THE SUPERSTITION AS TO SPIRITDRINKING.

Evening Post, Volume LVI, Issue 74, 24 September 1898, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE SUPERSTITION AS TO SPIRITDRINKING.

Dr. Norman S. Kker. It is an entire fallacy to suppose that brandy or alcohol, in any shape or form, either warms the system or keeps off cold. As a matter of fact, alcohol, after a very temporary rise of temperature, extendiug over a few minutes only, lowers the vifal temperature^ in consequence of which the drinker is actually robbed of heat instead of acquiring an additional supply. Persons partaking of alcohol are more likely to suffer from cold or exposure than those who abstain from it. It is for this reason that in climates such as Lower Canada the soldiers on guard are instructed never to take alcohol when about to go on duty. I have known several deaths arising from disobedience to this role. Brandy does not warm tho system, as so many suppose*; it merely warms the skin, and has a paralysing action on the nerves which control the blood supply. This accounts for the flush which one eees on the face' of a person who has just taken a glass of spirits. Brandy, in short, causes a relaxation of the blood veflsels, and is responsible for the flush on the akin. Intelligent voyagers never now take alcohol with them, unless it be iv minute quantities in 'their medicine chests. An immense numiber of people, whenever bhey feel a chill, resort to alcohol, on tho mistaken assumption that it warms the body ; it is a pity they do not know it has an absolutely contrary effect. la cases of cold there is nothing better bhan simple hot water and getting under the blankets. The wator can, of course, bo flavoured with lemon or orange, according to taste. A good drink of hot water has all tho beneficial effects of brandy, and none of it 3 accompanying risks. If the feet can be put into hot water at the same time, so much the better. Spirits generally are worse than useless in cases of illness. An enormous number of people are now taking- rum, under the impression that it keeps tfee influenza at a distance. As a fact, however, rum invites the influenza, from the depressing effects of alcohol on the nervous system. A nervous 8y stern depressed through the agency of alcohol is much more likely to take on any form of epidemic than one not similarlyaffected, inasmuch as thevitality is lowered. Brandy and soda bear a false reputation of being an effective stimulant. Everything in the shape of liquor to a certain extent calms tho brain for the time being, but this temporary calm is procured only at the risk of a greater excitement than calm afterwards. This resort to alcohol to steady them for a time of people who have frequently great risks has been the cause of a greater number of premature breakdowns than any other known cause. As to invalid s port : most of the port in this country is strong in spirit, so that from its effects it is really more to be classed with spirits than with clarets and beers. Crime, with abstinence general, would be so diminished that our gaols would very soon become almost empty, and the Judges would be relieved of from 80 to 90 per cent, of their work. Then there would bo an improved race ; people would be better developed, more truthful, and more thrifty. There are some crimes and conditions which go down for several generations ; but I do not believe that drink does bo, but that if we could cut off from a generation all alcoholic drink it would stop the tendency. —The late Sir B. W. Richardson, M.D. Temperance means leas crime and more thrift, aad more of comfort and prosperity for the people. Nearly all the crime in our army can be traced to intoxication, and I have always found that when with any army or body of troops in the field there was no issue of spirits, and when their use was prohibited, the health as well as the conduct of the men were all that could he wished for.— « Lord Wolseley.