The nature and remedy of intemperance : an address delivered before the Mount Desert Temperance Society, July 4th, 1832 / by James Gillpatrick.

  • Gillpatrick, James, 1801-1865.
Date:
1832
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The nature and remedy of intemperance : an address delivered before the Mount Desert Temperance Society, July 4th, 1832 / by James Gillpatrick. 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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    abandon the traffic in spirit; and neither make it, nor buy it, nor sell it, or he cannot with any propriety be called a friend to the temperance cause. I know that there are those who traffic in spirit, and would fain be called the firm friends of temperance, and plead in justification of their practice, necessity—they have no other way to support their families. Suppose the thief who had stolen his neighbor's goods, should plead necessity—the wants of a dependent family, as no doubt he often could with truth, would that justify him ? No, says the objector, but the bible condemns stealing. Right; so it does. Thou shalt not steal, is written in the bible. And does not the bible condemn the sale of spirit too? Woe un- to him that giveth his neighbor drink, that puttest thy bot- tle to him, and makest him drunken also, is found in the same bible. But, says the rum seller, I do not put the bottle to the drunkard's mouth, he comes and buys it for himself, and drinks it for himself; very well—but is it not absolutely certain, that if there was none to be sold, it could not be bought, and consequently, would not be drank ? Besides, does not every rum maker, or rum seller, make or sell his rum to be drank ? does he not know that it will be drank, and make drunkards? Yes, says the trader, I know that if the drunkard donot get rum oi me, he will of others, and they will gel his money, and I may as well have it as they. An apothecary keeps arsenick to sell—a poor infatuated man comes in, and wishes to purchase a dose to put an end to his own existence at once. The apothecary hesitates, per- haps is entreated by a friend not to sell it to him ; but he re- plies, the man is determined to kill himself, and if 1 do not sell him the arsenick, he will get it of some other one, and I may as well have the money as another—I have the arsenick ; I keep it to sell, and want the money for it; and so he lets him take as much as he wishes. The fatal dose is taken—the man dies. Now, I ask, is he justified in selling the arsenick? Is he not, to all intents, a murderer?—It is equally clear, that every dealer in spirit contributes in a high degree to make drunkards, and is, to say the least, accessory to all the evils which are occasioned by drunkenness. You cannot fail to see then, that he who would aid in suppressing intemperance, must wholly abandon the traffic in spirit. There is yet another step, which the friends of temperance may take, and, in my view, are bound to take. As it is ne- cessary they should abandon the sale of spirit themselves, so they should discountenance it in others. This may be done in different ways. The board of officers in every town, are