372 [Assembly 



From the fact that tho snull of alcohol iu the breath of driuk- 

 exs is diflereut from tlie smell of its vapor, we are to conclude 

 that it does always undergo some chemical changes of a de- 

 structive nature iu the system; but the fact that it throws the 

 natural heat producing materials uuoxidised upon the liver, justi- 

 fies us in excluding it from the class of non-azotized articles of 

 food, and assigning it to the same class with chloroform and ether. 



These substances are secondary arrangements of the natural 

 elements of plants — they exist no where in tlie round of nature, 

 and consequently our appetites and senses are not adapted to 

 them. As our reason is the power by which they exist, so it is 

 the only correct judge of their use. If alcohol were removed 

 from the control of our tastes and inclinations, and subjected to the 

 dictates of reason, there would be very little of it used. No mat- 

 ter if diluted, it still coagulates, as heat does its equivalent of al- 

 bumen in the tissues of the brain and nerves, and attacks these 

 parts first because they are richest in albumenons materials. 



Experience has shown that intoxicating liquors are peculiarly 

 destructive to the aborigines of this country. These Indians are 

 the most carniverousof men; living by the chase, the constituents 

 of their food are most rich in nitrogen, and to this kind of food 

 their systems are adapted. The change to the ordinary food of 

 civilized nations is almost too much for them, and we can easily 

 see how going to the zero of the azotic scale, as an Indian does iu 

 a drunken debauch, and remaining thus for days together, is very 

 apt to prove tatal to him. 



As men have found in practice that a stove should be difier- 

 ently constructed for burning wood than for burning coal, so an 

 Indian's body is best adapted for his kind of food. To continue 

 the illustiation, if men were to wet the fuel in either kind of stove 

 with camphene, it is probable that the iron would soon be burnt 

 out; at any rate, such is the eflect of alcohol, i. c, stimulants on 

 our furnaces. 



Alcohol contains, then, not a particle of nitrogen, not one atom 

 of support for motion. Its heat producing power is vicaiiousj 



