TEMPERANCE LECTURE.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1279, 13 May 1880, Page 2

TEMPERANCE LECTURE.

Mr. J. W. Jago, of Dunedin, delivered a lecture in the Primitive Methodist Lecture Hall, last evening to a very fair audience.- The subject was, "What the Doctors said in the Contemporary Review," and the object was to provide funds for the purchase of a harmonium for the church. The chair was occupied by the Rev. C. E. Barley, who, after the meeting had been opened in the usual manner, introduced the lecturer. Mr..Jago then proceeded with his lecture dealing with the opinions on the alcoholic controversy of a, number of medical men published in the Contemporary Review at the end of 1878 and beginning of 1879. He stated that the publication of these papers were of value, as showing what could be said in favor of the use of alcoholic beverages. Every one of the eleven papers to be reviewed advocated the use of alcohol in some way by some persons under some circumstances, but the : trouble was that they contradicted each other, and in some cases themselves, that they offered no safe or reliable teaching as a guide to practical men in the regulation their lives. The opinions of the doctors in the Contemporary Review were now frequently urged as a justification for the continued use of alcohol, but the lecturer said he was prepared to stake the whole controversary on a fair review of what was said in these papers. For _ what, asked the lecturer, was the position of the temperance reformer ? He would let one of the doctors in the Contemporary Review answer. The late Dr. Murchison said in his paper, after stating his case for alcohol, "It follows, then, that if alcohol be not necessary to enable a healthy man to accomplish his daily work, and if he cannot tell, until it be too. late to which of the first two classes of persons already referred to (those who may or those who may not safely use alcohol) he ; belongs, or whether the daily use of alcohol may not have the effect of slowly undermining his general health. The question which each person has to decide for himself is whether, in order to gratify the pleasures of the palate and conform to the usages of society, he will encounter the risk. The risk, it is true, may in many instances be slight, and many persons will no doubt continue to encounter it rather than forego the pleasure. But- the healthy man, who wishes to live long, and to continue to enjoy good health, without which long life would not be desirable, ought, I believe, to abstain from the habitual use of alcohol, although a glass or two of wine, or some of Dr. Bernay's favorite brandied cherries, taken occasionally, may do him no harm, and may at times, under special . circumstances, be of service." This, said the lecturer, was the case of the temperance reformer. Alcohol is unnecessary to any in health; it is dangerous to all ; it is certain ruin to many, and therefore the war waged against its habitual use. This he, was prepared to vindicate from the doctors in the Contemporary Review. Mr. Jago then proceeded to give an exhaustive review of the papers by these doctors, and ably controverted many of the statements made specially by Sir James Paget who was the only one of the writers who pronounced decidedly in favor of a continuance of the social drinking customs as they are.