TEMPERANCE COLUMN.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 2005, 28 July 1880, Page 3

TEMPERANCE COLUMN.

[Edited by 0, M. Q,] IS THERE ANY GOOD IN ALCOHOL? It is urged against total abstinence from intoxicating liquors that it men would but drink moderately there would be no need for total abstinence; that drink, if taken moderately, is good ; that it is a “ good creature of God that alcohol is found abundantly in the vegetable productions of the earth (and this is a proof that alcohol is good for man), and that it is only the adulterated stuff that hurts men when moderately taken; that good liquors, like all God’s other gifts, are useful, unless taken immoderately ; and that the evil arising from their excessive use is similar to that arising from gluttony. Now, it has been proved over and over again, that alcohol is nowhere found in sound vegetable production, and that it is produced by the decomposition of the saccharine matter contained in those vegetables and that it is no more a natural product than putridity in meat, or acidity in milk ; and that it is not, therefore, by this view of the matter, entitled to be regarded as useful for dietary purposes. Then again, it has been shown most conclusively that even the moderate use of those drinks is totally unnecessary ; and, more than that, their use is hurtful in proportion to the quantity in which they are taken. Defeated on this point, also, liquor men then retire to what may be called their fortress —the medicinal use; and hero temperance reformers are met with a bold challenge. The rank and file of medical practitioners are confronted against the Templar ranks to prove—at least to attempt to prove—that were it not for the excellent medicinal properties of alcohol, disease, in its diverse and deadly forms, could not be successfully dealt with ; so that when the doctor said, “ drink double stout, pale ale, brandy, or port wine,” temperance men’s arguments were unheeded, and people argued, “if drink is good in sickness, it must bo good in health,” thus, drinking has been kept up, almost solely from the pretentious and foolish advice of medical men. But in order that people may see that this subject has more sides than one, the following quotations are appended : “ Beer, wine, spirits, &0., furnish no elements capable of entering into the composition of of the blood, muscular fibre, or any part which is the seat of the vital principle. 730 gallons of the best Bavarian beer contain exactly as much nourishment as a five-pound loaf or three pounds of beef.”— Baron Liebig. “ One hundred parts of ordinary beer or porter contain parts of solid matter ; and, of this, only six-tenths consist of flesh-form-ing matter ; in other words, it takes 1G66 parts of ordinary beer or porter to obtain one part of nourishing matter. To drink beer or porter to nourish us, is tantamount to swallowing a sack of chaff for the sake of a grain of wheat.”—Professor Lyon Playfair. “ So far as the physical action is concerned, I do not know that we can say anything good of alcohol at all.”—Dr. E. Lankeeter, F.R.B. “We are in conscience bound to say that science has found that alcohol is not good, and that being simply a stimulant to the nervous system, its use is hurtful to the body of a healthy man.”—Dr. Markham. "Stimulants do not create nervous power ; they only enable you to use up that which is left, and then they leave you m more need of rest than you were before.”—Sir Benjamin Brodie,

“It is a mistaken notion that ale, wine, or spirits communicate strengthj and it is disgraceful to see medical men propagate the error. Intoxicating liquors are neither necessary nor useful as a beverage.”—Dr. O’Sullivan in the “Medical Times,” volume x., page 280. “Ho medical practitioner should prescribe alcohol without a sense of grave responsibility.”—Richard Quain, F.R.S. “ Men do well without alcoholic drinks.”— Sir John Forbes, F.R S. “ A sample of ale contained, in one hundred gallons, ninety-two of water and five of alcohol, and little else.”—“ Notes on Beer and Brewing."

Public Conveniences. —The law prohibiting the sale of intoxicating liquors on the Sabbath is sadly abused in this “ highly moral ” city. Nearly every “ crime factory ” is possessed of a convenient side entrance, and these entrances are well known to a class of people who are always too ready to take advantage of any opportunity that presents itself of obtaining liquor on the sly. Tub Alcoholic Dooxoe and hib Patient. —Some time ago a gentleman in England was sick, and in a rather low physical condition. He sent fer the family doctor, who, after his arrival and sundry examinations, ordered his patient—among other things—to drink a bottle of wine daily. The doctor was' most assiduous in his attentions to his patient, who soon began to recover, and in a remarkably short time got convalescent. “ Ah,” said the doctor, “ that dosing of good port did its duty successfully.” “Do you think so ?” said the patient. “I am quite sure of it,” said the doctor, “ Then look here,” said the patient, and, opening the cupboard door, pointed to the bottles which the family insisted on buying, but which he would not touch. The discomfiture of the doctor can be better imagined than expressed. The Hospital Boabd.—lt is reported that the motion recently brought before the Hospital Board by one of its junior members with the object of obtaining a supply of beer for the nurses and laundry-women has been allowed to drop. The Board is becoming wise in its old age, and is not anxious to increase the number of patients. The next step to take is to lessen the mortality among the patients by adopting a system of non-alcoholic treatment.

Woes hipping at Two Sheikhs.— It is stated on very good authority that certain members of a certain church choir in the city of Christchurch have been known to rush with indecorous haste from one place of worship to another—from the shrine of God to the shrine of Bacchus. It is no longer a matter for suprise that the “respectable” publicans do such a roaring trade on the Sabbath.

The Cleegy Moving. —According to Mr John Bright, the principle embodied in the Local Option resolution of Sir Wilfrid Lawson was endorsed by a memorial signed by 13,600 clergy, 15 bishops, 22 deans, 66 archdeacons, 65 canons, 178 prebendaries’ and 206 honorary canons. An Innocent (?) Dbink.— John Yedler was shot and instantly killed in a row in a beer shop in Chicago on Tuesday evening. The parties were all drunk on beer, thus illustrating in a very forcible manner the harmless effect of this mild beverage. Bebb Dbinking. —An Illinois journal says :—A beer stand was one of the institutions at the McLean County Fair. One day, three men under tho influence of liquor, while near the beer stand, became engaged in a drunken fight. William Stout, a special policeman from Le Boy, attempted to quell the disturbance, when he was fatally stabbed in the neck by one of the drunken men. Several parties were arrested. This demonstrates what a harmless beverage beer is, and what a grand thing it is on the fair grounds. A Distinguished Abstainbb. —Mr Hubert Herkomor, the eminent artist, whose election to the Boyal Academy a few months ago gave so much satisfaction, in accepting a copy of Mr Sherlock’s “ Illustrious Abstainers,” writes to the author, “ I know no other artist who is an abstainer. I fear they trust too much to artificial means. It is no credit to me for being an abstainer; the credit is due to my father, who gave up smoking, drinking intoxicating drinks, and eating meat at the same time —about twenty, years ago—and as I was only ten years old then, I naturally grew into my father’s habits. I now eat meat, however. The blessings of that reform have come down upon my children.” Mr Herkomer’s testimony teaches a lesson to parents which cannot be too widely learnt. A Candid Fbibnd. —A saloon keeper having started business in a place where trunks had been made, asked a friend what he had better do with the old sign, “ Trunk Factory.” “Oh,” said the friend, “just change tho T to a D, and it will suit you exactly.” A Pbohibition County.—There is one county in the State of Pennsylvania, says the “Star of Hope,” of which prohibitionists are proud. We refer to Potter county, in which there has not been a licensed saloon for twenty years. The clerk of the courts and other citizens unite in saying their gaol has not averaged one occupant during that time ; but one person has been sent to tho penitentiary ; only two panpera in tho poor house. Their taxes are 35 per cent, lower than they are in adjoining counties where saloons are licensed. The circuit court only occupies three or four days each year, and dockets arc closed. If prohibition does not prohibit, pray tell us what it does do, with such facts as these before ns.