"
into the lungs, produces a species of inebri- of the South Seas, the “rhododendron” of
ation, though of a very innocent character. Siberia, the "tuac" of Java, the tea, coffee,
The vapour of alcohol has been known to tobacco, and snuff of England, and the
intoxicate. A young man whom I knew alcohol of every country where it exists,
lately returned from London in a state of produce various descriptions of elevation,
mental aberration; he became worse and unnatural action, or stupefaction; but in
worse, and at length died raving mad. He each case the excited being more resembles
was a very pious man, and bore an excellent an automaton or a galvanised lifeless body
character, but was employed in one of the than an individual moved by a natural,
London wine-vaults, and the mere fumes of rational, or moral principle of action.
the alcohol robbed him of his reason and of From these facts also, and the essentials
his life. He was never addicted to drinking ; to fermentation stated in the last chapter, it
it was the vapour of the wines that slew is evident that wines have not always owed
him.
their intoxicating power to alcohol or vinous
The effects of the smoke of tobacco, and fermentation, In all hot countries there are
also of the excitation from snuff, are well three things which obstruct, if not altogether
known. Young smokers generally, on com- prevent vinous fermentation, and which
mencing the filthy habit of smoking, become must at all events have rendered it impos-
partially intoxicated.
sible in ancient times to have produced
From these historical facts, it is evident strong alcoholic wines; these are the quan-
that various other substances besides alcohol tity of sugar in the grape or other fruits,
possess an intoxicating quality. The degree the heat of the country, and the non-
of poison they contain, the quantity of existence of alcohol or ardent spirit in its
stimulus or excitement which they are capable pure or unmixed state.
of producing, and the peculiar and various 1. The great quantity of sugar in the
manner in which they affect the body and
fruits of those countries. We all know
the mind of man, may be very different that even in England a warm summer will
indeed; stillifthey produce unnatural excite- greatly increase the saccharine qualities of
ment, depression, or stupefaction—if they grapes and other fruits; and we attribute
elevate the mind with joy for which no the superior sweetness of foreign fruits to
rational cause can be assigned—if they in- the high temperature of the countries in
flame the passions and madden the intellect which they grow. Hence we produce arti-
-and if, while they exhilarate, they poison ficial heat in our hot-houses. If we place
the body—then may they justly be termed a jar of common flour in an oven to bake
intoxicating. Were I to drink but one cup it becomes sweet. Now all these facts
of strong tea on going to bed, I should not show that heat, in most cases, is essential
close my eyes for the whole night. I be- to the existence of a large quantity of sac-
lieve a few cups would drive me mad. A charine matter. We also just now showed
small quantity of either tea or coffee would that an excess of sugar in the grape is un-
render me nervous and depressed in the favourable to the production of a strong al-
There is no doubt that the hys- coholic drink. It is impossible to obtain
extreme.

76
THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
ON THE
sweet
sweet.
In
strong alcoholic cider out of
very
tries must have been exceedingly sweet
apples, and for the same reason it is im- and proportionably weak, and consequently
possible to obtain strong wines from very always in danger of becoming acetous : and
sweet grapes.
But the grapes of Palestine, if very sweet, they must have been almost
Asia Minor, Egypt, &c., were exceedingly or entirely destitute of spirit; and if they
If in France, where the saccharine became sour, they were equally weak, be-
qualities of the grape are most favourable cause the acetous fermentation does not
to perfect fermentation, the wines, when produce alcohol. In some vinegar, before
unmixed with alcohol are weak; if the it is distilled, there may be one per cent. of
strongest wine that the pure juice of the spirit, but this arises from the imperfect
grape yields, does not contain more than
process of the transition of the liquor into
eight per cent. of spirit, then how weak an acid.
In such cases the whole of the
the wines must have been in those climates alcohol has not been oxygenised.
Thus
whose high temperature gave to the fruits the sweetness of the fruits and of the juices,
an excess of saccharine matter; and con- together with the high temperature of the
sequently the wines of Palestine and other climate must have been fatal to the exist-
hot climates, if allowed to ferment previous ence of strong alcoholic wines. Dr. Shaw's
to the invention of stills and distillation, testimony respecting Palm wine—the sakar,
must have had in them a very small por- or strong drink of Scripture-contains an
tion of alcohol, and for want of more historical fact which exactly accords with
spirit would immediately have turned sour. the observations of science. « This liquor,"
2. The heat of eastern countries must says he," which has a more luscious sweetness
have been very injurious to the vinous fer- than honey, is of the consistence of a thin
mentation of their very saccharine, and sirup but quickly grows tart and ropy."
consequently, weak wines. We are told on His further observation, that a spirit called
the best scientific authority, that at a tem- 'araky” could be distilled from it, is in
perature of 75 degrees, the acetous fermen- exact accordance with the fact that a small
tation of such liquors will commence. portion of spirit can be obtained from vine-
England we have often witnessed the effects gar by distillation; but as distilling was
of a less degree of heat than is here mentioned unknown in ancient days, this poison was
in turning beer and cider sour, and which not obtained from tart or ropy wines; and
has arisen solely from the increase of tem- therefore it became an important object in
perature producing the acetous fermenta- those climates to prevent fermentation. If
tion. I have known a cellar of the finest their wines fermented they were for the
beer, and casks of the most beautiful cider, most part lost ; for, if tart and ropy, they
become almost as acid as vinegar in conse- were unpalatable, and as they knew not
quence of a little increase of heat. On this
how to obtain spirit from them by distilla-
account it is that we prefer brewing in tion, the juice of the grape was as com-
spring or autumn-that we keep our fer- pletely spoiled as our beer or cider would
mented drinks in cellars—and carefully re- be if manufactured in a hot summer and
gulate the temperature by the thermometer. kept in very warm rooms.
Now the beer and cider of England are far 3. We have seen that distillation was
stronger than the fermented wines of hot
not practised until the 9th century, nor
countries could be. How difficult, then, did ardent spirit come into general use un-
must it have been, in very warm climates, til the latter part of the 16th, consequently
to have prevented the acetous fermentation there was, previous to this period, no al-
of liquors that contained in them so small cohol to mix with wines and give them a
a portion of alcohol; and especially so, potency which they did not naturally pos-
seeing they had no pure spirit to add to In modern times you may make a
them, nor but little of our scientific know- sweet wine as strong as you please by the
ledge or arts, to direct them in regulating addition of brandy, as you may make gin
the heat, or in constructing suitable reposi- and water as sweet as you please by the
tories for these liquors. None of our coun- addition of sugar; but before the discovery
trymen think of brewing, or of making cider of spirits of wine all fermented liquors
from apples in India ; yet this is quite as must have contained in them only as much
possible as to make fermented wines from alcohol as there was of the sugar converted
the sweet grapes of those warm climates. into that poison, and therefore, if the wines
Among the Greeks we learn that the same were sweet, the vinous fermentation, if it
room constituted the wardrobe, the ar- had taken place at all, must have been very
mory and the wine cellar. It is also well imperfect; and if they were sour, their
ascertained that the sweeter any wine is, acidity proved that the acetous fermentation
the smaller must be the proportion of al- had neutralised the vinous, which had pre-
cohol it contains, because the sugar has not viously taken place. In each instance these
been decomposed, and therefore the more artificial beverages must have been far from
readily will it pass into the acetous fer-
potent, and in most cases were entirely des-
mentation. But all the wines of hot coun- titute of alcohol.
sess.

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS.
These statements, which are borne out composed, part of it has escaped in the form
by the most credible scientific authorities of carbonic acid, and the other part remains
and experiments, may account for the an- in the form of alcohol; and, therefore, you
cient mode of manufacturing wine. In cannot condense the carbonic acid, for that
Greece, Rome, and Palestine it was cus- is gone; you cannot condense the alcohol
tomary to boil down their wines into a kind which remains in the wine, for that will
of sirup
Mr. Buckingham tells us that begin to escape before the liquor boils; and
the "wines of Helbon" and "wine of Le- you cannot condense the water, for that
banon” mentioned in Scripture, and which will fly off in the form of steam; and the
exist in the Holy Land at this very day, are
small residuum that remains will not be a
boiled wines, and consequently are thick, sirup, but a substance which, when thoroughly
sweet, and sirupy. Columella, Pliny, and dried, more resembles cinders than sugar,
other Roman writers tell us, that in Italy and probably consists chiefly of carbon or
and Greece it was common to boil their charcoal, or some other hard indigestible
wines. The " sapa and defrutum'' of the La- substance. I have boiled the juice of the
tins, and the Eộnua and Sigacy of the Greeks, grape before it has fermented, and by so
which Pliny calls “ siræum and hepsema," doing have obtained a rich sirup, or rather
and adds that they answered to the sapa
and a beautiful aromatic honey, and this when
defrutum of the Latins, * were boiled wines. diluted with water, formed a most delicious
In making “sapa » the juice of the grape
drink. The thickness of the sirup, of
was boiled down to one half, and in “ de- course, depended on the length of time that
frutum” to one third, so that in the former it boiled or the evaporation that had taken
case one half of the water was evaporated, place. But I never could condense a fer-
and in the latter two thirds. These liquors mented wine. In some cases, the liquor
must have been sirups, and every chemist has become so sour as to defy my power to
knows that if they were thick sirups they sweeten it; but, in every case, the spirit has
could not have undergone the vinous fer- first escaped, then the water or steam, and
mentation. The practice of evaporating the the residuum from a pint of wine has been
juice of the grape must have been adopted very small indeed, and very unlike a sirup.
in Palestine as a wise precaution against the
Let
any wine drinker attempt to inspissate
heat of the country; for by this operation a his port, sherry, or claret, and he will labour
considerable portion of the water was boiled in vain. You cannot by boiling thicken or
away, the solid and saccharine substances produce a sirup from any modern fermented
of the grape were brought into a thicker wines, and hence you have a proof equal to
consistence, and the acetous fermentation any demonstration of Euclid, that if the
prevented. This historical fact respecting ancient wines were thick and sweet, they
the boiling of grape juice furnishes us with were not fermented. And as they were
four incontrovertible proofs that the wines ignorant of distillation, they had no pure
of Palestine were not alcoholic, or did not alcohol to put into their wines; if, therefore,
obtain their inebriating power from vinous their thick, sweet, wines were inebriating,
fermentation. For,
they were made so by drugs, but were not
1. As the water was evaporated by boil- stupifying from spirit obtained by fermenta-
ing, the quantity of saccharine matter must tion, and consequently altogether unlike our
have borne a greater proportion to the modern intoxicating beverages.
liquid that was left, this was therefore equal 4. We know that at the heat of 170 de-
to an increase of sugar. But we have seen
and therefore long before boiling,
that in hot countries, the excess of sugar, alcohol begins to depart: if, then, the wines
naturally found in the grape, is unfavourable had undergone the vinous fermentation,
to the vinous fermentation ; but if a portion still all the alcohol would have been boiled
of the liquid be evaporated, the remaining out of them in the process of decoction.
juice must be still more saccharine, and Hence science allows us to conclude that in
therefore fermentation would be prevented. hot countries boiled wines could not contain
2. It is stated on the highest chemical
I have said in hot countries,
authority, that juices which are thick or because in those climates the fruits in their
sirupy are not of a consistence sufficiently natural state are too sweet for perfect vinous
liquid to admit of vinous fermentation ; fermentation; but in colder countries, in
and therefore boiling down the juice of the whose fruits there may be a deficiency of
fruit to one third or one half of its original sugar and an excess of water, boiling the
quantity, must have produced a sirup, or a juice of the grape may evaporate the redun-
liquid too thick to ferment.
dant water, and leave the juice sufficiently
3. We have the most unquestionable evi- saccharine for the production of alcohol.
dence that the wines of the ancients were But the effect of decoction which, to a cer-
thick and sweet, or, in other words, were tain extent, would be favourable to fermen-
sirups, but
you
cannot make a sirup out of a tation in a cold climate, would be fatal to
fermented wine. The sugar has been de. it in such warm countries as Palestine,
Som
Pliny, B. 14, c. 9.
Syria, Egypt, or even Greece, in which the
grees,
alcohol.

78
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
mind
scene.
juice, previous to boiling, would contain an further tells us, that “ Helen had acquired
excess of saccharine matter.
the knowledge of these poisonous drugs
But while these observations and argu- from Egypt." The following translation of
ments demonstrate that the wines of Pales-
this passage by Pope, though free, is fully
tine were not alcoholic, or were for the borne out by the original :-
most part destitute of the spirits of wine,
"Meanwhile, with genial joy, to warm the soul,
it is not intended to affirm that they were Bright Helen mixed a mirth-inspiring bowl,
all destitute of an intoxicating principle. Tempered with drugs of sovereign power to assuage
We have already shown that other sub-
The boiling bosom of tumultuous rage,
To clear the clouded front of wrinkled care,
stances, besides alcohol, possess inebriating And dry the tearful sluices of despair.
and stupifying or maddening properties. Charmed with that virtuous draught, the exalted
In the Sacred
Volume we have several allu-
All sense of woe delivers to the wind,
sions to such medicinal or deleterious
Though on the blazing pile his parents lay,
drugs. In Psalm lx. 3, we read of the Or a loved brother groan'd his life away,
wine of astonishment or giddiness.” In Or darling son, oppress'd by ruffian force,
Psalm lxxv. 8, it is said that the wine in the
Fell breathless at his feet, a mangled corse;
From morn to eve, impassive and serene,
cup of Jehovah was “red and full of mix-
The man, entranced, would view the deathful
ture." Isaiah, in chapter li. 17, 22, men-
tions the “cup of trembling or giddiness. The drugs so friendly to the joys of life,
Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Habakkuk, speak
Bright Helen learn'd from Thone's imperial wife,
Who sway'd the sceptre where prolific Nile
of the same drugged liquor. In Prov. xxiii.
With various simples clothes the fattend soil,
30, we read of those who go to "seek With wholesome herbage mixed, the dreadful bane
mixed wine. The wine mentioned, Pro.
Of vegetable venom taints the plain."
xxxi. 4-7, was a soporific drink ; kings Here, then, we learn not only that, as early
and princes were prohibited from touching as the Trojan war, the Greeks mixed their
it, lest they should "forget the law,” while wines with drugs, but that this custom came
it was to be given to those that were of a from Egypt, and therefore that the practice
heavy heart, that they might “drink and was very ancient. Bishop Lowth, in his
remember their misery no more.” The wine Notes on Isaiah i. 22, quotes the verses
mixed with myrrh, gall, or a species of lau- from Homer which I have just given, and
danum, offered to our Lord, was intended observes, “ The Hebrews generally by
to produce stupefaction, and therefore he mixed wine, mean wine made inebriating by
would not drink. Hence we learn that the the adoption of higher and more powerful
strong wines of the ancients were mixed or ingredients, such as spices, myrrh, mandra-
drugged to render them inebriating, and to gora, opiates, and other strong drugs. Such
these mixtures, rather than to alcohol, they were the exhilarating or rather stupifying
owed their intoxicating powers. We learn ingredients which Helen mixed in the bowl
from Homer, Columella, Pliny, and others, together with the wine for her guests, op-
that the ingredients used were very various, pressed with grief, to raise their spirits, the
and sometimes very potent.
composition of which she had learned in
Homer is allowed by all to have been Egypt. Such was the spiced wine and
very correct in his description of the coun- juice of the pomegranates mentioned Cant.
tries, manners and customs of the Greeks. viii. 2. Thus the drunkard is described as
He lived nearly one thousand years before one who seeks “mixed wine," and is
Christ ; and seeing the customs of those "mighty to mingle strong drink.” And
ages were almost permanent, his descriptions hence the Psalmist took the highly poetical
extend back to a very remote antiquity. and, sublime image of the cup of God's
Among other things this poet very frequently wrath, called by Isaiah “ the cup of trem-
mentions the very potent drugs that were bling," causing intoxication and stupefac-
mixed with wines. In the Odyss. lib. iv. tion, containing, as St. John (Rev. xiv. 10)
220, he tells us that Helen prepared for Te- expresses in Greek the Hebrew idea with
lemachus and his companions a beverage the utmost precision, though with a seem-
which was highly stupefactive and sooth- ing contradiction in the terms, "xsuspao u svoy
ing to the mind. To produce these qualities, angeetov, mixed, unmixed wine,” the unmixed
he says, that she threw into the "wine de juice of the grape rendered stupifying by a
lirious drugs, which were--
mixture of powerful ingredients. “In the
Νηπενθες τ' αχολoν τε, κακων επιληθον απαντων,
hand of Jehovah," saith the Psalmist, Psalm
lxxy. 8. "there is a cup, the wine is turbid,
grief-assuaging, rage-allaying, and the ob- it is full of mixed liquor, he poureth out of
livious antidote for every description of mis- it. Verily, the dregs thereof, (the thickest
fortune.” He adds, that the person “who sediment of the strong ingredients mingled
drunk the bowl that she had mingled, from with it,) all the ungodly of the earth shall
morn to eye, would not shed a single tear, wring them out and drink them.”-Lowth
although his father and mother utterly on Isaiah, p. 235.
perished, or he saw his brother, or his own In the ninth book of the Odyssey we
darling son, slain before his eyes." He have a passage equally conclusive respecting

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS.
79
99
of the grape.
the character of these early wines. Ulysses cribrata paulatim insperges, et jubebis ruta-
there tells us, that he took into his boat “a bulo ligneo agitari, quod decoxeris, dum de-
goat skin of sweet black wine, a divine drink, frigescet. Quod sinon ita, ut præcipimus,
which Maron the priest of Apollo had given permiscueris subsident aromata et adurentur.
him.” Describing this beverage, he says Ad prædictum autem modum musti adjici
that "it was sweet as honey ; that it was
debent ii odores, nardi folium, iris Illyrica,
imperishable, or would keep for ever; that nardum Gallicum, crocum, palma, cyperum,
when it was drunk it was diluted with twenty | schoenum, quorum singulorum selibræ satis-
parts water; and that from it a sweet and facient. Item, myrhe quincunx, calami
divine odour exhaled.”
pondo libram, casie selibram, amomi pondo
These facts are very important, because, quadrans, croci quincunx, cripe pampanace
1. The wine was sweet as honey, it was libram. Hæc, ut dixi, arida contusa, et
divine or resembling nectar, and therefore cribrata debent adjici, et his commisceri
could not have fermented, otherwise the rasis, quod est genus crude picis, eaque
sugar would have been destroyed. 2. It quanto est vetustior tanto melior habetur,
was boiled, otherwise it would not have nam longo tempore durior facta, cum est
been so exceeding sweet, and at the same contusa in pulvere redigitur, et his medica-
time have retained its great sweetness for so minibus admiscetur.” The reader may be
long a time, and been capable of “ keeping told that the quotation just given is by no
for ever," in the various temperatures to means a solitary example of the ancient
which it was exposed. 3. When drank it mode of adding various herbs and drugs to
was diluted with twenty times its amount wine. If he will consult Varro, Cato, Pal-
of water: this was necessary on account of ladius, Pliny, and others, he will find that
its great sweetness, its consequent thickness, nothing was more common than the addi-
and the high degree to which it was drugged; tion of different medicaments to the juice
and, 4. It was exceedingly aromatic, afford-
Mr. Buckingham, in his
ing incontestable evidence of the spices, &c. articles on "ancient wines," in the Athe-
with which it was mixed. He intimates
næum, says, that the Romans added to their
that diluted with so large a quantity of wines, “pitch, rosin, assafoetida, sea water,
water, still its odour was most temptingly tar, bitumen, myrrh, aloes, cassia, gums,
delicious. He says that this wine was both pepper, spikenard, poppies, wormwood,
"black and red; probably it was of a very milk, chalk, cypress, bitter almonds." These
deep and beautiful purple. In the 10th ingredients he appears to have quoted from
book of the Odyssey, the same poet tells us, Athenæus, Plutarch, &c.
that Circe mixed Pranmian wine with per- Pliny, in the 16th chapter of Book XIV.
nicious drugs, by which means those who says, “That there were wines made from
drank it became swine." In the Iliad, the millet, dates, and the lotus-tree; from figs,
wine that Hector's mother advised him to beans, pears, all sorts of apples, pomegra-
drink, but which the hero refused, was nates, cornels, medlars, sorb-apples, mul-
sweet as honey, and yet produced “lethargy berries, pine-apples, the leaves, berries, and
and forgetfulness ;" a plain proof that it twigs of myrtles; from rue, asparagus, savory,
was not fermented, but drugged. Every organy, sutherwood, parsley seed, wild mint,
chemist knows that the reasoning here em- turnips, pennyroyal, wild time, horehound,
ployed is in exact accordance with the facts squills, flowers and leaves of roses, Gallic and
of modern science. There can be no doubt wild nard. Spiced and aromatic wines, made
that the wines drunk by Noah and Lot were from a composition of spices, from myrrh,
drugged, as we shall hereafter show.
Celtic nard and bitumen. Calamus, bulrush,
The following receipt for drugging sapa Syriac nard, balsam, Jerusalem or lady's
and defrutum, from the 20th chapter of the rose, cassia, cinnamon, palm, gum-benjamin,
12th Book of Columella, “ De Re Rustica," pepper and honey, pomwater, elecampane,
will give the reader an idea of the ancient citron, walwort, wormwood, hyssop, helle-
custom of manufacturing wine. After bore, scammony, wild sage, gentian, wild
having given directions to boil ninety am- fig, dittany, wild carrot, heal-all, garden
phoras of must, or about 720 gallons, down to flag, flea-bane, thyme, mandrake, ithacomel,
the third part, or to thirty amphoras, he says, pitch, cedar, cypress, laurel, pine, juniper,
“ Tum demum medicamina adjicito, quæ turpentine, mastic, olivella, ground pine, and
sunt aut liquida, aut resinosa, id est picis ground oak,” were all added, in different
liquide nemeturcæ, cum eam diligenter ante proportions, to the juice of the grape, for
aqua marina decocta perlueris, decem sex- the purpose of rendering it medicinal, stu-
tarios, item resine terebinthæ sesquilibram. pifying, or aromatic. Numerous as are the
Hæc cum adjicies, plumbeum peragitabis, ingredients just mentioned, I believe that
ne adurantur, cum deinde ad tertias subse- they might be doubled from the writings of
derit coctura, subtrahe ignem, et plumbeum Pliny alone. Now we know that the
subinde agitabis, ut defrutum, et medicamina Romans borrowed most of their arts from
coeant, deinde cum videbitur mediocritur the Greeks, and the Greeks from Asia
calere defrutum, reliqua aromati contusa et Minor, Tyre, Palestine, and Egypt, so that

80
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
sint
there is reason to believe that none of these liquor. The reader of Cato, Columella,
modes of manufacturing or drugging wine Pliny, and others, will find that the modes
were inventions of the age in which Pliny, of manufacturing and preserving wine were
or Cato, or other writers on this subject, exceedingly varied; and should he wish to
lived. These practices had probably been have such wines as were drunk in the time
handed down from father to son, from the of our Lord, he has only to adopt the receipts
days of the deluge. Indeed the Greek and which are still left in plentiful abundance
Roman writers on these subjects often re- in their writings. And we certainly think
fer to the ancient or foreign authorities that it is the bounden duty of those who tell
whence they derived their knowledge and us that the Scriptures recommend wine, to
information. Mago, the Carthaginian, is a produce some of the wines of Scripture. If
great favourite with them all.
St. Paul commends wine, it behoves us to
From what has been said, the reader may inquire which of all the hundreds of varie-
be prepared for the conclusion, that the ties that then existed, was the drink of
wines of the ancients were very different which the holy apostle approved. The
from ours, and that the taste and appetite of wines of that day and of the present, have
the tipplers of antiquity were far from be- nothing in common with each other except
ing similar to the drinking mania of the the name: and to say that because the apos-
moderns; and these opinions, which he may tle recommended to a sick friend one of the
have formed, will be fully borne out by the medicinal wines of that period, therefore he
testimony of ancient writers.
intended to intimate that all persons, whe-
The wines of the Greeks and Romans not ther healthy or sickly, should drink all the
only differed from ours, but also from each trash which human caprice, cupidity, or
other. Pliny, Lib. xiv, cap. 22, says, that passion might denominate "wine," or strong
human ingenuity had produced "one hun-drink,” is not only to reason without argu-
dred and ninety-five different kinds of wine, ment or thought, but also to intimate that
and that if the species of these genera were the great apostle of the Gentiles recom-
estimated, they would amount to almost mended the most deadly drinks. To say
double that number.” Virgil, after having that he recommended all the wines of that
enumerated various descriptions of wine, age, is to charge him with approving of
cuts short the subject by saying,
liquors deeply impregnated with hellebore,
“ Sed neque quam multæ species, nec nomina quæ
opium, assafatida, and other nauseous and
poisonous drugs; and if he did not, and as
Est numerus ; neque enim numero comprehen- a follower of Christ could not, bestow his
dere refert,
Quem qui scire velit, Lybici velit æquoris idem
praise or approbation upon all; then what
Discere quam multa zephyro turbentur arenæ ;
did he commend? We have here not only to
Aut ubi navigiis violentior incidit Eurus
do with the medical advice, but also with the
Nosse, quot Ionii veniant ad littora fluctus." medicine. The advice to take a litte me-
Geor., lib. II.
dicine" is not enough, but we want the pre-
Here we are told that it was impossible scription also; or else, when the draughts are
to number the various species of wine then so numerous and at the same time so various
in use, and that to attempt it would be as in their qualities, our ignorance may put
hopeless a task as to endeavour to tell the
its hand upon the wrong phial, and swallow
sands of the Lybian coast, which the west hemlock and death as our panacea.
wind agitates, or the waves of the Ionian The generality of persons allow them-
sea, which are rolled to the shore: and after selves to be misled by the word “wine,"
making every allowance for the licence to
taking it for granted that that term has al-
exaggerate which we grant the poet, we ways had the same signification, and always
must still conclude that the various kinds of referred to the same description of intoxi-
wines of his day were described and com- cating liquor. But nothing can be more
puted with difficulty. The temperature of fallacious than this sort of reasoning. We
the country in which the grape was ripened; have seen from the wines mentioned by
the nature of the vine which was planted; Pliny and Virgil, that the drinks which bore
the soil in which it grew, whether marshy, that designation were as different to each
sandy or dry; the aspect of the heaven to- other as it is possible for two beverages to
wards which it looked; its position, whether be, and yet all were called "wines :" and it
on a hill, in a vale, or among other trees; is only for the reader to consult Horace,
the supports to which it was trained, whe- Cato, Columella, Plutarch, Athæneus, or
ther a pole, a tree, a wall, or a rock; the the Word of God, to perceive the delusion
mode also of manufacturing the wine, and which those labour under who imagine that
which must have varied in different farms the word “wine” always means a drink re-
and countries; the drugs, “ medicaments” sembling modern port, sherry or champagne,
or condiments with which it was mixed ; and Some of the ancient wines were sweet and
the vessels and place in which it was kept ;-
were bitter; some were fermented,
must all have given an incalculable variety and some were not; some were thick as
to the taste, character and potency of the ) sirup, and some were more liquid; some
99
some

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS. Yo
81
term
were drugged, and some were the pure Again, from the same author and book,
must or juice of the grape; some were me- cap. 29; “Quemadmodum mustum semper
dicinal, and some were highly poisonous; dulce tanquam recens permaneat." That
and yet all were denominated "wines.”
your must may always be as sweet as when
Pliny, Columella, Cato, &c., give us re- it is new, thus proceed :-Before you apply
ceipts for making almost every variety of the press to the fruit, take the newest must
wine then in use; such as wine from hore- from the lake, put it into a new amphora,
hound, wine from wormwood, hyssop, bung it up and cover it very carefully with
suthernwood, and myrtles, &c. &c. Myrtle pitch, lest any water should enter; then
wine appears to have been a great favourite. immerse it in a cistern or pond of pure cold
Wine from squills also was much recom- water, and allow no part of the amphora to
mended. Hellebore wine, in spite of its poi- remain above the surface. After forty days
sonous nature, was highly esteemed by poets, take it out and it will remain sweet for a
orators, and others. "Danda est ellebori multo year."
maxima pars," &c., says Horace. Oxymel Every one must see that the last-men-
and hydromel, both of which were compo- tioned wine could not be a fermented liquor;
sitions of must and honey, and were in re- for, in the first place, the air, which Chaptal
pute. Mustum Lixivum must have been a says is essential to the vinous fermentation
luscious drink; the following is a recipe for of the grape-juice, was excluded ; and, in
making it :-"Take from your lake mustum the second place, it was put into cold water
lixivum, that is, the juice which drops into to keep it below the degree of heat at which
the lake before the grape has been trodden; fermentation begins; and, thirdly, it was
the fruit from which it is made should be thus preserved as “sweet and fresh" as when
gathered on a dry day from a vine trained it was taken from the lake, and therefore
to other trees (arbustivo genere). Throw the sugar of the must was not converted into
into four gallons of this must ten pounds alcohol. But, to place this matter beyond
of the best honey, and after it has been well the shadow of a doubt, we have the follow-
mixed pour it into a stone jar, and immedi- ing important testimonies.
ately plaster the vessel with gypsum, and Pliny, lib. 14, cap. 9, speaking of sweet
order it to be placed in the store-room. wines, among many others, mentions one
After thirty-one days it will be necessary to which was called “ aigleuces," a
open the jar, to strain the must and pour it which means " always sweet,” and adds,
into another vessel, closed hermetically, and “ Id evenit cura," " That wine is produced
then place it in an oven." Col., lib. 12, by care." He says that, in making it,
cap. 41. This compound of honey and the mergunt eam protinus in aqua cados
juice of the grape was called “lixivum donec bruma transeat et consuetudo fiat
vinum," and yet could not be a fermented algendi ;” “they plunge the casks, im-
drink.
It is said by Gessenius that the mediately after they are filled from the lake,
honey sent by Jacob as a present to Joseph into water until winter has passed away,
was "wine boiled down to the consistency of and the wine has acquired the habit of
syrup.” The Hebrew word rendered honey, being cold.” Here the reader will observe
is U7, debash, or dibs. The Arabs at this how nearly the mode recommended by
day apply the word Dipse, to the juice or Columella agrees with the custom stated by
honey of the palm; to which also they give Pliny. As this wine was « aigleuces,
the name saccharon, a term of the same always sweet," it could not have fermented.
origin as the shakar, " strong or sweet The words of Aristotle are equally con-
drink” of Scripture, and the English word clusive, in his work, Meteor, lib. 4, cap. 9,
sugar. It is probable that the present of speaking of “100 0', o pev yaorvo," or "sweet
Jacob very much resembled the mustum wine,” he says, “that it would not intoxi-
lixivum mentioned above. The Latin lexi- cate," "d10 run ou pee duonan." This passage is to
cons agree in calling this liquor vinum or the point, because it asserts that the beverage
wine.
here spoken of existed, and was called
The following mode for making "sweet wine, and yet that it would not intoxicate
wine" will afford the reader an idea of the those that drank it. The same philosopher
ancient way of preserving the juice of the tells us that 6 the wine of Arcadia was so
grape from fermentation. “De vino dulci thick, that it was necessary to scrape it
faciendo.” “Gather the grapes, and expose from the skin bottles in which it was con-
them for three days to the sun; on the tained, and to dissolve the scrapings in
fourth, at mid-day, tread them; take the water;" a fact which proves that it had
mustum lixivum, that is, the juice which not fermented, otherwise it could not have
flows into the lake before you use the press,
been thickened by boiling. This wine
and when it has settled add one ounce of must have resembled the preserves called
pounded iris, strain the wine from its fæces damson cheese, &c., and, when drunk, was
and pour it into a vessel. This wine will dissolved in water. In this manner we
be sweet, firm, or durable, and heathful to can make a very pleasant drink from many
the body." Col., lib. 12, cap. 27.
of our inspissated preserves.
66
G

82
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
To the same purpose are the words of would think of diluting even the strongest
Polybius : in a fragment of his 6th Book he port with five parts water?
states, “
Among the Romans, women were The fact stated by Polybius, that Roman
forbidden to drink wine; they drank a women were prohibited from inebriating
wine which is called passon (latine passum), wine, is fully borne out by the testimony of
and this was made from dried grapes or Pliny; the latter writer says, that " in the
raisins. As a drink it very much resembled days of Romulus a Roman slew his wife
Aegosthenian and Cretan (euroa) sweet with a club for drinking wine, and was
wine, and which is used for the purpose of absolved from the charge of murder;" and
allaying thirst.” In this quotation we have afterwards that "a Roman matron, for
several proofs that there was a beverage in opening the drawers in which the keys of
common use, made from the fruit of the the wine-store were, was starved to death
grape, but which was not inebriating, For by her own family." These punishments
1. Roman females were allowed to drink
were severe, but the prudent Romans
it, and yet they were not allowed to drink seemed to foresee the scourge that wine-
intoxicating liquors. 2. It was a sweet bibbing mothers or females would become
wine, and therefore the sugar had not been
to their country; and, rather than let their
converted into alcohol. 3. It was drunk females degrade themselves and their off-
to quench thirst; but fermented and stupi- spring by drinking, doomed them to death,
fying wines, then, as well as now, created deeming the latter the lighter of two evils.
rather than repelled thirst. 4. It resembled
We have already seen the curse that drunken
the wine of Crete, which is known to have
women can inflict upon the country; and
been a sweet wine. This passage also shows were we faithfully to enumerate all the
that in those days intoxicating drinks were fatal consequences of what is called a mo-
not used as a beverage for allaying thirst. derate use of wine and strong drink, it
The Greeks and Romans in those ages had could be demonstrated that, if intoxication
more philosophy than to drink liquid fire, hath slain its thousands, the moderation
for the purpose of freeing themselves from of British females hath slain its ten thou-
thirst; they might occasionally drink stupi- sands.
fying draughts, but they did this for their
It may seem strange to our vitiated taste
own caprice or pleasure, not to satisfy the
that any people should ever have existed
wants of nature.
that preferred wines destitute of spirit or
The “ Passum vinum," to which Polybius strength; and yet we find that this was the
here alludes, was made from the passa uva, case, both in Greece and Rome, and with
the dried grape or raisins. Both Pliny and
Columella have left receipts for making it.
the generality of persons in other ancient
nations.
I have unfermented wine in my possession
All writers seem to agree that the Greek
which is now sixteen months old, which I
wines were lusciously sweet: Mr. Bucking-
have made according to the receipt of Colu- ham says that “the wine of Cyprus is, at
mella, a receipt written about the time that
this day, sweet, and as thick as oil, and in
our Lord lived in Judea.
consequence of this will keep very well in
It may be thought that, if these wines
the shade.” The Chiarn wine was highly
were sweet and sirupy, they were very
esteemed, but was a sweet wine ; for Horace
unfit to quench thirst; but it must be re-
membered that in those days it was very
speaks of mixing it with Falernian, to
sweeten the bitterness of the latter. Les-
discreditable to drink undiluted wine, or
bian was also very sweet, and said to have
even to take half wine and half water,
been destitute of any intoxicating power.
Homer speaks of the Maronean wine, as
diluted with twenty parts water. Pliny
“ Hic innocentis pocula Lesbii
says that in his time, when men
Duces sub umbra ; nec Semelius
greater tipplers, it was mixed with eight
Cum Marte confundet Thyoneus
parts, “one part wine, and five parts water,
Prælia."
was the more common and favourite mix-
In these drinks, the wine could
In another ode, Horace tells his friend
merely have given a little of their taste to Macænas that he might drink a hundred
the water.
How much such wines must glasses” of this “innocent Lesbian" with-
In
have differred from modern port or sherry! out any danger to his head or senses.
they were inspissated by boiling, and, when
the Delphin edition of Horace we are told
diluted in water, formed a pleasant beverage. that “Lesbian wine could injure no one ;
Still the taste of the people of that age
that, as it would neither affect the head
must have differed greatly from that of our
nor inflame the passions, there was no fear
own day; for what modern wine-bibber
that those who drank it would become
quarrelsome.” It is added, that “there is
no wine sweeter to drink than Lesbian;
* See notes on Boyd's small edition of Potter's
Greek Antiquaries; also "Ancient Wines" in the
that it was like nectar, and more re-
sembled ambrosia than wine; that it was
were
ture."*
Athenæum.

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS.
83
"K
perfectly harmless, and would not produce siquidem temulentiam sola non facit:
intoxication.”
sa wine which would not intoxicate,” iners,
We might dwell upon the wines of without spirit, more properly termed "sober
Corcyra, Crete, Cnidos, Rhodes; upon the uine”
" harmless," and which of itself
Thasian, Clazomenian, Phaanian, Mendean, would not inebriate. " Columella, lib. 3,
&c., all of which are mentioned by ancient cap. 2, says that the Greeks called it Ame-
writers as deliciously sweet. The Corin- thyston,” from Cliy not,” and “psluoro,
thian seems to have been a wine of a intoxication," "a wine which would not in-
different character; for Alexis, in Athenæus, toxicate;" he also adds that it was “a good
says that it “was actual torture to drink it.” wine," “ harmless," and called " iners,"
The Pramnian is spoken of by Aristophanes because it would not affect the nerves, but
as abominably harsh ; hence we may see at the same time it was not deficient in
why most of these beverages were diluted flavour.
to so great an extent with water; they were The following is Cato's recipe for making
of themselves so sweet or so bitter by drugs, “vinum familiæ,” or “family wine, which
that it would have been difficult to drink might be used through the winter.” “Put
them without dilution. All these wines eighty gallons of must into a vessel, and six-
seem to have been boiled, and concentrated teen gallons of sharp vinegar; pour into the
into a sirup, or embittered by drugs; it is vessel at the same time sixteen gallons of
therefore certain that they contained little sapa (wine boiled down to one-third), and
or no alcohol.
four hundred gallons of pure water let
The Roman wines also were very dif- these be well mixed for five days succes-
ferent from ours; the celebrated “ wines of sively; to these ingredients add eight gallons
the Opimian vintage were thick, bitter, of old sea-water; put the cover on the vessel,
viscid, sirups of little value, except for the and close it up firmly for ten days. This
renown attached to their great age.” Pliny wine will keep until the solstice of the fol-
says, that they were “as thick as honey." lowing year, and if any of it remain after
This wine is said by some to have been that period it will be very acid and very
kept until it was a hundred and fifty years beautiful.”+ Every reader who has the least
old. Falernian wine appears to have been knowledge of fermentation must be aware
in high repute; it was called by the poet that this could not be a strong alcoholic wine.
“ vinum amarum,
," « bitter wine."* Pliny The quantity of water added to the must,
says that “Falernian was the only wine of or unfermented juice of the grape, actually
his day from which a flame could be kindled; amounted to five times more than the latter;
solo vinorum flamma accenditur,'' up a and, if we add to this the vinegar and the
striking proof that the other Roman wines
sea-water, we must perceive that from such
were not charged with acohol. Elder materials a potent intoxicating drink never
wine, in our day, is among the weakest of could have been produced; yet this was a
home-made wines, and yet how easy it is “ family drink.”
to set it on fire; our stronger British and Pliny and Varro mention a wine called
foreign wines will burn most freely; but "murrina,"
.” 6 a wine not mixed with myrrh,
the only wine among the Romans that but a very sweet aromatic drink, much ap-
would burn was the Falernian : yet they proved of by Roman ladies, and conceded
had, according to Pliny, three hundred and to them, because it would not inebriate."
ninety different species of wine, or, according “ Dulcis nec inebrians," are the words of
to Virgil
, wines without number. Here Varro. Pliny particularly notices that it
then we have the most remarkable evidence
was called "wine," I and yet it would not in-
that the Latin wines were not alcoholic, or toxicate; a plain proof that they had wines
at least contained so little spirit, that only which were not poisoned with alcohol.
one out of three hundred and ninety would As an additional proof that the taste of
emit a flame: this wine also was “bitter," the ancients very greatly differed from our
and, according to Horace, was mixed with modern appetite for strong drinks, we are
the sweet wine of Chios, to render it palat- told, on the best authority, that in former
able, but which, at the same time, lessened times they adopted means to deprive their
its potency. Albanian wine, Pliny says, wines of all strength or spirit. It seems
was prædulces, I “ very sweet or luscious," that these philosophical men considered
and therefore must have been weak in that drunkenness, by robbing them of their
proportion, unless mixed with intoxicating reason and senses, deprived them both of
drugs; yet to this very wine the third rankſ the pleasures of drinking and of social in-
was assigned among the Latin wines. tercourse; and, therefore, that they might
The same author tells us that there was a
enjoy the gust of their wine and the feast
Spanish wine of this day called “ inerticu- of reason at the same time, they endeavoured
lam” justius sobriam, "viribus innoxiam, by various means to abstract from their
66
See Juvenal.
+ Lib. 14, cap. 4.
# Ibid.
§ Ibid.
* Ibid. lib. 14, cap. 2.
+ Cato de re rustica. # Pliny, lib. 14, cap. 13.
G 2

81
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
liquors either the spirit that had been pro- | frequently filtered; this percolation makes
duced, or the material that would have pro- it more pleasant to the palate: the strength
duced it. The following quotations on this of the wine is thus taken away without any
subject will be conclusive.
injury to its pleasing flavour. The strength
“ Ut plus Capiamus sacco franguntur or spirit being thus withdrawn or excluded,
vires; et alia irritamenta excogitantur ; ac the wine neither in flames the head nor in-
bibendi causa etiam venena conficiuntur. fests the mind and the passions, but is much
Aliis cicutam præsumentibus, aut bibere more pleasant to drink. Doubtless defoeca-
mors cogat: aliis pumicis farinam ; et quæ tion takes away the spirit or potency that tor-
referendo pudet docere."*
66 That we may
ments the head of the drinker; and, this
be able to drink a greater quantity of wine, being removed, the wine is reduced to a
we break or deprive it of all its strength or state both mild, salubrious, and wholesome."
spirit, by the filter, and various incentives These words, it should be remembered, are
to thirst are invented; and even poisons those of a writer on conviviality; and who,
are chewed for the sake of drinking. Some most probably, often mixed with the drink-
take hemlock before they go to their cups, ers of his day, and yet he affirms that
or death (a deadly poison) may compel wines destitute of any strength or spirit
them to drink; others swallow powdered were the most esteemed; were indeed most
pumice-stone, and such things as we blush valued, because they would not make a man
to mention.” In the same chapter whence drunk, or a fool.
these words are quoted, he enumerates va- It seems that the filtering, mentioned in
rious arts which were resorted to for the the passages quoted above, was generally
purpose of enabling wine-bibbers to drink performed before the wine was allowed to
an immense quantity of liquor. Still it is ferment. Chemistry informs us that gluten
evident, from all that he says, that intoxica- is as essential to fermentation as sugar;
tion was not the end at which tipplers aimed hence we always use yeast, which is gluten,
by their large potations. What they were in fermenting malt liquor ; in the juice of
anxious to perform was to drink gallon the grape, or apples, when not too sweet,
after gallon without being drunk, and there- gluten exists in a natural state. But gluten
fore, instead of procuring strong wines, the is a most insoluble body, and therefore the
wine-merchants had to use various arts to frequent filtering of the must would deprive
break or destroy the strength of these it of this principle so essential to fermenta-
beverages. Both Greek and Hebrew lexi- tion. On the words of Horace, “Liques
cographers are agreed that the verb W, vina,” Car., lib. 1, ode 11, the Delphin
shacar, in Hebrew, and peduw in Greek, notes contain the following explanation :-
in their primary signification, mean "to be “ Be careful to prepare for yourself wine
full," "satisfied,” or “saturated," rather percolated and defoecated by the filter, and
than to be drunk; and these interpretations thus rendered sweet and more in accord-
exactly accord with the drinking habits of ance to nature and a female taste. Certainly
former ages: a drunkard in those periods the ancients strained and defecated their
did not generally mean a man whose reason must through the filter repeatedly before
was lost by drinking, but one who drenched they could have fermented : and by this pro-
himself with liquor. But we have other cess, taking away the fæces that nourish
quotations to establish this fact.
and increase the strength of the wine, they
“ Utilissimum vinum omnibus sacco viri- rendered them more liquid, weaker, lighter,
bus fractis." + The most useful wine is and sweeter, and more pleasant to drink.'
that which has all its strength broken or de- Theophrastus called such wine as had been
stroyed by the filter.” The same author “ castratum," deprived of all its strength,
says,
“ inveterari vina saccisque castrari," noixov," " moral wine.” Indeed all these
and again, “Minus infestat nervos quod ancient writers, when speaking of the re-
vetustate dulcescit.” Wines which become moval of the “vim, vi, vires,”-the potency,
sweet by age are less injurious to the or fermentable power, of their wine-use the
“ Wines were rendered old, and words, “eunuchum,” «castratum," "effoemi-
were deprived of all their vigour, by filter- natum,” “fractum,” &c., and therefore show
ing." In order that they might be sweet- how completely they wished to deprive these
ened by age they placed them in ovens or liquors of everything that could intoxicate.
other warm places; by which means they In confirmation of what has already been
concentrated the sugar to a greater extent said, I think it important to add, in this
and consequently increased the sweetness place, a few quotations from Dr. Ure's Dic-
of the wine. There is reason to believe tionary of the Arts, &c., and from which the
that wines which became sweet by age were
reader will perceive the effect which either
such as had
not previously fermented. boiling or filtering the juice of the grape
Plutarch, in his Sympos., says, “ Wine is would have in preventing fermentation.
rendered old or feeble in strength when it is Dr. Ure observes, “The circumstances
which promote and are necessary to the
* Pliny, lib. 14, cap. 22. Ibid., lib. 23, cap. 1. vinous fermentation are the following :-
66
nerves.''

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS.
86
1. “The pressure of a proper quantity of of Pliny, and others, which are given above.
active yeast, and its proper distribution “ The juice was frequently filtered before it
through the worts. If in the course of fer- could have fermented." The words of Pliny
mentation the yeast subsides to the bottom, also are very expressive. He says that
the intestine motions cease entirely, but “ Omnibus sacco veribus fractis," "all the
they may be excited anew by stirring up power of the wine was broken by the filter."
the ingredients, or “rousing the tun,” as His other words are,“ Sacco frangimus
the brewers say.
vires ;" "et saccis castrari.” “ The vires,
“ 2. A certain degree of warmth which literally, the strengths, the fermentive
should not be less than 51° Fahrenheit nor powers of the juice, are broken by the filter;"
more than 86; the temperature from 68 to “ the wines are castrated by filters." It is
77 being the most propitious for the com- very striking that ancient practice and ob-
mencement and progress of fermentation. servation should, in this particular, so
When other circumstances are the same, exactly accord with modern experiment and
the rapidity of the fermentation is propor- science, and that both history and chemistry
tional to the temperature within certain should so entirely agree in proving that the
limits, so that by lowering it the action may popular wines of antiquity were not fer-
be moderated at pleasure.
mented. In this particular, the taste of
"3. The fermentation proceeds the better the drunkard, the opinion of the physician,
and the more equally the greater the mass and the declaration of Scripture, exactly
of fermenting liquor, probably on account harmonised. The drunkard, or hard drinker,
of the uniformly high temperature, as well sought a wine of which he might quaff large
as the uniform distribution of the active quantities without losing his senses or his
particles of the yeast by the greater energy reason, and therefore demanded a beverage
of the intestine movements.
whose fermentive powers had been broken
“4. The saccharine solution must be by the filter. The physician declared that
sufficienty diluted with water; when too the most useful wine, or the best wine,
much concentrated it will not ferment; was that which had had all its strength
hence very sweet musts furnish wines con- broken by the filter.” And God, in his
taining very much undecomposed sugar. promises to Israel, announces that at the
For a complete fermentive action, one gospel feast there shall be “ wines well re-
part sugar should be dissolved in ten parts fined,” or rather “ well filtered.” On
water."
scarcely any other subject could evidence,
He further remarks, respecting the cir- collected from such independent and un-
cumstances that may modify or entirely pre- connected witnesses, be adduced. The
vent fermentation,
drunkard, the medical physiologist, and the
" Fermentation may be tempered or oracles of God, combine to prove that the
stopped-
most popular beverages of old were not fer-
“1. By those means which render the mented or alcoholic, and therefore alto-
yeast inoperative, particularly by the oils gether different from modern port or sherry.
that contain sulphur, as oil of mustard; as And what renders this argument the more
also by the sulphurous and sulphuric acids. conclusive is, that the chemical experiments
The operation of sulphurous acid in ob- of our own day demonstrate the scientific
structing the fermentation of must consists character of the means employed in the
partly, no doubt, in its absorbing oxygen, days of Pliny and of Isaiah to render wines
whereby the elimination of the yeasty par- perfectly innocuous.
ticles is prevented. The sulphurous acid, In the facts given above, respecting fer-
moreover, acts more powerfully upon fer-mentation, it is worthy of remark that Dr.
menting liquors that contain tartar, as Ure affirms that, if “the sugar in the juice
grape-juice, than sulphuric acid. This acid be concentrated," fermentation will not take
decomposes the tartaric salts, and, com- place; now, both by placing their wines in
bining with their bases, sets the vegetable fumaria or ovens, and by boiling them
acids free, which does not interfere with down, the wine-manufacturers of former
the fermentation, but the sulphurous acid days concentrated the saccharine matter of
operates directly upon the yeast."
grape-juice, and rendered it unfermentable.
“ 2. By the separation of the yeast, either By filtering they abstracted the yeast, by
by the filter or by subsidence.
or boiling they concentrated the
“3. By lowering the temperature to 45° sugar, and therefore rendered fermentation
Fahrenheit. If the fermenting mass be- absolutely impossible. Some further facts
come clear at this temperature, and be drawn shall now be given to illustrate these ob-
off from the subsided yeast, it will not fer- servations.
ment again, though it should be heated to We often read that, in former times, it
the proper pitch."- See Dr. Ure's Dic- was customary to give their wines a pre-
tionary, Article, "Fermentation.”
mature age. To accomplish this they used
From these laws of fermentation, we ovens and fumaria ; the latter was a room
perceive the correctness of the observations filled with smoke. Many highly esteemed
ovens

86
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
those wines which had a smoky taste, so Tiberius is reported to have been a specta-
that, while the heat of the fumarium, by tor of this " miracle," (as they termed it)
concentrating the sugar, sweetened the when he was an old man. Cicero's son is
wine, the smoke that it contained was sup- said to have attempted this feat, that he
posed to improve their flavour. If these might avenge his father's death, by taking
wines had fermented, the heat of the fu- from Mark Antony the honour of being
maria, or ovens, would have caused all the
the greatest drinker in the empire. The
alcohol to escape, and thus the means Emperor Maximius could drink six gallons
adopted to increase the age of their wines without inebriety. Alexander is known to
decreased their strength and rendered them have been drinking for two days and two
harmless. A very small portion of alcohol nights successively; he then called for the
indeed would remain in any fermented cup of Hercules, which held six bottles, and
drink by the time it has been exposed to was in the act of emptying it a second
the heat of an oven or fumarium, and sub- time, when the angel of death arrested him.
jected, “toties," “ again and again,” to He was rather drenched with liquor, than
the process of filtering. In those countries, drunk in the modern acceptation of the
the juice of the grape, under the most fa- word. These facts show that to drink an
vourable circumstances, would have pro- immense quantity without being intoxi-
duced but a very weak wine by fermenta- cated, rather than to take liquor for the sake
tion; how destitute of spirit then must it of inebriation, was the custom of the people
have been after it had been literally baked of old, and therefore it was as much an
and filtered so often. There is reason to object of desire with them to obtain a weak
believe that their process of filtering was wine, omnibus sacco viribus fractis,"
tedious, so that even fermented wines, which " with all its strength taken away by the
were “toties,” “repeatedly” exposed to filter," as it is with the moderns to procure
the air, must have lost all their potency. We drinks highly intoxicating. Consequently
do not like to leave the bung out of a cask, the wines were different, and, in many in-
the cork out of a bottle, or the stopper out stances, the end sought by drinking the
of a decanter, for any length of time, be-
very reverse to ours. In the word of God
cause we know that, in such cases, the we read of persons who rose early and
wine would lose its strength; the custom stayed late at their cups, men "mighty to
of frequently filtering the wines of anti- drink wine, and persons of strength to
quity, which at the most could have in them mingle strong drink." In these and similar
only a few degrees of spirit, must therefore passages we have allusions to the ancient
have left but a very small portion of alcohol mode of taking immense quantities of wine,
in the popular beverages of the olden times. and therefore the drinkers, in many in-
And this loss would not be regretted by stances, were rather drenched with liquor
those tipplers who wished to drink a large than really intoxicated. It is not impro-
quantity without being intoxicated; nor. bable that the term “drunk," which evi-
would the absence of the alcohol be missed dently refers to the large quantity taken,
in the wines, which were more valued for owes its original signification to a similar
their aromatic and artificial flavour than for
“ To be drunk,” and “to be intoxi-
their strength.
cated," were not always the same, nor,
That the ancients delighted in drinking indeed, could be so, at a time when the
largely without becoming drunk is evident liquid in use contained scarcely any spirit
from what has already been said. What or alcohol.
else can Pliny mean when he says,
" That
What has been stated above must be suf-
we may be able to drink more wine we de- ficient to satisfy any candid mind that the
prive it of all its strength by the filter, and taste and habits of the ancients respecting
invent other incentives to thirst?" After drinks were very different from those of our
having mentioned several of these “irrita- own day. Not only were their wines
menta,” he says, in the same chapter, that weaker than ours, but beverages destitute
" the glory of the Tricongius was much re- of all strength were deemed the best, and,
nowned. This practice consisted in drink- therefore, nothing can be more fallacious
ing three gallons of wine, under the fol- than to conclude that the term "wine" has
lowing circumstances: 'the speech was not always designated a drink containing a
to faulter, nor was the stomach to be light- large per centage of alcohol.
In 1838 port,
ened by vomiting, or in any
other
with twenty-four per cent. of spirit, may be
after he had drunk it, he was to be able to deemed the best wine, but in the days of
perform the duties of the morning watch. Pliny, who was contemporary with the
A large quantity was to be drunk at one apostle Paul, “utilissimum vinum," "the
draught, and a large quantity at several most useful wine," was that which was de-
smaller draughts, without stopping to take prived of all spirit, and the topers of that
breath between; the drinker was not to day used as many arts to render their
expectorate once, nor was a single drop of wines weak as tipplers of our time do to
wine to be left, or wasted on the floor." make them strong.
custom.
way;'

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS.
87
99
The Hebrew word 799, rendered wine, is mended in Scripture, because the commend-
supposed to be the origin of the Greek ation can only extend to the kind of liquor
orvos, the Latin vinum, Italian and Spanish recommended, and cannot, by any of the
vino, French vin, Celtic or Welsh gwin, perversions of sophistry, be made to include
Cimbric uin, Gothic wein, old German uuin, all and every sort of poisonous wine which
Danish vien, Dutch wun, and English wine. the vice or cupidity of man may invent or
This term is derived from the root 73," to
manufacture.
press or squeeze;" no word, therefore, could
In accordance with these arguments, we
better designate the simple juice of the
find among the Greeks and Latins various
grape; for, whether fermented or not, it was appellations given to wine.
nevertheless a liquid which had originally Tasoxos, is "mustum, vinum, et succis
been expressed from the fruit. Hence we
dulcis;" “must, wine, and a sweet juice.”
see that the terms 79% of the Hebrews, the
Suidas calls it, το αποσταλαγμα της σταφυλης
olvos of the Greeks, the vinum of the Romans, TO Tarnobn,” “the wine that dropped from
and wine of the English, are generic, and in
the grape before it was trodden." Mr. Buck-
each language are used as the name of a
ingham says that this wine in Smyrna is called
liquor that has been obtained from the “the droppings of the wine-press," and
vine. It may have been fermented or for-
"virgin wine," and adds, from having tasted
bidden to ferment; it may contain twenty- it, that it was most delicious. Hesychius
six per cent. of alcohol, or no spirit what-
tells us that γλευκος is γλευξις, οινος, εψημα, a
ever; it may be made by boiling away the
sweet juice, wine, and sodden wine. Tagumu
water from the must, by adding water to
is said to be “ genus vini quod Latine dicitur,
it, by drugging it with aromatics or poisons; passum ;” “a kind of wine which the Latins
it may be sweet, acid, or bitter-but still, in call passum." These are the wines which
each case, it is wine, and is so denomi-
Aristotle tells us "would not intoxicate,"
nated in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and Eng- and which, on that account, Polybius says,
were conceded to Roman females.
lish. Pliny says that in Cato's time the
Still, it
word “temetum," " inebriety," was applied
must be remembered, that they are called
to wine: “Hoc tum nomen vino erat, unde
wines."
et temulentia appellata,” a plain proof that
El nuce was the name which the Greeks
the word “vinum," or swine," did not applied to boiled wine ; the term is derived
Dioscorides calls it,
always express “temetum,” or an intoxicating from souw, to boil.
drink. Indeed we know that in our day in making it
, two-thirds of the juice were
sapa genus vini," sapa, a kind of wine.”
the term, when used alone, conveys to us
no very definite idea ; for it may mean port evaporated: this wine, therefore, could not
be fermented. Donovan
or madeira, or sherry, or hock, or elder, or
" must or
says,
palm wine; it may stand for a weak wine grape-juice, unless as liquid as water, will
or a very spirituous one; it may mean the
not ferment: and if wine, after evaporation,
strong wines of England, the weak wines of
leaves any residuum sweet and agreeable to
France, or the drugged, boiled, and unfer-
the taste, it is proof that any degree of
mented wines of the ancients.
Hence we
fermentation to which it had been sub-
use the words port wine, sherry wine, malm- jected must have been very trivial. Besides,
sey wine, currant wine, elder wine, &c. &c.
it is an opinion maintained by respectable
The reader must not be surprised that the
authorities that boiling any sweet vegetable
term should thus admit of more than one
juice has a tendency to lessen its suscepti-
signification, because he must know that bility of fermentation. Newman says, “It
there is scarcely a word in the English
is observable that, when sweet juices are
tongue but has more than one acceptation.
boiled down to a thick consistence, they not
The word "post," the Latin “ratio,” and only do not ferment in that state, but are
thousands of terms that might be mentioned,
not easily brought into fermentation when
have more than one signification, and in
diluted with as much water as they had lost
these cases the context, or the adjective
in the evaporation, or even with the very
appended, is allowed to settle the meaning. individual water that had exhaled from them.
If a man perseveringly maintained that post,
Thus sundry sweet liquors are preserved for
or ratio, or Anyos, never had but one appli-
a length of time by boiling. From these
cation, we should conclude he was mad, and
considerations it is probable that the quali-
ties for which the Romans and Greeks
leave off arguing with him; yet he who
asserts that “wine" always refers to the
valued their wines were very different from
same kind of liquor is guilty of an equal de-
those sought after in the present day; and
gree of folly, and bids defiance to history,
that they contained much saccharine matter
science, his own mother-tongue, and even
and little alcohol.”—Donovan's Domestic Eco-
his own taste and observation. But if wine nomy, pages 24 and 25.
This same
does not always mean the same kind of
writer observes, page 24,
drink, it follows that we are under no obli-
“Many of the wines described by the an-
cients seem to have been rather the stock
gation to use those that may be recom-
from which wine was to be made than the

S8
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
sum.
wine itself. They were often so thick as to been trodden.'' This explanation exactly
require solution in hot water, and filtration, corresponds with Hesychius's description of
before they were fit for drinking, as appears racunos, or sweet wine. It was not fer-
by the statements of Pliny and Aristotle.” mented, and yet was called “wine." This
This passage shows that they were not fer- is also what Mr. Buckingham drank at
mented, otherwise they could not have been Smyrna, as "the droppings of the wine-
thick ; because you cannot concentrate or press, or virgin wine.”
thicken grape-juice, after having decom- The drink called “mustum"
was, accord-
posed and destroyed the sugar by fermentation. ing to Ainsworth, "new wine close shut up,
The former quotation also proves, on scien- and not suffered to work," or ferment. In
tific principles, that it is difficult to make England this was formerly called “stum."
sweet vegetable juices ferment after you In the London Encyclopædia "stum” is
have once thickened or concentrated their termed an “unfermented wine;" to prevent
saccharine matter by boiling. And we see it from fermenting, the casks are matched,
further, that, previous to drinking these wine or have brimstone burnt in them. Sul-
stocks, or concentrated juices, they merely di- phur is placed among the anti-ferments
luted them with water, and then filtered them. mentioned by Donovan. Dr. Ure, in the
If they had wished them to ferment, they article already quoted, page 190, has philo-
would not have filtered them, and thus have sophically accounted for the influence of
deprived them of the yeast, which is the sulphurous acid in preventing fermentation.
active principle of fermentation, nor would The ancients were aware of this fact, and
they have boiled them down that they might therefore put a considerable quantity of
prevent fermentation by concentrating the gypsum, or sulphate of time, into their
sugar and evaporating the water. They wines. The interior and exterior of their
wanted water, they wanted yeast, and at the casks were, in many cases, covered with gyp-
same time were too thick to ferment. Every
chemist knows that these wines could not be Columella gives receipts for making worm-
fermented, and yet the ancients called them wood wine, hyssop wine, and others of the
wines.
same character. These wines were bitter,
Espacov was a name applied to “defrutum, soporific, and stupifying. “He hath filled
sapa, vinum novum decoctum," “ defrutum, me with bitterness, he hath made me drunk
sapa, new wine sodden." This wine dif- with wormwood,” is the exclamation of
fered but little from Hepsema.
Jeremiah.
Wormwood, myrrh, gall, and
Passum, to which Polybius refers hemlock are promiscuously used for each
the drink of the Roman females, was so other in the Scripture. The character of
called because it was made from the “ uva these ingredients was a reason why our
passa,” the dried grape or raisins. In manu- Lord refused the wine mixed with myrrh or
facturing it, Columella says that some gall which was offered him by the Roman
poured must, and others water, upon the
soldiers. The prescription given by Colu-
This drink would quench mella for making wormwood wine, and
thirst, but, as Polybius asserts, would not others of the same character, shows that
intoxicate. It was this kind of liquor which they could not be fermented or alcoholic,
the Jews used at the Passover, and which and yet they were intoxicating. In them
our Lord drank at the first Christian sacra- drugs supplied the lack of spirits of wine.
This shall be presently shown. I But it is unnecessary to enlarge on this
have made this kind of wine from raisins, topic. I have adduced arguments and au-
and, when boiled, have kept it sixteen thorities which most incontestibly prove that
months in a warm room without its fer- the wines of the ancients were very different
menting.
from ours. I have shown, from the heat of
The defrutum and sapa of the Romans the countries, the highly saccharine quality
answer, as Pliny asserts, to the Hepsema, or of the grapes, the boiling and evaporating
boiled wines of the Greeks. If this wine of the juice, or the diluting of the must by
had fermented previous to boiling, not only the addition of five times its amount of
would the alcohol have escaped during the water, vinegar, &c., as in Cato's family wine;
process, but there would have remained no the care taken to prevent the must from
sugar to form a syrup. It is impossible to fermenting, by excluding the air and im-
inspissate a fermented wine ; and, if it had mersing them in water to lower their tem-
not fermented, boiling it down to the con- perature, the frequent filtering of the juice
sistence of sirup most effectually prevented or wine, and the placing of the vessels in
the formation of alcohol. If defrutum be- fumaria and ovens; from the syrupy charac-
came inebriating, it must have been rendered ter of many of their wines, and the custom
so by the addition of stupifying drugs. of diluting them with so large an amount of
Protropum is said by Pliny to have been water; from the popularity of wines desti-
" mustum quod sponte profluit antequam tute of all strength; from the desire of the
uvæ calcentur," the must which flows spon-people to drink large quantities without
taneously from the grapes before they have being intoxicated; from the innumerable
as
dried grapes.
ment.

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS.
89
varieties of their wines, and the fact that kinds of intoxicating trash invented by
falernian was the only wine that would burn; modern caprice and cupidity. Doubtless
from the weakness of wines produced from these very pious and sanctimonious logi-
the natural juice of the grape, and the non- cians, who borrow their reason from the
existence of pure alcohol to increase their po- wine-bottle, or somewhere else, rather than
tency; from the testimony of Aristotle, Poly- from Locke or Wheatly, will soon argue
bius, Cato, Varro, Pliny, Columella, Horace, that the fall of David and Peter is a reason
Plutarch, &c.—in a word, from science, phi- why we should curse, swear, deny our Lord,
losophy, and history, I have demonstrated and commit adultery, provided we do it
that a large proportion of the wines of old with a little moderation. Noah was drunk;
were not produced by vinous fermentation; therefore we ought to drink wine with mo-
and those which were inebriating borrowed, deration! Peter denied Christ with oaths
in the majority of cases, their intoxicating and curses; therefore we ought to curse
power from drugs rather than from alcohol. and swear with moderation!! Most persons,
I have also shown that the term 6 wine" we imagine, who give the subject any
was applied to any drink expressed from the thought, will admit that in both cases total
fruit of the vine, whether that wine was abstinence would be far preferable.
fermented or not. These facts, then, show The wine which Noah drank was highly
the utter ignorance of science and history inebriating; but we know, from the heat
which those persons display who argue that of the climate, the sweetness of the grapes
the term “wine" always denotes a liquor in warm countries, and the weakness of
similar to the highly brandied and poisonous wines produced from the unmixed juice of
port, sherry, &c., of modern times. The the
grape,
that the wine of that period and
popular wine of the ancients and that of the vicinity could not, in its natural state, have
moderns are, in their characters, “wide as the been very strong; and, even if a very large
poles asunder ;" for the one was frequently quantity of liquor had been drunk, still it
deprived of all its strength, while the other would not have produced the inebriety
is charged with alcohol to make it as strong described. But who will suppose that this
as possible; the former was often diluted patriarch continued long at his cups, or
with 88 per cent, water to make it innocuous drenched himself with liquor? The diffi-
to the nerves, head, and mind, and the latter culty here is easily solved, by considering
is mixed with 22 or 26 per cent. ardent the curse that lighted upon Ham. It is
spirit to render it stimulating and intoxi- likely that Noah's sons cultivated the vine
cating; whatever, therefore, may be said, for their father; and Ham, most probably,
on the authority of Revelation, in prepared the liquor in question, and drugged
praise of the former, can have no application it well, for the purpose of causing this ex-
whatever to the latter. To say that, because posure of his pious parent. The weakness
a wine destitute of poison is commended, of sweet fermented grape-juice in its un-
therefore one charged with 26 per cent. of mixed state; the piety of Noah, which
poison is also recommended, is as absurd as would not allow him to drink to excess;
to reason that, because bread wholesome, the silence of Scripture respecting the guilt
therefore we ought also to mix it with of Noah in this transaction; the knowledge
arsenic.
which Ham had of his father's degradation ;
Having premised these things respecting and the heavy curse that lighted on him
the wines of the ancients, we are now pre- and his posterity, intimate that the sin of
pared to look at the history of these liquors. the father was involuntary, and that the
It is a query with some, whether or not son was the chief agent in the transaction,
wines were in use before the flood, and on and that drugged rather than alcoholic wine
this point we have but little data on which was prepared by his iniquitous son, who
to proceed; but I am rather inclined to probably had learnt to so from ante-
think that Noah and his sons were ac- diluvian sensualists. Of the drugging of
quainted with the cultivation of the vine wine, I have adduced plenty of proofs
previous to the deluge. On this point, how- already.
ever, little can be said with absolute cer- The wine which Lot drank was probably
tainty.
of the same description. We have already
Noah is the first example of drunkenness shown that the myrrh which Jacob sent into
recorded in scripture ; and one would have Egypt was the gum called ledum, or la-
supposed that the example of so holy a man, danum, by the Arabs, and was therefore
who had escaped the pollutions of the old exceedingly stupifying; and we know that
world, disgraced by drink, and wallowing, the bad women of London carry laudanuin
senseless and naked, in his tent, would have about with them, and add it to the liquors
been a sufficient warning to every pious man drunk by their victims, for the purpose of
never to touch the intoxicating bowl ; but, duping them the more easily; and there
strange to say, the wine that degraded Noah is not a doubt but the daughters of Lot
is pleaded as an example and a reason why administered to their father a drink both
all good people should swallow the various stimulating and stupefactive. Their having
even

90
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
lived in Sodom may have made them well Bishop Lowth says means a wine similar to
acquainted with such impious arts: and, that drunk by Pharaoh, and was unfer-
unless the wine had been drugged, we know mented; for it was "only the fresh juice
that Lot would not have drunk enough of pressed from the grape, and was called osvoo
the common fermented juice of the grape to ap Teluvoo." Herod. iii. 6; Lowth on Isaiah,
have robbed him so completely of all sense chap. v. The Egyptians had vines, “ for
of decency, morality, and religion. Indeed God smote their vines," &c. But Sandys
it is certain that the fermented wines of asserts, “ Throughout this country there are
that climate, if such really existed, could no wines," and Hasselquist tells us, “The
not have produced the effects attributed to vine is cultivated in Egypt for the sake of
the draught given to the patriarch; but, eating the grapes: not for wine." Hero-
admit that the liquor was mixed with opium, dotus states that Egyptians “ used a wine
or something of the kind, and the whole made of barley.” The Pannonians, Illyri-
matter is plain, and the perfect ignorance cans, and Germans, seem, in later times,
of Lot, respecting what he had done, easily to have used the same sort of drink. Mo-
accounted for: while it is also seen that the dern travellers tell us " that an insipid
patriarch sinned involuntarily; and this drink, made from barley, is still in use in
furnishes a reason why the scriptures have Egypt.” Pococke's description of this
not censured him, as they did David, for liquor is as follows: " The most vulgar
his sin. Besides, would the righteous Lot, people make a sort of beer of barley, with-
unless completely stupified by some drug out being malted ; and they put something
far more potent than alcohol, have gone a in it to make it intoxicate. It is thick and
second time to the bed of incest?
sour, and will not keep longer than three
We find that, in the time of Joseph, Pha- or four days."
raoh's drink was the pure juice of the grape We have reason to believe that the an-
squeezed by the butler into the king's cup, cient Chaldees did not use intoxicating
and drunk immediately. A writer against drinks. Abraham came from Chaldea; and
total abstinence has said that Pharaoh yet we do not find that wine was used in
drank this wine in consequence of " his his family. When he sent Hagar away, he
fondness for home production," but that put a bottle of water upon her shoulder,
" wine was imported into Egypt from which he would hardly have done if wine
Greece and Phenicia." To establish the had been the common beverage. Abraham's
latter position, Herodotus, lib. iii. 6, is servant, also, asked of Rebekah nothing
quoted. But the passage referred to does better than water; nor did she offer any-
not at all aid the cause it is advanced to thing more potent. When the Chaldeans
promote. For, 1. Herodotus says that obtained power and wealth, and the Baby-
"Twice a year nepoepoo, an earthen vessel lonian empire was extended, drunkenness
of wine, was conveyed into Egypt from prevailed; and Cyrus took the city in con-
Greece, and also from Phenicia.” The sequence of the king, the army, and the
expressions prove that the quantity was people being drenched in liquor. The tee-
very small. 2. Herodotus mentions this totalism of their forefathers would have saved
traffic as taking place in the time of Cam- them from Cyrus.
byses; and therefore the writer concludes The Assyrians, during the age of their
that whole cargoes of wine were imported conquests, were not wine-bibbers; for their
1200 years before, in the days of Pharaoh!! monarch promised to the Israelites that
This is asserted with as much positivity as they should " eat the fruit of the vine, and
could have been the case had the pleader drink water from their own cisterns." These
possessed the tables of imports into Egypt people became fond of drink in after times,
in the time of Joseph. The argument is as sunk into sensuality and effeminacy, and
valid as the following. England, in 1836, Nineveh fell to rise no more.
imported tea to the value of 4,332,5351. ; The Medes, according to Xenophon,
therefore England, twelve hundred years ago, were addicted to drinking; but the Per-
imported tea to the same amount!! Who sians, until the reign of Cambyses, appear
does not see the cogency of such reasoning? to have been abstinent : and Cyrus, the
3. If at that time wine was imported, water-drinker, with an army of water-
though it is a query whether Greece had drinkers, took Babylon at a time when its
then any wine to import, still we must in- inhabitants were immersed in liquor. After
quire, What wine? And, till this question Cyrus, his son became a drunkard: the
is answered, the argument is worth nothing. nation degenerated, and eventually fell.
If it came from Palestine or Greece, the As early as the time of Homer, wine was
wine was a thick boiled sirup, and destitute in use among the Greeks; but that it was
of a particle of alcohol, and bore not the not the common beverage of the people we
least similitude to modern port or sherry. learn from the following passage in the
The same Herodotus says that the Egyp- Iliad, lib. vi. 258. It is there called “
ME-
tian priests were allowed to drink “ Mondsce divov, wine sweet as honey:" and Hec-
au manoo," “ wine from the vine," which tor's mother, finding him fatigued, advises
OIVOU

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS.
91
Homer says,
66
him to pour out a libation of this wine to the their quantity of water, and yet, even then,
gods, and then to drink of it himself. The among the ancient Greeks, total absti-
hero replies, " Venerable mother, bring me nence was recommended.
not the sweet wine, lest thou enervate my “the gods did not drink wine," and adds,
limbs, and I forget to be courageous and therefore they are immortal ;" a plain
valiant.” Here we have three facts: 1st, proof that, in the estimation of the poet, wine
That the wine was as sweet as honey, and drinking and mortality were associated to-
therefore was not charged with alcohol. gether, and that total abstinence, immor-
2ndly, That it was drugged, or it would tality, and glory were intimately connected.
not have produced forgetfulness. Of this We have already seen that the ancient
drugging, we have spoken already. 3rdly, Romans did not drink wine. Gibbon ob-
That it was not in general use. For, if it
serves, “ that in the age of Homer the vine
had been drunk in common as a beverage, grew wild in Sicily and the neighbouring
producing all the wonderful effects attri- shores, but no wine was made from it.”
buted to strong drinks in our day, Hector Pliny asserts that wine was not used by the
would not have rejected it as a liquor which ancient inhabitants of Italy. He says that
would destroy both the strength of the body “Romulus poured out milk, and not wine,
and the courage and energy of the mind. as a libation to the gods;" and that it was
And if Hector dreaded lest wine should
necessary to make laws to compel the hus-
make him a coward, we may be sure that bandmen to cultivate the vine. Even in
he did not administer it to his troops. That the days of Pliny milk was offered to the
wine was used by the ancients on festal gods as commemorative of the custom of
occasions, and in libations to the gods, we their fathers. We know that wine was
do not deny ; but that it was deemed afterwards popular in Rome, and, although
enervating, rather than invigorating, and those drinks were very different from ours,
was not the common drink of the people, the people drank of them largely; and
is placed beyond the shadow of a doubt. Rome followed Babylon, Persia, and Greece
Both Homer and Virgil often describe the in the road to destruction. Where are the
people by the river whose water they drank. Romans now? And who does not know
The Trojans, at the foot of Mount Ida, that drinking and sensuality hurried them
“ drank of the deep river Aesepus.”
And
to ruin? Besides wine, the Romans had a
we are told of those who drank of the liquor made from barley.
Fabaris and the Tiber.”
Among the ancient Britons, mead, a
As late as the time of Alexander we find drink made from honey, was esteemed a
that total abstinence was recommended by great luxury: but we know not at what age
physicians, even to that sensual monarch. it began to be manufactured. Intoxicating
Pliny says, lib. xiv. cap. 5, " that Andro- liquors were not in general use in the time
cydes, who was a physician, "sapienta of Boadicea, for in an eloquent speech to
clarus," distinguished for wisdom,' writing her warriors, A.D. 61, she says, "To us
to Alexander and desiring to restrain him every herb and root is food, every juice is
from intemperance, said, "Remember, O our oil, and every stream of water our wine."
king, that when you are about to drink Wine was made in Britain about A.D. 280 ;
wine you are going to drink the blood of and, at one time, vineyards began to spread
the earth, cicuta homini venenum est, cicuta so fast, that the farmers bitterly complained
vinum. Hemlock is poison to man, and that the ground, which ought to bear corn,
wine is hemlock.'" “ It biteth like an adder was thus wasted. French wines, from the
and stingeth like a serpent,” says Solomon. reign of Henry III., appear to have gradu-
He also recommends total abstinence to
ally abolished our English vineyards.
kings. “ It is not for kings, O Lemuel ; it Ale, or barley wine, was introduced
is not for kings to drink wine, nor princes about the fifth century, but at that time it
strong drink.”
Had Alexander taken the
was very costly. A cask of spiced ale
advice of Androcydes, or followed the measuring only nine palms, was sold for
abstinence of Hector, he might long have 71. 10s., and a cask of the same size, of
enjoyed the fruits of his labours: but he common ale, was valued at 31. 15s.; mead
drank wine, killed himself, and destroyed also was very dear. These prices prove
his empire. We have seen that the wines that these beverages at that time could be
of those days were weak, and yet even then purchased by none but the rich: the com-
total abstinence was recommended by phy- mon drink of the people, therefore, at that
sicians. Xenophon has given us a fact period, must have been water. Even as far
which proves that Greek wines were not onward as the thirteenth century, we learn
strong : He say that when in Anatola that ale was a luxury confined chiefly to the
“the wine froze in their vessels ;" a plain banquets of the wealthy. At this period,
proof that they were not charged with also, we find hypocras—wine mixed with
alcohol, because alcohol will not freeze, honey; claret, also, was wine mixed with
These wines, then, were sweet, would honey; and pigment, a drink composed of
freeze, were drunk diluted with eight times honey, wine, spices, &c.; but all these were

92
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
Onvoo,
3. 66
very dear. In the course of time, however, allow that it is one of the vices of mankind,
malt liquors, in the various forms of beer, por- that we alone of all the animals drink when
ter, ale, Burton, &c., began to be used more we are not thirsty.” Certainly the ox and
generally. The court, and the monasteries, the ass, stupid as they are, have not as yet
and the baronies, seemed to vie with each been silly enough to follow our example.
other in obtaining and administering every The following testimony of Philo, who was
description of intoxicating drinks; and the contemporary with the apostles, is very im-
corruption of the people, together with an portant and impressive. He
says
that
incalculable amount of disease and death, “God prohibited the priest who approached
have been the dreadful result, the history his altar from drinking wine for four rea-
of which, in every age, has been written in sons:"-1. Because wine produced
lines of blood. The discovery of alcohol, sluggishness of body.” 2. Anon, forgetful-
in the ninth century, and its being eventu- ness."
Appoovin, rashness or infatua-
ally brought into general use, seemed to tion.” 4. “Y vor, drowsiness or sleep." He
promise to the god of wine the entire im- adds, “Wine unnerves the vigour of the
molation of the whole human family. Be- body, makes the limbs inactive, produces
fore distillation brought out the desolating sluggishness, and by its force compels us to
fiend in all his mightiness to destroy, the be overwhelmed with sleep: that it relaxes
insiduous spirit, concealed in the fermented or unbridles the energy, Toyovo, tones or in-
juice of the grape, in solutions of malt, in tentions of the mind, and is the cause of
decoctions of hellebore, opium, or other forgetfulness, rashness, or folly. On the
deleterious drugs, had carried on the work other hand, the limbs of those who totally
of crime and death for centuries, but now, abstain are nimble and active, their senses
arrived at maturity, and no longer diluted, more acute, clear, and discriminating ; their
or associated with anything that could minds more sharp-sighted and perspicuous,
nourish the human frame, or that could not either to review the past or contemplate and
be converted into its own venom, the demon, provide for the future: therefore it is uni-
in all the fury of the dragon of the Apoca- versally agreed that the use of wine, as an
lypse, fell upon us without mercy. Millions article of diet or sustenance, is most inju-
have perished already by its poison, and rious to all persons; that it fetters the mind,
never was the country more active than at blunts the senses, burdens the body, and,
present in hastening its own corruption and indeed, leaves not a faculty of the soul or
ruin. Should total abstinence fail to accom- body free and untouched, but becomes an
plish the great object proposed, and should impediment and fetter to every power we
the desolating plague still continue among us, possess. And, as it is of the utmost im-
then in the downfall of Babylon, Nineveh, portance that we should engage in divine
and Rome, we may read the doom of ou ordinances with energy and freedom, and
own country.
as a sin against God is much more heinous
I shall not conclude this chapter without than a sin against man, the injury which
observing that many ancient pagan writers wine inflicts on us when we enter on sacred
attribute to the use of wine, follies, diseases, duties is proportionably great; consequently
and crimes, similar to those which flow from it was most properly ordained that Total
drinking in our own day. Horace speaks Abstinence should be observed by the priests
of those poets who borrowed their inspira- who ministered at the altar of Jehovah,
tions from drinking, but intimates that the that they might be able to distinguish be-
effusions which came from the wine-cask tween things sacred and profane, thing's
were not destined for immortality. One of pure and impure, things lawful and un-
the most immoral poems of modern times lawful.” Philo-Jud., lib.ii. De Monarchia.
was written by a great genius under the ex-
Doubtless the wine here referred to was
citement of gin-and-water. Horace makes mixed with various opiates.
himself merry at the expense of those heroes The reader will observe that, in the latter
and orators who obtained all their valour, clause of this quotation, Lev. x. 10, is
wisdom, and eloquence from the drunkard's alluded to, and contains the very reason
bowl, and suggests that "coward and fool" which God assigned why Aaron and his
were, after all
, their proper appellations. sons should drink neither "wine nor strong
Aristotle tells us that, head-aches, pleurisy, drink.” The whole passage also shows
fevers, dropsies, Huxes, &c., were, in his that bodily weakness, mental imbecility,
time, the concomitants of wine drinking. irresolution, folly, rashness, sluggishness,
Pliny enumerates the same diseases, and a and irreverence of God and divine things,
host of others, that followed the use of wine were in those days the effects of drinking
in his day; and adds that, by the use of these drugged wines. If Pliny, Aristotle,
strong drinks, the mind as well as the body or Philo, had visited our modern madhouses,
was injured; “sapientiam vino obum- hospitals, and dissecting-rooms; had they
brari— Wisdom is darkened by wine." He attended Mr. Buckingham's Committee on
“Vitio damus homini, quod soli Drunkenness, or been acquainted with
animalium, non sitientes, bibimus, "_"We modern analyses of intoxicating liquors, or
also says,

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS.
93
Wine at the
been trained in the school of tee-totalism, had an existence. The argument, put into
they could not have spoken more decidedly the form of a syllogism, stands thus:-
concerning the evils arising from the use of If I, A. B., love wines highly brandied,
inebriating drinks.
then all men of all ages must have liked
I have in these pages placed before the them too.
reader the sentiments of the ancients re- I, A. B., do love wines highly brandied !
specting wines and other liquors of that Therefore, all men of all ages were fond of
character. I have given a brief view of the wines highly brandied !! Ay, were fond
various substances that have been used as
of them, and actually drank them, before
inebriants; have referred to most of the any brandy, or pure alcohol, or any such
nations that adopted them; and have proved brandied wines, were produced or manu-
both the existence of unfermented wines, factured, or had any existence!!
and that those which may have been charged
with any intoxicating principle were re-
peatedly filtered, or carefully fumed and
baked, for the sole purpose of depriving
them of all strength or spirit. The phi-
CHAPTER VI.
losophy of the time of Pliny, Plutarch, and
Horace, taught that wines which unnerved
On the sentiments of Scripture respecting Wines,
the body, inflamed the passions, idiotized
&c.- Different Hebrew words translated by the
the mind, and led to crime and disease, word "Wine.”– Yayin, “ Wine;” Tirosh, “ New
were better avoided than drunk, because,
Wine;" Chamer, “Red Wine;” Mesek, “Mixed
Wine;” Shemarim,“ Wine on the lees,” or pre-
instead of increasing, they destroyed the
served Wine; Saba, “a stupifying Wine; Sha-
pleasure of conviviality and social inter- car, “Strong Drink," or rather a sweet drink.
course; and, therefore, that they might Ashisha, flagons or preserves. Raisins, or dried
drink the more, and drink without injury,
grapes. Abigail, Ziba, Melchizedek; Jacob's
they drank wines that would not intoxicate.
blessing of Judah, blood of the grape ; " Wine
that cheereth the heart of God and man;” “Wine
The practices and examples of antiquity that maketh glad the heart of man;'
Wine of
have frequently been arrayed against the Lebanon;" “Wine of Helbon;" “ The Wine, or
doctrine of total abstinence; but a fair
strong drink” of the Passover. Solomon's wine.
" Drink thy wine with a merry heart." “ Give
and candid examination of history have
strong drink to him that is weary.'
shown that the wines of the ancients, the Marriage of Cana. Wine recommended to Timo-
drinking customs of the ancients, the taste
thy. The wine put into new bottles.
bottles of Job. Old wine better than new.
and appetite of the ancients, and even their
drunkenness, were of a character altogether Sacrament; chomits or leaven. Scripture con-
different, and, in many cases, the very op- demnation of wine. Total Abstinence enjoined
posite, to ours. Both Pliny and Plutarch,
on Kings, on the Priests, on the Nazarites. On
Samson and his mother. Israelites in the Wil-
and others, prove that the most popular,
derness. Elijah. Nnparios, sobriety, vigilance.
most useful, and wholesome wine, was that
Water recommended in Scripture. Abraham.
which was deprived of all strength or spirit; Abraham's servant, Hagar. Israelites. Gideon's
in a word, was a wine which one who army, Saul, Nabal's Sheep-shearers, Abigail,
practices total abstinence would rarely
Old Prophet, Elijah, Obadiah, King of Israel,
King of Assyria. Job's traveller, “ Water sure.
hesitate to drink. If the authority of an- Spring up, O well.” Multitudes fed by Christ.
tiquity is pleaded, we certainly have a right Christ at Jacob's Well, &c. &c.
to demand that our opponents should first
produce some of the wines of antiquity; It has generally been customary for those
until they do the latter, all reference to the who possess the Scriptures, but who do not
former is worse than absurd. Perhaps
understand their contents or design, to array
there never was a subject which opposed a the sacred volume against whatever may
vitiated taste that has been assailed with oppose their prejudices. The authority of
so much ignorance, prejudice, and irration- the law was marshalled by the Jews against
ality, as total abstinence. Men, without the Gospel of the Son of God. Scripture
the least knowledge of the history of the
and the fathers of the church were quoted
vine, without a grain of scientific informa- as a proof that Columbus was a heretic and
tion respecting fermentation, and as ignorant an infidel for suggesting that there was
as the bottles from which they borrow their another continent, and a clergyman actually
logic of the drink and drinking customs of published a sermon to show that Jenner,
antiquity, come forward to prove that for endeavouring to check the ravages of
modern port, sherry, Burton, porter, and the small-pox, was the beast of the Apoca-
strong beer, are just the same sort of liquors lypse. In our day, the authority of the
that Pharaoh drank and that Aaron mingled word of God is pleaded as a sanction for
with his sacrifices. The simple reason of
the use of one of the most desolating of all
all this is, that, because they love these poisons. “I must have a new Bible," said
modern poisons themselves, therefore all a good man the other day, “before I can
men of all ages must of necessity have loved adopt the principle of total abstinence.”
them, even before these liquids could have It therefore behoves us to inquire whether or
New
Our
Wine of the first
Lord called a wine-bibber.
>

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ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
not the book of Revelation encourages the not necessarily express a fermented liquor.
drinking of modern spirituous liquors, wine, By itself the term can neither satisfy us as
beer, cider, &c. A very little examination to the one or the other ; on this point, the
of the scripture, in connexion with what has context, or some circumstantial incident, must
been said already on ancient wines, will be be our guide. Our opponents, without any
sufficient to satisfy every candid mind. In examination of the different wines and dif-
entering on this subject we will first ex- ferent modes of manufacturing them, have
amine the words or phrases which are used jumped to the conclusion that yayin or wine
in the word of God to express wine or strong always means a fermented brandied liquor
drinks.
with a large quantity of alcohol in it, and
1. The most common word, rendered then have erected, as they suppose, a splen-
wine in our English Bible, is 9", yayin ; did building, though, unfortunately for their
it is derived from the verb 73, yanah, “to
theory, on a foundation of sand. The term
squeeze or press," and therefore means an Ayoo, often means a word or a certain
expressed juice. It is a generic term for all
vibration of air ; why not argue that it
such liquors, but never of itself can settle always has this signification, and therefore
the point, whether or not the juice, after it
that the Saviour of the word is a mere
has been squeezed from the grape, has been
vibration of air ? This would be just
fermented. In all cases the juice must have
as rational as to say that yayin or wine
been obtained from the fruit before it could always means a fermented drink with a
have fermented ; but it does not follow large quantity of alcchol in it. Virgil says
that, because it is pressed, therefore it must
the kinds and species of wines were innu-
ferment. Fermentation followed the tread- merable, and Columella quotes the verses
ing of the press if the husbandman pleased; and yet modern wine-bibbers tell us, in the
of the poet, and says that they were correct,
but if he chose he could prevent it.
might boil it down to a consistence too
very face of facts and history, that there is,
Some
thick and saccharine to ferment; he might and ever was, but one sort of wine.
filter it and deprive it of the gluten, or yeast, foolishly insinuate that, should we give more
essential to fermentation; he might mix it
than one signification to the term wine, we
with water and vinegar, as in Cato's “ fa- shall unsettle the meaning of the word of
mily wine," and thus dilute it beyond the
God. We never knew before that allowing
power of producing a strong wine; he might the context of an author to settle the mean-
exclude the air by fastening up the bottles ing of the word he uses would endanger
immediately, as in the new amphora men-
his discourse. We always thought that he
tioned by Columella, and the new bottles
who sets context, facts, and history at defi-
spoken of by our Lord, and thus prevent its
ance, and affixes to words the arbitrary
working, for Chaptal says that " grape-juice interpretations of his own fancy or preju-
will not work if the oxygen of the atmo-
dice, is likely to do the most mischief to
sphere be excluded;" and he might, as Pliny Those who adopt total abstinence are
the book which he undertakes to expound.
and Columella direct, immerse it in cold
water and sink its temperature below the willing that the context, that history, and
degree essential to fermentation. He might well-attested facts, should settle the meaning
add gypsum and other anti-ferments; he
of the word yayin, or wine ; but wine-bib-
might from design or carelessness, leave it
bers go to their bottles and palates for an
exposed to a heat that would cause the
interpretation. Which of these interpreters
acetous fermentation to follow the vinous;
is most likely to arrive at the truth we
leave the candid and ingenuous to say, but
or, by exposing it to the heat of an oven,
or by boiling it, or by filtering it, " toties," we query whether the divination of the wine-
repeatedly, render it very innocuous, al-
cask or beer-barrel will, in this particular,
though it had fermented; yet, though sub-
be the best guide.
ject to all these processes, the liquid would 2. Win, Tirosh, supposed to come from
still be a “yayin," or wine, a liquor that the root W or W87, “ head, chief, or be-
had, in whole or in part, been obtained ori- ginning," may refer to the head or berry of
ginally from the vine. So he might ferment the grape, or to the first or chief juice that
it, or mix it with honey, wormwood, or begins to flow from the fruit; it is, there-
squills, or opium, and still it might retain fore, promiscuously rendered in the English
the generic name, yayin, or wine, for it was version by the terms wine," or "new wine."
made from the expressed juice of the grape. In Isaiah lxv. 8, it alludes to the juice
The juice that Pharaoh drank was yayin, in the swollen or ripe fruit before it was
or wine, for it was pressed from the expressed. " When the new wine is yet in
grape, and the juice which made Nabal the cluster, one saith, Destroy it not, for a
drunk was a yayin or wine, although after blessing is in it." The wine in the cluster
pressure it had been either fermented or was unfermented, and then there was a
drugged, though most probably the latter. blessing in it. No one who has carefully
These observations will be sufficient to examined the effects of inebriating wines
show that the word yayin, or wine, does will say that there is a blessing in them,

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS.
95
corn.
66
unless a diseased stomach, a shattered frame, the "pure, thick, or red” blood of the grape.
an injured intellect, inflamed passions, It is no tautology to call the blood of the
and a premature death, for which, in most
grape red or purple, because the juice of
cases, the unhappy victim is unprepared, that fruit was sometimes white and some-
can be termed blessings. The word tirosh times black or dark. The arterial blood
is several times in Scripture associated with of our bodies is red, but the venous is called
Isaac mentions “ corn and tirosh” “ black blood.” In Isaiah we read of a
—“corn and new wine.” The king of “vineyard of 737, red wine," evidently
Assyria spoke of corn and tirosh; and in alluding to the colour of the grape. “Thou
Psalm iv., David, alluding to the joy of didst drink the blood of the grape, red,
wicked at the growth of their corn and the pure, or thick.” Red was considered the best
fertility of their vines, says that their corn
juice ; pure, that which was unfermented
and their wine, or tirosh, increased. Here
and unmixed; thick that which had been
he must refer to the growth of the grape, boiled or spissated ; or, rather, that the
because he speaks of its “increasing," and juice was very thick, saccharine, or sirupy.
the wine does not increase after it is manu-
The text, therefore, means thou didst drink
factured ; in this passage, therefore, as in the purest, the sweetest, and the richest
Isaiah Ixv., tirosh, or new wine, is used for blood, or juice, of the grape.
This
the grape or fruit of the vine, before it had word being used with the expressions
been gathered, and even before it was ripe.
"O'Y 9, Dam Anabim, the blood of
In the same sense the word appears to have
the grape,” affords very strong evidence
been used by the king of Assyria, for, in the that the liquor drunk was not fermented ;
same speech in which he speaks of a land
for a fermented liquor can never with any
of corn and wine, or tirosh, he tells the
propriety be called “the pure blood of the
people to “ eat every one of his vine, and
grape.” Were you by some chemical pro-
every one of his fig-tree, and drink ye every
cess to decompose human blood, to dismiss
one of the waters of his own cistern." Here
two-thirds of one of its constituent parts,
the people were to eat of the vine and to
and one-third of another, and then combine
drink water. Hasselquist says, “the vine
the remaining ingredients afresh, you would
is cultivated in Egypt for the sake of eating
never call this new product "pure human
the grapes, not for wine.” And the king blood;" yet this is exactly what takes place
of Assyria promises the people corn and
in manufacturing alcoholic wines. Sup-
tirosh, or grapes, as articles of food. In
pose 3 atoms of sugar to consist of 3 atoms
Hosea ii. 22, it is said, “the earth shall
of hydrogen, 3 of carbon, and 3 of oxygen;
hear the corn and the wine, or tirosh;" a
then in forming spirits of wine the sugar is
passage which alludes to the grape as it
decomposed ; one-third of the carbon and
hung on the vine and required moisture
two-thirds of the oxygen combine and form
from the earth, that it might grow and carbonic acid ; while the remaining hydro-
arrive at maturity. In chapter iv. 11, it is
classed with wine, and certainly may mean
gen, carbon, and oxygen unite, and become
alcohol or poison; and can this new com-
clusters of grapes eaten with the wine pound be called '“ the pure blood of the
which the sensualists there mentioned were
grape ?” The pure juice which God formed
drinking at their luxurious feasts.*
Joel ii. 24, and Prov. iii. 10, tirosh is according to the dictates of his own infinite
love and wisdom is, by the busy caprice of
represented as the fresh juice which burst
man, analysed, and formed into two dread-
from the wine-press, and which, therefore, ful poisons; the one is dismissed to the air,
had not fermented ; and its fermentation
and the other retained for the human sto-
afterwards depended solely upon the will of mach : and will this meddling mortal call
the husbandman; though the heat of the
his new production “a good creature of
country threatened it with the acetous fer-
God;" or say that he has improved a
mentation if it fermented at all; or, on the
wholesome juice by changing it into two
other hand, the sweetness of the
deleterious poisons; or dare assert that
the thickening of the juice by boiling it alcohol is the pure blood of the grape ? In
down, must have been fatal to the produc- Isaiah xxvii., the term chamer is evidently
tion of an alcoholic drink. If it was really used as an adjective. “ A vineyard of red”
made an inebriating liquor, it was probably supposes a red something, and here must
adulterated with drugs.
mean red or purple grapes, rather than red
3. 791, Chamer, is translated in Psalms wine. We would scarcely say a vineyard
lxxv., 8, and Isaiah xxvii. 2, by the word of alcohol, or of alcoholic wine! Besides,
red," and Deut. xxxii. 14, by the term God says that he will keep and water this
'pure:” it is also used for slime, clay, vineyard of purple grapes; proving that the
mortar, and bitumen," and for anything term here rather referred to the vine than
“thick or slimy.” In Deut. xxxii. it means to a fermented liquor. The wine in the
Lord's cup is said to be chamer, “red or
* To say “wine and wine take away the heart”
purple," but this expression, apart from the
would be tautology.
context, cannot prove that it was fermented.
grape, and
66

96
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
99
66
92
words are,
Again. If chamer means a “thick” wine, being “well refined or filtered" seems ex-
it must either refer to a “thick" saccharine actly to correspond with the words of Pliny.
juice, or to a boiled wine, which, in either < Utilissimum vinum omnibus sacco viribus
case, would be fatal to fermentation : be-
fractis ;
“ The very
best wine is that which
cause the juice of the grape will not ferment has had all its strength broken by the filter.”
if it is too saccharine, nor unless it is “ as It is worthy of remark that the word PPT,
liquid as water.” That inebriating drugs zacac, used by the prophet, and rendered
might be mixed with chamer, or red wine. “well refined,” is the same word as the
none will deny ; still few will assert that Latin
saccus, a filter." In Hebrew
“a vineyard of purple grapes" means a zacc means to refine or filter, and in Latin
cellar of wine poisoned with opium, or that sacco has the very same signification: and
God would call such a liquor the "pure it is not a little remarkable that both the
blood of the grape.” There, is, therefore, Roman naturalist and the Jewish prophet
nothing in the word chamer, viewed by should have used the very same word to
itself, that necessarily intimates an intoxi- express the manner in which the very best
cating drink.
wine was produced: Pliny says, " The best
4. TDA, Mesek, means " mixed” wine, wine is that which has had all its strength
or a mixture," and was intoxicating or broken by the filter;” and Isaiah tells us,
not according to the character of the grape,
“ In this mountain will the Lord God make
the mode of manufacturing the wine, and unto all people a feast of fat things full of
the drugs or spices with which it was mixed. marrow, of preserved wines well refined cr
When used in Scripture, the context, or well filtered." Plutarch asserts that the
some other approved canon of interpre- most esteemed wines, and esteemed because
tation, must settle its meaning. When they would not intoxicate, were those which
Wisdom is said to have “mingled her had been well refined or filtered: and
wine," we may be sure that she did not Columella also directs that the filter should
compound a liquor that would rob men be used in making sweet or unfermented
either of their health or their wisdom.” wines. Horace also says, “Sapias, liques
The "spiced wine" mentioned in Cant. viii. vina, “You are wise, you clear or filter
2, is not called Mesek.
your wine." There is also reason to believe
5. D'DY, Asis, comes from DDV, to
that those wines which were not drugged
tread: it therefore sometimes means the were deemed the most wholesome. Pliny's
juice which has been trodden out of the
66 Saluberrimum cui nihil in
grape ; but this fact does not prove that it musto additum est;" “the most wholesome
was a fermented liquor, because fermenta- wine is that which has nothing added to the
tion is subsequent to treading; and, from
must. I need not tell the reader who has
what has already been said, we have seen paid any attention to the character of alco-
that it was possible, and far from uncommon, holic wines, or the physiology of the human
to preserve the juice, after it has been trod-frame, that the words utilissimum and salu-
den out, from fermentation. In whatever berrimum, which Pliny has applied to those
passage it is used, let the context and scope
wines which were unmixed with
any
dele-
of the writer settle the meaning. In terious matter, and which would not intox-
Cant. viii. 2, it is translated by the word icate, are used in exact accordance with the
"juice," and is applied to the "juice of the dictates of science and observation; nor
pomegranate," and which also is there said need any believer in revelation be reminded
to have been manufactured into “a spiced that the Lord God, when he condescends
wine ;” so that wine, in that instance, is to feast the nations, will give them wine
not the juice of the grape, but of the pome- which may be termed “saluberrimum" and
granate.
"utilissimum :" most useful and most whole-
6. Di, Shemarim, is derived from
Shamar, to preserve, and the word literally Though I have thus examined this pas-
means "preserves ;” it sometimes refers to sage, and shown that the wine alluded to
“ lees,” or “dregs,” but this cannot be its was not an intoxicating drink, yet I do not
meaning in Isaiah xxvi. 6. There it signifies think that we have any need to prove that
“preserved wine," or "preserves," for no "the wines on the lees” were unfermented.
one can suppose that God would promise to The text is metaphorical, and the use of a
make to all people a feast of "refined lees," or metaphor does not suppose that we are to
"refined dregs." Indeed the idea of its being reduce the custom from which it is bor-
lees or dregs is contradicted by the assertion rowed to practice. The parable of the
that it was well defecated or filtered. How wisdom of the unfaithful steward, and which
this preserve was made, or in what manner wisdom and prudence, in a spiritual sense,
the wine was preserved, we cannot say. we are to follow, does not put us under an
The juice may have been kept in the same obligation to be dishonest or worldly wise ;
manner as Columella directs, or it may have and the command to “take the sword of
been boiled down to a sirup, as we find was the spirit” does not direct us to wear a
the case with most wines in Palestine. Its
sword of steel; so the declaration that God
99
some.

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS.
97
CG
to ,שכר Shacal, from the verb ,שכר .8
will give to sinners a feast of spiritual food, is that of sweetness, satisfaction, or pleasure
cannot suggest that therefore we all ought which they realised in the mutual exchange
to drink liquors poisoned with alcohol. The of affection. Shacar often refers to wages,
promise of a crown of glory, &c., does not and how “sweet” to the labourer after
command us to wear crowns of gold here; toiling hard is the hire or reward which he
and the promise of a life-giving spiritual receives. Leah said, “ God hath given me
wine, can never impose on us the duty of my hire, or wages, and she called his name,
drinking a life and soul-destroying beverage Is-sachar, or wages.” Again, nothing so
in the present world.
perfectly satisfies or cloys as sugar, honey,
7. XD, Sava, is supposed by some to or "sweets," and hence the idea of perfect
mean, “to drink hard or to guzzle," by satiety, or of being drenched as it were;
others, “ to turn round or reel," and may and accordingly shacar sometimes means
refer to a drink which was so pleasant that to be completely filled with liquor, or to be
tipplers swallowed it in large quantities, or drunk; and exactly accords with a very
to one so thoroughly mixed or drugged common signification of the word “usouw
with medicaments as to make those, who in Greek, which often means to be filled
partook of it largely, reeling drunk. Science with drink or any thing else, rather than
has shown us that the alcoholic wines of to be drunk or poisoned with liquor.
Palestine, if they did exist at all, were too All lexicographers allow that to be filled,
weak to make persons reel, and therefore, satiated, or drenched, is a common accepta-
when they had this effect, they must have tion of “shacar, and peduw." I have made
been drugged. Sava is never recommended these remarks to show that our translators
in scripture.
had no warrant for rendering the word
, , shacar," in every text where it refers to
satisfy, to please, to make merry, or yield liquors, by the terms “strong drink.” Had
perfect satisfaction. It is highly probable they used the words, “sweet drink” they
that the term originally meant what was would have approached much nearer to the
sweet or delightful either to the body, or truth; for there is not the shadow of a
the mind. We have before stated that the doubt that shacar meant a sweet, luscious,
Hebrew shacar, the Arabic, saccharon, the satisfying liquor. Theodoret and Chry-
Greek, sachar, the Latin saccharum, the sostom, both Syrians, and therefore good
French sucre, and the English sugar, have witnesses, assert that shakar was "palm
all
sprung
from the same original root, and wine," and Dr. Shaw says, that “this liquor
have all the same primary meaning; for in is of a more luscious sweetness than honey."
each language sweetness is the primitive The Arabs still call “palm wine," and palm
idea.
In Arabic, both "honey,” and palm juice, Saccharon, and also apply to it the
wine, which, when first made, or before it name dispse, dipse, or dibs, terms of the
becomes acid, is as sweet as honey, were same origin as the Hebrew W., Dabesh
called “ saccharon." The Greeks called it or Dibs, which is rendered honey in the
ouyag, a word evidently introduced by scripture, and is the name of the honey, or
Dioscorides and Arrian from the Arabs and rather sweet grape, or palm juice, which
Phænicians: hence the Romans also ob- Jacob sent as a present to Joseph. Honey
tained their saccharum, and we our words was no rarity in Egypt, but this sweet juice
saccharine, and sugar. The idea of sweet- being far more delicious than honey, was
ness is also conveyed to us by the various doubtless a luxury, and therefore esteemed
uses of the verb. It is said that Joseph's a costly present. It is worthy of remark,
brethren did eat and drink with him and that dates, whence palm wine is made, are
were "yishacaro, merry with him ;” not called by the Arabs, “ Dabash, honey or
were drunk" with him ; the wine drunk sweet fruit." That sachar in scripture was
at that time by Pharaoh himself was the sweet, is evident from the contrast expressed
juice squeezed from the grapes into his in Isaiah, xxiv. 9, “Strong drink shall be-
cup, and consequently could not be fer- come bitter;" rather "sweet drink shall
mented or intoxicating drink; and it is become bitter;" Lowth translates the verse,
therefore a query whether Joseph, at that “ The palm wine shall be bitter;" and pa-
time, possessed the means of making his raphrases it, “All enjoyment shall cease,
brethren drunk with alcoholic wine, even the sweetest wine shall become bitter;"
had he wished to do so. Besides, we would the contrast between shacar, “sweet," and
not reflect so deeply on Joseph and his the term “bitter," is here placed in striking
brethren as to suppose that the liquor opposition. That shacar, or strong drink,
drunk, and not the pleasure of their happy means wine is demonstrated from a com-
meeting, was the cause of their being merry. parison of Exod. xxix. 40. with Num. xxviii.
Modern tipplers may have neither mind, 7. When the ordinance was instituted,
heart, nor soul, except what they get from God commanded “that the fourth part of a
the wine bottle, but I cannot think that hin of wine should be the drink offering;
Joseph and his brethren were thus destitute but this yayin or wine is called, in Num.
of human feelings. The idea conveyed here xxviii. 7, shacar, “sweet drink or palm
66
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ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
66
wine: and surely the former text must be weak palm wine for a drink-offering: there-
allowed to settle the meaning of the latter. fore all good Christians ought to drink
As the palm tree abounded in Palestine, brewers' strong beer, embittered with hops!!
there is no doubt but shacar, sweet or palm In making the preceding remarks, I do
wine, was just as common as the juice of not deny that shacar might be rendered
the grape : and the fact that it was undrug- inebriating by the addition of drugs; or
ged shacar, or sweet wine, demonstrates that that those who sought inebriation, hesitated
it was not a fermented alcoholic drink.
to produce such a mixture; and wines thus
Every chemist knows that a sweet wine, drugged may constitute the sicera of which
or shacar, in those days, could not be a Jerome speaks; but still I must maintain,
strong alcoholic beverage. That it is impro- that when shacar is used in scripture, we
per to call palm wine, “strong drink” is are to understand a weak sweet palm wine,
evident from the analysis of wines given by unless the context shall intimate the re-
Mr. Beaumont in his Essay on Alcohol. verse: and, in such cases as the latter, if
It is there placed as the lowest or weakest the drink is spoken of as intoxicating, it is,
of all wines; for while elder wine contains at the same time, placed under the anathema
9 per cent of alcohol, port 23 per cent, and of holy writ. I have shown in a former
even ale 8 per cent, palm wine contains only quotation that the wines of Homer were
four per cent of spirit. According to the perindede, sweet as honey," and yet were
modern acceptation of the word “strong," rendered very stupefactive by drugs: still,
as applied to wines, palm wine or shacar though inebriating, they were not alcoho-
ought be called “weak drink :" and yet we lic, and therefore bore no resemblance to
have reason to believe that palm wine in modern port, sherry, or beer.
modern times is much stronger than it was 9. JUUN, Ashishah, is by our transla-
in the days of Moses. And this sentiment tors rendered “flagons of wine;" but with-
is confirmed by the fact of its being so re- out any reason from the context. The word
markably sweet, that the term, “dibs, or
appears to be derived from WX, Ash, fire.
honey," was applied to it. If grape-juice, Pocock says the term means “ cakes of dried
which is exceedingly sweet, cannot produce grapes." Gesenius tells us that it means
a strong liquor because of an excess of sac-
a
cake, or hardened syrup, made of grapes."
charine matter; if sweet wines cannot be
Parkhurst explains it, “Some confectionary
strong from their own fermentation, because
ware prepared by fire." The Vulgate calls
the sugar is not decomposed and converted
into spirit; then the luscious sweetness of with oil.”
it “Similam frixam oleo," "fine flour fried
In the 2 Sam. vi. 19, David is
palm wine affords a demonstration that it
said to have given the people bread and
could not have been a “strong drink :
“sweet drink" it was, but this very fact
flesh, and "a flagon” (of wine). The word
wine is added by our translators: in the
proves that it was not alcoholic. Its “lu-
scious sweetness" also affords a reason why original, nothing but the term “ashishah”
is used, and which the Septuagint renders
if it fermented it became acid. With no
propriety therefore can the shacar of the by the words, "aceyavov uto anyuvor," "a
days of Moses be called “ strong drink” in | pancake;" and in 1 Chron. xvi. 3, where
the same fact is recorded, they have trans-
the modern acceptation of the term. Hav-
lated ashishah by αμοριτην,
a sweet
ing thus shown the character of what is
cake.” In Hosea iii. 1, the marginal read-
called “strong drink” in the word of God; ing " for flagons of wine," is " flagons of
and having proved that it was palm wine,
and exceedingly weak; we may conclude
grapes;" the word grapes, not wine, is in
the Hebrew: but here the Septuagint uses
by saying, that if the scriptures any where
commanded us to drink shacar, still it must
the words,“ su PUTU METU Grepidoo," "Sweet-
meats with raisins.” Doubtless the word
be remembered that is shacar, or palm
in Cant. ii. 5, has the same signification,
wine, which is commended to us; and there-
and refers to a confection which was to be
fore our opponents must bring us palm wine
such as was used in the days of Moses, be-
eaten with apples. We learn from the
fore they attempt to enforce the command.
scripture that presents of dried figs, and of
dried grapes or raisins, were common, and
say that because sweet palm wine was
used as a drink offering in the time of articles of diet. In 1 Sam. xxv. 18, Abigail
were evidently placed among the general
Aaron, therefore we ought to drink all the
trash which is manufactured out of malt
is said to have presented to David “ a hun-
dred clusters of raisins (or dried grapes),
at the present period, is to reason without
an argument. How ridiculous the reason-
and two hundred cakes of figs.” In chap.
ing would appear if placed in the following
XXX. 11, it is recorded that David and his
form:
men gave to the young Egyptian whom they
found in a state of exhaustion,“ bread,
If Aaron used sweet and weak palm wine and he did eat, water, and
did drink;
for a drink-offering, then all good Christians
ought to drink brewers' strong beer, embit-
and they gave him a piece of a cake of figs,
and clusters of raisins, and his spirit came
tered with hops : Aaron did use a sweet and again into him.” These philosophers
a
66
Το

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS.
99
thought that nourishing food and pure hardly suppose that any man, however vile,
water, and the genuine fruit of the vine would recommend us to use a beverage
and fig-tree, were excellent things for one which sunk both these patriarchs, while
who was exhausted ; and we leave physio- under its influence, below the beasts that
logists to say, whether alcoholic poison perish. We might as well commend the cup
would have done him more good. We will of Circe at once, as recommend such a liquor.
only add, that in this case the medicine an- But for the awful love of strong liquors,
swered remarkably well.
It is here espe-
which now so fatally prevails in our country,
cially worthy of notice, that they supplied the explanation which I have given of the
him with water, not wine, to drink; and drunkenness of Noah and Lot would be hail-
they gave him the fruit of the vine, or rai- ed as a rational interpretation, which entirely
sins, to eat. Ziba, 2 Sam. xvi. 1, brought to frees each of these pious men from the least
David “ one hundred bunches of raisins, or voluntary participation in the crime of in-
dried grapes, a hundred of summer fruits, temperance. But, alas! modern modera-
and a bottle of wine.” The single bottle tion-men, to justify themselves, must have
of wine, it will be seen, bears no proportion Noah and Lot as pot-companions, and
to the food ; and David, it is said, put it recklessly charge both with drunkenness.
aside as a medicine, "for such as be faint in It was predicted of Judah, Gen. xlix. 11,
the wilderness to drink." We read also of that he should " wash his clothes in the
eating of the vine: a plain proof that they blood of the grape;" and that “ his eyes
did not convert all their grapes into wine. should be red with wine, and his teeth
These remarks prove that Ashishah does white with milk." It is well known that
not mean flagons of fermented wine, but Jacob's blessings were predictions, and
rather alludes to a confectionary, of which, were intended as instructions and cautions,
perhaps, grapes or raisins formed a part ; as well as promises of prosperity. He fore-
and it was some luxury of this kind that told that " Reuben should not prevail;"
David gave to his people at the time when that “ Simeon and Levi should be scat-
he removed the ark. Instead of making tered;" that " Issachar should be a servant
them all drunk with flagons of wine, he or slave;" that “ Dan should be a ser-
gave them bread and flesh, and some nou- pent;" and that “ a troop should overcome
rishing and palatable accompaniment; per-
Gad."
The things foretold here were not
haps not unlike our English plum-pudding, good in themselves, nor, in all respects, re-
or plum-cake, which, as every one knows, putable to the characters of his sons; and
is made partly of raisins or dried grapes. the blessing consisted in the benefit which
From these critical observations, it is might be derived from these instructive
evident that the different terms in the He- predictions. If garments stained with wine,
brew Bible, which, in our translation, are and eyes red with wine, refer to the filthy
rendered by the word wine, afford no counte- manners and maddened looks of the drunk-
nance to the use of strong alcoholic liquors; ard, then Jacob foretels the drunkenness
but, to place this matter beyond the shadow which, in after ages, degraded many of that
of a doubt, I will look at those texts which tribe, and which mainly contributed to the
are said to be favourable to wine-bibbers. downfall of the Jews, as is abundantly de-
Melchizedek brought bread and wine to clared by the prophets. The fertility of
Abraham ; but, what if he did ?—this fact Judah's vine may also have proved a snare
does not put us under an obligation to to him : “Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked.”
drink liquors which are demoralising our If, then, the text foretels the sensual habits
countrymen by thousands, and then sending of this tribe, surely no one will say that
them to a premature grave, and to an awful such a prediction puts us under an obliga-
eternity, for which they are unprepared. tion to use a liquor which brought the Jews
Besides, as it is now placed beyond doubt to ruin.
that there were two kinds of wine, the one, If, on the other hand, as most probably
under certain circumstances, “ most useful was the case, Judah's washing his clothes
and wholesome," and the other deleterious in the blood of the grape, is a metaphorical
and deadly, were we not prejudiced by the expression, employed to intimate the copi-
love of these poisons, we should conclude, ousness of his vintage; and if “the redness
that so eminent a person as Melchizedek of his eyes,” far from being taken in a bad
offered to Abraham an innocuous wine; sense, simply intimates the pleasure which
and if such an example imposed on us any would sparkle in the eyes of Judah, as he
duty, it could only be a duty to drink such beheld the fertility of his vine, and partook
wines as the priest of the most high God of its fruit; then the text cannot be said to
gave to the weary Abraham. We must contain anything that sanctions the use of
settle what kind of wine it was, and get modern alcoholic drinks. We have before
some of it, before we can enforce the duty shown that fermented wines can never,
to drink it.
with any propriety, be called “the blood of
We have already noticed the character of the grape;" but Judah's clothes were to
the wine drunk by Noah and Lot, and can be stained with this unfermented juice, as,
ود
H 2

100
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
creatures.
son.
To
every form!
indeed, the garments of all would be who afforded permanent strength and joy to his
engaged in the vintage, or the manufacture
But to say that the Deity is
of wine; but then it depended upon the will delighted to view that unnatural, unmean-
of the husbandman whether or not the ing, irrational, senseless, pernicious cheer,
blood that died his garments should become which alcoholic poisons produce, is little
an inebriating liquor; and if he allowed it better than blasphemy. God, as a God of
to do so, it no longer remained the “ blood love, cannot be cheered or pleased with
of the grape;" because fermentation, of ne- that drink which wages war with the very
cessity, would decompose it, dismiss nearly vitals of the human frame, which poisons
one-half, in the form of carbonic acid, and the mind and the morals, which is one of
combine the remainder into another poi- the greatest obstacles in the way of his
We also know that alcoholic wines, gospel, and inflicts a " second curse” on
by stimulating the nerves, injure the sight, the church and the world, and drowns
and also destroy the teeth; and, further, thousands in perdition. That Lucifer is
that there are few persons who drink alco- cheered or delighted at the effects of such
hol, whose stomachs will digest milk. Al-
a wine is unquestionable, for it has done
cohol may brighten the eyes for a while, more than anything else to people the
but the collapse or depression that follows abyss in which he reigns; but to say that
this unnatural excitement, destroys their
He who shed his own blood to save men
native lustre. Dr. Farre says, “ It is a law from perdition, is pleased with that which
of our nature, that the circulation falls off proves a greater antagonist to his gospel,
in a greater degree than it is forced.” than any other with which it has been
be the subject, as all drinkers of intoxi- opposed, is to cast the deepest reflection
cating liquors are, of excitement and depres-on the benevolence of the Saviour. What!
sion; to have sparkling eyes for an hour or a God of mercy cheered with murders,
two, and then dim eyes for as many more, thefts, prostitution, and vice of
is a state of existence which the Holy Ghost cheered with hospitals, gaols, dungeons,
would never applaud. The intelligent eyes executions, grave-yards, and the pangs of
of Judah; his white teeth, and his capacity the lost! Far be it from us to attribute
to digest milk, are incontestable proofs that so gloomy a character to the gracious and
the wine which such a person drank was merciful Ruler of the universe! Yet if he
not fermented. Our lovers of strong drink is pleased with the cause, he must also be
would do well to pause and duly weigh the pleased with the effect. We have already
facts of science and history, before they proved that alcoholic wines, taken even in
convert the patriarchs into drunkards, ex- small quantities, or drunk moderately, are
hibiting eyes inflamed and maddened with pernicious; and this one fact affords a
wine, and borrowing all their strength and demonstration that they cannot be "cheer-
spirit from inebriating poisons. Here, alas! | ing" or pleasing to the heart of Jehovah;
again we must observe, that modern drink- when, therefore, in the text before us, wine
ers, reckless of their own health, and of the is said to “ cheer the heart of God," such a
effects of their own drinking upon others, declaration proves that the beverage com-
show equal recklessness towards the cha- mended, was neither alcoholic, nor in-
racters of holy men of old, and actually at- toxicating. Now, as God was "cheered”
tempt to draw them into the awful vortex with it without drinking it, why might not
into which they have voluntarily thrown man be cheered without drinking too?
themselves. el
The word here rendered wine is " Tirosh,"
In the Book of Judges, chap. ix. 13, we which, as we have shown, very generally
read the words, Wine that cheereth the refers to the fruit of the vine on the tree,
heart of God and man;" this passage is and often to the grapes before they are
often quoted as opposed to total abstinence. ripe. These, as they grew and ripened,
But intoxicating drinks produce only tem- cheered the heart of the husbandman, by
porary excitement, and then leave their promising a full reward to his labours.
victim, though only a moderate drinker, The fact that it cheered the heart of man,
to depression of spirits; and therefore, can affords additional evidence that it was not
hardly be said, “to cheer the heart.” a pernicious drink resembling modern
It is often the case, that intoxicating wines port or sherry; nothing can be more absurd
produce irascibility, anger, malice, and than to suppose, that whatever “ cheers or
almost every vile passion ; now all these rejoices the heart," must be poisoned with
dispositions are the very reverse of the alcohol. The Hebrew word Tou), samach,
scriptural idea of cheer or cheerfulness. rendered “ cheer” in this passage, is ge-
God's being “ cheered,” or pleased with nerally used to signify “gladness or joy;"
wine, cannot mean that he drank it, but
that he viewed with pleasure and appro-
now every one knows that to a hungry
bation, the libations which the people heart of a thirsty man, water will impart a
man's heart, bread will impart joy; to the
offered as a token of worship; and further, high degree of joy; to an intellectual and
that as a father, he was pleased with what social being, congenial society will com-

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS.
101
municate the choicest joy or “ cheer." | called modern port and sherry. It is
Hence, in scripture, “both bread and highly probable, that in the speech of
water" are said to " comfort and cheer the Jotham the vine rather alludes to its fruit
heart." “Eat thy bread with joy, (or 100, than any description of beverage which
cheer), and drink thy wine with a good was obtained therefrom ; hence, from the
heart,” are the words of Solomon, showing approbation of God bestowed upon the
that bread could " cheer" the heart, and “ Tirosh, or new wine," here mentioned,
that the man might have a “good or merry from its healthful and invigorating influence
heart before he began drinking. The same on the heart of man; from the fact that
idea is expressed Zech. chap. ix. 17,“ Corn God was cheered with it without drinking
shall make the young men cheerful,” yet it; from the phraseology of the parable
neither bread nor water is alcoholic; how itself, and from the poisonous character of
preposterous then to conclude, that because alcoholic wines, we have a demonstration
the word cheer or joy is used in this verse,
that the fruit of the vine which is pleasing
in connexion with wine, therefore, the to God, and really "cheering” to man, is
wine mentioned must have been intoxi- not an alcoholic poison.
cating or poisonous! Such an argument rests In Psalm civ. 15, God is said to bring
on the assumption, that for a beverage to forth out of the earth “wine that maketh
be “cheering," it must contain in it a glad the heart of man;" here there is an
stimulating poison; this is to build on a evident allusion to the juice of the grape,
foundation of sand, with a witness! That which is produced out of the earth, and not
which gives permanent strength to the to the poisonous liquor which impious man
body, and thus supplies real healthful cheer produces by decomposing the drink which
to the animal spirits, must be nutritious Jehovah has formed, and, after decom-
and wholesome : “Comfort thine heart with position, causes to combine and form a
a morsel of bread," said the father, in poison. This wine also was made by a
Judges, xix. 5; and Abraham made use of God of love, to impart real gladness or
the same language to the angels; showing cheer to the heart of man; but the alcoholic
that bread can " comfort or cheer," and yet wine which man manufactures, gives only
bread is nutritious rather than stimulating. an artificial and unnatural stimulus to the
So the juice of the grape, and also un- constitution, and poisons while it stimulates.
fermented wines, were nutritious. The The wine which God produces out of the
bride in Cant. says, “ Comfort me with earth is nutritious, and therefore really
apples," applying to fruits the same term supports and refreshes and gladdens the
that was used respecting bread; and this heart; but the drink which man obtains
was philosophically correct, for both apples out of the fermenting vessel, is more fraught
and grapes were nutritive, and could therefore with poison than nutriment: and to sup-
impart substantial comfort or cheer to the pose that the inspired voice of scripture
body. But press the juice from the grape or would characterise the unnatural, the sense-
from the apple, let it ferment and be converted less, and pernicious excitement, which
into alcohol, and instead of real strength or such vile liquors produce, by the name of
cheer, you have a stimulating spirit, which “ cheer,” is to insult the Holy Spirit. It
may for a while give an unnatural impulse should be observed, that the same word is
to the heart, but which poisons at the same rendered “glad” in this text, which is
time that it excites, and if habitually used translated “ cheer" in the verse from the
undermines the health, and produces chronic Book of Judges which we last examined;
disease and weakness. If, therefore, the and our imagination, that a wine which
wine before us afforded healthful “ cheer « cheers," must be intoxicating, arises from
or strength to the heart of man,” that fact the fallacy of our own vitiated taste, which
is sufficient to prove that it was not in- suggests to us that partial or entire in-
toxicating or poisonous.
ebriety is essential to gladness. But to ex-
I may here again observe, that in this text plain the words of the Psalmist, we ought
the word rendered - wine'' is Tirosh, which to understand the mode of manufacturing
we have before shown, generally alludes to wines in those days, and also the drinking
the unfermented juice of the grape, and habits of the people; the wine which most
sometimes to the fruit of the vine in a naturally agrees with the human constitu-
state of immaturity; and in this parable the tion, and the character of the person to
vine is introduced as saying, “Shall I have whom it is recommended. Besides, it should
my Tirosh ?" but the shrewd Jotham would be remembered, that God made the wine
never have introduced the vine talking so which David tells us “ cheers the heart,"
absurdly, as to call a liquor which man but God never made an alcoholic wine.
had impiously decomposed, and changed Nowhere in nature is alcohol produced by
into a poison, “ my Tirosh.” If the vine the hand of God! Alcoholic wines are the
could speak, it would certainly renounce sole work of man; therefore, as the wine
all relationship to such a pernicious beve- here recommended was the work of God,
rage, as the brandied adulterated trash we have a demonstration that it was not

102
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
poisonous, and consequently not intoxi-, many whose stomachs are poisoned with
cating
alcohol, loathe sweet beverages, but tee-
The chief wines mentioned in scripture totallers have this taste gradually restored.
are those of Lebanon and Helbon, and
Here also we have wines which will not
these, Mr. Buckingham says, are the prin injure the human frame, nor inflame the
cipal wines of Palestine at the present day; human mind, nor endanger human morals,
the former, he adds, “ are boiled wines, and, consequently, a wine which God the
made of grapes as large as plums." We Spirit could commend. In warm countries
have before stated, that the grapes of so the inhabitants can live on food less nutri-
warm a country as Palestine were too tious than in colder climates, and we know
sweet to produce a strong wine; and if the that saccharine substances are less nutrient
juice of these was boiled, it must have been than animal or farinaceous food. How be-
impossible for such an inspissated syrup to nevolent then is the provision of Proyi-
ferment. Hosea says, “The scent thereof, dence, that all hot countries should abound
(70 the memorial or praise of him) shall in these delicious, saccharine fruits ! Such
be as the memorial or praise of the wine of especially is the grape, and such its juice
Lebanon;" showing that this boiled un- when preserved without fermentation ; when
fermented wine was in much repute. M. concentrated by boiling, diluted with water,
La Roque, in his Itiner. Syr. and Liban. or converted into an agreeable acid, what
remarks, " It would be difficult to find any Cato calls an "acetum pulcherrimum." In
other wine so exceedingly choice as that either of these forms, we have the "wine
which was presented to us, and which led that maketh glad the heart of man." But
us to conclude that the reputation of the to suppose that by converting it into a fiery
wine of Lebanon mentioned by the prophet, poison, and thus causing it to scorch the
is well founded.”
stomach and nerves of him who was writh-
“ The wine of Helbon,” mentioned by ing under the rays of a torrid sun; and to
Ezekiel, Mr. Buckingham observes, is a
increase the thirst of him who already was
rich sweet wine; the name of Helbon signi- dying for the want of some cooling draught,
fies“ sweet or fat;" this wine was made at a wine would be produced which would
Damascus, was exported, was a part of the
“cheer the heart of man,” is the very height
merchandise of Tyre, and in the time of of absurdity. Give to the thirsty Arab or
Richard III., was brought to England under Syrian a pint of modern port or sherry,
the name of “ wine of Tyre.” Nehemiah, charged with twenty or twenty-six per cent.
alluding to the sweet wines of his day, said of alcohol, and will his thirst be quenched,
to the people, “ Eat the fat and drink the his natural strength increased, or his “heart
sweet." Hence it is evident, that the two
cheered ?" Will he thank you for the
wines most esteemed in the Holy Land ught? Would not a “cup of cold water,"
were boiled wines, were thick and sweet, or a bottle of unfermented wine, be ten
and consequently were not alcoholic; and thousand times more suitable, agreeable, and
these wines were the liquors which the beneficial ? Every one who knows any.
Psalmist says
" made glad the heart of thing of human physiology must answer in
man;” not being converted into poisons by
the affirmative. In a late publication, Mr.
fermentation, and retaining the original Hoskins says, that in Egypt there is nothing
saccharine matter of the grape in a state of so healthful or refreshing as the waters of
concentration, they were nutritious to the the Nile, and that in visiting the pyramids,
body, pleasant to the taste, cheering, re- in consequence of using this beverage, he
freshing and strengthening to those who
bore the heat of the climate without incon-
drank them.
venience, while those who drank alcoholic
It is also evident from Hosea, that these drinks were generally suffering from disease
sweet wines were in high repute; hence he
and exhaustion.
predicts that the "scent," or, as the margin In examining the expressions, “wine that
literally expresses it, “the memorial, the maketh glad, or that cheereth the heart of
remembrance, or praise of God's Israel, man,' we must not forget that they were
shall be as (the memorial of) the wine of spoken by the Holy Ghost. Now God the
Lebanon.” No phraseolgy could more fully Spirit is distinguished for truth, knowledge,
represent the estimation in which these and benevolence. His veracity would not
sweet, unfermented wines were held. If allow him to affirm that a fermented per-
the memorial of them was so fondly cherished nicious drink, which actually poisoned and
by the people, then how cheering, how scorched the body, and corrupted the morals,
gladdening must the taste of them have been! was a drink which "cheered the heart of
And in this their taste for weak sweet wines,
And his perfect knowledge of the
they seem to have agreed with what we physiology of our frame, and his benevolent
have proved to have been the popular taste regard for the human family, would equally
of the Greeks and Romans.
A taste for prevent him from commending what is
sweet drinks is natural, the taste for alcohlic baneful. But we know that all intoxicating
drinks is acquired, and therefore unnatural; drinks are pernicious, and therefore the
man."

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS.
103
even
wine spoken of in the text in question was The wine mentioned in 2 Chron. ii. 10,
not an alcoholic liquor.
which Solomon agreed to give to Hiram,
Before I dismiss this subject, I may be King of Tyre, has sometimes been brought
allowed to mention the medicinal character forward as a reason why we ought to drink
of wines, and indeed that wine was a prin- poisonous wines and brewer's beer. The
cipal medicine in Palestine. When Ziba argument stands thus: Solomon gave Hiram
brought David a bottle of wine, he put "twenty thousand baths of wine," therefore
it aside for “the sick and faint in the Christians ought to drink port, sherry, and
wilderness.” It is also said, "give strong or brewer's beer, &c.!! But unfortunately,
sweet drink to him who is ready to perish.” Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand
Here, as well as in other texts, the medi- baths of oil; just as much oil as he did
cinal qualities of wine are mentioned. May wine, and therefore if we are to do all that
not the passage, “wine that cheereth or Solomon did, we are bound to take as
maketh glad man's heart," include some much oil as we do wine! Further, as this
allusion to the health and joy which the argument is based upon the hypothesis
sick very frequently derived from these that we are to do every thing that Solo-
drinks? When Christ healed diseases, he mon did, it would naturally follow that
imparted “cheer and joy" to the people. we ought to worship as many idols as he
Recovery from disease is generally a time did! It is worthy of remark, that the
of joy. Have we never thanked God for account of this bargain, recorded in the
medicines ? And may not the text before Book of Kings, omits to mention the
us have some reference to medicinal wines? wine as a part of the food for Hiram's
but surely no one would recommend that household ; may we not therefore conclude,
people in health should daily drench them- that the wheat and the barley were for
selves with medicines. It should also here Hiram's household, and that the oil and
be remarked, that, in Pliny's time, “the best the wine were intended for the market of
and the most wholesome wine, the 'utilis-Tyre ? Ezekiel mentions the wine of Hel-
simum et saluberrimum vinum,' was, on bon or Damascus as one of the important
the authority of medical men themselves, articles of the trade of Tyre, and we have
that which had not fermented, and to before shown that this wine was
which nothing had been added to the juice. brought from Tyre to England. But be
View this text, therefore, in whatever light that as it may, the fact that Solomon gave
we may, it affords no countenance what- to Hiram 20,000 baths of the sweet wines,
ever to the use of modern wines, beer, or or acid wines of Palestine, can never sug-
cider.
gest that we ought to drink liquors which
In Deut. xiv. 26, we read, “ Thou mayest are destroying the health and morals of the
bestow the money for whatever thy soul country.
desireth, for oxen, for sheep, for wine or Eccles. ix, 7. “Drink thy wine with a
strong drink,” &c. Having already ex- merry heart,” is said to countenance the
plained the 'meaning of shacar, and shown use of intoxicating liquors. But here the
that it chiefly refers to palm wine, which subject to be proved is assumed. Not a
was a "sweet luscious wine," and therefore particle of evidence can be adduced to
as weak as it was sweet ; having also proved show that this wine was an inebriating
that the wines of Palestine were sweet, liquor. If it was the “wine of Lebanon
boiled, and consequently free from alcohol ; it had been boiled, and unless it was drugged
and having shown from Nehemiah that could not intoxicate; and we will not in-
“ sweet wines" were used at Jewish festivals; sult the Holy Spirit by insinuating that he
this passage can afford no evidence that commended the people to drink liquors
total abstinence is contrary to the law of adulterated with poisons. If it was the
Moses; that poisonous alcoholic wines were wine of Helbon," then it was sweet, and
used at the passover, or ought to be drunk therefore was not strong. If it was sour
in our day. Supposing that any lover of wine, such as Cato made, and which was
wine could show that what was here left in use in the time of Boaz and of our Lord,
perfectly optional to the Jewish people, is then the acetous fermentation had taken
now become a rigid law binding all good place, and destroyed the spirit of the wine.
christians to drink wines, whatever may be Whichever of these drinks was
the consequence; still, even then it could mended, we are sure that it bore no re-
only command us to drink such wines and semblance to modern port or sherry, or
sweet drinks as were in use in the days of ale or porter, and therefore cannot sanction
Moses. You must not only bring us the the use of such liquids. It should be ob-
command, but produce the liquor also, or served that, in the verse above, we have
else the injunction would be nul and void. the words, “ Eat thy bread with joy, and
But in this direction there is nothing bind- drink thy wine with a merry (Hebrew,
ing upon us, nor can the least evidence be with a good”) heart, showing that the
produced that the drinks mentioned were bread rather than the wine was the source
intoxicating
of joy.” The word rendered "joy,” also,
recom-

104
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
nectar.
S
is the term taw, which in Judges is of the kind, is based upon the groundless
translated, “wine that cheereth the heart assumption that the term “wine” always
of God and man,” and in Psalm civ., refers to the same kind of intoxicating drink,
“ wine that maketh glad the heart of man." whereas history, science, and even modern
I can hardly believe that the Holy Spirit, usage, show that such a conclusion is alto-
who well knows the character of intoxica-gether false. Among the Jews, Greeks,
ting liquors, would ever recommend any and Romans, there were various descrip-
individual to drink alcoholic poisons with
tions of wines. There were the drugged,
a "good heart;" this would be to encourage fermented, poisonous wines, injurious to
the use of a beverage which has caused, the bodies and stupifying to the minds of
and is still causing, an unparalleled amount those who drank them; and there were
of disease, misery, crime, and death. Be- also the sweet, delicious, nutrient, or de-
sides, as they were to drink with “a good lightfully acid wines, which would delight
heart," it intimates that they were to have and please every palate, would nourish
the “good heart” before they began to the frame, quench thirst, refresh and cool
drink, and therefore did not get this good the weary, and injure no one :--- now, we
heart out of the wine bottle. The man ask the reader to judge, which of the two
who will tell us that modern port or sherry the benevolent Redeemer was most likely
will produce a good heart deserves not to to produce ? He knew he could poison
be reasoned with.
and inebriate the guests with a pernicious
I have heard the words, “Give strong drink, or he could delight their taste, and
drink unto him that is weary,” &c. advanced cheer their hearts, with a wine delicious as
as a reason for the daily use our modern
He understood physiology, and
deleterious drinks: but unfortunately for regarded morals more than we do. He
this argument, the text quoted recommends knew that alcohol, opium, henbane, and
total abstinence to men in health, and pro- hellebore, waged deadly war with the vitals
poses to confine the use of wine and sweet of man, and at the same time stupified his
drink to those who are diseased. “It is mind and corrupted his morals; did he,
not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings therefore, go to the trouble of polluting the
to drink wine, nor princes sweet drink. wine he made with these pernicious ingre-
Give sweet drink to him who is ready to dients, or did he give them what resembled
faint, perish, or die, and wine to him whose the pure and wholesome blood of the
life is embittered by affliction ; let him drink grape ?? We leave the advocates of strong
and forget his bitterness, and remember his drink to reflect whether or not they are
affliction no more.” Here the medicinal honouring the blessed Redeemer, when they
qualities of wine are referred to ; and fur- assert that he produced for his friends a
ther, their use is prohibited to kings and poisonous beverage : and especially as he
princes, and it is plainly suggested that did so in a perfectly arbitrary manner; be-
none ought to drink them but those who cause he could as easily have called into
are diseased.
A passage more favourable existence a harmless and delicious drink,
to total abstinence could not be produced and have pleased the guests without injur-
What if the inspired writer, instead of men- ing their health or endangering their morals.
tioning wine, had recommended rhubarb, In looking at this text, most persons are
and had said, “Give rhubarb to the dis- beguiled by the terms "good wine." Our
eased and
afflicted;” would the wine-bib- vitiated and drunken taste has corrupted
bers of our day have asserted that the text our mother tongue; and with us a liquor is
intimated that all persons in health ought pronounced "good” in proportion to its
to take daily potations of tincture of rhu- strength; that is, in proportion as it is spi-
bard ? Yet this would have been just as rituous, poisonous, and bad, it is called
reasonable as to conclude that because wine “good !" But words were not so abused
and sweet drink are prohibited from all but in the time of our Lord; instead of strong
the diseased, therefore it is the duty of or intoxicating wines then being esteemed
every one to use them. It may be objected "good," Pliny, and Plutarch, and Horace,
that these wines were stupefactive, because &c., &c., intimate that "pocula vini inno-
they produced forgetfulness. Granted; centis," or innocent wine, was the best.
still, as they were “sweet," they were not Wines deprived of all strength, or of all
alcoholic; and I have before shown from power to become spirituous, were considered
Homer that wines might be as “sweet as the most valuable. The " utilissimum vi-
honey," and yet when “tempered with num,” the most useful wine was that which
drugs,” possess amazing power to assuage had no strength ; and the “saluberrimum
grief or relieve pain.
vinum," most wholesome wine, was that
The fact that our Lord, by a miracle, which had not been adulterated “by the
produced wine at the marriage of Cana, in addition of anything to the must or juice."
Galilee, is urged as an invincible argument Because we call evil, good," by calling
against total abstinence from alcoholic alcohol “good," we ought not to insult an-
drinks. But this, like every other reason tiquity by affirming that the people at the

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS.
105
our
marriage of Cana were equally absurd ; o meaning. But the term, psduonw whence
to aver that our Lord made a wine suited usduobwon, have well drunk,” is derived, is
to the drunken taste of 1838, rather than to the word which in other places is rendered
the good taste of the year A.D. 31.
“ drunk.” According, therefore, to
The custom of bringing on an inferior opponents, the guests had well drunk, or, as
wine as the feast proceeds, “procedente the word literally signifies, were already
mensa," is particularly mentioned by Pliny,“ drunk" with a liquor as strong as modern
lib. 14, cap. 13; but the same naturalist port; and after they were thus intoxicated,
tells us that a “ good wine” was one which our Lord, by a miracle, produced a large
was destitute of spirit, and therefore shows quantity of very strong wine that they might
that by a worse wine he does not mean a keep on drinking after they were already
weaker wine, but rather a stronger wine, or drunk. This interpretation is fully involved in
one that was disagreeable to the taste. the ideas of modern tipplers, and, one would
In a work published in 1742, the Rev. W. think, is sufficiently awful to make every
Law, in some animadversions on Dr. Trap, wine-bibber suspect that he has mistaken
has satisfactorily proved that at the mar- the character of the wine in question. On
riage of Cana, the whole of the water in the other hand, the principles laid down in
the vessels was not changed into wine, but this essay make every thing plain, and com-
only that'which was drawn into the cup and pletely exonerate our Lord from the charge
presented to the governor of the feast. In- of encouraging drunkenness. We have shown
deed the vessels were filled brimful of water, that in those days, the most popular wines
and must have appeared full of water to were those destitute of any strength. This
the company; and the water was changed is the assertion of Pliny, who was contem-
into wine as it was drawn into the cup; and porary with our Lord. We have also proved
in this appeared the greatness of the mira- that the word rendered “ drunk," did not,
cle, that from pots filled with water, at the at that period, mean to intoxicate, but only
command of the Son of God, wine could to drink freely, or to be filled with liquor;
be drawn. Here then we have not a num- consequently a man could then be "drunk,"
ber of vessels filled with wine, but only a without being intoxicated. At the mar-
few cups, or perhaps not more than one cup, riage of Cana the people had already been
and therefore nothing to encourage the drinking an innocent wine, and when this
custom of drinking large quantities of even was out, our Lord produced some more of
innocent wine, which in that day was the same description, and thus gratified the
one very popular species of drunkenness. guests without endangering their health or
Drunkards, in that day, were those who their morals, and at the same time showed
drenched themselves with liquor, and gene- forth his own glory. The wine he made
rally with a liquor that would not intoxicate. was good for the people in the true and
pro-
From an examination of this text, then, we per sense of the word good.
66 Good wine”
find that there is nothing in it to encourage here meant an innocent, wholesome wine;
the use of much wine, or of any kind of and not, as our moderation friends insinuate,
alcoholic drink whatever. For we may rest a wine poisoned with alcohol, or rendered
assured that he who came to cure all man- destructive by some pernicious drug, and
ner of sickness and disease, to save men's therefore, in reality, a “bad wine."
lives and to improve their morals, and for The narrative also demonstrates what I
both these purposes wrought many a mira- have elsewhere asserted, that pe buonw does
cle, did not, in the first display of his mira- mean intoxication in the modern conven-
culous powers, change the water in these tional acceptation of the word. The peo-
vessels into something worse than itself, ple at the marriage of Cana were drunk
and produce an alcoholic poison which in- without being 'intoxicated; and Joseph's
jured the bodies of the guests with whom brethren were"yishakeroo, merry with him,"
he was associated, and whom, most kindly, literally, “drunk with him," and yet they
he sought to gratify and please.
were not poisoned with alcohol, nor stupi-
Those who insist that the wine made by fied with drugs.
our Lord for the marriage of Cana was an Paul's recommendation of wine for the
intoxicating drink, appear to be reckless of diseased stomach of Timothy, is almost in
everything except their own taste for mo- every one's mouth as affording an irrefrag-
dern wines. The narrative intimates that able argument why men, who have no dis-
they had been drinking, and had drunk all ease at all, should drink alcoholic liquors
that was in the house. The expressions, daily. The case here is a medical one, and
Vote NouvTot Ovou," mean “wine was out.” therefore can afford no rule to regulate the
They had consumed all that was provided conduct of persons in health. What if
for the wedding. The remarks of “the epsom salts had then been in existence, and
ruler of the feast” suggest that they had the apostle had directed Timothy to take a
“well drunk," or already taken some quan- dose now and then? I think the very tender
tity; otherwise the words, “thou hast kept consciences of our modern lovers of strong
the good wine until now," can have no drink would not have been pained, although

106
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
science and history had announced that total stomach of St. Martin in 1826, they could
abstinence from that medicine was much the not have been commended by the Holy
best thing for persons in health. If because Ghost. What a bad cause that must be
remedies for the sick are mentioned in
which requires for its support that we should
scripture, therefore persons who are not sick convert the holy apostle into an empiric who
are placed under a sacred obligation to use poisoned his patient by prescibing for his
them daily, then ought we not merely to adopt diseased stomach a liquor that increased its
the wine recommended to Timothy, but all maladies! Is it not more rational to con-
the other remedies prescribed in Holy Writ. clude that it was an innocent or a medicinal
As a plaster of figs was commended to wine which Timothy was directed to use.
Hezekiah, we ought every one of us to wear 'T is true the wine is not named, because
the same external application; and as, in the common sense of the patient in this case
exact accordance with the ancient medical would induce him to take as a medicine,
advice of Celsus, St. James recommends the medicinal wine.
sick to be anointed with oil, then ought we “ The wine put out into new bottles," is
every day of our lives to rub our bodies with spoken of as an illustration, and therefore
that ingredient, and instead of adopting the contains no commendation of any wine
doctrine of 6extreme unction” from the whatever. You might as well say, that
Catholics, ought to teach and enforce the because we are to take the helmet of salva-
great duty of daily unction" as a praction, and the breastplate of righteousness,
tice enjoined in Scripture, because James therefore every real Christian ought to dress
directed this remedy for the sick! Indeed, himself in ancient armour, as to argue that
oil is very frequently spoken of in the Bible because our Lord borrows an illustration
in the highest terms, and certainly placed of his discourse from wines, therefore we
on a par with wine; and yet I do not find all ought to drink alcoholic drinks. But
any persons whose consciences are afflicted independent of the incoherence of this
because they do not make a greater use of absurd argument, it can be shown that the
oil, or who consider that they are bound to reference in the text is to an unfermented
employ it, although their doing so should de- wine. If the wine had already fermented,
stroy thousands annually.
then it would not have fermented again to
But those who plead the apostle's com- such a degree as to have burst the vessels :
mendation to Timothy would do well to con- if it had been intended to allow it to fer-
sider what wine it was which St. Paul pre- ment, the mouth of the vessel would not have
scribed. There then existed in the Roman been closed, the carbonic acid would have
empire, through which Timothy had to been permitted to escape, and consequently
travel, hundreds of different sorts of wine; would not have burst an old bottle. No
and the character of very many of them the man who wished his beer to work would
very opposite to each other; will our oppo- bung up the cask ; and no person who
nents tell us which of these it was that wished wine to ferment would be so foolish
Timothy was to drink? Aristotle, Pliny, as to tie up the mouth of the bottle. Fer-
Columella, Philo, and others, some of them mentation, if confined, would burst the
contemporary with St. Paul, affirm that strongest cask, but if left open for the car-
many of the wines of that day produced bonic acid to escape, an old vessel would
"head-aches, dropsy, madness, dysentery, not be endangered.
and stomach complaints :"-did the Holy The art required was to keep the new
Spirit recommend these? The same writers wine from fermenting, not to keep the bot-
tell us that wines destitute of all strength tles from bursting.
The new bottle was
were exceedingly wholesome and useful to not stronger than an old one, probably not
the body, “salubre corpori:”-did he re- quite so strong; besides, fermentation, Job
commend these? Pliny and Columella give tells us, would burst “new bottles.” The
us various receipts for making medicinal difference between the new bottles and the
wines, and some of these are particularly old consisted not in the relative proportion
commended for a diseased stomach, “ad of their strength ; but arose solely from the
imbecillem stomachum," and for general de- fact that the new bottles had in them no fer-
bility. Such was “myrtle wine,” “ squill mentable matter. The wine would naturally
wine," &c. :-were these prescribed ? Surely soak into a skin bottle, and when it was
the apostle did not recommend to “his own poured out, the oxygen of the atmosphere
spiritual son, whom he tenderly loved in would render the inner coat of the skin
the gospel,” those wines which would in- fermentable, and new wine put into such a
crease the complaint in his stomach and his bottle would certainly ferment and burst the
general debility. It could not be port, or vessel. Mr. Beardsall of Manchester, who
sherry, or beer, or cider, that he prescribed, has succeeded in making unfermented wine,
because these did not then exist; and if they happened to put some into old ginger-beer
had, as they would have produced as many jars, but to his astonishment the bottles
ulcers on the weck stomach of Timothy in began to burst, and, on examining them, he
the A.D. 50, as they did on the healthy found that they had not been washed clean;

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS.
107
66
some yeast, used in making the ginger-beer, mentation, it has always been in consequence
remained on the inside of the bottle, and of the porous character of the pots in which
this caused the wine to ferment. So the old they were put, or the admission of air
skin bottle was fermentable, and therefore through the covering. Need I say how
would cause the new wine to work. The exactly this interpretation agrees with the
new wine in the new jars of Mr. Beardsall idea which our Lord's discourse is intended
kept very well, but that in the old jars fer-
to convey:
That religion, or those prin-
mented and was lost. A new bottle or ciples, which are weak, are easily agitated
skin also would be less porous than an old and put into a state of spiritual fermenta-
one, and therefore more effectually exclude tion; they are fermentable, and readily
the air ; the oxygen of the atmosphere is penetrated and agitated by every wind of
essential to the vinous fermentation of doctrine; but those which are firm, strong,
grape juice ; if excluded, the wine cannot and mature, are like new, pure, imporous
ferment, and a new skin would more effec-bottles, and therefore preserve the heart from
tually shut it out than an old one. Further, needless agitation.
wool and hair are bad conductors of heat. I just now hinted a passage in the book
Hay, hair, or wool are the best things to of Job, which alludes to the custom of
preserve ice in if we wish to keep it from preserving wines from fermentation : “Be-
melting. The wool and hair of new skins hold, my belly is as wine which hath no
would be more perfect non-conductors of vent, it is ready to burst like new bottles.”
heat than of old ones, just as a new garment Job, xxxii. 19. This text shows that wine,
is a better non-conductor than an old one; in a state of fermentation, would burst even
and in this respect a new skin was preferable new bottles.” In such a case, all the care
to an old one to prevent fermentation. This
necessary to prevent fermentation had not
exposition exactly accords with the design been taken. Perhaps the bottle was not quite
of the illustration. The duties which the full, or may not have been closed immedi-
Pharisees wished to impose upon the dis-ately, or may have been put into a very warm
ciples were like new wine ; and the hearts place, or the juice may not have been properly
of the disciples were like old bottles, which filtered ; and, in either case, the admission
have in them fermentable matter, and are of heat and air would have set the wine to
ill adapted to resist and exclude heat work. But it is evident that the design was
and air; our Lord, therefore, very wisely to keep the liquor from fermenting Else
objects to the admission of new wine into why close the bottle? All the wine asked
such imperfect vessels. Contrary to nature, for was a vent for the carbonic acid ; it
these spiritual bottles would get pure and therefore, only to untie the bottle, and all
unfermentable in time, and then be able to would have been saved. Besides, if they
contain new wine, and preserve it without
had wished to have a fermented wine, they
fermenting. We must not then forget that would not have closed the vessel until the
our Lord alludes to bottles that would en- working was over; but, in their anxiety to
tirely preserve the wine from fermenting, keep the liquor from working, they often
rather than to those which could bear the fer- risked their bottles, and sometimes even
mentation of wine without breaking. I have 6 new bottles” were rent. This fact most
seen the strongest bottles shattered by the unquestionably proves that there was a cus-
vinous fermentation of small-beer: I have tom, both in the days of Job and of Christ,
known the strongest casks burst by the of endeavouring to preserve the juice of the
fermentation of cider in consequence of its grape from fermentation, and our Lord's
having been bunged up before the liquor had remarks show that the attempt was generally
done working; and a new skin bottle would successful, while the words of Elihu inti-
have been rent by the fermentation of new mate that it sometimes failed. They were
wine. The vessel they required was not driven to this custom by the character
one that could bear fermentation without of their fruits, and the heat of the climate.
breaking, but one which would effectually | The fruits were so sweet that only a weak
preserve the wines from fermenting; and, wine could be produced by fermentation,
therefore, the text alludes to the custom of and the heat of the country soon caused
preserving wines from fermentation, which these weak wines to become sour and ropy,
both Pliny and Columella inform us was and therefore great efforts were made to
common at that very period when the Saviour prevent fermentation altogether. Besides,
uttered these words. It is worthy of obser- there is reason to believe that the people
vation that our Lord speaks of new skins as relished the pure sweet juice of the grape,
adapted to preserve wine from working, and therefore were anxious to preserve it as
and Columella, in giving the receipt for near as possible in its native purity.
making unfermented wine, especially directs In connexion with the preceding words
that it should be put into new amphoras," our Lord said, “No man also having drunk
and to render them more proof against the old wine straightway desireth new, for he
air, orders them to be plastered with pitch, saith the old is better.” This passage is
lime, or gypsum. I have noticed that when said to favour the idea of fermented wines,
preserves have undergone the acetous fer- but in what way it is difficult to see. The
was,

108
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
words might be read “no drinker” of old man to be an habitual drinker of wine, and
wine immediately desireth new," &c., and consequently that water, and not wine, was
may simply allude to taste. The drinker, the general drink of the people. To say
or he who has a taste for old wines, does that because the Jews falsely accused our
not prefer new; and the same is true of Lord of being an habitual wine-drinker,
the drinker of the new wine, he does not therefore we ought to drink alcoholic poi-
prefer what is old. We have among us dif- sons, is the same as to say, that because
ferent tastes: one man prefers new beer, they falsely accused him of “gluttony,"
and another prefers old, and of course the tastes therefore every Christian ought to be an
of such persons are opposed to each other. epicure or gourmand !
But the words may be further explained. As for the wine drunk at the Passover,
Old wines among the Romans signified we have the best proof that it was not fer-
weak wines, very thick wines, wines that mented. The word yan, Chomits, in
had not fermented and would not ferment. Hebrew, signifies “leaven," "vinegar,"
Pliny says that the opimian wine, which and every kind of fermentation. It refers
was the oldest wine, was as thick as honey;" alike to the panary, the vinous, and the
it was therefore a syrup rather than what we acetous fermentation, and where it stands
should call wine, and was as weak as it was for an evil doer, designated" vir corruptus,"
thick; for the same naturalist tells us that
or a corrupt man, stands for the putrefactive
out of all their multitudes of wine, “the fermentation. Now, the Jews at the Pass-
falernian was the only one that would burn.” over were commanded to have no leaven in
He adds, “Levissimum est quod celerrime their houses; and they, from that day to
inveteratur, minus infestat nervos quod this, understood the term to refer just as
vetustate dulcescit.” “The lightest wine is much to fermented liquors as to fermented
that which becomes old the soonest, and bread, and therefore at the Passover were
that which sweetens by age is less injurious exceedingly careful that no fermented wines
to the nerves.” Yet these aged or feeble should be among them. Mr. Herschell, a
wines, these light and sweet wines, were converted Jew, in a work recently pub-
much sought after; not for their strength, but lished, states that “the word chomits has a
for their weakness. Various arts were em- wider signification than that which is gene-
ployed to give their wines a premature old rally attached to "leaven," by which it is
age. They placed them in fumaria and rendered in the English Bible, and applies
ovens for this purpose, that they might be to the fermentation of corn in any form, to
inspissated and sweetened by the heat and beer, and to all fermented liquors. While,
smoke. “Inveterari vina succisque castrari ;" therefore, there are four days in the Pass-
"Wines were rendered old or feeble and sweet, over week on which business may be done,
and completely deprived of all their strength being, as it were, half-holidays, a distiller
by the filter.” A sweet weak wine was there- or brewer must suspend his business during
fore the "old wine” most sought after, so the whole Passover, And I must do my
that we have no reason to conclude that brethren the justice to say, that they do not
because a wine was old, therefore it was a attempt to evade the strictness of the com-
strong alcoholic drink. It is a query whether mand, to put away all leaven," by any
in the time of Christ such a wine would ingenious shift, but fulfil it to the very letter.
have found a single taste which it would I know an instance of a person in trade
have suited. The unfermented wine which who had several casks of spirits sent him,
I have made has greatly improved by age. which arrived during the Passover. Had
The longer it has been kept, the richer and they come a few days sooner, they would
finer its flavour has become, and therefore have been lodged in some place apart from
has most fully illustrated the truth of this his house until the feast was over; but
passage. bos
during its continuance, he did not think it
But our Lord, we are told, drank right to meddle with them, and therefore
wine at the Passover, and was called “a had the spirit poured into the street. It
wine-bibber," and he did not deny the is said, that not long since, a Jew on the
charge.
continent staved in several casks of wine that
In answer to the latter remark, it may were on his premises, and which he had not
be said, that he was called a glutton at the been able to dispose of previous to the Pass.
same time.
Was the charge of gluttony over. At the present day, the Jews are
true? Who will dare assert that it was? especially careful in preparing their wine
Yet he did not deny it; and why? His for the Passover, and make it by pouring
enemies, and every one else, knew that it water upon dried grapes or raisins, much in
was false : and if the gluttony was false, the same manner that Colomella prescribes
why not the wine-bibbing? It should be for making the wine which the Romans
observed that the word rendered - wine- called “ Passum,” and which, Polybius
bibber," simply means a “wine-drinker;" says, females were allowed to drink because
yet in this passage a wine-drinker and a it would not intoxicate, and was used to
glutton are placed on a par, plainly showing quench thirst. It may be said, if the Jews
that in those days it was a disgrace for a had any unfermented wines among them,

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS.
109
they might have used them without having one of their common drinks. And, in the
any fermented liquor on their premises, or fact of the vinous fermentation in warm
violating the divine command, to put climates so soon passing into the acetous,
all leaven or ferment out of their houses." we have a wise provision of our gracious
True. But then it must be observed, that Creator. Alcoholic drinks are particularly
the fear, lest any of their wines should have injurious in hot countries. In them, the
undergone any kind of fermentation, the constitution of man is subject to sufficient
vinous, acetous, or putrefactive, induced exhaustion from the heat of the climate ;
them to manufacture a new drink from the and if to this you add a fiery poison, his
"passa uva,” or dried grape, which they frame must soon sink under the double ex-
were assured could not be subject to any
citement and waste to which it will be
kind of fermentation. It is, therefore, cer- subject; but, if instead of using a beverage
tain, that our blessed Lord did not use a charged with liquid fire, an acidulous and
fermented alcoholic liquor at the first sacra- cooling drink be taken, in such a liquor you
ment. It is in allusion to the wine made have a principle which must greatly coun-
from raisins, and which was much inferior teract the heat to which the body is exter-
to the pure juice of the grape, that our Lord nally exposed. Hence we find that many
says, "I will no more drink of the fruit of of the most juicy fruits of warm countries
the vine until I drink it new in my heavenly have in them a portion of acid, and the
father's kingdom.” As though he had said, vinous fermentation is almost immediately
Now we drink "passum,” wine made by followed by the acetous; and not only are
pouring water upon dried grapes; then we these sour wines and juices cooling to the
shall drink virgin wine, the blood of the frame, but there is something in their very
grapes of paradise, the nectar of heaven. nature which prevents persons from drink-
The spiritual import of this sentence exactly ing more than their system demands, and
accords with the beautiful contrast sug- thus, not merely disease, but drunkenness
gested by a reference to these different and its consequent vices, are prevented.
wines. Hence those Christians who use In offering these remarks on the wines of
unfermented wine at the Lord's table, have Scripture, I have no where attempted to
the countenance of history, and the example deny that inebriating liquors existed in
of the blessed Redeemer in support of their Palestine ; all I contend for is, that there
practice, and certainly partake of drink were wines which did not intoxicate, and
much more resembling ancient wines than that these latter are the only ones which a
port, sherry, or tent, or any other liquor God of love and mercy could recommend.
polluted with alcohol.
He has created us with a constitution with
Speaking of the word chomits, "lea- which alcohol wages the bitterest war.
ven,' we have observed that it is sometimes God has not given us a body that can long
rendered by the term “vinegar.” In Ruth, resist its attacks, and it would therefore be
Boaz is said to have told the damsel, “to presumptuous to assert that he has ever ap-
dip her morsel in the vinegar," or chomets, proved of a liquor which must prey upon
showing that this sort of liquid was used its vitals. He in a thousand ways shows
by the reapers in the harvest field of Boaz. the value that he sets upon human life, and
The Roman soldiers gave our Lord vinegar the means he employs for its preservation;
to drink, proving that acidulous liquors and most contradictory to his general be-
were then in use in Palestine. We nevolent proceedings would it be, if he had
have also seen that Cato's family wine commanded us to use a beverage which
was svin-aigre," a species of sour wine ; must injure all the functions of our bodies,
and we learn from other sources that vine- and at the same time enfeeble our minds
gar, or sour wine, was the wine drunk by and deprave our morals. I have shown
the Roman soldiers. Dr. Shaw tells us from a variety of well-founded arguments,
that palm wine becomes tart; we know also drawn from science, history, and criticism,
that sour milk is a favourite drink in many that ancient intoxicating wines were rather
warm countries. In our own country, drugged and medicated wines than alcoho-
cider and other fermented drinks soon be- lic; but at the same time, that these perni-
come subject to acetous fermentation in cious liquors were not the most popular
warm weather. In these facts we have a among a people who delighted to drink
proof that in Palestine, in which country largely without injury to their reason, and
fermented wine could not have been so therefore that nothing but the greatest ig-
strong as cider, the acetous fermentation norance of antiquity can lead to the conclu-
must almost immediately have followed the sion that pernicious beverages, resembling
vinous, and therefore, if their wines were port wine, beer, gin, &c., were the only
not filtered, cooled, and put into new bot- liquors which the ancients relished or a
tles, or boiled and inspissated so as to God of love recommended. In those days,
concentrate the sugar, fermentation among sweet wines, sour wines, and, consequently,
them must generally have produced vinegar; weak wines, diluted wines, &c., were the
and accordingly we find that sour wine was most approved and the most popular.
des om bo
GO
has bsd

110
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
Having proved that God, in no part of they drink, and forget the law, and pervert
his Word, has encouraged us to drink these the judgment of the afflicted. Give strong
poisons, we shall now, on the other hand, drink to him that is ready to perish or die,
give several quotations from Scripture, to and wine to him whose life is bitter," &c.
show that he has uttered some of the most Prov. xxxi. 4-6. These words enjoin
solemn warnings against their use.
“ total abstinence” on kings and princes,
" Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who and on all persons who are in health; for
hath contentions? who hath babbling? who by confining the use of the wine here re-
hath wounds without cause? who hath red- ferred to, to the sick, and to the sick alone,
ness of the eyes? They that tarry long at
it is manifest that all others are prohibited
the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine. from drinking them. The passage also is
Look not thou upon the wine when it is red; valuable, as it shows that both wine and
when it giveth its colour in the cup; when shacar, “ sweet drink," were frequently
it moveth itself aright. At the last it biteth drugged. The weak, boiled, and sweet
like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. wines of Palestine could not produce the
Thine eyes shall behold strange women, forgetfulness here mentioned. The wines
and thine heart shall utter perverse things. of Isaiah, which were well refined or filtered,
Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in and those of Pliny and Plutarch, which
the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon were deprived by filtering of all strength,
the top of a mast. They have stricken me, were noted for their inability to affect the
shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they head or mind: but the drinks here alluded
have beaten me, and I felt it not. When to were stupifying, and however useful as
shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.” opiates they might be to the sick, must
Prov. xxiii. 29–35. “Be not among wine have been very pernicious to individuals in
bibbers and riotous eaters of flesh, for the health; and, therefore, in consequence of
drunkard and glutton shall come to po- their intoxicating character, all are here in-
verty.” Ver. 20, 21.
vited to abstain.
In these words, woes, sorrows, conten- In order to avoid the plain and literal
tions, and babbling, are attributed to drink- meaning of this text, the advocates of in-
ing as their origin. Wounds without cause, toxicating liquors say, that the words, "It
dishonourable wounds, and inflamed mad- is not for kings to drink wine," &c. signify
dened eyes are traced to the same cause. “It is not for kings to drink much wine, or
The tippler is bitten by a serpent, and stung drink wine to excess !!" Surely after taking
by an adder, so that a deadly poison is being such an obvious liberty as this with the Scrip-
circulated through his veins; his passions tures, our opponents will not charge us with
and lusts are inflamed; he is deprived of wresting the word of God to suit our own
sensibility, and reckless of danger, although fancies. You might just as well say that
lying on the very verge of ruin ; and is be- the commands, “ Thou shalt not kill, thou
come so infatuated, that he no sooner re- shalt not steal,” &c. do not mean "total
covers from one debauch than he rushes abstinence” from murder and dishonesty,
into another. Had Solomon read the history but only that you should slay and defraud
of the baneful effects of drunkenness at the with moderation," as to affirm that the
present time, he could not more fully have intimation to kings not to touch wine, and
depicted the character and the consequences the command to all not to look at it, imply
of drinking. Is it any wonder that with after all that you are to look, touch, and drink,
such a scene before him, he commands us and poison you health and souls, provided
to avoid even looking at the intoxicating you will do it with “moderation !” We
cup? And if we are not to look at such a know who told our first parents not to touch
liquor, then such a command most impera- the forbidden fruit, and we know also who
tively prohibits us from tasting it. What told our mother not to heed the injunction,
use indeed would it have been for the Bible and we need not repeat the result of Eve's
to have commanded us to avoid gluttony, moderation.
He who said of the tree of
fornication, revelling, contentions, and every knowledge “Ye shall not eat of it, neither
thing that would injure our minds and shall ye touch it,” says “ Look not upon the
morals, if, at the same time, it had com- wine," “ It is not for kings to drink wine,"
manded us to use those beverages which, in &c.; and it would be the labour of years,
all ages and countries, have been the most and of volumes, to tell the fate of the millions
fruitful source of all these evils and crimes?
who have spurned the command, have
If the passage just quoted does not enjoin looked, coveted, taken, tasted, drunk, died,
total abstinence from all intoxicating drinks, and perished for ever.
then it will be difficult to find words which “Wine," says the wisest of men, "is a
could express such a prohibition.
mocker, and strong drink is raging, tumultu-
But the Bible has given us another in- ous, confusing, or stupifying, and he that
junction equally conclusive: “It is not for
is deceived thereby is not wise."'. Here the
kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to Holy Ghost tells us that wine is a mocker,
drink wine; nor princes strong drink: lest and that strong drink is raging or stupify-

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS,
111
sons.
ing; and dare we say that the Spirit of
There can never be a time when
truth wishes us to be "mocked," or that the more bodily vigour and mental energy are
Author of peace, order, and spiritual life, necessary, than when we are waiting upon
commands us to use a draught which will God; and if wine and strong drinks are
make us rage, confound our intellects, and conducive to either of these, we can hardly
produce stupidity? Here it is not said much suppose that God would have prohibited
wine is a mocker, much strong drink is the priests from enjoying the strength which
stupifying ; but while the words “mocker they might impart. The fact, then, that
and raging” point out the character of the he commanded those who came to his
drinks as intoxicating beverages, the plain altar to practice " total abstinence,” affords
implication of the text is, that we should a complete demonstration that our gracious
avoid the deception by totally abstaining and allwise Creator deemed intoxicating
How correct, also, is the remark respecting liquors not merely useless, but highly in-
their deception or mockery! how applicable jurious to that spirituality and piety which
to the present day! There is not a modern his worshippers ought to possess. Now,
drinker of beer, wine, or spirit, but is con- under the New Testament dispensation, all
stantly being mocked. The spirit of what true believers are made “priests and kings
he drinks stimulates him, and he foolishly unto God," and are “a royal priesthood;">
conceives that stimulus and excitement are indeed God told the Jewish church that it
real bodily strength ; when, instead of should be unto Him "a kingdom of priests;"
this, his frame is actually being poisoned and surely spirituality of mind, and free-
and weakened by the vile liquid that seems
dom from unhallowed passions, ought to
for awhile to animate him. His excite characterise those who live under a spiritual
ment must be 'followed by collapse; his dispensation. To approach the throne of
high spirits, when the fumes of the alcohol the Eternal, or engage in any part of his
have evaporated, must yield to ennui and service, stimulated by alcohol, is to have
depression. How pleasantly he felt under strange fire” in our nerves, brains, and
the stimulus of a moderate glass, but how heart, and must be highly offensive to Him
he is mocked, and how dearly, by indiges who has commanded us to be filled with
tion, trembling nerves, and often fatal dis- the Spirit. If wine was calculated to in-
eases, he pays for the delusive poison. He jure the devotion and spirituality of Aaron
asked for bread, and the mocker, wine, gave and his sons, then it is just as likely to in-
him a stone; he asked for a fish, and that jure our devotion aud spirituality; and that
mocker, strong beer, gave him a serpent; it has this effect upon thousands of Christians
he asked for an egg, and that mocker, ardent might be shown from their sleeping under
spirit, gave him a scorpion to bite him. the Word; from their debilitated and ner-
How unwise to be thus mocked, bitten, and vous frames; from their gloomy and hypo-
poisoned! Why not at once buy the bread, chondriacal views of religion; and their un-
Îhe fish, and the egg, and eat them, and happy and querulous tempers, arising chiefly
gain solid and substantial nourishment or entirely from the effects of the derange-
therefrom, and thus avoid this daily mockery. ment and disease of their bodily functions,
Well might the Holy Spirit say, “He that is consequent on even the moderate use of
deceived by wine or strong drink is not alcoholic drinks. We have already quoted
wise;" and, alas! in thousands of instances, the baneful effects on body, mind, and de.
the deception of these stimulants prevent votion, which Philo attributes to the use of
the poor deluded votaries from ever arriving wine, and which he says were the reasons
at true wisdom.
why God commanded the sons of Aaron
In Lev. x. 9, we read the following pro- totally to abstain; and every one who will
hibition, “ And Jehovah spake unto Aaron, candidly examine this subject, must per-
saying, Do not drink wine nor strong ceive that there are just as good reasons why
drink, thou, nor thy sons, nor thy sons with the worshippers of God should avoid the
thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the inebriating poisons of our day, as could be
congregation, lest ye die; it shall be a assigned for the prohibition imposed upon
statute for ever throughout your genera-
Aaron.
tions." This command was given imme- It may here be objected, that as the Jews
diately after that Nadab and Abihu had were allowed the use of wine at some of
perised for offering strange fire before the their feasts, it is evident that the Supreme
Lord, and may suggest that these profane did not expect all his worshippers to ab-
men had transgressed through wine. And stain. To this we reply, that there were
how many eminent ministers, both in Eng-two sorts of wine and sweet drinks: the
land and America, have fallen through the one, unfermented and innocuous ; the
influence of intoxicating drinks ? God, other, drugged and inebriating. When,
who knows all things from the beginning, therefore, wine was permitted, the Jews
foresaw the ravages that drinking would knew, from the benevolent character of the
commit on his church, and therefore en- Deity, who gave the permission, that the
joined "total abstinence" on Aaron and his drink allowed, was “ the pure blood of the

112
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
66
grape :” and when wine or sweet drink was the vine altogether. Philo tells us, that
prohibited, they also knew, from the purity, forgetfulness and rashness, or folly," were
and pity, and kindness of their divine Legis- two of the great evils that arose from drink-
lator, that the beverage was that which was ing wine. How important, then, was it,
inebriating. Having but one sort of wine that he, who was separated to God by a
among us, and that generally highly intoxi- solemn vow, should be laid under such re-
cating,—the weakest, probably, being far strictions as were most calculated to pre-
more intoxicating than the strongest among vent his falling away. We see, therefore,
the Jews,—we find it difficult to reconcile a that the total abstinence of the Nazarite
command not to drink wine, with the per- was intimately connected with his being
mission to use wine and sweet drink. But holy unto the Lord." Now, under the
let our circumstances be changed; let there Christian Dispensation, which is intended,
be two kinds of wine in the land, as there more than any other, to be a dispensation
were in Palestine and Rome; and let it be of holiness, surely believers ought especially
well understood that the one is innocuous, to abstain from everything that may endan-
and the other highly injurious to men's ger their piety and purity: and when we
minds, health, and morals, then should we consider how many professors of religion
have no difficulty in reconciling the prohi- are annually lost to the church, in conse-
bition from drinking wine with the per- quence of the use of inebriating drinks, we
mission to use it. Under such conditions, cannot sufficiently estimate the advantage
the obtusest intellect would thus reason : to Christian purity that would follow the
“ A God of love, out of pure love to us his universal adoption of total abstinence.
creatures, allows us to use the wine which It was particularly commanded, that nei-
is harmless, and prohibits us from drinking ther Samson nor his mother should “drink
that which would be pernicious.” Every wine or strong drink :" and we have reason
advocate of total abstinence will now say, to believe that the injunction was neither
“ Get me some of the nutrient innocent' arbitrary, nor intended for the instruction of
wine of Palestine or Rome, and I will drink that generation only. God works by means;
it ; but from the inebriating trash which and, in performing a miracle, rarely acts
the Jews or Italians drugged, or the Portu- contrary to his own natural laws. Now,
guese or English ferment, or adulerate with we are told by some medical physiologists-
alcohol, I totally abstain:" and in this no- indeed, it was asserted by some of the me-
ble resolution he acts, in accordance with dical men examined before the Committee
the will of God, as unfolded in the phy- of the House of Commons--that the use of
siology of our bodies, and the commands alcoholic drinks by parents is often attended
and cautions of the same benevolent Legis- with the most disastrous consequences to
lator, revealed to us in the holy scriptures. their children; and that the offspring of
The Nazarites, or persons who separated these wine, beer, or spirit-bibbers, are born
themselves to the Lord by a vow, were en- in a state of disease. We also know that
joined to observe total abstinence. It was the use of these liquors, even in modera-
said, “He shall separate himself from wine tion, must debilitate the frames of persons
and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of all ranks and ages. If, then, Samson or
of wine, nor vinegar of strong drink; nei- his mother had drunk these poisons, a two-
ther shall he drink any liquor of grapes." fold miracle would have been necessary :
We have before observed, that in warm first, the deleterious effects of alcohol must
countries, the vinous fermentation would have been cured; and, secondly, the re-
generally be followed by the acetous: and markable strength, for which he was re-
here we have not only wine and strong nowned, imparted: and therefore, that the
drink spoken of, but also “ the vinegar of spirit of God might have a healthy body on
wine and the vinegar of shacar, or palm which to display his power, the angel di-
wine,” agreeing exactly with what science rected that the mother should drink "neither
and observation suggest and affirm respect- wine nor strong drink," and that the son
ing the fermentation of sweet drinks in a should be “a Nazarite from the day of his
warm climate, or in warm weather. The birth to the day of his death," and, conse-
prohibition of the Nazarite appears to have quently, never use any kind of intoxicating
extended to every liquor of the grapes, liquor. “All scripture, given by inspiration
whether fermented or not; and the reason of God, is profitable for our instruction;" and
of this may have been, lest by any means therefore the injunction given to the mother
the one should be mistaken for the other; of Samson was intended to instruct future
and, being inadvertently overcharged with ages, and to point out, what science and
liquor, he might break his vow. Knowing history have since demonstrated, that de-
the sanctity of such an individual, some of bility of body would be the result of either
the impious drunkards of the day might parents or children drinking inebriating
have attempted to deceive him; and there- drinks, or indulging in luxury. While, then,
fore, that he might be perfectly secure, God the laws of the Nazarite associated total
commanded him to abstain from the fruit of abstinence and purity together, the remark-

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS.
113
says,
able strength of Samson taught that health, to object to the other words of Christ, and
bodily vigour, and entire abstinence from indeed to give up the inspiration of every
inebriating poisons were most intimately part of the word of God that opposed his
connected. The experiment of total absti- prejudices. And for what, we may ask, is
nence, in this country, and in America, has the inspiration of the words of the blessed
most fully confirmed these truths. Thou- Redeemer to be sacrificed? The only reason
sands who were sickly and weak as long as is, the fear that mankind will abandon a
they drank intoxicating liquors, by aban- poison which has visited the earth “ with a
doning them, have become strong and second curse!” Should the writer succeed
healthy; and thousands that before, through he may be assured, that there is not a demon,
the corrupting influence of these drinks, in the lowest abyss but stands ready to
were the pests of society, have, since they congratulate him on the fact, that through
have given up the poisonous bowl, become his labours, thousands will drink and die
respectable and moral, and have sought eternally.
that grace which has made them spiritual That our indulgent Creator has not
Nazarites. Not a few, also, who before deemed wine essential to the sustenance of
were rendered inert and useless by the mankind is evident from the fact, that when
corporeal and mental poison of alcohol, he himself has miraculously made provi-
since they have left off touching or tasting sion for his people, he has not thought
this pernicious bane, have been re-conse- proper to produce wine or intoxicating
crated to God, and are now eminently active drinks. For forty years long he fed the
and useful Christians.
children of Israel with manna, but we do
The writer of " Tee-totalism weighed in not find that he gave them any thing in-
the balances and found wanting," has felt toxicating to drink. For forty years there-
himself so sorely pressed with the example fore he allowed the congregation of Israel
of Samson, that he has denied the inspira- to drink nothing but water; and it is wor-
tion of the angel (doubtless the Redeemer thy of remark, that the children which were
himself, in the form of an angel,) who di- brought up in these principles of total ab-
rected Samson's mother to abstain, and stinence became the most moral and valiant
who commanded that her son should be "a of the Israelites that have existed from that
Nazarite from his birth to his death.” He day to this. The writer just quoted, who
"I conjecture no one will be suffi- denied the inspiration of the angel's in-
ciently bold to claim inspiration for the tee- junction to the wife of Manoah, says, that
totalism of Sampson." It was the Lord “the iron hand of necessity” caused these
Jesus himself that commanded Samson's Israelites to drink water for so long a period.
mother to practise total abstinence. His
It may be so, but unfortunately for the
words are most emphatic: “ Now, there- writer's argument, that hand which he
fore, beware, I pray thee, and drink no brands with the name 6 Iron," was the
wine nor strong drink.” We certainly are hand of Jehovah. It was Jehovah alone
bold enough to claim inspiration for these who provided them with drink, and that
words; and, further, that the phraseology drink was water. And surely our opponent,
intimates that the angel was particularly who, to rid himself of the example of Sam-
earnest in entreating the wife of Manoah son, gives up the inspiration of a divine
to abstain. It was the same divine angel command, will not wax so bold as to affirm,
that said, "the child shall be a Nazarite to that it would have been more difficult for
God from the womb," and therefore we are omnipotence to have brought them wine or
bold enough to claim inspiration for the strong beer to drink than it was to bring
Nazreate of Samson. And it was God them water. The “iron handed necessity,'
himself that prescribed rules to the Naza- of which he speaks, was, after all, the bene-
rite, and among them commanded that he volent will and gracious pleasure of our
should “drink neither wine nor strong indulgent Creator and Saviour. Omnipo-
drink;" we therefore must be bold enough tent love, which could as easily have given
to declare that the inspired voice of God these people wine or nectar, gave them
was the source of the total abstinence of water, and gave it them because infinite
the strongest man; and we add, that it wisdom and goodness deemed this drink
affords no small degree of evidence of the the most suitable for them, and the best
correctness of our principles that they are beverage with which they could be supplied.
thus sanctioned by the word of God, and Lest it should be intimated that they drank
that our opponent should be obliged to be- water as a punishment, it should be remem-
come an infidel and deny the inspiration of bered that the children and young people
God's word, before he could form an ar- were not the objects of divine indignation,
gument against our inference from this
nor were they thus punished for the sins of
scriptural example. The same audacity their fathers; besides the rich bounty of
that prompted this writer to deny that the Jehovah in feeding them with the “bread
words uttered by the Lord Jesus to Mano- of heaven," "with angels' food,” “in spread-
ah's wife were inspired, would allow him ing a table for them in the wilderness, and
I

114
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
bringing them water from the rock," are and for a time of festivity; but the question
often referred to in the Scripture, to show before us concerns intoxicating drinks,
that these young people were especially well which we never find him creating for the
provisioned during these forty years. multitude; and the small quantity of “in-
But we have another example of God's nocent” wine which he produced, together
providing for one who was especially a with the injunction not to look at wine,"
favourite of Heaven. The prophet Elijah and the command to the Priests, to the
was for a considerable time sustained by Nazarites, and to Samson, and John the
the immediate and miraculous providence Baptist, fully prove that he who gave us a
of Jehovah ; but we never read that wine body with which alcoholic drinks wage a
was set before him. The ravens brought deadly war, has in every instance confined
him “bread and flesh in the morning and those whom he has miraculously supplied
bread and flesh in the evening, and he with food ; or whose diet he has prescribed ;
drank of the brook.” Not a drop of wine or who were engaged in offices especially
was sent to the prophet; yet it would have sacred ; either to water or to drinks no
been easy for Omnipotence to have sent stronger than water. God's command, and
additional messengers with wine to cheer his divine example therefore enforce the
the prophet in his solitude. And on an- principle of total abstinence.
other occasion, when an angel brought him It is worthy of observation that the words
food, “a cake baken on the coals and a νηφαλιος, and νηφω, rendered in the New
cruise of water” was the provision. Here, Testament by the terms “sober," "vigilant,"
Mr. Jordan might say that the “iron hand and “watch," are allowed by all critics to
of necessity” compelled the prophet to come from the adverb. vn, not, and the verb
drink water, but still this iron hand was the tw, to drink, and signify,“ not to drink,"
hand of Jehovah; was the same hand that and of course refer to abstinence from ine-
brought water out of the rock for the Israel- briating liquors. Hesychius says that
ites, and although branded by a wine-bib-
νηφαλιος means μη πεπωκοτες, ,
not having
ber with the name “iron," is, after all, the drunk ;” and one of the significations given
hand of Divine love, and is never outstretch- to mow by Schleusner is, “ abstineo omnis
ed but at the dictate of infinite wisdom and potus inebriantis usu ;” “ I abstain from
goodness.
the use of all intoxicating drinks." It is
I might add to these examples, that when rather remarkable that the interpretation
the Saviour fed the multitudes, we never of the lexicographer should contain the very
hear that he gave them wine. He fed them words of the tee-total pledge. In Philo
with the loaves and the fishes, but he evi- these terms are repeatedly used, and there is
dently left them to drink water. He could scarcely an instance in which they do not
have created port and sherry, could have express " total abstinence.” The existence
anticipated the discovery of ardent spirit of such a word, as expressive of vigilance
and have mixed these wines with twenty and watchfulness, shows that the ancients
per cent of alcohol, if he had pleased. “The associated the use of wine, and mental
iron handed necessity” that kept him from slumber and idleness together; and, in the
doing it was, not the fates to which pagan very structure of this word, enjoined entire
gods were subject, but simply his own abstinence on those who would be vigilant,
pleasure, his own goodness, his own wis.watchful, and able both to attend to their
dom, and his own love.
duties and compete with their enemies.
I have indroduced these examples of How many who have become an easy prey to
Divine procedure because they afford a Satan and sin, might have stood if they had
striking demonstration that Jehovah has attended to the primitive advice contained
never considered that inebriating liquors are in the word yurs, “be vigilant," or
either necessary or useful as articles of diet, rather, “ do not drink, for your adversary
and therefore when he has spread a table goeth about as a roaring lion!” and who
in the wilderness, has never put wine upon so likely to become a prey as those who
The Israelites were fed by his imme- are in the habit of using intoxicating drinks?
diate bounty, so was Elijah, and so were “Wine and new wine take away the heart,"
the multitudes; but as long as they feasted says Hosea : and again, “The princes have
at the table which he miraculously supplied, made him (the king) sick with bottles of
they were all confined to "total abstinence.” wine: he stretched out his hands with the
Our wine-bibbers think it very hard to be
scorners." Habakkuk adds: “ He trans-
kept from wine when they visit the house gresseth also by wine; he is a proud man-
of a tee-totaller, but they would do well to who enlargeth his desire as hell." Here we
observe that those whom God miraculously are told that wine takes away the heart;
fed were always subjected to this fare. The produces sickness ; induces scorn, trans-
wine produced for the marriage in Cana gression, and insatiable desire; so that the
scarcely forms an exception, because we have wine drinker becomes heartless, diseased,
shown that it was not intoxicating; and a mocker at religion, a transgressor of God's
that it was produced in a small quantity, commands, and burns with an unquench-
it.

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS.
115
able thirst, and the most ungovernable lusts who perish by murder, starvation, grief, and
and passions. What a picture of the effects other evils resulting from inebriating liquors,
of intoxicating drinks! yet all this depra- we may safely affirm that, during the com-
vity of conduct might have been avoided by mon burial hours, the grave is every minute
total abstinence; for the Holy Spirit him- kept open in consequence of moderate and
self, in the texts quoted, has attributed these immoderate drinking. We may, therefore,
evils solely to drinking. What force such justly use the words of the prophet and say,
examples give to the command, “Be sober, “the grave hath enlarged herself, and hell
youts, Do not drink!"
hath opened her mouth without measure."
One of the most awful pictures of the Is it any wonder that a God of love com-
effects of drinking is given us by Isaiah : mands us not to “look upon wine;" that he
“Woe unto them that rise up early, that they prohibited it from his Nazarites and priests,
may follow strong drink, and continue until thathenever gave it to his prophets, nor placed
night, till wine inflame them! And the harp, it before those whom he miraculously sup-
and the viol, and the tabret, and the pipe, plied with food, or, in other words, fed at
and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard his table? When Christ changed the water
not the work of the Lord, neither consider into wine, was produced as a luxury, and
the operation of his hands. Therefore my not as an article of diet.
In other cases,
people are gone into captivity because they when God has miraculously fed the multi-
have no knowledge: and their honourable tude, he in no instance produced wine. In
men are famished, and the multitude are the dietetic rules prescribed to the Nazarites,
dried up with thirst : therefore hell hath to the priests, to the wife of Manoah, and her
enlarged herself, and opened her mouth son Samson, and to John the Baptist, he par-
without measure; and their glory, and their ticularly enjoined total abstinence; and
multitude, and their pomp, and he that strange would it have been if, as a God of love
rejoiceth, shall descend into it.” Isa. v. 11 and mercy, he had recommended a poison
-14. Here we have at one view an epitome which enlarges the grave, and peoples the bot-
of the dreadful consequences of drinking. | tomless pit. The only case in which he pro-
God and his works and dispensations are duced wine was at a festival, and we know,
disregarded, and spiritual ignorance is the from his character, that this wine was harm-
result: God's worship is neglected; the less. The only case in which he com-
people are enslaved, degraded, famished, mended it to an individual was as a medicine,
and parched with thirst: the most honour- and doubtless the wine was medicinal; in
able and respectable are brought to ruin; other instances we find him, both by his
and, in consequence of the aboundings of example and command, enjoining us to ab-
disease and crime, the grave is enlarged, and stain.
"hell opens her mouth without measure.” Need A careful examination of the Scriptures
westay to remark how closely the description will show not merely that fermented or ine-
of the prophet answers to the effects of drink- briating drinks are condemned by the word
ing in our own country? Here, in a land of God, but also, that unfermented wines,
of bibles and religious ordinances, the ale- for many ages, were not in general use. In
house and the gin-shop have been, on a Sab- by far the greater number of places in Holy
bath day, on an average, better attended Writ in which drinking is referred to, water
than the house of God: drunkards, and the is the beverage. The drink of Abraham
children of drunkards, and even of many appears to have been water, for when he
moderate drinkers, are ignorant as Hotten- sent Hagar and Ismael away, he gave them
tots: thousands of families are daily being a “bottle of water." The angel that ap-
starved, famished, and ruined: our grave-peared to Hagar when in distress, showed
yards are enlarged, and the grave constantly her a well of water. Abraham's servant,
kept open: and the abyss beneath is being when in Syria, asked of Rebekah nothing
hourly peopled with 'impenitent drinkers. but water. The great God, as shown al-
Sixty thousand drunkards in our own coun- ready, gave the Israelites in the wilderness
try die annually; many die drunk, and all nothing but water. Here are upwards of a
die prematurely in consequence of drinking. million people provisioned for forty years
Every ten minutes, therefore, the gate of by the immediate superintendence of the
death is opened to admit some poor victim Creator of the world, he, and he alone,
of strong drink to the bar of God to receive ordered and regulated their diet, and yet,
sentence from that Judge who has said, during all this time, he rigidly confined
“ The drunkard shall not inherit the king- them to water; nor do we find that they
dom of heaven.” As we do not bury by once murmured, or asked for wine. “They
night, but only through about eight hours asked for flesh, for leeks, and for garlic,
of the day, the grave is opened every three but never for wine.
At Rephidim and
minutes to admit the mortal remains of other places, the whole congregation
some poor wretch who has been slain by thirsted for water, and murmured for
strong drinks. And if to the list of drunkards water, but not a word did they utter
we add those who are poisoned and de- for “wine and strong drink;" a clear de-
stroyed by moderate drinking, and others | monstration this, that wine at that time was
I 2

116
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
not a
we
common beverage ; else these mur- word that for drink they shall have water.
murers had never been silent about the hard- Then “ with joy shall ye draw water out of
ship of being confined to water. Gideon's the wells of salvation," is another gracious
three hundred valiant soldiers were drinkers declaration of the same inspired penman,
of water. Both Samson and his mother and which receives a beautiful illustration
were commanded of God to drink nothing from Numb. xxi. 16–18. 6 And from
but water. King Saul had a cruse of water thence they went to Beer: that is the well,
at his bolster in the cave. Ånd if the mo- whereof the Lord spake unto Moses,
narch drank water, we may be sure that Gather the people together, and I will give
his army drank nothing better. David and them water. Then Israel sang this song:
his men drank water; for they had nothing Spring up, O well! sing ye unto it. The
but water to give the fainting Egyptian. princes digged the well, the nobles of
And when Ziba brought him a bottle of the people digged it, by the direction of
wine, he put it by “for the sick.”
Even at the lawgiver.” Here
find these
the feast of the drunken Nabal, water ap- people as delighted and joyful round a
pears to have been the chief beverage of a well of water as the sons of dissipation
the majority of the people. “Shall I take,” could be over their cups, and indeed more
said the churl, “my bread and water, so: the joy here was rational, it was not
and the flesh that I have killed for my followed by depression, nor was the drink
shearers, and give them unto men that I that produced it poisonous either to their
know not whence they be?! Here it is bodies or their minds. These same Israel-
evident that at the joyful season of sheep- ites, when asking leave to pass through
shearing, nothing but water was provided Edom and other countries, asked for no
for the greater part of the guests. It is true better drink than water, and proposed to
he and his favourites drank something purchase it. Surely if they had been as
stronger at his table; but the next morn- fond of strong drink as the moderns, we
ing his wine had left him so nervous, that should have heard something about their
a threat from David the water-drinker buying wine rather than water, and of
frightened him to death. Nabal, the fool, course if wines had abounded or been a com-
as his name imports, may be taken as a mon drink, the Edomites would have been
very fair sample of wine drinking and its able to furnish them with an ample supply.
effects. Abigail, in her valuable presents We have before shown that God prescribed
to David, brought him no wine. What an to the Nazarites, to Aaron and his sons,
omission this must have been if wine was and to John the Baptist, total and entire
the common drink. The old prophet that abstinence from all inebriating drinks; and
came to Jeroboam was commanded “to we have reason to believe that the common
eat no bread and drink no water in Bethel," beverage of the Son of God was water.
a plain proof that water was the common His disciples went into the city to buy food,
drink; and the old prophet that deceived not to buy wine, and the Redeemer, not
him and brought him back, gave him anticipating such a beverage, asked the
nothing but water. Elijah was for a long Samaritan to give him water from Jacob's
period supplied with food by the ravens, well. When his followers also returned,
and had nothing to drink but the water of they prayed him, saying, "Master, eat,"
the brook; and when he came to Zidon, he not “Master, drink.” The accusation that
asked of the widow woman no other drink he was a “wine-bibber.” was as great a
than water. The angel that brought him libel as that he was a glutton; there is not
the food that was to carry him to Horeb, the shadow of a doubt but that he generally
gave him nothing to drink but a cruse of drank water.nl
Obadiah fed a hundred of the These quotations are sufficient on this head,
Lord's prophets on bread and water. and fully prove that water was the common
The king of Israel set bread and water beverage of the people. There is every
before the army of the Syrians, and it reason to believe that even their best
is said, that he set great provision before wines and most harmless wines, were only
them.” The king of Assyria promised to used occasionally at festivals, or as medi-
the Jews if they would submit to him, that cines. At any rate, if we will only weigh
they should " eat every man of his own vine, water-drinking and wine-drinking, as re-
and of his own fig-tree, and drink the corded in the Scripture, in an even balance,
waters of his own cistern." Here the fruit we must perceive that water-drinking very
of the vine was to be eaten, and the people greatly preponderates, and has the especial
were to drink water. The traveller in Job sanction of the divine command and divine
went to the brook for water. In Isaiah we
example. He provided diet for a million
read of the whole stay of bread, and the of people for forty years, he brought them
whole stay of water." The same prophet food and water by miracle, but never allowed
says “ Bread shall be given, and water shall them one drop of wine. We are rather
be sure.
This is the provision that God surprised that those who are so strenuous
engages to make for his people, but he does for the use of alcoholic drinks, because, as
not promise them wine, he only pledges his I they say, they are commended in Scripture,
water.
>

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS.
117
STOC
do not stay to consider that God speaks in
CHAPTER VII.
his Word in the highest terms of water: if,
Water Drinkers. Testimonies in favour of Water
therefore, tee-totallers are committing a sin from Physiologists, Naturalists, and Medical Men,
in avoiding wine and brewers' beer, then and of Divines, and Theological writers, concern-
wine-bibbers are sinning to a greater de-
ing Drinking. Hebrews, Egyptians, Macrobians,
Ethiopians, Greeks, Ancient Romans, Chaldeans,
gree in rejecting water, because the Word
Cyrus, Ancient Britons, Indians, Mahometans,
of God speaks more highly of water than it Circassians, Daniel and the Nazarites, Mr. Buck-
does of wine. But I shall conclude this ingham, Dr. Jacksoll, Captain Ross, Parry, Dr.
chapter,
Farre. Health of Prisoners and Convicts, Suevi.
From a careful examination of the word
Countries that were ruined by Drinking. Present
inhabitants of Mount Lebanon. Wives and
of God, we find that in no single instance Children of Drunkards. English Tee-totallers.
can it be proved that it has mentioned in-
Numerous Testimonies of Medical Men in favour
of a Water Beverage. Testimoniés of Divines and
toxicating drinks with approbation; and
Theological Writers, and Ministers of the present
consequently, those who use alcoholic poi- day.
sons are left without the least sanction
NOTWITHSTANDING the great stress that we
from that unerring guide. Far from com- lay upon alcoholic beverages, it is a well
mending such drinks as inebriate, it tells attested fact, that a very great proportion
us that they “ bite like a serpent, and sting of the world has, from the most ancient
like an adder;" total abstinence is there- times, been in the habit of drinking no-
fore in exact accordance with the letter
thing stronger than water.
We have seen
and spirit of the word of God. And when, that the Bible, which is the oldest record
independent of other reasons, we duly in the world, most fully corroborates this
consider the great obligation of self-denial sentiment. That wines were used at fes-
for the good of others, which the gospel tivals, in sacred libations, and also as
enjoins, even to the laying down of life medicines, none can deny; but then it is
itself, would it benefit either friend or
equally clear that they were almost, if not
foe, the duty of total abstinence is placed entirely confined to these uses.
We have
beyond the shadow of a doubt; by drinking also, from an appeal to history and science,
what is intoxicating we encourage others proved that many of the drinks, which in
to do the same, and thus our example may former times were denominated wines, were
lead them astray, and be their ruin. as free from anything like alcohol as the
“Destroy not him by thy meat for whom
purest water. In the last chapter I showed
Christ died,” is the Apostle's exhortation ; that Abraham, Samson, Saul, David, Elijah,
and to enforce it, he mentions his own John the Baptist, the Prophets, the Priests,
determination ; “Wherefore, if meat make and the Nazarites drank water.
The fact,
my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh
that the Israelites, during the whole time
while the world standeth, lest I make my that their diet was under the immediate
brother to offend." In another place he direction of Jehovah, were supplied with
says,
6 Be not drunk with wine wherein is
this simple beverage alone, speaks volumes.
excess, but be filled with the Spirit, speak- Were any of us to live with an individual
ing to yourselves in psalms and hymns, and for forty years, and during that period
spiritual songs ;” which evidently prohibits were he to have the sole care of providing
us from seeking the senseless excitement of us with food and drink, and although it
inebriating liquors; and commands us to
was just as easy for him to give us wine as
obtain the quickening influence of the
water; yet, if notwithstanding the large
Holy Ghost: inspired by his grace, we quantity of wine he possessed, he for the
shall not want the vile mirth of the drunk-whole period kept out of our sight every
ard, but shall have the melody of divine thing alcoholic or intoxicating, and confined
love in our hearts, and the praises of God us solely to water, I think we should natu-
on our tongues.
rally conclude, that he approved of total
agad te
abstinence. And further, if the person that
do zastos acted thus was a friend, in whose judg-
9157 y lodom
ment we could place the highest confidence,
chant
Der Holochoene and whose sincere regard for us admitted
ty
not the least shadow of a doubt, we should
very rationally consider that water was
to add bobro better for us than any other liquid; for was
Bravo
it not so, our friend would provide for us a
est est ---
more wholesome drink. Further, were we
mi soninio toto in a state of entire destitution, and the
olimo dat de betaal same kind-hearted, and very judicious
dodano friend compassionated our wants, and sent
Sowolovni
deb book some of his messengers, or some of his
O ooooo most honourable attendants to us, with a
ឲ្យមានប្រទេស daily portion of food and drink, and still
danh lots et adol directed that our only beverage should be
wine bottom odboldo

118
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
water, we should have the impression deep- their constant and daily beverage. And if
ened that he thoroughly approved of total
Heredotus mentions that an earthen vessel
abstinence. And again, were he, knowing of wine was brought from Greece and
the close connexion there is between diet, Phænicia, twice a year into Egypt in the
natural strength, and moral character, and days of Cambyses; the phraseology shows,
being anxious that we should excel in each, that the quantity imported was very small,
were he, under these convictions, to direct and was carried thither only “ twice a
that we should avoid all luxurious living, year." In the same narrative, he also
and never taste “ wine or strong drink ;' states, that these earthen vessels were filled
we should certainly believe, that the prin- with water, and sent to arid places for
ciple of total abstinence was one which he the people to drink, so “ that you would
considered to be intimately connected with not see there one vessel filled with wine,
our bodily vigour, mental energy, and the εν κεραμιον οινοδον αριθμο κειμενον ουκ εστι ιδεσθαι, ,"
sanctity of our characters. And what if Book iii, 6. The barley wine, of which the
this same personage, on one solitary occasion same historian speaks, was a very poor in-
at a festival, had produced wine, or, on sipid liquor, and yet, as the wine vessels
another, had recommended a little as a were filled with water for the people to drink,
medicine, to one whose stomach was dis- even that article was not a common bever-
eased; yet, as in neither of these instances, age.
It is therefore certain, that as late
it had been supplied as an article of diet, as the time of Cambyses, wine was not in
we should not allow these isolated cases to general use ; at that period the people ge-
remove from us the impression that he was nerally drank water.
favourable to total abstinence, on all or- In the same chapter of Herodotus that
dinary seasons of taking food, and for all we have just quoted, we have an account
persons in the enjoyment of health. If to of the Ethiopians, termed “Macrobians,"
the circumstances mentioned above it might because of their longevity. These people,
be added, that although a million of persons, he tells us, were remarkable for their
noted for their disposition to be dissatisfied beauty and the large proportion of their
and to murmur, had been thus fed on the body, in each of which they surpassed other
principle of total abstinence, for forty years,
men." In the age of Cambyses “they lived
yet not a single word of disapprobation had to a hundred and twenty years old, and
escaped their lips, I think we should say some to a longer period; yet they feasted
that the people were tee-totallers. And if, upon roasted flesh and used milk for their
fifteen hundred years after the last-men- drink.” These people were the neigh-
tioned event occurred, we find the descend- bours of the Egyptians, and must have been
ants of these very people fed by five thousand well acquainted with their mode of living,
at a time, and that the individual who feasts and probably would have been influenced
them, does so for the purpose of raising by them if they had been drinkers of wine.
his character in their estimation, and yet This testimony of the father of history is
at the feast gives them nothing but water valuable, because it shows that these Ethi-
to drink; and the multitude, though not opians, who abstained from alcoholic, or
the most contented and best behaved in the intoxicating drinks, were tall, strong, hand-
world, are so well pleased, that numbers of some, and so noted for their longevity as to
them follow him because “they did eat of be called “ Macrobians."
the loaves and were filled," we should From a passage already quoted from
certainly conclude that the thousands fed Homer, we learn that Hector, who was
were as rigid tee-totallers as the being who contemporary with Samson, considered
fed them. Now I need not add that the wine as "enervating," and therefore refused
cases thus supposed are the identical facts to drink any, although pressed to do so by
recorded in Scripture, and that they fully his mother; and if Hector did not drink
demonstrate that the God of Heaven ap- wine, we may rest assured that the hero
proves of total abstinence, and that the did not administer it to his troops.
people whom he fed were tee-totallers. Pliny assures us that the ancient Romans
I have referred to these examples of Holy had not wine to drink, but that water or
writ again, for the purpose of putting them milk was their beverage; and we know
in as strong a light as possible; and further, that both poets and historians dwell on
that we may be able to show that these those olden times of total abstinence as the
abstinent habits were in exact accordance golden age of Italy. We find Virgil de-
with those of other ancient countries. scribing the ancient inhabitants of that
We have seen that the king of Egypt
country by the river whose waters supplied
drank the juice squeezed out of the grape
them with drink. Homer uses the same
into his cup; and that the Israelites, who phraseology respecting some of the Greeks.
lived in Egypt for so long a time, when We have shown that the Chaldeans were
recounting the luxuries they enjoyed in the originally water-drinkers, for we find Abra-
land of Goshen, never mentioned wine, ham, who was a native of Ur, of the Chal-
but were perfectly satisfied with water, as dees, using no other beverage; and when

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS.
119
c bottle of
mon use.
he sent Hagar and Ismael away, gave them, European would quail; yet these persons
not a bottle of wine, but a
drink nothing stronger than water." In
water." This he certainly would not have Turkey, Persia, and Samarcand, he ob-
done if wine had been the liquor in com- served the same practice of drinking nothing
stronger than water to prevail, and yet the
The history of Cyrus shows that the athletæ of Persia equal those of Hindoo-
ancient monarchs of Persia did not use
stan. The seapoys of India drink nothing
wine; and if the kings practised total absti- stronger than water, and yet can travel
nence, we may be sure that the people did twenty or thirty miles a day under a burn-
not use a more costly drink than their sove- ing sun, with heavy burdens on their
reigns. Cambyses became fond of wine, shoulders, and feel little fatigue. Mr.
but still we learn from Herodotus, that the Buckingham says that in Mesopotamia he
army of that monarch had nothing but himselfhad ridden 800 miles in ten successive
water for their common drink.
days, with the thermometer at 125 degrees
The ancient Britons were noted for their in some parts of the journey, and below
“fine athletic form, for the great strength freezing point in others, and yet he drank
of their bodies, and for being swift of foot. nothing but water. Dr. Jackson says that
They excelled in running, swimming, he travelled in Jamaica, on foot, 118 miles
wrestling, climbing, and all kinds of bodily in four days, and carried baggage equal to
exercise; they were patient of pain, toil, the knapsack of a common soldier, and
and sufferings of various kinds: were ac- drank only tea-water or lemonade. He
customed to fatigues, to bear hunger, cold, attributed his escape from disease to his
and all manner of hardships. They could entire abstinence.
run into morasses up to their neck, and The Koran enjoins on the followers of
live there for days without eating.” Such Mahomet total abstinence from wine; and
is the testimony of Dr. Henry in his history a very large number of his disciples rigidly
of England; yet he tells us that they fed adhere to this injunction, especially in
on milk, flesh, roots, and leaves; and we Arabia ; and yet these men and women are
have already seen from the speech of Queen among the strongest and finest people upon
Boadicea, that their “drink was water.” earth. The conquests of the Saracens were
Could one of these fine athletic men rise in a great measure owing to their absti-
from the dead, and look at the present sickly, nence, for no sooner did they begin to relax
nervous, deformed, dwarfish, pale-faced, or in their obedience to this command of the
bloated, sluggish inhabitants of our island, prophet than they began to degenerate and
surely he would not conclude that wine, succumb to their enemies. The Turks be-
gin, or strong beer, had improved us in fore their conversion to Mahometanism
stature, comeliness, or vigour. England, drank water or milk, yet Seljuk, the father
for want of cultivation, draining, &c., must of the Seljukian dynasty, lived to be a
then have been a hundred times more un- hundred and seventy years old ; and scarcely
healthy than it is now, and yet, since that was there a throne in Asia, Europe, or
time, diseases have multiplied a hundred Africa, but tottered before the power of his
fold, and in a great measure from our luxu- abstinent sons. The Seljukians, the hordes
rious living, but mainly and chiefly from of Zengis Khan, of the Ottomans, and of
intoxicating drinks, Were we to continue Tamerlane, were originally tee-totallers,
to increase the use of these poisons for and in becoming Mahometans avowed the
another century at the rate that we have principle of total abstinence; yet these four
done for the last hundred years, the chief angels of the Apocalypse subdued and con-
shops among us would be gin-shops and quered by far the greater part of the world.
apothecaries; and the chief employments It is worthy of remark that luxury and in-
those of the doctor, the undertaker, and the temperance was the main cause of the
sexton; and poor-houses, hospitals, lunatic degeneracy of the descendants of these
asylums, prisons, hulks, and grave-yards, heroes.
would be multiplied and enlarged beyond The Circassians are allowed by all to be
any present calculation. Thank God, total the most beautiful and handsome people
abstinence has already checked the destroy- upon earth: the men are tall, athletic, and
ing fiend, and is about to step between the very strong: and the beauty of Circassian
living and the dead, that the plague may be women has been celebrated for ages; yet
stayed.
these fine people are distinguished for their
The Vedas, or sacred books of the In- strict observance of the principle of total
dians, forbid the use of wine, and yet these abstinence.
Indians surpass Europeans in strength and The Rechabites mentioned by Jeremiah,
capacity to endure fatigue. Mr. Bucking- abstained entirely from wine and strong
ham says, “that the wrestlers and quoit drink, and to this day observe the total ab-
players of Upper Hindoostan are among stinence principle which they received from
the most muscular and powerful men he their father; and while other nations have
had ever seen, before whom the strongest passed away and are now no more, the

120
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
99
Rechabites still exist as a monument of Sydney, all the convicts were in perfect
God's blessing and protection.
health, and no case of serious illness nor
Daniel and his fellows drank nothing but any death had occurred amongst them
water, and yet surpassed their companions, during the entire voyage, which occupied
who drank wine, in their fine healthy ap- nearly seven months. Of the crew, some
pearance.
died on the passage, and of the remainder
It is said of the Nazarites, who never several were reported sick on landing."
drank wine, that they “were more ruddy in This is an important testimony in favour of
body than rubies, their polishing was of total abstinence, because the individuals on
sapphire." What fine models of the good whom the experiment was made had lived
effects of total abstinence these men must very irregular lives before; and, during
have been to the whole Jewish people! these seven months must have been exposed
Their fine ruddy countenance, and beautiful to a very great variety of climate. As one
complexion polished by health rather than reads this narrative, one cannot help re-
oil, demonstrated that tee-totalism supplied flecting that most of these three hundred
the choicest kalydor, while their strict and degraded females might have been saved
exemplary piety showed that the principle from infamy, if their parents, guardians,
was highly conducive to the development of and employers, had early instilled into their
the highest moral endowments. Had they minds the principles of total abstinence.
drunk intoxicating drinks, they would have Perhaps there are no persons in the
been either thin, bilious, sallow, nervous, or country that enjoy such excellent health
else bloated, pimple-faced beings, unable as our prisoners and convicts; and yet these
from natural debility to fulfil the great are kept on water as a beve ge. The chief
moral obligations of their vow.
cause why those who are sent to lunatic
Those South Sea Islanders, who drink asylums often return home restored to
nothing stronger than water, we are assured sanity, can be traced to their entire absti-
by eye witnesses, would be fine models for nence while in a state of confinement : and,
a statuary. It is also said that those among alás! many of them relapse when they
them who drink inebriating liquors become return to the use of fermented drinks;
mere skeletons.
Captain Ross, Captain neither themselves nor their friends having
Parry, and the Rev. Mr. Scoresby, have learnt wisdom from their affliction or me-
shown that in the frozen regions the health dical treatment.
of the men was preserved by their abstain- Cæsar, speaking of the Suevi, says that
ing from all intoxicating drinks; the same "they were by far the greatest and most
fact is attested by other witnesses who have powerful in war of all the nations of Ger-
visited the cold climates of the north. Dr. many;" and adds, “They live, for the most
Farre, in his evidence before the House of part, on milk and animal food. Wine they
Commons, mentions the case of a gentle- do not admit at all to be imported among
man who was taken as a prisoner to Algiers, them, because they believe that by it men
and doomed to work, chained to another are enervated, made effeminate, and incapable
prisoner, from four in the morning until of enduring labour." How exactly the
four in the afternoon, under the burning judgment of these Suevi accords with the
sun of Africa, and allowed nothing to eat facts of history. The ancient nations were
but black bread-bread made of black powerful in proportion as they were absti-
wheat and the vegetable locust-and no- nent, and became effeminate in proportion
thing to drink but water! This person as they indulged in inebriating liquors.
declared to Dr. Farre, “ that during the Babylon and Nineveh might have been
whole time, notwithstanding the heat of saved by tee-totalism: it was drunkenness
the climate, and the hardness of his labour, that corrupted them, and made them an
he enjoyed perfect health, and had not a easy prey to their enemies. The Persian
day's illness; when this same individual tee-totallers took Babylon in consequence
returned to British fare he had to consult a of the citizens being worse than beastly
physician."
modo
drunk. The Tower of Belus, in its present
It has long been known that thieves and dilapidated state, seems to have been pre-
others who have come to our prisons in a served until now as the fearful tombor
state of disease, soon began to enjoy excel- monument of that drunken city. We might
lent health, arising from their being pro.. call it the " Drunkard's Memorial.” The
hibited the use of strong drinks, and confined Persians, in their turns, adopted the vices
to water as a beverage. Mr. Mempriss, of those they had conquered, and then
author of Scriptural Charts, &c., states became the easy prey of their enemies.
" that when he was purser on board a con- Drunkenness shivered the vast empire which
vict ship, they took out to Botany Bay Alexander commanded, and called his own.
nearly 300 females in one vessel. These Rome conquered the world by the valour of
convicts were allowed no other beverage her abstinent heroes; but luxury and in-
than water, whilst the crew had their temperance paralysed the energies of her
regular allowance of grog. On landing at citizens, reduced her to a state of dependency

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS.
121
on the abstinent barbarian hordes that dweltthem 100, and 110 years of age. It was
on her frontiers, and at length made her wittily observed by this Syrian, that the
the easy prey of these courageous tee-total- term “Gin," in the Arabic language, means
lers. The history of the Saracens and Turks the “ Devil.” And the facts he advanced
affords another illustration of the same proved that if we were under the inspira-
truth. The luxurious Saracens of Bagdadtions of Satan himself, we could not more
trembled in the presence of the abstinent effectually perform his work than we do,
Turks, and yielded to their power; and, in when we drink gin or other alcoholic liquors.
their turn, the Turks, inebriated with opium By using these drinks, we prejudice foreign-
instead of wine, are passively waiting to be ers against Christianity; we shorten human
swept away from the face of the earth. life, and we ruin men's souls; and I need
And unless we, as a nation, awake from not add that these are the works of the devil,
this debasing vice, Britain, in some future and the works of gin. Not Lucifer is more
age, will add another awful example to warn potent to destroy than gin, and other alco-
empires and individuals against the use of
holic liquors.
intoxicating drinks. We now have history, To the facts already advanced, to show
science, and every sort of information, to that men are better, stronger, live longer,
induce us to be wise in time; and should
and are
more active and more moral, if
we be sufficiently prudent to dash from our they abstain from alcoholic liquors, I may
lips the poisonous bowl, and sweep the
add the testimonies of the thousands who
accursed leaven or ferment from our houses have now for several years made trial of the
and from the land, we then shall be safe principle. Indeed, without appealing to
and happy; but if deaf to every admonition these, we might learn from the families of
of God and man, we still continue, by our drunkards, and from drunkards themselves,
moderation,” as we style it, to manufacture that these liquors are far from being neces-
drunkards out of our sons, daughters, rela- sary. Notwithstanding the ardour with
tions, friends, and neighbours, then, as we which men contend for nutritious proper-
look at the ruins of Nineveh or Babel, we ties of these drinks, yet it is well known
may read our own doom, future degradation, that the drunkard generally makes tee-
and ruin.
totallers of his wife and his children, and
In a speech delivered at the public meet- keeps them, at the same time, on the scantiest
ing of the New British and Foreign Tem- and coarsest provision; and yet, who enjoys
perance Society, in Exeter Hall, London, the best health ?—the tippler or his absti-
May 16th, 1838, Assaad Yokoob Kayat, a nent family? After all their privations and
native Syrian, stated that, in attempting the hardships, the poor half-starved wife and
conversion of the Mahometans, the greatest children are in much better health and
difficulty arose from the question being habit of body than the guzzling husband,
asked him, “Do not Christians drink strong bloated with ale, or poisoned with gin.
liquors and get drunk ?"? The Mahometans The extravagance of the drunkard also
said to him, “God has given the English dooms him, for a great portion of the week,
the faith they profess; their paradise is in to live hard, work hard, and drink water;
this world; they will have wine only in this and he is compelled to own that he never is
world, and then they will perish. Wine is
so fit for labour as when he is a tee-totaller.
their pleasure and their paradise. But Ma- Our principle, therefore, is good,
hometans have not the wine of drunkenness enemies themselves being judges."
in this world, and they shall have the wine But we have other witnesses. The fol-
of true pleasure in the eternal world. A lowing is the testimony of harvest-labourers
Mahometan doctor being asked, What was in Bedfordshire burdensom
the most disgusting sight to his eyes ? re- “We, the undersigned, do testify that we
plied, “The most disgusting sight to me is harvested this year for Mr. W. S. Partridge,
a drunken person.'” We often think that of Leegrave, in the parish of Luton, Bedford-
the conversion of Mahometans is almost a shire, and acted upon the principle of total
forlorn hope; but we ought to remember abstinence from all intoxicating drink; and
that our habits of drinking, which to these we feel much pleasure in stating that we
abstinent people are so horribly disgusting, have done our work with much less fatigue,
present an almost insurmountable barrier less thirst, and enjoyed better health than
in the way of their receiving the Christian we did in harvests before, when we drank
faith. In how many ways, alas! may it be ale. We used this harvest, tea, coffee, and
said, that in drinking wine we are drinking toast-water for our drink."
our brother's blood !
(Signed) WILLIAM GROOM, Luton.
The individual just quoted remarked
Rich. TEAVLE, Houghton Regis.
that she had lately visited Mount Leba-
DAVID TEAVLE,
do do.
non: there he found the people as large as Sept. 9, 1837.
giants, and very strong and active; they
oholt
lived almost entirely on dates, and drank The following is the declaration of some
only water, and there were many among stonemasons, at Milbank :-
our

122
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
“We not only approve the principle of torrid plains; from him who dwells in the
total abstinence, but have ourselves adopted frosts of the North, and from him that
the practice; since which, we not only feel cultivates or labours in the temperate zones.
better in health, and improved in circum- The Nazarite, the priest, the prophet, the
stances, but we can work better, and feel prince, the general, the soldier, the sailor,
less fatigue in its performance, at the same the reaper, and the mechanic, in all ages,
time that our general habits and moral in all climates, in all countries, have prac-
characters are essentially improved." tised total abstinence with advantage. On
(Signed) WILLIAM TORTOISESHELL, the other hand, against the use of intoxi-
WILLIAM BLOWER,
cating drinks, the voice of science, medicine,
THOMAS KING.
physiology, and chemistry; the voice of
Sept. 17, 1837.
history, ancient and modern, and of phiio-
sophers, historians, and moralists of every
We have another statement, more nu- age, is lifted up. From Revelation, God,
merously signed.
who has spoken in all the diseases that these
" We, the undersigned operative smiths liquors originate, has uttered the most
and cutlers, members of the New British solemn warnings against these drinks. He
and Foreign Temperance Society, having tells us that they have " enlarged the grave,
acted upon the principle of total abstinence and opened the mouth of hell without mea-
from all intoxicating drinks, willingly state,
sure."
And from our hospitals, lunatic
that since we have done so, we have found asylums, jails, hulks, condemned cells, and
ourselves much more capable of performing gallows, there is one deep groan, waxing
our work, with less fatigue, with our healths deeper and deeper, and louder and louder,
improved, and our domestic comforts greatly to move us to abstain. From the abodes
increased." This declaration was signed of wretchedness and starvation; from the
in London by Three coach-spring makers, couches of ten thousands of the sick excru-
Two coach-spring makers' hammermen, ciated with every description of pain ; from
One tyre-smith, Two coach-smiths, One the murdered, the dying, and the impeni-
smith and farrier, One engineer's hammer- tent, perishing in his sins, there issues one
man, Five blacksmiths, One scale-beam appalling shriek, the most thrilling that ever
maker, and Two cutlers. These men varied reached the human ear, or pierced the hu-
from the age of eighteen to sixty; and some man heart. Heaven, earth, and hell, cry
of them had adopted and practised total aloud unto us, and command us to ab-
abstinence for nearly Two years. From stain.
Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Preston, These sentiments have been sufficiently
the ironworks of North Wales and Scot- illustrated by preceding testimonies and
land, we could obtain similar statements. historical facts; but that nothing may be
From ministers of the gospel, medical men, wanting, the following declarations may be
females nursing their children; from con- of some value. Men the most renowned
firmed drunkards, and those who had never in science and medicine, have given their
been intoxicated; from the sickly, and those most unequivocal and disinterested opinion
who seemed to be strong, we have the same in favour of the use of that simplest and
testimony, that they have adopted total | purest of all beverages, water.
abstinence with the greatest advantage to Pliny says that "he considered it a great
their health, vigour, comfort, and moral absurdity that mankind should bestow so
feeling. From the united voices of upwards much labour and expense in making arti-
of one million of tee-totallers in England, ficially such a variety of liquors, when na-
and from full a million voices in America, ture has supplied to their hands a drink of
we have the same testimony, that study so superior a quality as water."
and mental exercise; that bodily labour, Every scholar remembers the first words
whether that of the sedentary mechanic, in the first Olympian Ode of Pindar," Aglo-
of the smith, or ploughman, can be per- τον μεν υδωρ, , water is indeed the best
formed with less fatigue and much more thing."
pleasure and comfort by the agent, if nothing The words “ living water," and "water
intoxicating is drunk.
of life,” and “waters of salvation," are in-
In upwards of a thousand vessels and ships tended to express ancient opinions respect-
trading from America to this country, total ing the general use of water, and high
abstinence is practised. Hundreds of sea- estimation in which it was held. Spring
men, therefore, exposed to all the hardships up, O well! sing ye unto it!" is one of the
of the deep, are performing their labour beautiful odes of Scripture, addressed by
with much less fatigue, and with infinite water-drinkers to this wholesome beverage.
advantage to their health and morals, and The celebrated medical writer, Boer-
to the safety of their cargoes. Thus, then, haave, says, “If drink be required merely for
there is one voice in favour of total absti- allaying thirst or dryness, and diminishing
nence which comes from every nation, an- the acrimony of the fluids, then is pure
cient or modern ; from him who tills the water the best drink for robust man. Plain
66

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS.
123
food and water for drink render our bodies most proper beverage for man and for
the most firm and strong."
animals; it cools and clears the blood ; it
Dr. Hoffman, a Prussian physician of keeps the stomach, nerves and head in
great note, considered water as a preventive order, and makes man tranquil, serene, and
of
many diseases, as well as an absolute healthful.”
cure of them. « First, because pure water Dr. Hufeman, on the art of prolonging
is agreeable to the different natures of all life, observes that “the best drink is water,
men. Secondly, that no remedy can more a liquor commonly despised and deemed
effectually secure health and prevent disease prejudicial; it is one of the greatest means
than water.” He adds, “That drinkers of of prolonging life." He mentions a sur-
pure water are more healthy and longer geon, “who was a miserable hypochondriac
lived than drinkers of wines and malt liquors. at the age of forty, but was afterwards cured
It gives them a better appetite, and renders by the use of water, and lived to be eighty,
them plump and fleshy. Drinkers of water his last years being his most healthy."
are more alert and active in body and mind Dr. Moreley adds, "I aver from my own
than beer-bibbers.” Speaking of mineral knowledge and custom, as well as from
springs, he says, “The major part of their that of others, that those who drink nothing
efficacy is beyond all dispute, owing to the but water, or make it their principal drink,
quantity of pure elementary water which are but little affected by climate, and can
they contain."
undergo the greatest fatigue without incon-
Zimmerman declares “that water is the venience.” “Navigators from the northern
most suitable drink for man, and does regions testify that the greater part of those
not chill the ardour of genius." He says, who die under the severity of the cold are
6 that the sole drink of Demosthenes was those who drink other drinks than water,
water."
while the water drinkers survive."
Sir John Floyer says, "that water drinkers Dr. Beardley says, respecting the water
are temperate in their actions, prudent, and drinkers of Asia and the Himmalaya
ingenious. They live safe from the dis- mountains, that “they are able to carry a
eases which affect the head, such as apo- burden of four hundred weight, and that
plexies, palsies, pains, blindness, deafness, one of them had more strength than three
convulsions, and madness; water resists pu- British soldiers." This latter fact was
trefaction and cools burning heat."
affirmed by a British officer.
Another writer observes,"water drinkers Dr. Mainwaring, in his “Method and
are more healthy and longer lived than Means of Enjoying Health,” asserts that
others ; in such the faculties of body and " water is the most wholesome drink, the
mind are stronger; their teeth whiter and most suitable for human nature, answering
more perfect, and their sight less subject to all the purposes of common drinks; it is a
failure. All drinks supply the wants of drink that is a rule to itself, and requires
nature only by the quantity of elementary little caution in the use of it, since none
water which they contain."
will be tempted to drink more of it than he
Dr. Gregory asserts, “The sole primitive needs. In the primitive ages of the world,
and main natural drink is water, which water drinkers were the longest livers by
when pure is suitable to all sick persons hundreds of years; not so often sick or
and all stomachs, however delicate. Pure complaining as we are.”
spring water is the most wholesome drink, Dr. Keill, treating of the stomach in his
and the most grateful to those that are “ Abridgment of the Anatomy of Human
thirsty, whether sick or well; it quenches Bodies," says, " that water seems the
thirst, cools the body, dilutes and thereby fittest to promote the digestion of food;
obtunds the acrimony, and in various ways all spirituous liquors have a property by
strengthens the stomach. And those who which they hurt rather than help digestion ;
cannot drink common well water, can those who by a long use thereof have lost
drink it after it has been boiled and cooled, their appetites are hardly ever restored with-
and all that needs changing is the tempera- out drinking water."
ture and not the liquor."
Dr. Pratt, in his “Treatise of Mineral
Dr. Cheyne says, “Without any perad- Waters," shows it to be his judgment, that
venture, water was the primitive original if people would drink water they would be
beverage, and happy had it been for the race free from many diseases, such as tremblings,
of man if other mixed and artificial liquors palsies, apoplexies, giddiness, pains in the
had never been invented. Water alone is head, gout, stone, dropsy, rheumatism, piles,
sufficient and effectual for all the purposes
and such like. Drinking water strengthens
of human drinks."
the stomach, causes an appetite, preserves
Dr. Sanders says, "Water drinkers are the sight, makes the senses lively, and
in general longer livers and less subject to cleanses all the passages of the body, espe-
a decay of the faculties than those who use cially those of the kidneys and bladder.'
other liquids."
Dr. Duncan, in his “Treatise on Hot
“Cold water,” adds another, “is the Liquors,” says, "they had more health and
03

124
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
strength who contented themselves with here be observed that Mr. Higginbotham is
water; that strong liquors raise the heat of a surgeon with an extensive business, and
the stomach to excess, whereas water keeps has practised total abstinence during the
it in due temper; that by these drinks the last thirty years that he has followed his
blood is inflamed, and hence arise fluxes, profession. I now have my eye on an old
rheums, ill digestion, pains in the limbs, man, upwards of seventy years of age, who,
headache, dimness of sight, and especially since he has adopted total abstinence has
hysteric vapours and ulcers."
had an amazing increase of strength, and
I have in a former chapter given the tes- yet requires less food. He is a gardener,
timonies of several medical men, against and works in his garden every day. He
the use of alcoholic drinks, and, of course, has been a beer-drinker for sixty years, and
if the use of these beverages is injurious, was become so weak as to be scarcely able
then it naturally follows that water, or to dig. He declares that he is now stronger
drinks 110 stronger than water, must be the than he has been for the last ten years.
most wholesome beverages for every in- All who are acquainted with the life of
dividual. Many medical practitioners have Dr. Franklin are aware, that when he
given us the premises, but seem to be halt- worked hard in London as a printer, he
ing about coming to the conclusion. They practised total abstinence, and that he de-
allow that alcohol is bad, but do not as yet fended himself against the attacks and
assert that the utter abandonment of alco- ridicule of his shopmates, by arguing that
holic drinks would be good. However, we there was little or no nourishment in beer;
have distinguished and honourable excep- and that the body is nourished and sup-
tions. We have already mentioned Messrs. ported by food, and not by drink. Had
Higginbotham, Beaumont, Jeffreys, and he followed the example of his fellow-
others, and it is with pleasure that we quote workmen, we should never have heard of
the following testimony of the medical men his discoveries or of his greatness. What
of Lewes.
a contrast to Dr. Franklin is poor Burns, or
“We, the undersigned, hereby declare Savage, &c., whose drinking propensities
that spirituous liquors do not contain any placed them beyond the possibility of being
nourishment, and that the nutritious mat- promoted in society.
ter of malt liquors being combined with These remarks on the beneficial effects of
a large proportion of alcohol, those drinks
water are in exact accordance with the dis-
cannot be taken to any extent without coveries of modern science. A chemical
detriment to health, and are not at all analysis of the blood has proved that nine-
necessary to the labouring man who en- tenths of it are water; the only liquid
joys good health, and can command a suffi- therefore required to dilute the blood is
ciency of wholesome solid food; that the " water." The purer the water in the
habitual use of both spirits and malt liquors blood, the purer the blood will be. It is
is a principal and frequent cause of disease, further worthy of remark, that atmospheric
poverty, crime and misery, and that ab- air is the agent which nature employs in
stinence from them would greatly contri- purifying the blood. The black, dead,
bute to promote the health, good morals venous blood is brought to the lungs, and
and happiness of the community.
distributed over these organs of respiration;
(Signed)
Ball
while there, it is subjected to the air which
THOMAS BARKER, M.D.
we inhale every time we breathe; the
ANDREW J. DOYLE, Surgeon. black carbon is absorbed and given out
THOMAS HAIRE, M.D., Surgeon. every time we expire or breathe out from
HENRY Moon, Surgeon.
our lungs, and the blood freed from this
G. THICKWOOD, Surgeon.
deadly ingredient becomes red living blood,
ROBERT COLGATE, Surgeon." and is then sent into the arteries to nourish
BOJOT
the body. Now, it should be remembered,
Mr. Higginbotham, at the late anniver- that all liquids are taken up by the capillary
sary
of the New British and Foreign tubes of the stomach, and at once circulated
Temperance Society, held in London, through all the blood vessels of the body.
stated that he knew an old lady of ninety- Alcohol being lighter than water, goes im-
seven years of age, by the name of Martha mediately into all the veins and arteries of
Bagshaw, who had suckled twenty-two our frame, and there is not a point but it
children; she was a strong hale woman ; visits. With these facts before us, it is well to
she told him that she had never taken any- observe that water contains in it full thirty
thing stronger than water while suckling, per cent. of pure atmospheric air, the very
or a little whey when she could get it.” agent, remember, that nature is every moment
This same gentleman said that children often employing to purify the blood. On the con-
drop into the grave at an early age, and trary, alcohol contains in it fifty-two per
mothers die an untimely death, in consequence cent. of carbon, the very element which
of the use of alcoholic drinks during the nature is every moment labouring to throw
time of nursing their offspring. It may out of the blood. He, therefore, who

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNISS.
125
foul as
ever.
acts.
(6
93
drinks pure water, drinks that which must our health to a very great degree. What,
purify the blood ; while he who drinks then, must be the mischief effected by
alcoholic drinks, whether beer, wine, or taking daily a wine glass or more of this
gin, drinks that which pollutes the blood. pernicious spirit? To talk of moderation
You often find these moderation people in the use of alcohol is absurd ; the only
taking various quackeries to purify their moderation here is abstinence, and the only
blood, but what use is it to do so ? They suitable drink for man is water. darbo
may drink nettle tea, or swallow Morison's But I will conclude these quotations of
pills by the dozen a-day; but in five the sentiments of others, by giving the opi-
minutes after they have drunk their glass nions of a few distinguished divines respect-
of beer, cider, or wine, their blood is as ing the baneful effects of intoxicating drinks.
These physiological facts, Bishop Hall, speaking of Noah's drunken-
therefore, demonstrate that the blood of ness, says, “When I look to the effect of
water drinkers must be pure, while the blood this sin, I can but blush and wonder; lo,
of moderation people, as well as drunkards, this sin is worse than sin: other sins move
must be charged with carbon, or that very shame, but hide it: this displays it to the
substance which makes the venous blood world. Adam had no sooner sinned but
black and dead. They also prove that you
he saw and abhorred his own nakedness,
cannot improve water; you may make it seeking to hide it even with bushes. Noah
more inviting and captivating to the taste, had no sooner sinned but he discovers his
but you cannot make it better. Poets nakedness, and has not so much rule of
often, by mere accident, stumble upon
himself as to be ashamed. One hour's
some of the most profound deductions of drunkenness betrays that which more than
science, and seem by a kind of supernatural six hundred years' sobriety and modesty
prescience to antedate its discoveries. This had concealed. He that gives himself to
evidently was the case with Pindar. There wine is not his own : what shall we think
never was a more correct philosophical of this vice which robs a man of himself,
doctrine than is contained in the first line and lays a beast in his room ?" « Drunken-
of his first ode,
ness is the way to all bestial affections and
Wine knows no difference either of
botton
Αριστον μεν υδωρ
persons or sins.”
“Water is indeed the best thing." He Every one who has read Bishop Berkeley's
who never drinks but when he is thirsty, “Minute Philosopher" must remember how
and drinks pure water, will never have to keenly he satirises drinking, in the apology
complain of foul blood.
for drunkenness, which he puts into the
It is allowed by all that oxygen is em- mouth of a sensualist.
ployed by nature to keep the blood pure; Peter Martyr, in his common places,
and, therefore, water must be the most
says,
“ The liver is inflamed by too much
wholesome drink; for not only is there drink, the head acheth, the members are
pure atmospheric air in water, but the made weak and do tremble, the senses are
components of water are hydrogen and corrupted, the natural heat is overcome by
Oxygen ;
and hence we see how adapted over much wine; the stomach is annoyed
this primitive beverage is to preserve the with crudities and intolerable griefs, whilst
blood in a living, vigorous, and healthy state.
it is stuffed and farsed above measure: the
Some person may object, that he drinks whole body is in a manner inflamed, and
but a small portion of alcoholic drink, and, thirst is augmented." He gives the follow-
therefore cannot be injured by it. But this ing translation of Prov. xx., 1:-"Wine
remark arises from ignorance. One drop of maketh a mocker, and strong drink a trouble-
alcohol would fill a tube, whose length and some fellow; whosoever erreth therein shall
diameter are the eighth of an inch. If you never be wise.” Of such that boasted that
decrease the diameter one-half, you must they could drink a great deal of wine, and
prolong the tube four times, if you wish it yet be sober, he remarks, “I desire them
to contain the same amount of liquid. I to hearken unto Seneca, who saith, Let
need not say that this is a mathematical such men say that by drinking of poison
fact, and therefore no conjecture. Well, they shall not die ; and by taking of poppies
then, go on decreasing the diameter of the they shall not sleep; and that by drinking
tube in question, and proportionably pro- of helleborus they shall not cast forth and
longing it until you get a capillary as small purge out whatsoever is in the inward
as the smallest blood-vessel in the human parts.'” He adds, “that the discommodi-
body, the tube will be of an astonishing ties of wine pertain not only to our bodies
length, demonstrating that one single drop and minds, but also to our substance and
of alcohol, when passed into the minute goods, friends and neighbours;" to prove
vessels of the human frame, will be suffi- which he quotes Prov. xxi., 17:-“He that
cient to cover over nearly the whole surface loveth wine and fat things waxeth not rich.”
of the body, and consequently as an in- He also gives, among others, the following
flammatory poison, capable of deranging quotation from Plato :-“He who is over-

126
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
come with wine is stirred up with madness, times by breaking their hearts ;-it destroys
as well of the mind as of the body, and both life and ruins the soul.” Finally the pro-
draweth others and is drawn everywhere fessor prescribes total abstinence to all
himself. A drunkard is like a man out of persons who have a peculiar relish for in-
his wit.” He also tells us that we ought toxicating drinks, and to those who have
to be prepared to obey the apostle, who begun the habit of intoxication."
* The
said, “It is good, neither to eat flesh, nor relish for these liquors increases invariably
drink wine, if it should turn to the offending with every instance and degree of indul-
of the weak brethren." The reader should gence. To cherish it therefore is to make
remember that these words were written by ourselves drunkards; and it is cherished
one who was born A.D. 1500.
most efficaciously by repeated drinking. No
Boston, in his “
Body of Divinity, and man will do this who is not a fair candidate
Discourse upon the Sixth Commandment,- for Bedlam. Every effort at gradual refor-
Thou shalt do no Murder," speaking of the mation will only cheat him who makes it ;
many ways by which men may kill them- hard as the case may be, he must break off at
selves, observes, “Intemperance is a sin once or be ruined."
that makes quick work for the grave, has Paley, in his "Moral and Political Phi-
carried many thither before they have lived losophy," enumerates the mischiefs of drunk-
out half their days. It is the Devil's rack, enness, in "betraying most constitutions
on which, while he has men, they will bab- either to extravagances of anger or sins of
ble out everything, for quod in corde sobrii lewdness; disqualifying men for the duties
in ore ebriz." It destroys a man's health, of their station, both by the temporary dis-
wealth, and soul; murders soul and body order of their faculties and at length by
at once; it leads to scuffles, scurrilous lan- constant incapacity and stupefaction ;-caus-
guage, blows, uncleanness, makes their ing expenses which can often ill be spared ;
tongues ramble, their heads giddy, bewitches -occasioning uneasiness to the family :-
them, and brings on them God's curse." shortening life, and ruining others by a bad
Hunter, in his “ Sacred Biography," example. “ Persons addicted to drinking
speaking of the fruit of the vine, remarks, suffer in the intervals of sobriety and near
“ Eaten from the tree or dried in the sun, the the return of their accustomed indulgence,
grape is simple and nutritious, like the stalk a faintness and oppression, circa præcordia,
of corn; pressed out and fermented, it which exceeds the ordinary patience of hu-
acquires a fiery force, it warms the blood, it man nature to endure. As the liquor loses
mounts to the brain, it leads reason captive, its stimulus the dose must be increased to
it overpowers every faculty, it triumphs over reach the same pitch of elevation or ease.”
its lord. Alas! must it be observed, that our It is evident from another passage in the
very food and cordials contain a poison same chapter on drunkenness, that the Doc-
through the ignorance or excess of man? tor would have approved of the " Tee-total
Professor Dwight in his "System of The pledge;" for he directs the person who has
ology,"on" the Sixth Commandment,” when any "inclination to intemperance, to arm
discoursing upon the several methods by himself with some peremptory rule."
which life is destroyed, observes, “Drunken- own myself," he says, "a friend to the
ness is nearly allied to suicide. It is an laying down to ourselves of rules of this sort,
equally certain means of shortening life. and rigidly abiding by them. They may be
What is appropriately called suicide is a exclaimed against as stiff, but they are often
sudden or immediate termination of life; salutary. Indefinite resolutions of abstemi-
drunkenness brings it gradually to an end. ousness are apt to yield to extraordinary oc-
The destruction in both cases is equally cer- casions, and extraordinary occasions to occur
tain, and not materially different in the de- perpetually. Whereas the stricter the rule
gree of turpitude." Among the causes of is the more tenacious we grow of it; and
drunkenness he places “the example of many a man will abstain rather than break
others," " customary and regular moderate his rule, who would not easily be brought
drinking at fixed periods," by which, he says, to exercise the same mortification from higher
“an habitual attachment to strong drink is motives. Not to mention that when our
insensibly begun, strengthened and con- rule is once known we are provided with an
firmed." He enumerates eleven evils aris-
answer to every importunity." We need not
ing from drinking. “It exhibits the sub- stop to remark how exactly the reasoning of
ject of it in the light of extreme odious- the learned and acute archdeacon agrees
ness and degradation ;-exposes him to with the principles of total abstinence, and
many, and those often extreme, dangers ;-- the pledge which we deem it important for
to many temptations and many sins ;-it those who join our society to sign; this
wastes property ;-destroys health ;-wastes pledge, as the doctor here justly observes,
reputation ; – destroys reason ; ----destroys induces many to abstain who have no higher
usefulness ;-ruins the family by the example motive than consistency to bind them; and
that it sets them, by the waste of property, at the same time this pledge, or rule, is an
and neglect of their education, and some- answer to every importunity.
"I

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS.
127
66
our
were
my
It cannot be necessary to give any other imposed the severest pains and penalties,
quotations from authors who are now no would draw the drunkard from his vicious
more; but I will not conclude without a habits! But when it twice blesses,-him
short reference to a few living divines, and who imposes it upon himself voluntarily,
these I think are far more valuable than and him for whose sake it is imposed, who
those of the men of any past generation be- would not impose it?”.
cause all of these have adopted the principle This testimony of Mr. Sherman is not a
and acted upon it, and therefore have actual solitary one. There are at present in Eng-
experiment and experience to vouch for the land and Wales, several hundreds of minis-
correctness of their assertions.
ters who have signed the pledge of total
Professor Stuart, of America, has, I am abstinence; and all can attest that, far from
informed, written ably on this subject, having suffered by their abstinence, they are
though, I am sorry to say, I have not been benefited to an incalculable degree. They
able to get a copy of his work ; but when it can study with more freedom, can stay longer
is known that Dr. Pye Smith has written a at their books without injury, and preach
commendatory preface to that publication, more frequently with less fatigue. The
I need not tell any judicious reader that the writer of this Essay can say, that he never
book is worthy of attention. Dr. Pye Smith enjoyed his existence of forty years until
himself has joined the ranks of those who he became a total abstainer. Now study is
totally abstain, and is a living advocate for delightful, and preaching, which he often
its principles, as those which are not only in does four times on a sabbath, is rarely at-
accordance with the gospel, but imperatively tended with toil or fatigue.
enjoined in those texts which prohibit us The following is a letter to the secretaries
from doing anything that may cause of the Bath Temperance Association, by that
brother to offend or stumble."
venerable servant of Christ, the Rev. W. Jay,
Many ministers, who before
of Bath.
scarcely able to attend to their duties, since “My dear Sir,
they have practised total abstinence are re- « Circumstances will prevent my accepting
stored to perfect health. The Rev. J. Sher- your invitation to attend the Tee-total Christ-
man, successor to the Rev. Rowland Hill, mas Festival on Friday evening. I am
in Surry chapel, London, states, “It has thankful that all through life I have been a
been generally reported that I am the worse very temperate man, and for more than
for abstinence; but I assure you, that after twenty-five years, generally a tee-totaller,
a trial of two years, I am prepared to affirm, but for the last six years I have been one
that since the age of 17 years I have never constantly and entirely. To this (now I am
enjoyed such an uninterrupted state of health. past 70) I ascribe, under God, the glow of
I can endure more labour, and with less health, evenness of spirits, freshness of feel-
fatigue, than when I drank moderately of ing, ease of application, and comparative
vinous liquors. Since I have been in Lon- inexhaustion by public labours, I now enjoy.
don my average public services have been The subject of tee-totalism I have examined
eight a week, sometimes ten, twelve, or four-physically, morally and christianly, and after
teen, but always have averaged eight: but all my reading, reflection, observation and
I never passed through the duties of the experience, I have reached a very firm and
sanctuary with so much pleasure and so powerful conviction. I believe that next to
little exhaustion as since I have entirely the glorious gospel, God could not bless the
abstained from the moderate use of any kind human race so much as by the abolition of
of fermented or spirituous liquors. My all intoxicating spirits.
appetite is constantly good and relishes the "As every man has some influence, and as
plainest food. My former misery was we ought to employ usefully all our talents,
always to feel that I had a stomach ; now and as I have now been for nearly half a
my digestive organs are so strengthened by century endeavouring to serve my genera-
the use of a water beverage, that the stomach tion in this city, according to the will of
performs its office without any painful inti- God, I have no objection to your using this
mations that it is executing the work as- testimony in any way you please. I am will-
signed to it. What is remarkable is, that a ing that, both as a pledger and a subscriber,
disease in my throat, which once laid me aside you should put down the name of,
from pulpit labour for eleven months, and
" My dear Sir, yours truly,
always distressed me as long as I partook of
«W. JAY.
beer, wine, or spirits, has entirely left me; “Percy Place, Bath, 24th Dec., 1839.”
so that my voice, which was feeble, has won- In a letter from America, written by E.C.
derfully strengthened, and I can now preach Delevan, Esq., dated Feb. 8th, 1838, it is
in Surry chapel to 3000 people with as great asserted, that in the State of New York
ease as I could formerly to 300 in a village alone there are 2261 of the clergy of all de-
chapel. These are a portion of my physical nominations who have either signed the
comforts derived from the use of water. O pledge, or are practising the principles of
the luxury of that self-denial, which, if it total abstinence. Many of these, no doubt,

128
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
We are,
are eminent divines, and yet all of them at- threatened them with destruction.
test the importance of our principles by as a people, through the infatuation produced
reducing them to practice. And if in the by these liquors, on the high road to ruin,
State of New York alone there are so many but God, in his mercy, has warned us in
who have adopted entire abstinence, the time, and should the voice of Total Absti-
number in the whole of the United States nence be heard, we may yet be a saved, a
must be very great indeed. The following powerful, a prosperous, a moral and a happy
sentiments of Dr. Beecher, of America, people.
may give us some idea of the holy intensity
with which the subject is viewed and advo-
cated in that interesting country. 66 And
now," says he could my voice be extended
CHAPTER VIII.
through the land, to all orders and descrip-
tions of men, I would cry aloud and spare
Our Duty and Consequent Prospects-We ought to
not. To the watchmen upon Zion's walls, abstain ourselves, and oppose the Drinking
appointed to announce the approach of dan- Habits of the Day-Pothouse Clubs and Drinking
ger, and to say unto the wicked man Thou at Births, Baptisms, Marriages, and Funerals-Not
give Drink for Wages-Toasts discountenanced
shalt surely die,' I would say, can we with-
or drank in Water-Not tempt our Friends-
hold the influence of our example in such Wine at the Lord's Table-Our Prospects cheer-
an emergency as this, and be guiltless of our ing-Total Abstinence not substituted for the
brother's blood ? Are we not called upon
Gospel-Natural Health-Prison-Bankruptcies,
Crime at Elections lessened - Prostitution - In-
to set examples of entire abstinence? How
crease of Trade - Education - Attendance on
otherwise shall we be able to preach against Divine Worship-Increase of Members to Christian
Churches-Domestic Comfort-Effects on Bene-
intemperance, and reprove, rebuke, and ex-
volent Institutions and on the Missionary Enter-
hort? Talk not of habit' and of prudent
prize.
use,' and a little for the stomach's sake;'
this is the way in which men become drunk- AFTER what has been said concerning the
ards. Our security and our influence de- nature and effects of alcoholic drinks, the
mand immediate and entire abstinence. If duty of every patriot and of every christian
nature would receive a shock by such a refor- to abstain cannot be a matter of doubt or
mation, it proves that it has already been too
hesitation. We have proved that, as articles
long delayed, and can safely be deferred no of food, instead of being nutritious they are
longer. To the churches of our Lord Jesus poisonous, and that, as medicines, they might
Christ, whom he hath purchased with his immediately be dispensed with.
We have
own blood, that he might redeem them from
seen that disease, crime, pauperism, and
iniquity and purify them to himself a pecu- death are their invariable attendants, and
liar people, I would say,-Beloved in the that their baneful influence neutralises and
Lord, the world hath need of your purified counteracts a very large proportion of our
example; for who will make a stand against efforts to enlighten and moralise the people.
the encroachments of intemperance, if It has been shown that the strongest, most
professors will not? Will you not, then, handsome, athletic, and powerful of the
abstain from the use of it entirely, and exile nations have been those who have drunk
it from your families? Will you not watch nothing stronger than water.
Never was
over one another with keener vigilance, and there a period when any people had such
lift up an earlier note of admonition, and facilities for obtaining strong drinks as are
draw tighter the bands of brotherly discipline at present possessed by the mass of the
and with a more determined fidelity cut off British population, and yet among us there
those whom admonition cannot reclaim ? are thousands who are never permitted to
Separate, brethren, between the precious taste these inebriating liquors; it is neither
and the vile, the living and the dead, and conscience nor principle, for we are not now
burn incense between them, that the plague speaking of the noble band of voluntary
may be stayed.”
tee-totallers, but of those whose circum-
But I will quote no further : the testimo- stances compel them to abstain; it is neither
nies adduced in this chapter are sufficient to conscience, principle, nor science, nor bro-
prove that intoxicating drinks are not in the therly lore, but want and poverty, or in-
least needed for health, labour, strength, ability to procure these liquors, that keeps
mental cheer, or longevity. We have seen these from drinking intoxicating beverages,
that millions upon millions of the human and still these very involuntary tee-totallers
family have been cheerful, healthy, robust, enjoy better health, and have more strength
happy, and moral without them; and we than their tippling neighbours. The most
have also seen that their moderate use has unquestionable evidence has demonstrated,
led to intemperance, and been the ruin of that when they abstain from these drinks,
millions. Not a single people upon the face our countrymen can brave any climate,
of the earth is there, or has ever been, to breathe the air of almost every land, and
whom these poisons have been introduced, endure the most arduous labours without
but they have either destroyed them, or any detriment. There is no doubt that the

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS.
129
late expedition up the Niger owed its our day. And yet these alehouses, &c. are
failure in a great measure to the intoxicating said to be essential to the comfort of the
drinks, which the unphilosophical voyagers people ! and christian people, by drinking,
drank as an antidote for fever! As long as commending and dispensing home-brewed
we continue to carry alcoholic drinks with beer, wine and spirits, are directly or in-
us to Africa, India, or Jamaica, we shall directly contributing their influence and
export fevers and miasmata of every de- drinking example to keep open these hells.
scription from our own stills and wine Sure I am that, as stated above, the book
vaults.
Poisoned and heated by these that repeated but a thousandth part of what
liquid fires, many of our countrymen expire passes daily, and especially on the sacred
almost as soon as they touch a foreign coast, Sabbath, in these pot-houses and taverns,
and at home the case is little better, for here could not be read. The waste of health,
the ploughman complains of indigestion, life, talent, intellect, time, character, pro-
the huntsman and the carpenter must perty and comfort cannot be told. Drunken-
carry about with them their box of anti- ness and moderate drinking present to us
bilious pills; large bodied men tremble like the blackest catalogue that ever polluted the
criminals and must have gin, a smelling light, and if we have any purity that crime
bottle or Eau de Cologne, to keep them from can disgust, or any pity that misery can
fainting. Our tradesmen, mechanics, sena- move, then ought we to use all our energies
tors, and ministers of religion are, almost to stay this widely spreading desolation.
to a man, suffering from nervousness, or Now as long as intoxicating drinks are in
some other complaint which alcohol has use, all kinds of iniquity will abound. A
engendered ; and our wives and daughters, fiery stimulating poison is the only quality
smitten by this pest, are often unfitted for in these liquors that obtains for them the
the common duties of domestic life, or drop favour of the public; and as long as they
into the grave in the very flower of their are drunk, the stimulus they give will be
age. In a moral and religious aspect the followed by depression, the heat they im-
affair is too dark for us to look upon. The part will be followed with thirst, and these
book that told all the crimes of drinking two sensations, like “ the two daughters of
would be too vile to be read. Since I have the horse leech," will constantly be crying,
been writing this Essay, I have been doomed, “ give, give." In every instance, intem-
in consequence of having arrived in a town perance is the child of that indefinite, un-
by the mail early in the morning, to pass definable monster called moderation. When
two hours, from four until six, in the kitchen we drink these destructive beverages, though
of a respectable inn. The proprietor was it be ever so moderately, we partake of a
there all the time, being up betimes to at- poison which can do us no good, which in
tend to his many customers, whom the the end may inflict on us an immensity of
early coaches brought to his house. He harm; and at the same time encourage
seemed a respectable man, and had you others to use a bowl which to them may be
met him in the street would have passed death in both worlds.
for a gentleman. Some of the coachmen Our first duty, then, is abstinence. We
that lodged there, and took their early are responsible to God for our example.
breakfast before starting, would, on the box, We may by our “meat or drink destroy
have passed for polite respectable men. But him for whom Christ died."
And we may
the inn-kitchen was liberty-hall; here there rest assured that when God maketh inqui-
was no restraint; and what I heard that sition for blood, he will not hold that man
morning, during two short hours, must not guiltless whose example was the ruin of a
be repeated. Here were the proprietor, neighbour or brother. Jeroboam, the son
coachmen, guards, horsekeepers, porters, of Nebat, caused Israel to sin; and heavy
&c., all blended together, and the blas- indeed was the punishment that follo yed
phemy, the filthy conversation and ob- him and his house. The impression has
scenity that formed the whole burden of long been deep on my own mind, that one
their conversation would not have been ex- reason why the Holy Spirit is not poured
ceeded in a pandæmonium. This was the out upon us is, that our needless and reck-
kitchen of a respectable inn, and in the less indulgence in these liquors has grieved
morning between the hours of four and six, and offended that Divine Comforter. The
and consequently before their passions were money wasted on these drinks brands
but little, if at all, excited by drink; let us with the crime of sacrilege; our spending
any one then imagine what must be the it unnecessarily shows that we can spare it;
language, the thoughts, the passions, and and if we can spare, we ought to bestow it
the deeds that form the character of the on the missionary treasury for the conver-
thousands of gin-shops, pot-houses and sion of the world, and thus make “to our-
taverns, that infest our country. Talk of selves friends out of the unrighteous Mam-
pagan India; talk of Tyre or Sidon, or mon, who, when we die, may receive us
Sodom or Gomorrah ; these were all chaste into everlasting habitations." Thus, to
and holy compared with the drunkeries of spend on a vitiated taste what would supply
K

130
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
wages, and
the fatal cup.
our perishing brethren with the means of before he himself sunk into the grave,
salvation, is to render us guilty of their broke the heart of her whom he tenderly
blood. If we 6 warn not the wicked man, loved, until the hour that the poison of the
or send not to warn him, when we have it beer-shop changed the heart of the man
in our power to do so, his blood will be into that of a monster. What a robbery,
required at our hands.” But we not only too, is committed upon
the
destroy by withholding the Gospel, but a greater still upon the character, of the
our example in using a poison beguiles labourer, by paying him at the public-
others to death. We walk on the verge house, and, indeed, by paying him on the
of a precipice; others that have not our Saturday night! Why send him to the
nerve, follow us to the same summit, and drunkard's school to receive his wages ?
are dashed to atoms, and yet, instead of Why tax him to the amount of a pot of beer
receding, we continue to regale ourselves before he is permitted to touch the fruit of
with all the sang froid of a Cain, who said, his toil! Why expose his morals to the
“ Am I my brother's keeper?" Surely it contaminated breath of the drunkery. The
is time to amend our ways, and abstain from dead are there. Though whitened, still it
Were the juice nectar, or is a sepulchre full of dead men's bones,
the fruit of paradise, yet if its use is the haunted with the groans of broken-hearted,
occasion of crime, misery, and death, to starving children and mothers, and exe-
others, it would be our duty, both as patriots, crated by the curses of the damned! Why
philanthropists, and Christians, to spurn send him where the harp, and the viol, and
with the deepest dismay, so disastrous a the tabouret, and the pipe are played to be-
bowl. And imperative as this duty, viewed guile the unwary, and to make the simple
under such an aspect, appears, its obligation forget that the house is none other than the
is increased a thousand fold, when it is house of demons and the gate of hell.
remembered, that the drink in question, so Surely, also, the workman ought to have
far from being ambrosia, is a most dele- his pay in time for the market, that his
terious poison. Wherever there is alcohol, wife may lay it out to the best advantage,
it may be said that “there is death in the and that the week's stock being laid in,
pot;" and while we sip it ourselves and com- the husband and wife may escape the
mend the cup to others, we are, in many in- temptations of a Saturday evening's de-
stances, guilty of murder and suicide ; we bauch.
betray our friends with a kiss, and at the The practices also of drinking at baptisms,
same time effectually shorten and terminate marriages, and funerals, should be abandon-
our own existence.
ed. To be unable to rejoice at the birth of a
But beside abstaining ourselves, we must child, or at its consecration to the Redeemer,
set our faces against the present drinking unless we have the tankard, or the wine
habits of society, which are associated with bottle, is to show, that far from being christ-
almost every engagement and relation in ians, we are sunk below the brute creation.
life, whether commercial or political, do- To need any other cheer than that which
mestic, or religious.
natural affection begets, or religion inspires,
Pot-house clubs, and the paying of wages is to prove that we are heartless and Christ-
at public-houses, bowling-greens at the less. The vulture without gin, exults in
drunkery, and other amusements intended her offspring; and the tigress, without wine,
to allure men to drink these accursed fondles over her young; and shall bosoms
liquors, should have our most energetic op- warmed with the nobler feelings of huma-
position.
not against rational nity; understandings enlightened by the
exercise nor rational amusement, either for Spirit of the Almighty; hearts glowing with
the poor or the rich; but let it be exercise, divine love, and hopes throbbing with the
and let the exercise be rational and inno- inspirations of celestial prospects, need
cent, that it may neither reflect on our intel- the accursed fire of alcohol poison to cheer
lect, nor lessen our cheer by infixing a them and enable them to rejoice? God for-
sting on the conscience; and therefore let bid, that we should blaspheme humanity,
every amusement be far removed from the and blaspheme our Maker by such an inti-
alehouse, let the poor also be encouraged mation! And again we ask, must youthful
to lay up for sickness and old age, but let love be inspired and consecrated, and con.
them not be mocked with the provision nubial love cherished and kept alive, by
of the pot-house club. In how many in- the fires of alcohol? The very suggestion
stances, alas ! have these falsely named bene- of such a thought intimates that we are
fit societies proved the greatest bane and “without natural affection” and ought
scourge. Thither the youth of much pro- never to marry. The love, or the cheer, or
mise has gone to deposit a portion of his joy, that must be drawn from the wine
earnings for a time of need, but he has re- vessel, are unnatural, artificial, inhuman,
turned another man; the publican's bowl and neither fit for the bosoms of human
has bewitched him, and the provident young beings, brutes nor demons. And can we
man has died a reckless spendthrift, who, expect that God will baptize that child with
We are

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS.
131
his spirit whose parents are polluting them- | mourning than to the house of mirth :"-
selves with strange fire; or that those nup- these very mourners begin to
tials can be blessed, or that union happy,
• Reel over the full bowl, and when 'tis drained
which was stained with the foamings of the Fill up another to the brim, and laugh
drunkard's bowl? History and fact answer, At the poor bugbear Death;
No. Drinking at births, weddings, and
and yet the very drink, that excites that
baptisms, are among the fruitful sources of demon grin, and jest at the ruin of a temple
drunkenness in all our large towns; and which Divine power guilt and sin demolish-
we all know the thousand miseries attended, is tinctured with a poison which, at the
ant upon this most desolating sin. I may very moment that the scorner laughs, is
be told that the Saviour wrought a miracle, impregnating his vitals, polluting his soul,
that wine might not be wanting at the mar- and hurrying him to the pangs of the
rage of Cana.
So he did. But I have be- 6 second death.” How dreadful also is the
fore shown, from the character of the wines
havoc which this accursed liquor commits
which in that country were called “Good;" upon the feelings of the bereaved! Alcohol
and from the wisdom, love and compassion murders the infant at the breast, and the
which regulated every action of the Re- broken-hearted mother throws herself into
deemer, that the wine was neither alcoholic
the arms of the assassin to have her sorrows
nor inebriating. I would not for the wealth assuaged and her heart comforted. He
of the Indies insinuate that the Son of God slays the youth that was the only stay of his
produced a beverage which he knew would father's house, and the parents, while shed-
poison the stomach, inflame the passions, ding tears of blood for their loss, cling more
and corrupt the morals of the guests. He closely than ever to the fiend that has
wrought that miracle to show or “manifest blasted all their hopes and written them
forth his glory, that his disciples might be- « childless.” How often have we seen the
lieve on him;” but no one except an infi-hoary-headed relative, or friend,--that came
del or a drunkard would say, that his "glory to weep--and actually did weep and pray,
was manifested" in producing a drink which and resolve to be a christian as long as the
poisoned his friends; and the knowledge cup was kept from him-drink himself
that he did so, instead of awaking or con- drunk and stagger home from the grave of
firming our faith in him, would be calcu- the friend that he loved, not, alas! more
lated to beget unbelief. Let our drinks at serious, but more hardened and brutish
weddings and baptisms, if we cannot be from the visitation. All the tears of sym-
happy without them, be such as shall mani- pathy have been dried up by this fiery sti-
fest the "glory of Christ," and such as shall mulant; all the solemnities of the grave
neither reflect on our prudence and kind- chased away; and all the suitable exhorta-
ness, nor endanger our health and morals. tions of the minister neutralised, by the de-
And let us remember, that the sooner we moralising influence of that vile drink so
obtain the custom of deriving our cheer copiously supplied at funerals. Volumes
from the proper exercise of human affec- would not suffice to tell the mischiefs that
tions; from benevolent, intellectual, and arise from the practice of pushing round
moral sources; rather than from the merely the venomous cup, on these solemn occa-
animal and brutish gratifications of eating sions; but surely, as christians, we ought,
and drinking “meats and drinks,” the by our total abstinence, and benevolent ad-
sooner we shall prove that our minds and monitions, to prevent death and the grave
affections have arrived at maturity.
from being incentives to vice, immorality
The baneful custom of drinking at fune- and hardness of heart.
rals must be abolished. At such a time, We ought also to abolish the practice of
generally speaking, the “heart is soft." rewarding men for their labour or their
Most men if sober are serious and disposed kindness by promising them, or paying them
to reflection at a funeral. The corpse, the with these pernicious drinks. What a
shroud, the coffin, and the grave, and the shame to administer to the labourer a cup of
tolling bell, strike the tongue of the swearer poison instead of wages; or to reward the
and obscene talker dumb; paralyse the kind-hearted neighbour, who did us a ser-
unchaste; clothe the face of the jester with vice, with a stimulating draught which
melancholy; and make the infidel tremble made him thirst for more, and sent him to
and half forswear his belief in chance and
the pot-house to perfect himself in drunk-
annihilation ; but let the cup pass round a enness! Give him bread, give him clothes,
little, and how the scene changes! These give him a book, or give him money, but
very mourners, who came to mourn, and endanger not his morals, his health and
actually felt seriously and morally for a soul, by giving him an inebriating drink.
while ; and felt too, that it was good to Often in this proceeding there is as much
have the finer sensibilities of our nature knavery and craft as there is recklessness
called into exercise; that it was proper and of the character of the hapless recipient.
profitable to “weep with those that weep; Labour, worth ten times the amount of the
that it was a better to go to the house of value of the beer or gin which is given, is
K 2

132
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
wrung, or inveigled out of the poor dupe | petrated which the language of mortals
for a paltry pot or glass of poison, and yet wants words to describe. If he must have
the self-styled christian that does this, has strong drink, act like the sons of prophets
the impudence to thank God that he is not of old. Cry, “ alas!” and tell him, there
a sharper! 66 The hire thus kept back," and is “ death in the pot."
for which a worthless demoralising poison Finally. We ought to substitute an in-
was substituted, “crieth, and its cry enter- nocent beverage for the poison which is
eth into the ears of the Lord God of Sa- now so generally used at the Lord's table.
baoth.” By such deeds “ treasure is heaped I have before shown that at the first sacra-
together for the last days."
ment our Lord drank an unfermented wine;
The custom of toasting every thing by we therefore sin against his blessed example
drinking strong drinks, must be abandoned by the use of any other; and we place in
Never, perhaps, was there a more irrational the hands of the members of the church a
and absurd practice. As though we could beverage which may cherish or call forth a
not express our loyalty to the Queen, our vitiated taste, injurious, and perhaps, fatal
good wishes to the bishops, clergy and to their piety. Not long ago a reformed
church, or our affection to our friends and drunkard and apparently a converted man,
country, without swallowing a portion of approached the Lord's table of a church
poison!! If there is any real connexion be- which I could name; he ate the bread, and
tween drinking and loyalty, why not use drank the wine, but mark the result, the
an innocent beverage ? In thousands of in- taste of a drunkard for alcohol is like that
stances the love of drink and not love to the of the blood-hound for blood, a single sip
Monarch, is the origin of the toast, and makes him thirst for more; so here; the
those who are most noisy with their “three wine tasted at the sacred communion, re-
times three" are swallowing all their money, vived the old passion, and he, who seemed
all their morality, all their loyalty and pa- a saint, was corrupted by the sacramental
triotism at the same time. Some of these wine, went home, got drunk and died a
would curse God and the king for a pot of drunkard! Surely we ought not to change
beer; and others, ruined by drinking and “the cup of the Lord into the cup of
toasting, are just ready for anything that devils.”
would mend their affairs and get them some Viewed in whatever light they may, the
drink. The most disloyal and disaffected benefits that must follow the adoption of
of our countrymen are those who have beg- total abstinence are incalculable. I am
gared themselves by drinking. It is im- persuaded that very few persons are at all
possible to tell the crime and the misery alive to the importance of the subject, or
which drinking of toasts has originated. have any idea of the glorious prospects of
Lewis the XIV. of France is said to have happiness and prosperity, both to the world
foreseen the consequences, and to have pro- and the church, that must be consequent on
hibited the drinking of toasts. But if after the abandonment of the use of inebriating
all we must express our feelings of loyalty drinks. And, in giving this opinion, it is not
and affection in this manner, why not use intended to intimate, as some affirm, that
a liquor that is perfectly harmless? The total abstinence will be, in any sense what-
writer has been at several public dinners, ever, a substitute for the gospel or the grace
and drunk all the toasts in water, and done of God. Let us suppose that every island
80 without any annoyance from others, and in the Pacific was surrounded with a great
with the greatest advantage to his own wall, like that of China, which prohibited
health and enjoyment both at the meeting every Christian from entering, and preach-
and after its excitement was over. Water ing the gospel ; and let us suppose, further,
drinking kept him from the evil of over ex- that a number of persons had banded them-
citement, and therefore was alike beneficial selves together for the purpose of persuading
to health and to feeling.
the people to throw down these walls, and
We ought not to tempt our friends by remove such obstacles entirely out of the
placing these drinks before them. You would way; would any one say that these pioneers
not offer them digitalis or prussic acid, and were substituting their “wall-razing" for
why give them what is quite as much a the gospel of Christ? Or let us imagine
poison, and may be more destructive ? Give that, in our own country, there was a large
your friend prussic acid and he will die at deep pit, and that hundreds of our country-
once; the suffering will be short, the tale men were so infatuated that they threw
soon told; but give him alcohol and you everything into this pit; if you gave them
may cherish, or call forth a taste, which will money, instantly it was thrown into this
torment him with indigestion, unnerve and pit; if you gave them clothes, instead of
paralyse his powers, excruciate him with clothing themselves with them, away all
gout, and bring him slowly to the grave; were thrown into the pit; if you gave them
but not perhaps until he has sacrificed his Bibles, or good books, very soon the word
property, his character, his friends, and his of life would be thrown into the pit; in
soul;—and thus a murder will be per- ! fact, the pit mania has at length proceeded

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS.
133
so far, that they very frequently threw their error of their ways; we deem it to be but
wives and their children, and even them- an auxiliary to the great cause of religious
selves, into the pit; and in this manner truth; it is intended not to supersede, but
thousands annually are dashed to pieces: to make way for other means." And cer-
what if a few individuals, seeing all this tainly, if we can stay the plague which de-
waste, folly, and misery, were to unite stroys so many of the human race, far from
themselves together, and agree to use every opposing, we are aiding the cause of reli-
effort to fill up the pit ; surely there are no gion. We never affirm that total abstinence
persons alive that would exclaim, “ If you will save any one; we as firmly believe as
fill up that pit, you will be substituting any tippler or moderation-man in the coun-
your" pit-filling" for the grace of God!" If try, that “there is no other name given
any one were to make such a remark, we under heaven among men whereby we must
should certainly conclude that his head was be saved," but the name of Jesus; and,
not marked with the organ of logic; and if being fully assured of this fact, we are re-
we stooped to reply to such silliness, we solved, as far as our power can extend, to
should
say,
“My good friend, do you not remove from among men every hinderance
see, that if we break down those walls you that keeps them from Christ; and certainly
will have free access to the people to make think, that in so doing, we are acting quite
known to them the gospel; and if we fill as evangelically as those who, by drinking
that pit, the people cannot throw their intoxicating drinks, are encouraging others
money, their clothes, their Bibles, and to use a liquor which stupifies them, renders
themselves into it; so that, in fact, they them hard hearted, and keeps them from
will have clothes to wear, and will not be the Redeemer.
kept away from God's house by their fil- Were total abstinence adopted, the health
thiness and rags; they will read your of our countrymen would be greatly im-
Bibles and good books, and that will induce proved. We have seen what fine athletic
them to come and hear you preach; many people those are, and always have been,
that would now have been your hearers are who drink nothing but water; and, on the
already fallen into the pit, some of them so contrary, what numbers of diseases are
heavily laden with guilt, that they have originated or cherished by the consumption
gone to the bottomless abyss, but if the pit of alcoholic poisons. I need not repeat
be stopped we shall prevent the occurrence these now, having so fully treated of them
of these disasters ?" If an objector, how- in a former part of the essay.
But there is
ever obtuse his intellect, were not satisfied not a doubt that when this principle is re-
with this reply, but still persisted that duced to practice, our hospitals, instead of
breaking down the wall, or filling up the being crowded, will have but few inmates ;
pit, was, in a most infidel manner, to su- and lunatic asylums will be rarely visited.
persede the gospel, why then his sanity Scrofula—in most instances the effect of
would be justly questionable. The cases
drinking-will be purged from the blood ;
here supposed exactly accord with the ob- consumptions, asthmas, and dropsies will
ject of the Total Abstinence Society, and rarely occur; fevers, influenzas, and inflam-
its supposed interference with the grace of mations will be rare ; indigestion, bilious
God. Alas! the great wall of intemperance, and bowel complaints will be unusual; and
the devouring pit of drinking, are among
men will be nervous in the athletic sense of
If we go to distribute tracts or Bibles, the word : and though it may require some
this wall obstructs us; if we invite people years to purify us, as a nation, from the ills
to hear the gospel, intemperance, like a
that alcoholic drinks have inflicted on our
huge wall, hinders them; if we attempt to constitutions, yet human life will be gra-
feed them, clothe them, or instruct them, dually prolonged to its natural duration ;
the horrible gulf of intemperance swallows and, instead of dying in the flower of their
up them and their substance, and we see,
days, men shall come to their 66
graves in a
not only money, clothing, and good books full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in
gone, but husbands, wives, and children his season.” Then shall be repeated, what
sink beyond the reach of the voice of mercy. was said of man in that pristine period, when
But break down the wall, and an effectual “ Labour prepared
door will be opened for us to go in and His simple fare, and Temperance ruled his board."
preach the word of life ; stop up this awful
“ Death, though denounced,
abyss, and thousands will be saved from Was yet a distant ill, by feeble arm
Of age, his sole support, led slowly on."
misery and premature death, and will be
the constant hearers of the word of salva- As intemperance, more than any other
tion. “No one crime,” says Lord Bacon, vice, peoples our jails, let total abstinence
“destroys so many of the human race, nor be adopted; the sinews of drunkenness will
alienates so much property as drunkenness.” be cut, and the chief incentives to disho-
And the Rev. J. A. James, of Birmingham, nesty, prostitution, and murder, be de-
observes, * Far from thinking this cause a stroyed, and the consequence will be, that
sole means of converting sinners from the our prisons, which are now teeming with ju-
us.

134
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
venile, as well as other offenders, will stand people to abstain, and you almost instantly
forth the mementos of the crime of bygone defeat the stratagems of whig, conservative,
years, rather than the monuments of exist- or radical bribery.
ing iniquity.
Every one knows how intimately drinking
It is a well-known fact that bankruptcies and prostitution--the brothel and the pot-
are, in most cases, the dire effects of intem- house-are connected together. There is,
perance. A gentleman lately told me that perhaps, scarcely a holiday-season through-
out of twenty-seven bad debts recorded on out the year but greatly adds to the lists of
his books, eighteen, or two-thirds, had been the victims of seduction. Probably there
contracted by persons who were addicted is not a sabbath evening passes by, without
to drinking; and therefore had robbed their hundreds of the unwary of both sexes being
creditor, and given the money to the wine beguiled to those deeds which terminate in
merchant. Besides the property actually ruin. How ill this country, or indeed any
wasted in these poisons, tradesmen, beguiled country, can afford to have the flower of its
by the excitement they produce, look at citizens worse than slain in the prime of
many an undertaking under the blind sti- their age; yet the drinking habits of the
mulus of what they call a moderate glass, day are subjecting us to this heavy sacrifice.
and speculate, to the ruin of themselves, But let the principles of total abstinence
and those who were foolish enough to trust prevail, and then the gin-shop, the ale-
them. Let abstinence be adopted, and the house, and the house of ill fame, will be
vices and extravagancies which intemper- avoided at the same time. And it should
ance engenders or cherishes will be aban- be remembered that, to accomplish this
doned; men will live within their means ; reformation, total abstinence is especially
will use their reason and foresight in trade ; needed; because it is not drunkenness, but
and then the names of insolvents will rarely moderate drinking that inflames and arms
appear in the columns of the gazette. the prostitute and the seducer. What an
There is not the shadow of a doubt but increase of trade, also, would immediately
the greater part of the pauperism which now be the result of abandoning these destruc-
taxes the country is the effect of drinking. tive liquors! There is not the least doubt
There are very few but might have provided but the sum wasted upon these poisons,
for themselves, or would have been provided either directly or indirectly, amounts to
for by their relatives and friends, if the twice the value of our present export trade.
funds necessary for these purposes had not And it is equally certain, that if our drink-
been spent in intoxicating drinks. Should ing habits were abolished, nearly the whole
total abstinence prevail, natural affection of this property would be employed and
and providence and foresight will be the spent in the manufactures, commerce, and
characteristic of all classes: and then pa- agriculture of the country. Our trade would
rents will not doom their children, nor be more than doubled immediately. In
children their parents, to the mercy of a fact, total abstinence would produce an
poor-house or overseer. Men will no longer effect equal to the instant calling into exist-
lie under the reproach of being less provi. ence of four or five such countries as the
dent and prudent than the insignificant ant United States of America, and bringing to
which they trample in the dust with so our market an order from each of them
much disdain: and thus an increased value equivalent in value to our present exports
will be given to property, and, at the same to the United States. We often alarm our-
time, the comfort, happiness, and inde- selves lest our arts and manufactures should
pendence of all classes will be augmented. be learnt by foreign nations, and our export
It can scarcely be requisite to mention trade should thus be ruined: but the adop-
the crime and corruption which intoxicating tion of total abstinence would, by increasing
drinks occasion at every election. The de- our home consumption, more than double
signing aspirant to power, or office, or
the demand for whatever useful articles our
emolument, who has neither intellect, prin- markets at present supply, and thus render
ciple, knowledge, nor character to recom- us independent of foreign trade altogether.
mend him to a seat in parliament; who, in This assertion may appear startling to some;
fact, has no other qualification than that of but it is only for such to consider the im-
a few pounds to waste on the rabble and mense waste and expenditure connected
drunken electors in beer; by distributing with drinking, to perceive that facts most
largely these demoralising liquors, ousts the fully substantiate this estimation. And
honest representative from his well-merited when we contemplate the misery and vice,
place, and rises to an eminence which ena- which, in numberless instances, are con-
bles him to vote away the money, blood, nected with poverty; and the comfort, mo-
liberties, and morals of the people at plea- rality, and happiness, which must be the con-
The history of electioneering drunk- sequence of having full employment for all
enness, and its causes and effects, would the people, then the duty of total abstinence
open one of the blackest pages in the ex- assumes, in the breast of every patriot, the
ploits of corruption : but only induce the character of a most imperative obligation.
sure.

CONNECTED WITH DRUNKENNESS.
135
cause.
ever.
It is now generally admitted that the Nowhere is it promised that the grace of
education of the people is a most desirable God shall abstract from the body a poison
object; and schools are erected in most which was presumptuously and unneces-
parts of the country; still who is there that sarily drunk. To persist in the daily use of
does not lament over the numbers of chil- inebriating drinks, and then to ask for the
dren who are kept from these charitable grace of God to keep us from falling, is “to
institutions! And if we inquire into the ask and have not, because we ask amiss that
cause of this, we shall in many, probably in we may consume it on our lusts.” I once
most cases, find, that the intemperance, or heard a clergyman, a notorious drunkard,
the moderation, of the parents, is the sole preach from these words: “Mark the per-
The father, and sometimes the fect, and behold the upright, for the end of
mother, are addicted to drinking, and the that man is peace ;” and a few weeks after,
consequence is, that the children have not this very priest, as if to give his people a
clothes to wear, and, therefore, instead of demonstration of the contrast between the
being sent to school, are brought up as bar- end of the “perfect man” and that of a
barians in a Christian country. But were drunken parson, hung himself! The very
total abstinence practised, then all the means same parish has, since that awful event,
requisite for the proper education of the rising buried a promising young clergyman, who
generation would instantly be furnished. died in the flower of his days, “as a fool
Were intoxicating drinks abandoned, dieth,” killed by drinking. I know another
were the gin-shop and the pot-house closed, instance of a minister of a parish, whom the
what numbers, that now profane the holy clerk has supported while reading the burial
Sabbath, would begin to crowd the temples service, otherwise he would, from the influ-
of the Most High! Man was made for as- ence of wine and spirits, have reeled into
sociation; and destroy his taste for intoxi- the grave and stretched himself on the coffin.
cating poisons, and then the tea-garden and I have my eye at this moment on three
the vulgar throng who assemble there, not highly popular and zealous dissenting minis-
for tea, but for strong liquors, will lose ters, who are now “dead while they live :
their attractions; and the intellectual, the strong drink has slain them. Adopt total
rational, and inspiring truths of Christi- abstinence, and these scandals to religion,
anity, and the holy and animating worship to the church and dissent, will cease for
of Jehovah, would allure thousands to the
No more will the church have to
sanctuary. It is found already, that when weep over its ministers, nor pastors over
men begin totally to abstain, they almost the hope of their flocks, cut off by these
immediately lead a new life and reverence debasing liquors.
the worship of God. Nottingham, Liver- And what shall we say of the domestic
pool, Bristol, Preston, and almost the comfort which must flow from total absti-
whole of North Wales, can bear witness to nence? The husband, instead of starving
the truth of what is here stated. Do away and ill-treating his wife and children, will
with strong drinks and with attendance at love and cherish them. The wife and
the alehouse, and you immediately will mother, no longer unsexed by drinking,
increase the number of those who will will become the lovely being, the “help
throng to hear the Gospel.
meet for man,” whom Solomon has de-
Total abstinence has already added hun- scribed in the 31st chapter of Proverbs :-
dreds of members to our churches, and “ Her own works shall praise her.” “Her
kept hundreds of members from disgracing children shall rise up and call her blessed,
themselves by drinking, and yet these are her husband also, and praise her.” The
only the beginnings of days of spiritual offspring of such parents shall be "like olive
prosperity. God himself has already highly branches round about the table.” They
honoured the society with his blessing: shall be more cheering than garlands of
considering its limited means, and the op- peace, or olive yards of plenty. “Children's
position which God's church has brought children shall be the crown of old men, and
against it, it is probable there is not another the glory of such children shall be their
institution in the country which has been fathers.” Educated in useful knowledge and
crowned with more signal success.
the gospel of Christ, inured to abstinence
small town, I lately saw it recorded, that from the cradle, accustomed to the worship of
fifty members had been added to the church God, their bodies and minds uncontaminated
in consequence of the adoption of total ab- by the diseases and passions which these de-
stinence. And is it not important that we moralising liquors engender, the youth of the
should have a safeguard against the fall of coming generation shall be the joy of their
our ministers and members? You say, parents and the boast of their country; and
that the grace of God will protect them; the domestic circle, instead of being the
but you have tried the grace of God, and it hell, that drinking, in thousands of cases,
has not kept all from falling; and why? has made it, will be the fac-simile of all
Doubtless, because in using these liquors that crowds into our imagination at the
“you tempt the Lord God by your lusts." mention of that sweet word “Home.”
In one

136
ON THE CRIMES, LOSS OF CHARACTER, &c.,
cease.
With the abandonment of these liquors, we ought to be, one of the healthiest people
their deleterious effects on the health and upon the face of the earth. Our various
minds of the members of the church, of schools and other institutions for the intel-
ministers and missionaries, shall
lectual and moral improvement of the
Private Christians shall be more active, people, would then reward the highest ex-
ministers more strong, intellectual, and pectations of their conductors and sup-
zealous, and the missionary, reared in the porters. The house of God would be well
school of total abstinence, shall wear a body attended, and the church would no longer
proof against the attacks of the various have to weep over her ministers, members,
climates in which he may be called to preach and hopeful converts, betrayed, fallen, and
the Gospel. Neither the miasmata of Africa, slain by these bewitching drinks. All the
the frosts of Siberia, nor the suns of India, institutions that have for their their object
for many a year shall smite his hardy frame; the salvation of the world, would then be
and thus the progress of the Gospel shall nobly and liberally supported. The Bible
receive a mighty acceleration, and rarely Society, which is God's store house to sup-
shall suffer from those checks which diseaseply a starving world with the bread of life;
and death at present so often occasion. and the Missionary Society, which is God's
It is impossible to say what effect the angel to carry the bread of heaven to the
adoption of this principle would have upon nations, would receive every needful re-
the funds of our various benevolent and source and facility for so glorious a work.
religious institutions; but no one will Delivered from the debilitating and poi-
doubt that a very considerable portion of sonous effects of alcoholic drinks, the firm
what at present is wasted on these poisons and strong constitutions of Englishmen
would be consecrated to the cause of would be able to endure the hardships of
humanity and religion. To say that in a every climate, and the sun of the missionary,
very little time all these contributions would or wife of the missionary, would rarely
be doubled, is far from being an exaggerated “go down before it was noon;" nor would
anticipation. One lesson the spendthrift the drinking habits of our countrymen
has learnt in the school of intemperance, again disgust the sober and abstinent
and that is, that he can afford to be very pagans of other lands, and produce in the
liberal. The sums devoted to the shrine of breasts of heathens a prejudice against the
Bacchus afford examples of voluntary con- religion, which, in their estimation, came
tribution, compared with which, the most from an island of drunkards. From what
munificent liberality of the church must is wasted in inebriating poisons, a consider-
sink into insignificance. In what age, we able portion would be consecrated to the
may ask, have the followers of Messiah service of God, and thus an impetus would
contributed the value of one hundred mil- be given to our religious institutions far
lions to the cause of God? The drinkers beyond our present anticipations. The life,
of strong drink, on becoming total ab- talent, moral feeling, and energy, which
stainers, often remember what they once these drinks have almost blasted and de-
could afford to waste, and therefrom learn stroyed, would be rescued from ruin, and
what they now can afford to give.
devoted to the country, to science, and
But to conclude. Should the principle religion. Let total abstinence be adopted,
of total abstinence prosper, and it is too and then the golden age of prophecy and of
firmly based on science and religion to the millennium would be seen commencing
allow it to fail,—should this principle suc- its era of health, peace, prosperity, and
ceed, the prospect before us is one of the piety, throughout the world. To aid in
most cheering imaginable. There is, then, bringing that day, every angel in heaven is
the probability of every house becoming, in already winged for flight; every promise
the strict sense of the word, a “home.” and prophecy of revelation, pregnant with
The bleeding hearts of wives would be blessings for our ruined world, travail in
healed, hungry children would be fed, and birth; the Son of God, clothed in his
both them and their parents would be seen priestly vestments of intercession, is now
clothed in their right mind. Our manufac- pleading near the altar of incense; or, girt
turers would receive an impulse from home with omnipotence, is just about to as-
consumption that would make us indepen-cend his chariot of salvation; and all
dent on foreign resources. Our national that is wanting to move with rapidity and
health would be improved, because we effect this evangelical apparatus, is the
should then be delivered from one of the co-operation of earth. Let that be granted,
direst pests that ever smote the human and then “the glory of the Lord shall be
family, and we should be what, considering revealed, and all flesh shall see it together,
our scientific and physiological knowledge, as the mouth of the Lord hath spoken.”
London: Printed by WILLIAM Clowes and Sons, Duke Street, Stamford Street,

BRITISH AND FOREIGN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY.
The Second Annual Meeting of the Society will be held at Exeter Hall, on
Tuesday, the 21st of May next, at 12 o'clock precisely. The Right Hon. and
Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of London, Patron of the Society, in the Chair.
British and foreign Temperance Society.
THE TEMPERANCE CATECHISM,
So you
basgity
OR
MANUAL OF TEMPERANCE PRINCIPLES,
Designed to elucidate the subject, and assist those who may be preparing themselves
to advocate the principles and objects of Temperance Societies.
* This Catechism is an exact reprint of that published by the British and Foreign Temperance
Society, and marked No. 41, in B. Bagster's List.—It is on sale, in the 32mo size, pasted with a
stiff printed wrapper, as a pocket-book companion, price 1d. each, or 7s. per 100 ; but a supply of
this size might be obtained on application to the Secretaries, Aldine Chambers, Paternoster Row.
The following Manual was drawn up by the Rev. Thomas Tilly, of Portsea,
who conceived that a short Epitome of the objects and operations of Temper-
ance Societies might be useful in Sunday and other schools, and be convenient
to the numerous advocates of the Society now rising up in country towns,
and to persons who have not much time for reading, and who may therefore be
induced to use it as a sort of note-book with advantage,
In these views the Committee of the British and Foreign Temperance So-
ciety fully concur, and feel great pleasure in introducing it to the attention
of their friends, trusting it will meet with the extended circulation it so well
deserves.
CATECHISM ON TEMPERANCE. intelligent beings, drowns the senses,
and degrades men far below the level of
1. Q. Can you tell me what is the beasts which perish.
principal evil which at present afflicts 6. Q. What is there in liquors generally
our country?
used to produce such injurious effects?
A. Intemperance.
A. SPIRIT, which, when drunk in
2.Q. Why do you think intemper- large quantities, very much impairs the
ance is worse than other crimes which constitution.
prevail ?
7. Q. What are the liquors now in
A. Because it is not only a great sin general use?
in itself, but it also leads to the com- A. Water, cider, perry, malt liquors,
mission of other sins.
such as beer, ale, and porter ; wines,
3. Q. What is intemperance ?
and distilled spirits.
A. The eating or drinking more than 8. Q. What are distilled spirits?
nature requires, or than does us good. A. Brandy, rum, gin, and whiskey,
4. Q. Which is the most injurious in all of which are injurious to the consti-
its nature, intemperance in eating or tution, and ought never to be used ex-
drinking?
cept in extreme cases; and then only as
A. Excess in either is very mischiev- medicine.
ous, but drinking to excess is the worse 9. Q. What are the peculiar effects
of the two evils.
produced by ardent spirits ?
5. Q. Why is immoderate drinking A. They produce an unnatural cir-
worse than excess in eating?
culation and feverish excitement, de-
A. Because it stupifies the mind of stroy the delicate coats of the stomach,
S. Bagster. Ju
Printer 14 Bartholomew Clara

any
persons of the
and sow the seeds of disease and death persons using them could witness the
in the constitution; corrupt the blood, white livers, the dropsies, and the shat-
destroy the liver, inflame the eyes, and tered nervous systems which I have
produce dropsy, epilepsy, apoplexy, and seen as the consequences of drinking
sudden death.
them, they would be aware that spirits
10. Q. What are the maladies brought and poisons were synonymous terms."
on the mind by drinking spirituous 17. Q. Can you mention the opinion
liquors ?
of any other?
A. They produce mental imbecility, A. Yes, the late Dr. Lettsom, an emi-
gloom, melancholy, and madness. nent physician of London, declared that
11. Q. You have stated the evils of most of the instances of sudden death
intemperance on the physical and men- which came to his knowledge, and the
tal
powers
of man; can you tell me the illness of the greater number of his
consequences as they affect the immor- adult patients, were occasioned by the
tal soul?
practice of taking a glass of spirits and
A. Yes; while they destroy the lives water after supper.
of about thirty thousand of our fellow- 18. Q. Do you know of any other
creatures every year, they expose the medical opinion?
souls of drunkards to the wrath of God, A, Yes; Dr. Trotter says,
16. that of
and to the misery of hell for ever.
all the evils of human life, no cause of
12, Q. How can you prove that aw- disease has so wide a range, or so large
ful declaration ?
a share, as the use of spirituous liquors;
A. From the epistle of Paul (1 Cor. and that most sudden deaths are occa-
vi. 10), where it is said that “ drunkards sioned by them.”
shall not inherit the kingdom of God." 19. Q. Have other
13. Q. But do they produce no good profession recorded their opinions ?
effects on those who use them?
A. Yes, more than four hundred of
A. They do not possess one nutri- the most skilful have declared that
tious quality that can either support or spirits are not good, either for the weak
strengthen the frame; they only pro- or the strong, in sickness or in health ;
duce a momentary excitement, then either to the young or the aged, in cold
leave the individual more injured than or heat, either going out or coming in.
benefited by their use.
20. Q. Has any thing been done to
14. Q. How is it then that they are rescue the people from the danger, and
so generally used ?
prevent their ruin?
A. Because the public mind has been A. Yes; Temperance Societies have
grossly deceived as to the nature and been formed in different parts of the
properties of spirituous liquors, until the world for the purpose of undeceiving the
evils produced by them have become so public, that they may avoid the danger.
alarming as to lead to an investigation, 21. Q. What is the plan they propose
which has awakened society to a sense for this purpose ?
of their danger.
A. A total abstinence from ardent
15. Q. Could not medical men cor- spirits, and moderation in the use of all
rect the errors of the public, and point other liquors.
out the evil?
22. Q. Who are the persons who con-
A. They have frequently done this; stitute these Societies?
but as a great part of their practice A. They are in general persons of
arose from the general use of spirits, temperate habits, who, seeing the havoc
and as the love of strong drink led the and destruction which prevailed around
multitude to trifle with their opinions, them from excessive drinking, have re-
they declined to urge the necessity of solved to give up the use of spirits them-
abstinence.
selves, and by their example and exer-
16. Q. Do you know the opinions of tions to do all they can to counteract
any medical men of note and eminence this enormous evil,
on the subject?
23. Q. Can you tell me where these
A. Yes; Sir Astley Cooper says, “I institutions originated ?
never suffer ardent spirits in my
house, A. In America, in 1826, since which
thinking them evil spirits. And if they have extended to other parts of

he world, and recently to England, A. They will preserve all who adhere
Scotland, and Ireland.
to their principles from ever becom-
24. Q. What is the principal rule by ing drunkards, and hence intemperance
which the members of these Societies will gradually diminish, as the present
are governed?
race of drunkards drop into their graves,
A. "We whose names are subscribed one of the great causes of immorality
agree to abstain entirely from the use of will be removed, families will be bet-
distilled spirits, except for medicinal ter clothed and fed, children will be
purposes, and to discountenance the better taught, and parents more happy
causes and practice of intemperance.” and useful.
25. Q. What effects have they pro- 32. Q. But may not a person take
duced on society and sendes
spirits in moderation without the danger
A. They have been the means of re- of intemperance ?
claiming many already who were ad- A. No; forif a person use spirits at all,
dicted to intoxication.
however moderate, there is a danger that
26. Q. What other advantages have his love of it may induce him to increase
resulted from them?
the quantity until he fall into the snare.
A. There has been a vast decrease in 33. Q. Were those who now wallow
the consumption of distilled spirits, and in the sin of intoxication ever careful in
many persons once diseased are recover the use of it?
ing a healthy and vigorous constitution. A. Yes; multitudes of them were once
27. Q. Can you mention any other very moderate, and detested the idea of
good resulting from them?
intoxication, and would have trembled at
A. Yes; many persons whose fami- | the thought of ever becoming drunkards.
lies were before in poverty and wretch- 34. Q. How came they then to be
edness, are now living in comfort and such?
ON SV
well provided for; and the parents, who A. They began by taking a little, un-
once spent their time and money in ale- til the usual dose failed to produce its
houses, now send their children well clad original excitement, and they continued
to Sunday Schools, and appear them- to increase it till their love of intoxicat-
selves in public places for divine worship. ing liquors overcame all moral feeling,
28. Q. What spiritual advantage has and they sank into habits of dissipation.
resulted from the influence of Tem- 35. Q. What are the effects of intem-
perance Societies?
pildiram perance on society?
A. Many persons in our own country, A. It is destructive to public property,
having been reclaimed from intemperate as it consumes 20 millions of money an-
habits, have not only attended publie nually which might be employed for the
worship, but have been made "wise unto public welfare, lode vi
salvation ;” and in America, their esta- 36. Q. Is there any other evil produced
blishment has in many cases been fol- by it?
lowed by revivals of religion. siten A. There are innumerable accidents
29. Q. What do you mean by revi- which result from it by land and by wa-
vals of religion?
201 roots ter, through which thousands of lives
A. An extraordinary concern, extend- are annually destroyed. It leads to all
mg to multitudes in reference to reli- sorts of crime, such as Sabbath break-
gious subjects.
ing, swearing, uncleanness, injustice,
30. Q. Can you state any instances robbery, and murder. It involves thou-
of this kind ?
sands of families in poverty and domes-
A. Yes, there have been many; but tic broils, and destroys those affections
in one town only in America, where a which would diffuse happiness, content-
Temperance Society was formed in 1829, ment, and comfort. habilir
it excited great attention, and led many 37. Q. Can you name any other in-
persons to attend the means of grace; and jury it produces ?
the
same year
300
persons were hopeful- X. It contributes more to impoverish
ly converted, most of whom had previ- and burden the state than any other
ously joined the Temperance Society. crime.
31. Q. How are these Societies likely 38. Q. How does this
appear?
to operate on posterity ?
A. In the enormous expenses insepa-
rable from the erection of poor-houses, Societies have had to contend with nu-
hospitals, lunatic asylums, prisons, and merous objectors. It has been said, for
penitentiaries, and in supporting the in- instance, by some that they are opposed
mates of these establishments.
to the gospel.
39.Q. By whom are all these supported ? 47. Q. What reply can you make to
A. By the temperate and respectable this objection?
classes of society, who have to pay
di- A. They are rather subservient to the
rectly or indirectly all the expenses designs of the gospel, inasmuch as they
connected with intoxication.
produce sobriety and morality among a
40. Q. Who are the persons who numerous class of persons, who, with-
should join Temperance Societies, and out this influence, would not be dis-
support them by their influence and posed to listen to the gospel.
example?
48. Q. Does not the gospel itself en-
A. All young people, all persons in join temperance in all things ? and is
business, all temperate persons, all who not this sufficient to secure the object
pay poor rates, all who wish the best contemplated by these institutions ?
and eternal welfare of their fellow-crea- A. The gospel does require temper-
tures, and especially ministers ofreligion. ance, and where its influence is felt it
41. Q. Why do you say all temperate leads to the practice of it; yet there
people should join them?
have been many who have professed the
A. Because they are the most re- gospel, who at first practised the mo-
spectable and influential part of society. derate use of spirituous liquors, but who
42. Q. Why do you say all young afterward gradually sunk down into the
people should join them?
character of confirmed drunkards.
A. Because an immediate union with 49. Q. Is not every creature of God
them will prove a great preservative good, and to be received with thanks-
against the danger of temptation, and giving ?
the formation of intemperate habits. A. Certainly; but it is not to be per-
43. Q. Why should persons in busi- verted to produce; evil and distilled
ness encourage them?
spirits are not a creature of God, but
A. Because the immense sums saved are an invention of man.
from drunkenness, waste of time, pau-
50. Q. But in order to be consistent,
perism, and crime, will be devoted to ought you not to abstain from wines
the purchase of useful articles of com- and malt liquors?
merce, and will have a powerful and A. In reply to this I should say that,
beneficial influence on the trading in- as wine, cider, and porter, are known
terest and prosperity of the country. to possess nourishing and wholesome
44. Q. Why should those join them properties, they may be taken, mo-
who wish the eternal welfare of their derately ; while spirits, even taken in
fellow-creatures ?
small quantities, are injurious to the
A. Because their example will operate constitution, and therefore to be avoided.
in reclaiming some, and preventing 51. Q. As the abuse of a thing is no
others, from the downward and destruc- argument for its disuse, are we to deny
tive path that leads to perdition. ourselves the use of spirits because some
45. Q. Why should ministers of re- persons destroy themselves with them?
ligion in particular join such Societies? A. Distilled spirits being evil in
A. Because their example is the most themselves, and the bane of society, the
extensive and operative, and because the use in any degree is an abuse; and if
minds of men, when freed from the de- our using them is an inducement to
basing influence of spirituous liquors, others to injure themselves, we ought to
will derive a ten-fold advantage from deny ourselves as Paul did, when he
the ministry of the word.
said, “ If meat make my brother to of-
46. Q. Can you state any objections fend, I will eat no meat while the world
made against Temperance Societies? standeth, lest I make my brother to of-
A. Yes; the friends of Temperance fend.”
Eight individuals have offered to contribute £20 each towards the funds requisite for the
supply of active agency throughout the country, on condition of £1000 being raised in
donations of the same amount.
Five of these individuals have alreador contributed fi



Pam Parsons, Bensamen
1840
Pa
re
[ Heusel
2
305 25
d