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go when their end comes. Even the Christian fees the physician at no common cost, to ward off the last enemy. "All the days of our appointed time should we wait until our change come," for it is not improbable that the evening of the longest day of life will find us with our work but half done, and therefore very ill-prepared for our final account. But if life is, after all, a despicable boon of Providence, and if it is desirable that

should be shortened by poison, then wisdom would suggest that the shortest and speediest bane would be the best. It will not at all lessen the crime of suicide in the sight of God, that we administered to ourselves the deleterious drug by drops, and especially not, as in so doing, we embittered by disease the few fleeting hours we allotted to ourselves, and became not merely useless, but positively injurious, to others. Our moderate drinking may have destroyed many. A very short life, and one entirely barren of any good deed, may be redundant of fruits that shall embitter the whole of a long eternity.

We are none of us isolated characters. We cannot sever the bond that unites us to the whole human family, and therefore we eat not to ourselves, nor drink to ourselves; we live not to ourselves, nor to ourselves do we die. We are altogether the Lord's, and are consequently bound to present to him our body, and to take care that we do not, by indulgence, render that body a mass of disease. The lame and the maimed among the Jews were neither received as a sin-offering or peace-offering. We owe to the Lord the longest and the best life we can live, and are under a solemn obligation to see that our vigor is not diminished, nor our days shortened by poison, in whatever form administered. And we owe to him our souls, and therefore must watch lest we be "overcome with surfeiting and drunkenness," and thus unfit our spirit for the high and holy duties of our heavenly vocation.

The following is a synoptical view of the classes, order, and genera of diseases, which may be induced by alcoholic drinks :

Gen. 1.

CLASS I. Pyrexia; febrile diseases.

Order I. Febres; fevers.

{Ethicala, feverish affections.

ebriety.

-

Genera

Order II. Phlegmasiæ, Inflammations.

2. Gut. Rosacea, red pimples on the nose, and sometimes

the whole face.

3. Ophthalmia, diseased eyes.

4. Phrenitis, inflammation of the brain.
5. Pneumonia, inflammation of the lungs.
6. Carditis, inflammation of the heart.
7. Gastritis, inflammation of the stomach.
8. Hepatitis, inflammation of the liver.
9. Nephritis, inflammation of the kidneys.
10. Podagra, gout.

Order III. Exanthemata, Rashes.

Gen. 11. Erysipelas, St. Anthony's fire.

Gen.

Order IV. Hemorrhagia, Fluxes of Blood. 12. Epistaxis, piles.

13. Haemoptysis, spitting of blood.

Order V. Profluvia, catarrh, &c.

Gen. 14. Dysenteria, bowel complaints.

CLASS II. Neuroses, Nervous Diseases.

Order I. Comata, Loss of Sensation, Thought, and Voluntary Action. 15. Apoplexia, apoplexy.

Gen. {

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16. Paralysis.

Order II. Adynamiæ, Fainting.

Gen. 17. Dyspepsia, indigestion.

Gen.

Hypochondria, low spirits.

Order III. Spasmi, Spasms.

19. Convulsio, convulsions.

20. Epilepsia, fits.

21. Palpitatio, palpitation of the heart.
22. Pyrosis, water brash.

23. Cholera.

24. Diabetes.

Order IV. Vesaniæ, Insanity.

26. Mania, madness.

Gen.

25. Melancholia, melancholy.

27. Amentia, idiotcy.

28. Delirium tremens, fearful madness.

CLASS III. Cachexia, Bad habit of body.

Order I. Marcores, Wasting disease.

Gen. 39. Tabes, consumption.

30. Atrophia, no nourishment from food.

Gen.

Gen.

Order II. Intumescentiæ, Swellings.

31. Anasarca, dropsy.

32. Hydrothorax, dropsy in the chest.
33. Ascitis, dropsy in the abdomen.

Order III. Impetigines, Cutaneous diseases.

34. Scrophula.

35. Scorbutus, scurvy.

36. Icterus, jaundice.

CLASS IV. Locales, Local diseases.

Order I. Dysorexia, Diseased appetite.

Gen. {

37. Polydipsia, constant thirst.

Gen.

38. Anorexia, loathing of food.

Order II. Dyalises.

39. Vulnus, wounds.

40. Contusio, bruises.

41. Dislocatio, dislocations.
42. Fractura, fractures.

I have copied this table from Dr. Beaumont's Essay on Alcohol, and, for the sake of the English reader, have added an interpretation of the technical terms employed. Here we have forty-two diseases, some of them most malignant ones, traced to alcoholic drinks as their origin.

The following Table of Mortality, for the week ending January 18, 1840, copied from "The Times" of January 25, 1840, will show the reader how many persons in London alone, in one week, died of the diseases just mentioned; and probably were brought to their end prematurely, through the moderate or immoderate use of alcoholic drinks.

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Erysipelas.

Syphilis

Epidemic, Endemic, and contagious diseases

Diseases of the Brain, Nerves, and Senses

Diseases of the lungs and other organs of respiration
Diseases of the Heart and Blood-vessels

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30

Diseases of the Stomach, Liver, and other organs of digestion

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51

3

7

8

2

103

91

26

Total Deaths from all causes

997

The reader should observe that there is not a death mentioned above but may have been hastened by alcoholic drinks; and most of them may have originated from the use of these destructive liquors. What is remarkable is, that only 91 died of old age; only 244 lived beyond the age of 60; 753 died before they arrived at that period; 392 deaths occurred between 0 and 15, and 361 between 15 and 60. Here then are only 91 deaths occurring from age or natural causes; the remainder, amounting to 906, are all from unnatural causes; and, with few exceptions, might have been prevented. From this awful example of unnecessary mortality, the “ cry of blood" ascends to the throne of Divine justice; and against none is it so loud as against those who drink, sell, or recommend alcoholic liquors. To these it may emphatically be said, "Your hands are full of blood;" nor will God, when "he makes inquisition for blood," forget their recklessness.

In confirmation of these remarks, it is only necessary to observe the character of the diseases just enumerated. For example, small-pox is an inflammatory disease, and in the majority of cases is rendered fatal by these heating drinks; measles often prove fatal from the inflammatory liquors administered. The same may be said of scarlatina. Hooping-cough is frequently

rendered incurable by alcohol. Croup, both originating and proving destructive from susceptibility to cold, occasioned by the same cause. Diarrhoea, dysentery, cholera, typhus, influenza and erysipelas, in a majority of cases, occasion death from the injudicious use of alcoholic drinks; and, in too many instances, the patient, by immoderate or even moderate drinking, has made himself obnoxious to these diseases. Of syphilis it may be said, that were unholy passions no longer excited by alcohol, chastity would prevail; and, as a consequence, this horrid disease, which brings so many to a premature grave, be banished from the land.

Epidemic, endemic, and contagious diseases, are, in nine cases out of ten, both propagated and rendered mortal by strong drinks. Diseases of the brain, nerves, senses, lungs, and other organs of respiration; of the heart and blood-vessels; of the stomach, liver, and other organs of digestion; of the kidneys, joints, bones, muscles, and skin, may, in most instances, be traced to alcohol, and are, in quite as many cases, rendered fatal by the use of this liquor. Thousands of women in their confinement are brought to the grave, by the cold, the inflammation, the unnatural excitement and collapse connected with the drinking of these intoxicating poisons. Deaths by violence are generally the result of drinking; and premature old age an invariable consequence. Every medical man who understands the physiology and pathology of his profession, must subscribe to these sentiments, and, as the friend of his species, ought to encourage the efforts made to abolish these destructive beverages.

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