An address, delivered before the Richmond and Exeter Union Society for the Promotion of Temperance : June 10, 1832 / by Charles Jewett.

  • Jewett, Charles, 1807-1879.
Date:
1832
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An address, delivered before the Richmond and Exeter Union Society for the Promotion of Temperance : June 10, 1832 / by Charles Jewett. 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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    there may be certain cases where their use may be convenient, but I will venture to assert that among the whole catalogue oi' diseases to which the human frame is subject, there cannot one be found in which ardent spirits in an uncombined stale is indispensable. But even allowing them to be necessary as a medicine, would that afford an argument in favor of their use in a state of health 1 Surely not, for what has a healthy man to do with medicine 1 But we pass to inquire whether it possess any strengthening or invigorating qualities which should recommend it to those whose occupations in life are such as render it necessary that they should undergo excessive labor and fatigue. On this sub- ject authorities of high standing are at hand. Doctor Bell, one of the greatest surgeous of whom England can boast, says, Rum, whether used habitually, moderately, or in excessive quantities, always diminishes the strength of the body and ren- ders man more susceptible of disease, and unfit for any service in which vigor or activity is required. Dr. Rush, one of the most celebrated physicians of this country, and one whose memory ought ever to be held sacred by his countrymen as one of the signers of the declaration of our Independence, observes, There is no nourishment in ardent spirits ; the strength they produce in labor is of a transitory nature, and is always followed by a sense of weakness and fatigue.' We might adduce the testimony of a multitude of others which would concur with those already quoted, but we desist, and for the benefit of cer- tain individuals whose arrogance leads them to discard all au- thorities, and still maintain that the moderate use of ardent spirits is beneficial and salutary, we will endeavor to give some reasons for our opinion drawn from the operations of the animal economy; and for tins purpose we will state in familiar terms that there is a self-preserving power in the human system which is ever on the alert, and busied in expelling hurtful ma- terials from the body. Thus, when a person has by accident, in swallowing, received a small portion of some solid or liquid substance into his windpipe, where nothing hut pure air ought to have admittance, the individual is immediately thrown intoa violent fit of coughing, for this is (he only mode by which nature is able to dislodge the injurious substance, which if left there