206 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



THE USE OF SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS. 



Sir, — When we glauce ovtr the summary with which you 

 favoured us laat week, of the Parliameutary returns of brewing 

 and distiiUtioa, aud, moreover, when we remember that we 

 have uow arrived at a period of the year when a more than 

 usual quantity of beer is consumed by the labouring class, I 

 think a few remarks upon the consumption of spirituous liquors 

 may be perused by some with iutereat. 



I daresay it may be known to most of your readers that 

 alcohol is the constituent contained in gin, brandy, wine, beer, 

 &c., which renders them intoxicating ; aud according as they 

 contain more or less of this ingredient, they are in a like pro- 

 portion inebriating, aud are said to be a stronger or weaker 

 spirit. Did my timo or your space permit, I could go to con- 

 siderable length, aud point out the action aud effects of alcohol 

 upon the human frame, but will at present content myself by 

 staling briefly its results, wiiich are these : Pure alcohol is a 

 very powerful poison, but, like most other pDi?ons, it is also a 

 very powerful and useful medicine iu the hand* of a skilful 

 practitioner ; but its administration requires the greatest care 

 and judgment. It has no place as food ; it cannot repair waste 

 of tissue : it only excites and stimulates to action, and sooner 

 exhausts what is already iu us. It cannot be a real luxury, in- 

 asmuch as it is only an acquired taste : it is not natural tons : 

 the child at first shrinks from it, and dislikes it ; but, like to- 

 bacco, by use, it becomes seemingly necessary to our exist- 

 ence : it impairs the functions of certain organs, teaching 

 them to depcud upon its assistance, so that its sudden with- 

 drawal is positively an injury. At first, it is man's servant, 

 but, after a time, it becomes his master. If the results I so 

 frequently see arising from the use of spirits are those which 

 constitute a luxury, I confess I know not the meaning of the 

 term. It has no power to support bodily labour — food aloue 

 can do this : it may be useful in an emergency ; but even this 

 is at the expense of wlut comes afterwar Is. We use no such 

 stimulants with brute auimils — the horse, we repair his ex- 

 haustion by food and rest, which are the Duly real aud legiti- 

 mate means of doing so. 



The sjme remarks a;)p'y to mental labour, and something 

 more; and if persisted iu, spirit-driukiug will ultimately unfit the 

 braiu for the performance of its fuuctions. Its power to enable us 

 toendMre cold, which some couiider to be great, is only tempo- 

 rary, and followed by a deraogemeut of the natural process of 

 oxidation. Man is au oil lamp — not a spirit one: the inha- 

 bitants of the Arctic regions consume much fat, which enables 

 them to support a proper temperature ; whereas the natives 

 of the Torrid zone live principally on grain, and we who in- 

 hibit the temperate mix the two — meat and graia. This is 

 Nature's arrangement. But no spirit is required : this is an 

 article manufactured by the cunning device of man. It has 

 no power to avert disease, for whatever lowers tlie condition 

 of health invi'.cs the invasion of disease ; but, on the other 

 hand, its power to produce disease is great. Professor Mdler 

 says there is no cause of disease in thij country h<df so pro- 

 lific as alcohol ; an I, unfortunately, the disease thus induced 

 frequently does not terminate with the life of him who pro- 

 duced it, but the c'.iildren inherit the evils of their progenitors 

 — stunted in boJy, and often iu mind, drink-loving, scrofulous, 

 rheuaiatic, consumptive. This is one of the punishments of 

 sin, aud what it meant by visiting the iniquities of the fathers 

 upon the children, to the third and fourth generation. It lias 

 no power to cherish old age : the old man, with none of the 

 tumult of youth, nor the cuerjiy of middle age, with the ma- 

 chinery of his frame well-uigh worn out, can bear with im- 

 punity no Buch stimulatiug power as alcohol. If it does 

 revive him for the moment, it leaves him more exhausted. All 

 i« well arranged by Nature— little food, little strength, little 

 labour is required. Douotcxci'e him therefore, lie is about 

 to undergo an important change. Let him go down to the 

 grave in peace. It has no power to prolong life. This, I 

 think, has been already shown ; but go try to insure your life, 

 and let it be known that you use spirits freely, aud the direc- 

 tors will give you further evidence that its power to shorlen 

 life is great. It also powerfully affects the mind, but, unfor- 



tunately, fur evil : it sinks and degrades the moral facultiea, 

 and iutensifies those which are animal. It is no stretch of lan- 

 guage to say that drunkenness places man on a level with a 

 brute. Its power as an instrument of vice is great. Think of 

 it 83 a producer of crime, think of its effects upon individuals, 

 think of its effects upon families, and think of its effects upon 

 the community at largo. Its power is terrible : resist it with 

 all your might — and here is the secret of success — from the 

 beijinniny. And, lastly, beware of its power of attaching itself 

 to its victim. The drunkard thinks he consumes his gin, but it 

 is all the while consuming him. At first it inspires him with 

 pleasant feelings, but after a time he becomes a bondmau aud 

 a slave. 



Ilaviug thus briefly alluded to the properties of alcohol, I 

 will now put the question. Is it generally used consistently with 

 these its ingredients ? I must leave each to answer from his 

 own experience. But, in considering the subject a little fur- 

 ther, we will divide its consumers into two classes, viz., those 

 who are habitual drunkards, and those who use it under the 

 cognomen of a luxury or necessary of life. And, first, as to 

 the drunkard : I daresay there are comparatively few who will 

 say thatdtuiikeniiess ia right or becoming, although there are 

 those who will call it '■ little harm," and point to men who 

 have been habitual drunkards, but who have, nevertheless, at- 

 tained to a good old age, transacted a great amount of busi- 

 ness, and have been to a considerable extent respected 

 amongst their feliow-meu ; but I would say they have not done 

 this iecaffse of their being drunkards But, notwilhstandiny, 

 it is truly wonderful to see the provisions made by Nature to 

 counteract the abuses men practise upon themselves, which 

 leads superficial thinkers to coiicluJe that the argument of the 

 abstainer is a fallacy, aud thus pervert the goodness of an all- 

 beneficent Creator to work their own destruction. But, if 

 such men would only make themselves acquainted with 

 the fearful and wonderful construction of their frame, 

 they would marvel that the slightest deviation from Na- 

 ture's laws did not in a momeut derauge the delicate and 

 complex machinery. But who can say that the man 

 who leads an irregular life would not by regularity 

 have attained to a greater age, or been much more 

 useful as a citizen of the v/orld ? The respectable 

 position he may have occupied amongst his fellow-men 

 was not, I presume, due to his merit. No; it was secured to 

 him by possessing that which so blinds the eyes of the world 

 as to a man's moral character, viz., parentage or proierty ; 

 but strip him of these, and ju.ige of him by his behaviour, 

 and tell me if the drunkard be rtspected iu society. But after 

 ail, such men as we have been considering are only exceptions. 

 I admit they are to be found ; but will auy one attempt to 

 ground an argument upon them, and overlook the premature 

 aud awful deaths — the nuaicrous failures and bankruptcies — 

 ths destitute families, widows and ophans — the hereditary dis- 

 eases and ruined couititutions — the long c.ileudar of crimes — 

 aud, above all, the condition of the drunkard in that Etate 

 beyond death and the grave. Tell me whether those lew who 

 Beemingly for a while brave the elTects of drunkenness, can be 

 brougiit into comparison with tbose, its geueral results. It 

 may be impercepiibly, but it ueverthtless gradually saps and 

 uadermiuea the constitution — gradually and pciceptibly it 

 weakens aud impairs the mind. After exhiliralicu comes de- 

 pression. Who so melancholy and cast down iu his intervals, 

 who so sad iu his sobriety, as the drunkard ? 



But let ii3 consider the state of those who do not allow 

 themselves up ;n every occasion to sink to the degradation of 

 drunkenness, but only occasionally qualT their glass with a 

 friend, or, l.ke the working man, indulge in a glass of beer to 

 refresh aud restore their exhausted st;cngtl). I huve alreaily 

 shown that wines or spirits are only a luxury from the effects 

 of custom, and that however cheering and refreshing their 

 effects may momentarily be, they cannot be taken by any one 

 in full health without iiiflictiug ou their constitution a certain 

 amoii'it of injury. It is to Le regretted, therefore, that when 

 friends assemble for the amuseinent and edification of them- 



