LECTURE ON THE PHYSIOLOGY OF TEMPERANCE.

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 167, 20 April 1871, Page 5

LECTURE ON THE PHYSIOLOGY OF TEMPERANCE.

i The RST^dV Copland delivered a lecture on this subject in the Athenajum, Lawrence, on Friday evening last. The Rev. Mr. Menzies occupied the chair. In his opening remarks he expressed his increasing conviction of the value of the total abstinence principle in this country. He sometimes met persons who grumbled against the country, declaring it was exhausted. He replied if they would save the money which they threw away on drinking, they would find the country quite sufficient to yield at least a fair remuneration for honest labour, and certainly remuneration a great deal better than what people received very thankfully at home. So long as such a vast extent of fertile ground remained uncultivated in the country, he had no fear that the country was done. The Rev. Dr. Copland stated that the subject which he would bring before them was an enquiry into the nature and use of alcoholic liquors in order to form a correct opinion as to true temperance in regard to them. He said that if he had merely to state the properties and uses of alcohol, just as he would do of opium, arsenic, or other poisonous drug, the task w ould be easy. The effects which alcohol produced when a strong dose was taken, were too well understood. The peison feels a considerable biting about the palate and throat ; his stomach grows warm ; a certain buzzing or whirling sen-

sation is felt in his brain ; his tongue gets loose, and perhaps grows foul ; he becomes exalted in his own estimation ; begins to boast, aud perhaps manifests a propensity to fight. Or perhaps his greatness is shown in another way. He feels the condescension of great men, and suddenly contracts a strong affection for all around him : desires to make them as happy as himself by dosing them with the same potent drug ; joins with them in drinking it to show his perfect heartiness ; in creases in his own greatness, till he is no longer endurable, and his money being spent, he is thrust out to become sober in the nearest ditch, perhaps to learn law and wisdom in the police court next morning, and possibly to add to his medical knowledge by consulting his doctor how to ?et rid of his racking headache, his furred tongue, and his foul stomach. If people formed their opinions of alcohol properly from their well-known

effects, we should not find it in so great demand as we do. Tn the township of Lawrence, which contains 400 or 500 inhabitants, young and old, there were no less than seven large licensed hotels, ■ the holders of which must draw such an amount of money as to support themselves and families, besides paying heavy expenses for license, rent, servants, and all necessary supplies. Besides, there were three or four stores holding licenses to sell liquors in larger quantities than were usually consumed for one dose, and a number more — it was currently believed — ML stores or houses where the same liqm.rs were sold without any license whatever, unless the silence and inactivity of the police respecting them could be regarded in that light. When it was that this tremendous force was miuntamed in the midst of a community that enjoyed the services of tive minisrers of religion, besides a number of teachers of the youno, and that laid claim to a fair share of gep"i\>l I 'tel'ig^nco nvA cot credit for r/Osscociiis il ; when it was observed that these liquors were paid for in coins bearing the superscription " Victoria, by the grace of God, Queen of Britain, Defenders of the Faith," it must be quite evident that all this traffic could not be maintained for the sake of producing those debasing effects so commonly witnessed. Nor was it in this district alone that the traffic was so krs;e. Throughout Otago there was one public house for every 125 individuals, or, if we included bottle licenses, one for every 96 individuals ; and if we could include shanties, trading without any license except impunity and good custom, the proportion must be appalling. Tt was clear, then, that alcoholic drinks, for the sale of which such abundant and wide spread facilities were deemed- necessary, must be regarded as essential to the comfort and happiness of man, perhaps necessary for his very existence. He proposed, therefore, to enquire into this matter. He showed that all the strong drinks commonly used contained alcohol in various amounts, and that alcohol was the principal ingredient in them all. He gave an account of the modes in which it was obtained m wines and beers by fermentation alone, and in the different kinds of " spirits " — so called — by an additional process of distillation. He showed that alcohol did not exist, in that state in nature, but was only to be obtained by art and labour. It produced an immense destruction of what would be valuable and nutritions food. In the London breweries in 1852, 700,000 qrs. of malt were used, equal to about 22fr millions of pounds weight, or nearly 100 lbs. weight of malt in one year for each soul in that city. Throughout Britain and Ireland, nearly every town liad its breweries, and Briton-on-Trent was so occupied by them that scarcely anything else could be seen. In Otago, upwards of £6 is spent annually on strong drink for each individual of the population, while probably not more than £1 is spent on religious and benevolent objects. All this showed the importance of determining whether alcoholic drinks, for which so much valuable food was destroyed, and in connection with which such a large portion of the community were engaged, were really so useful and. beneficial as they were supposed to be. He specially discussed the question whether alcohol could be regarded as food, and in doing so gave a description of the purpose which food served — supplying the waste of the human system, and keeping up heat. He pointed out, with the aid of diagrams, the usual course

of food in the human body in accomplishjj«g these ends. Alcohol did not contain „j3||»onstituents which the body required ' for ihe repair of any of its parts — blood, brain, bone, muscle, membranes, or other

tissues. It remained unchanged, and passed by the shortest road to the blood, andean, to the brain, so that, according to common experience, it was felt in the head. It could not digest food. It was rather the most common substance which was employed to keep animal substances from undergoing any such change, so that a doad lizard, serpent, or other animal

could be easily preserved undecomposed by keeping it entirely covered with alcohol. Alcohol also destroyed tha gastric juice by which food was digested in the stomach, causing that juice to coagulate, and so long as alcohol remained in the stomach it would prevent digestion. Usually, however, it was taken out of the stomach very rapidly. In regard to causing heat in the body, it undoubtedly accomplished that, but at the cost of great injury to the blood and the proper nourishment of the body, if it were habitually imbibed, as it was by multitudes ; and further, at the cost of reaction in the system (unless the supply were renewed and increased), so that the bodj r afterwards became colder than at first. It was said by many to be useful as a stimulant to call forth greater strength. It will certainly act for a time in causing a greater effort to be put forth by the body than might have been without it. Anxiety, fear, madness, or any violent emotion might accomplish this. Like all such stimulants, it was followed by reaction, so that the body felt weaker afterwards than before. It served only the purpose of a whip or spur to the horse ; it might make it go faster, but would exhaust it the sooner, as it yielded not one iota of real strength. Perhaps this might be qualified in the case of certain kinds of beer, which contained a very slight amount of nourishment. According to Liebig, if a man drank eight or ten quarts daily of best Bavarian beer, which resembled strong ale, he would in the course of a year, receive as much nourishment as if he had eaten a fiveponnd loaf of bread. Seeing then that alcohol was not food ; that it could not digest food ; that it was very bad fuel for the human system, and a stimulant which left the bocty weaker than it was before it was taken, he called upon his audience to weigh well in regard to all kinds of alcoholic drinks — the question raised in Scripture, " Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread " (nor food of any kind) "and your labour for that which satisfieth not ?"

A vote of thanks to the lecturer was, on the motion of the Rev. JMr. Bull, cordially agreed to.