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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    roofs,—&eir gardens overrun with weeds,—their fields with broken fences, their hogs without jokes,—their sheep without wool,—their cattle and horses without fat,—and their children filthy, and half clad, without manners, principles,arid morals! This picture of agricultural wretchedness is seldom of long duration. The farms and property thus neglected, and depre- ciated, are seized and sold for the benefit of a group of credi- tors. The children that were bom with the prospect of inhe- riting them, are bound out to service in the neighbourhood ; while their parents, the unworthy authors of their misfortunes, ramble into new and distant settlements, alternately fed on their way by the hand of charity, or a little casual labour. Thus we see poverty and misery, crimes and infamy, dis- ease and death, are all the natural and usual consequences of the intemperate use of ardent spirits. I shall now take notice of the occasions and circumstances which are supposed to render the use of ardent spirits neces- sary, and endeavour to show that the arguments in favour of their use in such cases are founded in error, and tiiat in each of them, ardent spirits, instead of affording strength to the body, increase the evils they are intended to relieve. 11. They are said to be necessary in very cold weather. This is far from being true ; for the temporary warmth they produce, is always succeeded by a greater disposition in the body to be affected by cold. Warm dresses, a plentiful meal just before exposure to the cold, and eating occasionally a little ginger- bread, or any other cordial food, is a much more durable me- thod of preserving the heat of the body in cold weather. 2. They are said to be necessary in very warm weather. Experience proves that they increase, instead of lessening the effects of heat upon the body, and thereby dispose to diseases of all kinds. Even in the warm climate of the West Indies, Dr. Bell asserts this to be true Rum, (says this author) whe- ther used habitually, moderately, or in excessive quantities in the West Indies, always diminishes the strength of the body and renders men more susceptible of disease, and unfit for any service in which vigour or activity is required,* As well might we throw oil into a huus«, the roof of which was on fire, in order to prevent the flames from extending to its inside, as pour ardent spirits into the stomach, to lessen the effects of a hot sun upon the skin. 3. Nor do ardent spirits lessen the effects of .hard labour * Inquiry into the causes which produce, and the means of pre- venting diseases among British officers, soldiers and others in the West Indies. A 2