ON STIMULANTS. 



41 



he calls attention to the fact that all brandy in 

 the ordinary market is colored with burned sugar, 

 and adds very pertinently, " Considering that our 

 reason for using brandy (instead of wine) is to 

 get rid of the saccharine and other substances 

 requiring digestion, it seems highly inconsistent 

 to add sugar to the spirit just to please the eye." 

 He points out also the importance of using an 

 unsweetened and uncolored spirit in a particular 

 disease where sugar is inadmissible. " The Eng- 

 lishman likes his veal white and his brandy dark ; 

 but both are better without any tampering with 

 their color. I have had some myself (i. e., pure, 

 colorless brandy) from the house of Boulestin of 

 Cognac." Rum is very little drunk among the up- 

 per classes in this country. It has, however, a fair 

 share of popularity among the poor. It is the 

 spirit which is used in the army and navy. Its pe- 

 culiar flavor is due to the presence of butyric ether, 

 of which it contains a considerable quantity. Gin 

 is also more popular among the poor than among 

 the rich. It was originally a medicine, and under 

 the designation of spirit of juniper has appeared 

 in every pharmacopoeia for the last two hundred 

 years. It is the spirit of all others which, in this 

 town, is especially subject to falsification. But 

 there is a spirit called Plymouth gin, distilled in 

 the town of Plymouth, which is very pure and 

 wholesome, quite as much so as whiskey, and it is, 

 I believe, a little cheaper. 



The use of wine as a beverage has greatly in- 

 creased during the last sixteen or seventeen years 

 in this country. Since 1859 the imports from 

 Portugal have doubled, those from Spain trebled, 

 and those from France increased tenfold. Now, 

 seeing that the production of the best wines is 

 strictly limited, we may safely infer that there 

 is more bad wine in this country at present than 

 at any previous time. The best qualities of wine 

 are without doubt the most wholesome of all 

 alcoholic beverages. The alcohol that exists in 

 them is modified by its combination with the 

 delicate ethers and other constituents found in 

 all well-fermented high-quality wines that have 

 been long in bottle. A great physiological au- 

 thority has said that the effects of all alcoholic 

 drinks depend entirely upon the quantity of alco- 

 hol they contain, and that equivalent quantities 



matics, so that the stomach may be gratified quickly 

 without any quantity of spirit in excess. We are told 

 that gin contains oil of juniper, oil of bitter-almonds, 

 potassa, alum, nitric acid, oil of vitriol or sulphuric 

 acid, and butyric acid. Chemistry stands aghast at 

 such a description ; still more so does the cause of 

 true temperance— for what good cause was ever car- 

 ried by exaggeration ? " 



of pure alcohol would produce identically the 

 same effect. Now, it is simply impossible that 

 this reasoning can be sound. To make it sound 

 it would be necessary to compare the effects of 

 every kind of alcoholic beverage (including gin- 

 ger-beer, which is an alcoholic drink, though a 

 very weak one) in a number of distinct cases, 

 and under varying circumstances, with the effects 

 of exactly an equivalent quantity of pure alcohol. 

 This alone could justify a sweeping general con- 

 clusion such as I have quoted. But the results 

 of such observations and experiments as have 

 been made are to the contrary effect. It would 

 really seem as though the alcoholo-phobists 

 thought any argument good enough to throw at 

 the head of alcohol. Take the following : " Dr. 

 Smith found that the amount of carbonic acid 

 (eliminated under the influence of alcohol) was 

 reduced in men, as I have found it in the lower 

 animals, so that the fact of the general reduction 

 may be considered as established beyond dispu- 

 tation." l If this be so, then I say many alcoholic 

 beverages act differently from an equivalent quan- 

 tity of alcohol, and Dr. Smith shall himself bear 

 testimony to the fact. He found,' 2 with regard to 

 ardent spirits, that " some increase and others 

 decrease the amount of carbonic acid expired." 

 In one case (with alcohol) there was an average 

 increase of expired carbonic acid per minute 

 0.13 and 0.8 grain, on two occasions. In another 

 case, average increase of carbonic acid expired 

 0.74 grain per minute. In a third case, with 

 rum, there was an average increase 0.26 grain 

 per minute. In a fourth case, with very fine old 

 rum, maximum increase 0.1 and 1.5 in two 

 persons. In other cases, with three ounces of 

 sherry, he observed an average increase of 0.19 

 and 0.3 ; with half a pint of Dublin stout increase 

 0.85 and 0.81 grain ; with half a pint of fine old 

 ale, increase 0.6 and 0.27 grain per minute. 

 One is inclined to ask what is evidence worth 

 when a man has it all his own way? What is 

 evidence worth without cross-examination ? 



I need hardly say that those who know any- 

 thing practically about wines (and the only way 

 of knowing wines is by drinking them ; a physi- 

 ologist or a chemist who drinks water only can 

 know very little about the different effects of 

 different wines) are quite agreed that the effect 

 of a natural wine may be very different from that 

 of an equivalent quantity of alcohol. I have 

 myself observed recently two remarkable in- 

 stances which support this statement. Two gen- 



1 Richardson : Cantor Lectures, p. 72. 



2 Proceedings of Royal Society, 1809. 



