Phrenology versus intemperance : a lecture on temperance, considered physiologically and phrenologically : or, The laws of life, and the principles of the human constitution, as developed by the sciences of phrenology and physiology, applied to total abstinence from all alcoholic and intoxicating drinks / by O.S. Fowler.

  • Fowler, O. S. (Orson Squire), 1809-1887.
Date:
1841
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Phrenology versus intemperance : a lecture on temperance, considered physiologically and phrenologically : or, The laws of life, and the principles of the human constitution, as developed by the sciences of phrenology and physiology, applied to total abstinence from all alcoholic and intoxicating drinks / by O.S. Fowler. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    of wife and child, before very strong; next his anger, before ungoverna- ble, fell a pray to its ravages, and his ambition next, whilst his still sound intellect, saw this gradual destruction of his animal nature. He retained his-reason to the last. Volumes of analagous facts might be adduced incontrovertibly establishing, as a law of our nature, the proposition under discussion, namely, that whatever stimulates the body, thereby propor- tionally excites the merely animal nature of man, and that in a vicious direction, whilst whatever weakens the body, thereby weakens the mem- ory in general, and also the animal feelings. Beyond all dispute and controversy, this is a law of our nature, and a law, too, from which there is no appeal, and in the action of which, no variation. Whoever vio- lates it, must abide the consequences. The inference then becomes obvious and powerful and inevitable, that alcoholic admixtures of every kind and degree, by stimulating the body, thereby powerfully excite merely the animal nature of man, and weaken his moral and intellectual powers, the very conditions which constitute a brute. And the fact that his animal organs are several times larger and more active than those of the brute creation, renders him when stimulated, so much the more of a brute than they are. No more can any human being take alcoholic liquors in any form or degree, without proportionally inducing this result, without thereby brutalizing his nature, without degrading his manhood below his beasthood, and subjugating the former to the latter, thus reversing the order of his nature, than he can carry coals of fire in his bosom and not be burned. As soon will any other law of our nature fail to do ample justice as this. As soon will the deadly poisons become harmless, or the water slide up the inclined plane of itself, as alcoholic stimulants fail to produce animality, and to weaken the moral feelings. Nor is there any middle, any mod- erate ground. Every identical drop of alcohol has its legitimate, its stimulating effect upon the nerves, and through them upon the organs of the animal propensities. As far as it goes at all, just so far it goes towards making a man a brute, aye, and even worse than a brute; for as it requires a fallen angel to become a demon—a tall, arch-angel to become the prince of devils—so the higher man ranges in the scale of beino-, the lower alcohol sinks him. As the greater any gift or blessing is, the worse it become when perverted; as connubial love and faithfulness are among the highest of virtues, and productive of the purest enjoy- ment, and as licentiousness is the vice of vices, and attended with con- sequences the most painful; as reason, God's crowning gift to man, when perverted, becomes a proportional instrument of evil and misery, so man, brutalized, becomes vastly lower, vastly worse than a brute, and propor- tionably more miserable. Let it here be distinctly understood and remembered, that whatever contains alcohol, be it the alcoholic drinks as such, namely, rum, gin, brandy, cider brandy, whiskey, &c, &c, or be it any of the wines, foreign or domestic, be it malt liquors, strong beer, porter, ale, hard cider,* vinegar, one and all, every thing containing alcohol in any form * The use of this term is not designed to give a thrust at the whig political party, for aspirants of both parties often pursue the detestable policy of treatingto gain votes. A vote should always be the expression of intellect and moral sentiment. But by selling this birthright of freedom for grog, which dethrones both, the voter B