A Substitute for Whiskey.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume X, Issue 3163, 26 March 1889, Page 2

A Substitute for Whiskey.

"A man can't get drunk on ginger, can he ?" a Georgia druggist was asked. "Well, if you could see some of my regular ginger drunkards at times you would think so, Ginger is made from alcohol and ginger root, ' Tho root'is ground arid put into one of these funnel-shaped percolators, after which the alcohol is poured upon it, and soaks through it, dropping into the jar, in tho mouth of which is fixed tho funnel. This tincture is, as you know, if you ever 'tasted it, as hot as liquid fire, and a teaspoonfal is a big dose for an ordinary man, One pound of ginger will make two quarts of tincture, and many prefer it to whiskey."

"How much does a eonfirmei ginger drinker take at a dose ?"

" There ave one or two men who are regular ginger drinkers that drink as much as four ounces at a time, or, to show you the difference, thirty-two teaspoonfuls. If you or I or any other man unaccustomed to drinking ginger should take that amount it would kill us. Wo would bo apt to have convulsions at first, followed by a comatose condition, in which state death would come." "How much to rnako a man drunk?"

" I liavo seen a man drunk on four ounces, and thon again I've seen a man who drank tlio same quantity have a sort of epileptic fit lasting for soveral minutes."

" What effect will the driuking of ginger produce in tho long run ?" "It is far more injurious than whisky, and will kill a man who drinks it regularly in from two to three years' time. If you should hold a tablespoonful of ginger in your mouth a minute, it would blister tho inside coating of the mouth, and you can imagino what the effect on the stomach would bo, grappling with two or three tablespoonfuls of ginger every day." "Can you tell a ginger drinker from an ordinary man, or in other words, will the drinking of ginger affeot the personal appearanco of a man as whiskey does ?" ''■:■." Whisky drinking makes a man's face red. Ginger drinking makos it pale, as the ginger drarcs the blood away fnrn the surface to the centre of the body. I've learned that an habitual ginger drinker, like a morphine eater, loses all regard for the truth. The} also become hypochondriacs, and imagine.they aro affected with every disease undor the sun. Ono day they'll come in with a long faco, declaring they've got colic, and must have ginger. Another day thoy'll have heart disease, and will surely die unless they can get ginger. Tho next time they havo dyspepsia or rheumatism, but no matter what they have, they seem to think ginger the' sovereign remedy, and nothing else will do them, The trouble with them is the ginger drinking, for it ruins the digestion, ■ inflames the stomach, and throws the whole system iuto disorder."

»< Is there any advantage in buying ginger?" '■ "Ginger costs §1 a pint, while whiskey sells'at SO cents up, The people who drink it, and they are enormous, both men and women, are for the most part mere physical wreoks who were confirmed drunkards when prohibition came upon üb, and their unnatural appetites must be satisfied, so they bought ginger as the next best substitute for whiskey. We ship ginger by the barrel to prohibition tqwns,; Q3 the old topers think it is the best'substitute for whiskey, and bnoe they get acoußtomed to it they prate |t to whiokey."