Cherokee phoenix, and Indians' advocate. [volume], June 24, 1829, Image 1

About Cherokee phoenix, and Indians' advocate. [volume] (New Echota [Ga.]) 1829-1834

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CHEROKEE PHMEOTX, AW® ETDIANS' ADVOCATE.
"" - , . ~ llt^
PRINTED UNDER THE PATRONAGE, AND FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE CHEROKEE NATION, AND DEVOTED TO THE CAUSE OF INDIANS.—E. ECUDINOTT, i.DiTCK.
VOL,. 11.
PRINTED WEEKLY BY
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PHCENIX.
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Cherokee Phtenix.
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Poll
Rev. .
INTEMPERANCE.
An Address on Ardent Spirit, read be
fore the New Hampshire Medical Socie
ty, at their annual Meeting, June, 5,
JS27. By R. D. Mussey M. D., at
that time President of the Society, and
Professor of Anatomy and Surgery, in
Dartmouth College.
More than nine hundred years ago,
{in Arabian Chemist discovered by
distillation, a pungent and warning li
quor, to which was given the name of
Alcohol, k which we call ardent spirit.
This, a modern writer asserts, is the
aqua divina, or water of the Elysian
fields, invented by Democrittfs, and
he maintains that the term alkohol
has nearly the same import with gold
«n liquor, applied by some of his
countrymen to the precious invention
of the Greek philosopher. This li
quor was brought into Europe at the
time of the Moorish conquest, soon
came into general favour, and now
exerts an important influence over a
great part of the civilized world.
It is the object of the follow;-, tg re
marks to examine the claims of' this
article to the extensive pp/cronage and
confidence it has acquired.
When taken in small quantity into
the stomach, it diffuses its influence
over the whole body; a fresh impulse
is given to the living powers, the coun
tenance lights up with pleasure, and
the mind acts with new interest and
vivacity.
■Under the influence of a larger dose
of the exhilarating fluid, sensibility
and sympathy unfold themselves.—
Tears fall, as a pensive association
crosses the mind, or a tale of common
suffering is told, the benevolent af
fection flow out upon all surrounding
objects, and the whole world is not
NEW ECHOTA, WEDNESDAY JUNE 24,1829.
too large a sphere for the exercise of
•ie generous senti nents which swell
the bosom. The mind disburdened
if care, and disregarding the past and
the future, sees 110 impediment to the
boldest and most extravagant enter
prises, and rioting in the luxury of
)resent existence, scarcely acknowl
edges a- superior in the universe.—
Here the distinctions of society begin
to disappear. The idle and half
starved vagrant is transformed inio a
lord, ancUsurrounded with pomp and
plenty; and the miserable outcast,
who has tenanted a prison for his
crimes, imagines himself on a throne,
clothed with power sufficient to di
rect the destinies of a nation or of the
world.
Tho lorar of alknhol sometimes re
sorts to poetry and song in the ex-'
pression of his ecstacies, but as the
effect of the ethereal liquor deepens,
hb' sings or shouts inarticulate re
sponses to music or voices which
seem to come to him liora a distance,
but which are occasioned by a violent
beating of the arteries of his own
brain.
If the corporal part of man, in this
happy condition, be inspected, it pre
sents phenomena which correspond
with those of the mind- The whole
face is swollen, the forehead and tern-,
pies patched with red and white, the
cheeks of a deep crimson, the nose
tipped with ruby, the corners of the
mouth drawn down, and the under lip
inclining to the eyes blood shot
and glassy, roll upwards under their
lids, and the body and limbs, no longer
subjected to the arbitrary control of
the will, assume that position which is
dictated by the power of gravitatio.i;
in a word, the whole man, declining
with farther intercourse with exter
nal nature, retires within himsell, &,
heedless of the material creation a
round him, remains for hours, as if ill
a trance. If such be some ot the
effects of alkohol, who can wonder
that it has been called the golden drink,
or that poets have chanted its praise.
This, however, is not all. It pos
sesses, more than any other invention
of man, the power of transforming
character; but what is worthy of par
ticular notice, is, ( that its good trans
formations are transitory, and nearly
all its bad ones, permanent. Does it
give-momentary strength to the fee
ble, its habitual use makes the strong
man weak. Does it inspire the cow
ard with desperation,it can break down
the heart of courage, and reduce the
manly spirit to the imbecility of child
hood. Does it make the
rich in imagination, it makes the rich
man poor in reality. It it occasion
ally excite a "flood of sympathetic
tears, and unclench the fist of avarice,
it relaxes benevolent exertion, and
renders the mind habitually less sen
sible to the sufferings of others.
What permanent influence does it
exert on the social affections and the
moral feelings? Was it ever known
to increase conjugal attachment an/a
kindness, parental tenderness. filial
love and obedience? it fever
given a spur to industry, in the farm
er, the the merchant, or
profess Qiia i maHi j)y urging upon him
' .ie claims of a dependent family, or
a suffering friend? Who was ever
inspired by alkohol with lofty moral
sentiments? Who has felt its influ
ences directing his thoughts reverent
ly upwards towards the Author of his
being, and prompting him to sincere
confession of departure from duty, to
submission to his will, and obedience
to his commands? On the contrary,
who has not seen its effects in poison
ing the fountains of social and moral
feeling, and in transforming the affec
tionate, kind, and hopefully devout
man, into a savage or a brute?
You have seen a youth of fine tal
ents and promise, coming into life en
circled with the highest parental
hopes and expectati?ns, and making
regular and rapid progress towards a
, sphere of usefulness and respectabili-
ty. You have seen hira betake him
self to the bottle; soon the relish for
study or business is lost; industry,
ambition, character, and family rep
utation, virtuous society, are all un
meaning things; the high considera
tions they present, he regards nqt, but
wanders about, the associate of idlers
and thieves, the butt of vulgar inso
lence, and the abhorrence of his for
mer virtuous and intellectual compan
ions. His parents weep for him iu
secret places.
You have seen the man of talents,
industry and extensive usefulness, vv'tc
in the exercise of his vocation, had
acquired high public confidence
thrown down by the magic powci 01
alkohol, from the pinnacle of his ele
vation, to become the object of popu
lar derision and abuse. Was he t
physician or a lawyer, had he sat ii
the high seat of public justice, or hat
his voice been heard in the council 01
the nation, or had he borne messages
of grace to guilty men; you have seei
him barter the luxury of doing good
or grow regardless of the law and ol
justice, or despise the insignia of office
and public confidence, or voluntarily
tear off his priestly vestments, and ex
tinguish with his own baud the flame
of that altar, before which he hac
ministered year alter year; and al
this for what? for distilled spirit: foi
the privilege ol being the companioi
of fools and drunkards.
What is the secret of this witche
ry which strong drink exerts over the
whole mau? 1 will try to tell you
After being received into the stomach
it is sucked up by absorbent vessels
is carried into the blood, and cireu
lates through the alimentary organs
through the lungs, muscles, and brail
hikl doubtless through every wrgnn of
the bocly. Not a blood vessel how
ever minute, not a thread of nerve in
the whole animal machine escapes ils
influence! What is the nature of
this influence? It disturbs the func
tions of life; it increases for a time,
the action of living organs, but lessens
the power of that action; hence the
deep depression and collapse which
follow preternatural excitement. By
habitual use it renders the living libres
less and less susceptible to the heal
thy operation of unstiinulating food
and drink, its exciting influences soon
become incorporated with all the
living actions of the body, and the di
urnal sensations of hunger, thirst, and
exhaustion, are strongly associated
with the recollection of its exhilara
ting effects, and thus bring along with
them, the resistless desire for its repe
tition.
Is evidence required of its being
absorbed, and pervading the different
organs of the body? Approach with
in a few feet of the rum or brandy
drinker, and the odour of ',ns breath
will quickly demonstrate, that the
lungs, loaded with the foul liquor, are
discharging it with all the energy in
the 1 .:- power.
When taken by the nursing mother,
it enters into the delicate food pre
pared by nature for the nourishment
and growth of helpless infancy, and in
this way, as may most rationally be
supposed, produces a relish for an ar
ticle naturally disgusting, and lays
thus early, in some instances, a foun
dation for intemperance in after life.
What physician has not known a nurs
ing mother give a fretful child a good
night's sleep, by taking, herself, a dose
of brandy at bed time?
Other organs than those destined for
the formation of milk, manifest the
presence of this- article when it is
combined with peculiar odours; those
organs especially, which are set as
waste gates to the system, soon show
how foreign it is, and ill adapted to
the real wants of tire animal economy,
by separating it from the blood and
taking it out of the general circula
tion as 'list as possible.
The brain, that mfist delicate and
wonderful organ, which forms the
mysterious link between the other
- forms of matter and mind, the healthy
; functions of which are essential to
, vigorous intellectual operation, is ca
• pable of imbibing alkohol, and having
• all its actions suddenly arrested. In
point, is the case of the man who was
picked up in London, soon after hav
ing drank a quart of gin upon a wager.
He was carried to the Westminster
hospital and there dissected. "In the
ventricles of the brain was found a
considerable quantity of limpid fluid,
distinctly impregnated with gin, both
to the sense of smell and tasie, and
euen to the test of inflammability.—
The liquid appeared, to the senses
of the examining students, as strong
as one tfiird gin to two thirds water."
We know that alkohol, even when
diluted, by long contact after death,
haidens the brain, as well as (lie other
sol. textures of the body which contain
alLumen; &. although the vital principle
may enable the brain to resist in a great
measure, and for*a long time, this ef
fect ol alkohol, when brought into it
fron the stomach by the general cir
culation, the fact, as alleged by many
andaslam strongly induced to bu
lievs from the limited means I have
had of observing, viz. that the brains
of dlunkards are literally harder at
death, than those of the temperate,
maybe considered in strict accord
ance with the effects of intemperance
upon the intellectual functions. If
this organ be in any degree hardened
by the circulation of diluted alkohol
through its minute and most delicate
ly organised parts, it might well be
supposed to be less susceptible of
those exquisilively balanced actions,
which we can hardly help believing
do exist in the impressions made by
external objects, and the variety of
oTOftinntions of them, produced by
the more abstract, and retired opera
tions of the mind. That a large pro
portion of tipplers early discover an
unnaturaj obtuseness of intellect, and
that frequently a mind originally
quick and vigorous, becomes slugglish
and imbecile, need not be told to an
assembly of physicians who have had
the common opportunities of observing
the effects of intemperance.
The stomach and liver of drunkards
are generally found to be disordered,
the stomach frequently contracted,
and the liver much harder than nat
ural, exhibiting an unnatural colour
both upon its surface, and throughout
its interior texture. This, perhaps,
is what might be expected. The
stomach rece'rves the liquor, in the
most concentrated and active form, in
which it is taken into the body. From
the stoniach and the alimentary canal
belts',v, most, if not qll of it, is prob
ably carried through the liver in a
state less dilute than when distributed
among the remaining organs of the
body. The texture of the liver too,
which consists merely of vesselis and
nerves with enough cellular mem
brane to hold together, may
show why it is more obviously affect
ed than the alimentary canal, inasmuch
as this canal has a distinct, and in
some places, a thick muscular coat,
independently . of its vessels. The
skin of the inebriate is always more or
less affected. Its fair colour soon
fades urider the withering influence
of ardent spirit: and from being
smooth, soft and elastic,, it becomes
uneven, wrinkled and flalby, if the
subject be somewhat advanced in
life; or if young, the skin of the face
is bloated, uneven, and frequently
purple, and very often in middle
life and after, a large c*>p of red
pimples is the only ornament the face
exhibits.
The eye, that window of the mind,
loses its pearly whiteness, its trans
parency, its quick and significant mo
tions, and beconies dim, slugglish and
unmeaning.
The various phenomena exhibited
in the different stages of alkoholic in
fluence, including its immediate and
more permanent effects, and modified
by age and constitutional tempera-
me.nt, would occupy more tune ill ihff
enumeration, than can be scared on
the present occasion. The case of
him who has made free with his cups,-
till they have produced the following!
train of symptoms, is not unfrequent
ly submitted to the consideration ol at
physician. The,forehead and cheeks'
are swollen, pale and lightly tinged l
with yellow, the lips leaden coloured
or pale, the eye yellow, dim and
cant, the lower eyelid loose and hang*
ing, the upper lid several times it*
natural thickness, disaphanous and
drooping, the body twice its natural
circumference, the limbs tottering:
and swollen, the breath insupportablj
fetid, respiration difficult and wheez*
ing, accompanied with a short dry
cough. "Throw medicine to the
dogs" in such a case.
The bodies of some few drinkerg
have been so thoroughly steeped irf
spirit, as literally to consume to ash*
es. It is-said that no case of spoilt a*
neous combustion lias ever occurred*
except among hard drinkers, and it is
altogether probable tL'at in every such
ease, an inflammable air has exhaled
from the lungs or skin, or both, and
has been kindled by the too near ap«
proach of a lighted ta\)er, or some ig*
nated substance. A French Chemist,
it is said, after drinkhig a pint of ethef
during the day, use to amuse himself
in the evening, by lighting up hii
breath, directed in a very small stream
upon the flame of a lamp. Alkohoi
taken in large quantities, would prob«
ably in some constitutions at least, oc»
casion a similar vapour to be throwif
from the lungs; and there is doubtlesst
more danger than has been imagined,
in a deep drinker's bringing, his mouth
or nose close to a lighted ta£er at eve-»
nin<7.
The numerous and weighty consid
erations, sotae of Which have beer*
hinted at, and" which a reflecting manr
must surmount, before he can make
up his mind to be regarded as a drun
kard, place in a striking view the
strength of the appetite, which is cre«
ated by a long and habitual use of
spirit. Instances might be referred
to, which set this in a painfully strong
light.
A few years ago, a tippler was put
into th6alms house in a populous town
in Massachusetts. Wilhinja few days
he had devised various expedients to
procure rum, but failed. At lengthf
however, he hit upon one which prow
ed successful. He went into the
wood yard of the establishment, plac
ed his hand upon a block, and with an
axe in the other, struck it otT at a siiw
gle blow. With" the stump raised and
streaming, he ran into the house, cry#
ing, "get some rum, get some rums
my hand is off." In the confusion, and
bustle of the occasion, a bowl of rum
was brought, into which he plunged
the bleeding member of his body, thert
raising the bowl to his mouth, dranb
freely, and exultingly exclaimed,"noW
I am satisfied."
In another populous toWn in the
same state there lived an habitual
drinker, who in an interval of reflect
tion, made a vow that he would drink
no more spirit for forty years, not
doubting at the time, that forty years
would place him in his grave. He
faithfully kept his vow, and at theex»
piration of the stipulated period, ven
tured to take a little liquor, as it v
seemed no more than a friendly sal«
utation given to an old acquaintancey
and in no very long time died a sot.
I once knew a man, who had been
for some time in the habit of intern*
perate drinking,and who had, at times,
strong remonstrance* of conscience.—*
These admonitions, together with the
motives and encouragements held up
to him by his kind and good wife, in<«
duced him to make a solemn vow,
"that by the help of God, he would nev*
er again drink any thins stronger thart
beer, unless prescribed for him as a
medicine by a physician." He rC-»
garded the vow, became sober and njn
AO. 12.