Intemperance and tight lacing considered in relation to the laws of life.

  • Fowler, O. S. (Orson Squire), 1809-1887.
Date:
1852
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Intemperance and tight lacing considered in relation to the laws of life. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    brain and nervous system.—Apply it to an open wound, or bring it in contact with an exposed nerve, and it burns like fire. Let it be applied ten million times to as many fresh wounds or exposed nerves, and every application will bring pairiful evidence of the truth of this proposition. Let those who doubt it, try the experiment. It burns the mouth, and hence the practice of taking water loith grog and water after grog, to quench the fire it always kindles. There is something in the very natures of alcohol and the nerves, by which the former invariably ir- ritates the latter. No law of nature is more clear or universal than that by which alcohol excites the brain and nerves. As soon may one deny the eftects of gravity, or question the phenomena of optics or chemistry, as attempt to controvert this proposition. As soon can he ‘ carry coals of fire in his bosom and not be burned,’ as bring alcohol in contact with the brain or nerves without powerfully exciting them. Indeed, it is taken mostly on account of its stimulating qualities. PROPOSITION VI.—.77;e exciting properties of alcohol are retained after it is taken into the system.—This is abundantly evinced by the stim- ulus or increased action which it imparts to the muscles, and indeed to the whole animal economy. 2. It passes unchanged into the blood, having the same irritating effect in the system that it has when applied externally. It has been extracted from the blood by chemical analysis, and found in the watery secretions of the brain of drunkards after death, and that in such abundance as to send forth the alcoholic flame and smell. E. C. Delavan put the question, ‘ Is alcohol digestible?’ to forty of our most eminent physicians, and every reply contained a full, unequivocal negative. Cases of spontaneous combustion, in which the bodies of topers actually ignite and burn to death, incontestibly establish this point. Again ; this blood, thus surcharged with this powerful stimulant, this deadly poison, is brought into direct contact with every part and par- ticle of the entire system, with every shred of every nerve, and with every fibre of every muscle, the ramifications of its vessels being incon- ceivably minute and numerous. ‘ The blood thereof is’ indeed ‘ the life thereof.’ As is the state of the blood, so is that of the system in general, and of the brain and mind in particular. The same is substan- tially true of the stomach. Its condition powerfully affects that of the great sympathetic nerve, which in its turn influences the entire system, especially the base of the brain. PROPOSITION VII.—About one-seventh part of the blood is sent to the head, which is several hundred per cent more in proportion to its size, then is carried to any other portion of the system.—This is the universal testimony of all physiologists. The reason is obvious. By a law of our nature, every action of every nerve and muscle, every exercise of brain and mind, causes a proportionate expenditure of vital energy. The blood being the great medium for re-supplying this exhausted vital energy, is most abundant where the greatest re-supply is demanded. Hence, since the brain is the organ of the mind, since the irritating effect of alcohol is most powerful, almost as much so as fire or arsenic, since Us exciting property is retained after it is taken into the blood, and since so much greater a proportion of blood is sent to the liead than to any other part of the system, the effects of alcohol upon the mind of man must be most powerful and tremendous, either for good or for evil. Still farther : however extraordinary man is as a merely physical being, it is his intellectual and moral qualities which constitute the chief ends of existence. He was never made merely to eat and sleep, to breathe and labour and die. lie was created mainly to think and feci, to do good, and to study God’s works. It is not his’coat, nor yet his body, l)ut it is his intellectual and moral nature which constitutes the marihood of man. All else is not worth counting. This is the man. This constitutes his identity and personality. Could you cut from him limb after limb, and one portion of his body after another, until the