Extracts from Dr. Benjamin Rush's Inquiry into the effects of ardent spirits upon the human body and mind.

  • Rush, Benjamin, 1746-1813.
Date:
1816
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Extracts from Dr. Benjamin Rush's Inquiry into the effects of ardent spirits upon the human body and mind. 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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    a cordial tor studious men. The late Anthony Benc- zet, one of the most laborious schoolmasters I ever knew, informed me, he had been prevented from the love of spiritous liquors, by acquiring a love for tea in early life. Three or four cups, taken in an atter- noon, carried oif the fatigue of a whole day's labour in his school. This worthy man lived to be seventy- one years of age, and died of an acute disease, witfi the full exercise of all the faculties of his mind. But the use of tea, counteracts a desire for distilled spi- rits, during great bodihj as well as mental exer- tions. Of this, Captain Forest has furnished us with a recent, and remarkable proof, in his history of a voyage from Calcutta, to the Marqui Archipelago. «I have always observed (says this ingenious mari- ner) when sailors drink tea, it weans them from the thoughts of drinking strong liquors, and pernicious g; and with this, they arc soon contented. Not with whatever will intoxicate, be it what it will. • This has always been my remark ! I therefore al- ' v\ ays encourage it, without their knowing why. . Women have sometimes been led to seek relief from sickness, [of the stomach] by the use of ardent spirits. A little gingerbread, or biscuit, taken oc- casionally, so as to prevent the stomach being empty, is a much better remedy for that disease. 6. Persons under the pressure of debt, disappoint- ments in worldly pursuits, and guilt, have some- times sought to drown their sorrows in strong drink. The only radical cure for those evils, is to be found in Religion. 7. The sociable and imitative nature of man, often disposes him to adopt the most odious and destructive practices from his companions. The French soldiers who conquered Holland, in the year 1794, brought back with them the love and use of brandy, and thereby corrupted the inhabitants of several of the departments of France, who had been previously