THE GISBORNE LITERARY AND DEBATING SOCIETY.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume X, Issue 1154, 22 September 1882, Page 2

THE GISBORNE LITERARY AND DEBATING SOCIETY.

ALCOHOL. At the schoolhouse lost evening, the Rev. Mr Hill delivered his promised lecture, and Mr Kenny oocupied the ohair. The rev. lecturer spoke as follows There is little need of anything by way of explanation in bringing before you a subject of so vast importance to us aa a nation. I offer no excuse ; no apology. The terrible effects of this drug speak for themselves. The moan of the hundreds of helpless women tortured with kicks and blows ; the wail of beaten and starving children ; the misery in nine-tenths of our prison cells ; the wretchedness of 75 per cent, of our distressed floor, the idiotic yell of the 30,000 hope* 688 lunatics • the toll of the funeral bell over the 120,000 dead ushered into eternity year by year. These ever-increasing cries of woe must be heard. They demand attention i they cannot be ignored. England and America have won their glory and fame in the battle for freedom j with their blood they have raised the standard of liberty. Lot them but feel the burden of this human sorrow ; let them but hear these heart-rend-ing groans from enslaved brothers and sisters, and to a man, all who speak our mother tongue will awake to duty and to action in the cause of truth and liberty. Let it be understood, at the outset of this paper, that I believe the evils connected with the use of Alcohol is trading upon ignorance. Let it be known far and wide the truth as to the effect of this chemical, and the light of that truth will speedily dispel the blackness of this darkness, which hangs over almost every home. There is a terrible conflict before every right-minded man. We caiu Hot leave this evil alone ; tfe ought not to be

silent. lam ready to admit much that has been said and done has not been tempered with either wisdom or discretion. There has been awful blundering somewhere. But let us seek the light, and ever remember that two wrongs never make a .light. If, as a nation, we owe our greatness to fidelity to truth, let us remember, to our shame, we have always been slow to give up error. The discoveries of Roger Bacon, Sir Isaac Newton, Dr Harvey and Dr Jenner, were attacked by the ignorant and the prejudiced, and were ridiculed and laughed at by all. The inventor of printing was supposed to be in league with the Devil; the inventor of the steam-engine was called a madman. The introof gas met with contemptuous chaff. Dr Lardner tried to make England believe that a steamer could not cross the Atlantic at the very time the Great Western did cross it. We must not be surprised if some clever punster, inspired by the enchanting fumes of an extra glass, indulges in a little stale wit at our expense. He is fond of his tot, and, as a waggish hearer said to a street preacher, “ I say, Maister !” didn't yer preach “love yer enemies?” “Yes,” I did, sir. “And didn’t yer say that whiskey was my enemy.” “Then I loves my enemy that Ido so do all that take their little of something hot—they love it. In the interests of the preacher let me not leave out the rejoinder: “It is true I told you to love your enemies, but when did I tell you to swallow your enemies ?”

The three-headed god Cerberus of Grecian Mythology fitly represents this monster “Alcohol.,’ Grinning ignorance is supported on the one side by irresistible habit, and on the other by over-powering love. Having thus introduced you to this Guardian of Spirits, with its three-fold power, ignorance, habit, and love, all uniting to keep the millions of enslaved sufferers in endless bondage ; let us proceed to dissect this monster, and expose him to more minute examination. What is Alcohol? The out-and-out total abstainer ■will tell you it is poison ; the very moderate drinker will as empathically say it is a food; while few deny it is a luxury, and none that it is a valuable medicine, Dr Edward Johnson and Dr Lees tell us the derivation of “Alcohol” is from two Arabic words, “Al” which means “the,” and “ ghole” a name given to “ evil spirits” ; and from this very doubtful derivation some of the popular lecturers of our day have dubbed it “ the Devil in solution.” But, as I believe, neither learned linguist nor earnest moralist is so likely to give us as correct an analysis as our experimental chemist; let us question him, and he will tell us “Alcohol” contains two elements carbon and hydrogen. The element carbon in its separate state is found in the diamond, in plumbago, or blacklead, and in charcoal; the element hydrogen in its separate state is a gas, the lightest of all known substances. In addition to these two elements we have always present some water, even in absolute alcohol 2 per cent. ; in water we have combined in proportion as two is to one, the two elements hydrogen and oxygen, so that we have always some oxygen also in “Alcohol,” A chemist will distinguish between “Alcohol” and water by saving, in “Alcohol” we have two parts carbon, six hydrogen, and one oxygen; in water, two parts hydrogen, and one oxygen. From what and how do we obtain this compound ? From the earliest times by means of fermentation; sweet vegetable infusions or juices are changed wholly or partly into solutions of “Alcohol” by this process. The fermentation of dough in the making of bread appears to depend on similar principles, and is a familiar illustration of the method ; a portion of the starch is changed into sugar, and in the presence of a ferment the sugar is immediately resolved into alcohol and carbonic acid. The alcohol escapes for the most part during the baking, but a little remains in the bread which has been found to contain about two parts in a thousand of pure ‘‘Alcohol.” For many centuries nothing further was known beyond the formation of this firewater by this means of fermentation. Ht length a new process, an imitation of Nature, was brought to bear on wine— distillaHon. The principle of distillation is founded on the fact that very few liquids pass into vapour at the same temperature. It takes a heat of 212 degrees to vaporize water, but 172 suffices for alcohol. This was a marvellous discovery, and full of interest. The process of distillation once discovered, all who knew its secret were ever experimenting in every conceivable way. Among other substances the green stony crystals commonly called vitnol were submitted, and the world was enriched with sulphuric acid. This acid was mixed with the spirit of wine, and these again they distilled. This produced a most wonderful liquid. They poured it on water, it floated ; on spirit, it floated ; into their hands, and lo ! it boiled there. It escaped from them into the air, and before they could bottle it, it burned and exploded. It caused when it touched the body an intense cold. This new fluid they called aether. What strange use this fluid has been to man we all know. It has the power of suspending sensation, and rendering the body insensible to pain during surgical operations.

They distilled saltpetre and got the spirit of nitre or nitric acid. They distilled common salt in sulphuric acid and got hydrochloric acid. From the observation of fermentation of wine we derive our first knowledge of gases. Priestly made his early observations on the gas which escaped from fermenting malt in a brewery at Warrington, and was led step by step to the discovery of oxygen, and then came the process of distilling and collecting a gas from a coal and thus coal gas. The discovery of chlorine by Liebin gave another element for experiment, and chlomie passed through alcohol produced chloral hydrate and by treating alcohol with chloride of lime Liebig produced for us chloroform—*a soother and saver of pain. A learned scholar, Mr Standford, has come to the conclusion that the spirit of wine obtained by distillation was used as a drink as early 1260, A.D. The Arabians he thinks taught tho Spaniards and the Spaniards the Monks of Ireland. There it was called whiskey which is the Irish : somewhat shortened for the water of life. The Germans named thia spirit distilled from wine or other fermented fluids, burnt wine, and so we get from them the term brandy. In time men began to add other substances to thia ardent spirit to give it a new flavor or taste. Amongst others the i uniper berries—from which word, but I don’t mow by what means, Mr Standford girts our word gin ; others think it Is short for Geneva, the place where it was first made. As time went on others discovered it possible to make spirit from the fermentation of sugar, and from the Latin for sugar, saccharine, comes the last and strongest of our spirits, rum. At tills atagc let rne point out that “Ah cohol" is the essential element in all our fermented and distilled drinks. All fermented liquids contain more or less of this spirit. Extract tho “ Alcohol,” as I have (tone in this stout, ale, ami wino, and no one would venture to drink what is left. Any one can try for his or herself at the close of our meeting, and I feel certain they will not venture on a second glass, but will have sensations common to not a few travellers at sea. Now I come to a very important consideration, one I am desirous especially to make clear—what is the percentage of absolute “ Alcohol ” in our common alcoholic beverages ? Rum contains from 60 to 70 per cent, of pure “ Alcohol gin, whiskey, and brandy from 50 to 60. Thai is, In a flmall wine glass wc have as

much as one ounce of absolute “Alcohol.” If this quantity were taken of the pure spirit, without water, it would prove to be most deadly poison. No man can take more than lioz. in the day without injurious symptoms. In strong wines, such as Port, Sherry, and Colonial Wine, we have 20 to 25 per cent., or four glasses to the ounce, of pure spirit. In malt liquors—beer, ale, and stout, from sto 8 per cent-, or two tumblers contain one ounce of alcohol. But some one will say what about the other constituents ?— t.e., the hops, the barley, and the sugar in beer—what about these ingredients? Well beer contains 90 per cent, of water, 5 to 8 per cent. ‘ ‘ Alcohol, ” about 5 per cent, of sugar, albumen, or gluten. It has been ascertained that 2|lbs. of bread give as much strength and force to the human body as nine bottles of pale ale. The bread would cost you 4d., the ale 9s. So, if it is the sugar and gluten we seek in the beer, we pay dearly for our sugur. There is still another important topic for us to examine before we pass from the chemical properties of “ Alcohol ” to that of its physiological action—that is the adulteration of wines, beers, and spirituous liquors. The following choice receipts I quote from a book entitled “ The Manufacture of Liquors, Wines, &c., without the aid of dissillation, arranged and prepared expressly for the trade. Of course, in Gisborne this manual is never used ; but I may be allowed to question the genuineness of much of our imported wines. For instance, London alone consumes far more champagne than is manufactured of the pure article in the world. Let us see how brandy is made, according to one trade receipt : —Mix 25 gallons of whiskey, 14 gallons of water, 1 gallon tincture of pepper, 1| gallon of strong tea, 1 pound of acetic ether ; colour with burnt sugar, and you have the finest French brandy. Perhaps you prefer schnapps. How is it made I Here is the receipt:—Common gin, 39 gallons ; strained honey, gallons ; water, 2 gallons ; sulphuric acid, one ounce ; sweet spirits of nitre, 8 ounces ; spirit of nitric ether, 3 ounces; 10 drops of oil of Wintergreen, dissolved in 2 ounces of acetic ether. You like wines better, and of wines sherry to anything colonial. Well, mix 10 gallons of cider ; 4 ounces of bitter almonds ; I gallon of honey; 4 ounces of mustard. Boil for 30 minutes, then add 1 half pint of spirit of orris-root ; 2 ounces of essence of cassia; 3 quarts of rum. And you have what is sold in the market for pure sherry. But the doctor was ordered you port twice a day. Well, I give you a receipt for making good port*2o gallons of cider, 2 gallons oi honey, 12 ounces of carbonate of soda, gallons of strong tincture of grains of paradise, 5 ounces of pulverised catechu ; color with logwood or burnt sugar. A small portion of spirits would improve it. The carbonate of soda is to neutralise tho acid in the cider, which, if allowed to remain, would present too large a proportion of acid for good f)ort. The practice of adulteration tho least lurtful is carried on in beers.

A few years ago a well-known analyst collected and tried at great expense, from all parts of London, beers retailed in a vast number of public houses. The result of this examination was that ho forced the very harmless fluid water, with the addition of common salt and sugar, almost the only things used in its adulteration. Now I trust we are somewhat prepared to examine in what way “ Alcohol” acts on the bodies of men. It is necessary in order that this paper should take as practical a form as possible to narrow the question a little further; I do not propose to discuss the question of drunkenness, but of tho effects of the moderate drinking. I think it is also hopeless to argue with a man who, when it is proved to him that he is ruining his health by the abuse of fermented liquors, replies, as a gouty patient of Sir Henry Thompson’s replied to him, “You recommend claret instead of port I’ “Well,” sir, “I prefer my with my’ port to being cured of tny gout with that claret of yours.” Very well, we have no controversy with this class. CTo be continued')