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

  • Rush, Benjamin, 1746-1813.
Date:
1818
Catalogue details

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 large quantity of saccharine matter, and water, as to be per- fectly wholesome. It sometimes disagrees with persons sub- ject to the rheumatism, but it may be made inoffensive to such people, by extinguishing a red hot iron in it, or by mixing it with water. 3. Malt Liquors. They contain a good deal of nourish- ment ; hence we find many of the poor people in Great Britain endure hard labour, with no other food than a quart or three pints of beer, with a few pounds of bread in a day. As it will be difficult to prevent small beer from becoming sour in warm weather, an excellent substitute may be made for it by mixing bottled porter, ale, or strong beer with an equal quantity of water; or a pleasant beer may be made by adding to a bottle of porter, ten quarts of water, and a pound of brown sugar or a pint of molasses. After they have been well mixed, pour the liquor into bottles and place them, loosely corked, in a cool cellar. In two or three days, it will be fit for use. A spoonful of ginger added to the mixture, renders it more lively, and agreeable to the taste. 4. Molasses and Water, also Vinegar and Water sweetened with sugar, or molasses, form an agreeable drink in warm weather. It is pleasant and cooling, and tends to keep up those gentle and uniform sweats on which health, and life often depend. Vinegar and water constituted the only drink of the soldiers of the Roman republic, and it is well known they marched, and fought in a warm climate, and be- neath a load of arms which weighed sixty pounds. Boaz, a wealthy farmer in Palestine, we find treated his reapers with nothing but bread dipped in vinegar. To such persons as ob- ject to the taste of vinegar, sour milk, or buttermilk, or sweet milk diluted with water, may be given in its stead. I have known the labour of the longest and hottest days in summer supported by means of these pleasant and whofesoine drinks with great firmness, and ended, with scarcely a complaint of fatigue. 5. Coffee possesses agreeable and exhilarating qualities, and might be used with great advantage to obviate the painful effects of heat, cold and fatigue upon the body. I once knew a country physician who made it a practice to drink a pint of strong coffee previously to his taking a long or cold ride. It was more cordial to him than spirits, in any of the forms in which they are commonly used. The use of the cold bath in the morning, and of the warm bath in the evening, are happily calculated to strengthen the body in the former part of the day, and to restore it in the