90 Effay, Medical, Moral, Political & Mifcellaneous, on Spirits. [Feb- 
foreign or Englifh fpirits, I am aware 
that they are not the fubjeéts I intended 
to handle. It was my purpofe to offer 
fone remarks on a few other fpecies of 
ffirits which are very common in this 
country, but which, I am of opinion, 
have not been treated with due regularity 
eitner by chemifts or medical writers. 
Not that I would have you fuppofe that 
Iam to fupply this deficiency ; I have no 
leifure to compofe a fyitem, and the re- 
marks I have to offer are intended only. 
to affift thofe who may wifh to take up 
the fubje& ona regular fcale. It is only 
for want of better, that F would fay to 
you his utere mecum. 
Firft, then, Mr. Editor, there is the 
Sprrit of CONTRADICTION. ‘This I 
reckon a compound fpirit, requiring at 
leaft two ingredients, efpecially when 
made for family ufe. It is of a very warm 
nature, and if mdulged in to excefs, as E 
have feen in fome very reputable fami- 
lies, produces very pernicious effects. Et 
is not only accompanied with a violent 
flufhing of the face, as moft other ardent 
{pirits, but I have even obferved that the 
children of parents who ulg it have been 
affected by it, even after they have grown. 
up- That which is made tor public ufe 
is compounded of various ingredients, 
and is fuppofed, I know not why, to be 
good for the lungs, as it is frequently 
_ taken in large dofes by the fpeakers of 
public affemblies, from the fenate of the 
_ mation down to the veftry of a parifh. 
Not having an opportunity ef analyzing 
it by chemical procefs, I can only fay, 
from obfervation, that it expands by 
heat, and frequently fends out effluvia not 
ef the moft agreeable nature. I have 
fometimes reduced it toa mild ftate by 
‘dropping an argument or two into the 
glafs, but thofe who are addicted to this 
kind of fpirit will feldom allow of that. 
2. The Spirit of INNovaTion. The 
remark that we eat and drink as much by 
fafhion as by talte is very jult, when ap- 
plied to this fpirlt, which has been cried 
up, or prohibited, according to caprice 
at various periods. It became very fa- 
fhionable firft in the time of Henry VEIT. 
and continued in the fhort reign of Ed- 
ward VI. Queen Mary prohibited it un- 
der the fevereit penalties, ordering various 
perfons employed in the diftilling it to be. 
burnt alive. Queen Elizabeth, however, 
being a fingle woman, and probably lov- 
ing a drop, vevived theale of it. What 
had been manufactured at this time is yet 
in high eftimation by thete who under- 
and the truce nature of fuck a ipirit, but it 
would appear that the original receipt was 
loft about the time of Charles I. when 
the people being ftill fond of fpirits, a 
great number of quacks fet about prepar- 
ing it in various ways: fearce a drop 
was genuine, yet the pleafure of intoxi- 
cation was fuch, that the people drank 
huge draughts of it, pure or impure, and 
public bufinefs was for atime fhamefully 
negleé&ted. Robberies, confifcations, and 
even murder became common. The ef- 
fects which it produced of a more ludi- 
crous nature were, that the lowef of the 
people, after they had indulged them- 
{elves in copious libations of this fpirit, 
took it in their heads to preach, and even. 
common foldiers often mounted the pulpit 
when they fhould have mounted guard. 
Some pretended to be infpired, and ut- 
tered prophecies. At length, however, 
whether trom being fenfible of the bad 
effects of this {pirit upon the confiitution, 
or from its being prohibited, it got gra- 
dually into difgrace, and a purer fort of 
it was made, which being confined to the 
better {ort of people was a favourite liquor 
at the Revolution; and had the receipt 
been carefully preferved, and none of the 
articles omitted, or worfe ingredients fub- 
fsituted in their room, this would have 
been ‘at this time the ftandard fpirit of 
the nation. A few years. ago a quantity 
of it was fmuggled from France, and 
having been a fathionable liquor there, of 
courfe became a fafhionable liquor here, 
according to the ufual courfe of all our 
fafhions, which always originated with 
that gay and lively people. ‘This fpirit, 
however, was foon difcovered to be of a 
very ardent and heating nature, and unfit 
for the con/itution of the people of this. 
country. For atime its effe€ts could net: 
be prevented, althongh every poffible 
means were taken, becaufe it was con- 
fined to private drinkers. Some, not- 
withftanding, who had taken too great a 
dofe, betrayed itin public, and very fevere 
laws were enacted againft it. Indeed it 
was fuppofed the Jegiflature tock the beft 
pofiible method to ftrike at the root of 
the evil, by fewsing up the mouths of thofe 
who were addicted to this {pirit. Having 
had fome few opportunities ta examine it, 
it appears.to me to be very pernicious, 
and highly inflammatory, unlefs taken in 
very {mall quantities, and that at regular 
times. The 4/y too mult be duly prepared 
for a courte of it, for it will not fuit every 
conttitution, particularly thofe which are 
either very good or very bad. To the 
tormer it is utelefs or liable co create un- 
ealineis in the head, and to the latter it 
ks 
