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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    during drunkenness. I have known many persons destroyed by them, who were never completely in- toxicated during the whole course of their lives. The solitary instances of longevity which arc now and then met with in hard drinkers, no more disprove the deadly effects of ardent spirits, than the solitary instances of recoveries from apparent death by drowning, prove that there is no danger to life from a human body lying an hour or two under water. Not less destructive are the effects of ardent spi- rits upon the human mind. They impair the me- mory, debilitate the understanding, and pervert the moral faculties. It was probably from observing these effects of intemperance in drinking, upon the mind, that a law was formerly passed in Spain which excluded drunkards from being witnesses in a court of justice. A more affecting spectacle cannot be exhibited than a person into whom this infernal spirit, gene- rated by habits of intemperance, has entered. It is more or less affecting according to the station the person fills in a family, or in society, who is pos- sessed by it. Is he a husband? How deep the an- guish which rends the bosom of his wife! Is she a wife? AVho ri\n measure the shame and aversion which she excites in her husband? Is he the father, or is she the mother of a family of children ? See their averted looks from their parent, and their blushing looks at each other! Is he a magistrate? Or has he been chosen to (ill a high and respectable station in the councils of his country? What humili- ating fears of corruption in the administration of the laws, and of the subversion of public order and hap- piness, appear in the countenances of all who see him! In pointing out the evils produced by ardent spi- rits, let us not pass by their effects upon tlie estates of the persons who are addicted to them. Are tncy A 2