*

as a con

notice and alarm. Mr. Corbyn Morris states sequence of the very general use of ardent spirits, the loss of 80,000 infants in the course of twenty years, a mortality unequalled in the annals of human misery and wo.

The health of the people both in England and Ireland improved in a remarkable degree after the act (of 1751) for stopping distillation had been put into operation. Dr. Price specially notices this circumstance, and states that the increased health in London arose “particularly from the destructive use of spirituous liquors among the poor having been checked.” In Dublin a similar improvement in the health of the public was observed during the stoppage of distillation in part of the years of 1808 and 1809.

In Dublin the physicians experienced much difficulty in the control of diseases either brought on or aggravated by the use of ardent spirits. I These were so fearful in their extent, and so virulent in their character, as to occasion considerable alarm for the health of the public. The reports of hospitals and dispensaries abound with allusions to the vast number of diseases which existed at that period, all of which arose from the same prolific source.

The mortality occasioned by intemperance is no less a subject of alarm than the disease upon which it in a great measure depends. In Russia, where ardent spirits are freely used, Dr. Storch states the amazing fact, that of persons between twenty and sixty years of age, 817 die out of 1,000. “Unfortunately," he adds, “the bills of mortality leave us no doubt on this subject—they show that this great mortality affects mostly the male sex, and that it is occasioned chiefly by inflammatory fevers and consumptions, that is, by diseases, the immediate effects of strong liquors.”'

Sweden not long ago presented a melancholy example of the mortality occasioned by the free use of ardent

Vide Observations on Bills of Mortality in London, 1759, by Corbyn Morris.

Observations on Annuities, by Dr. Price. Dublin, 1772, p. 150.

It is a fact well known to all practising physicians, that the habitual use of alcoholic drinks, not only predisposes to disease, but renders the treatment of it, extremely difficult and uncertain. If the disease is inflam. matory, bleeding is generally indispensable, but illy borne ; the patient dies, from the inability of bearing the necessary treatment. If he requires stimulants—they fail in producing their legitimate effect, from long accustomed use, so that in either case, he stands but little chance of recovery, from the derangements previously induced in the system, by the use of alcoholic poison. Life has been poisoned at its fountain head; no wonder that its streams are all corrupted. Am. ED.

S Storch's Statistical Account of Russia.

spirits. The list of births and of deaths in Stockholm exhibited the alarming fact that there died in one year 1,439 persons more than were born. The larger proportion of deaths occured among the garrisons, in consequence

of the soldiers drinking immoderately of brandy. Dr. Rush might well exclaim: “Spirituous liquors destroy more lives than the sword; war has its intervals of destruction, but spirits operate at all times and seasons upon human life.'

Statistics of the same nature might be increased to a considerable extent. In England, † Ireland, Scotland, the Indies, and various other parts where intemperance has prevailed, mortality is recorded of an alarming description.I

Perhaps the most striking examples of disease and mortality arising from intemperance and other causes more or less connected with it, may be found in the present condition of those primitive tribes who have been adduced as illustrations of the advantages of a temperate life.

In the islands of the South Sea, and in New Zealand, the most heart-rending .contrast is now presented to their former comparative state of health and happiness. Disease and mortality almost unparalleled in character, arising from the introduction of ardent spirits by traders from Christian countries not long ago, threatened to depopulate these islands in a very few years; and missionary exertions alone have saved them from that fate. The population of the Sandwich Islands, for instance, during Captain Cook's first visit, is stated by a recent writer to have been not less than four hundred thousand, estimating a period of fiftyseven years since their discovery by Europeans, and also taking into account losses occasioned by their wars, the same writer supposes with great reason, that their population should in this time have been increased at least one half ; making a probable total of six hundred thousand. The terrible fact, however, is now well known, that the population of these islands only amounts at the present time to one hundred and thirty-five thousand ; making the fearful loss during fifty-seven years, of not less than four hundred and sixty-five thousand, which he adds is “chargeable to the customs and vices carried there from other

"*

places."*

These appalling facts will excite less surprise when it is known on the authority of Mr. Ellis, that a sum of not less than twelve thousand dollars was expended in Tahiti alone, during one year, for ardent spirits.

The great amount of injury, however, to national health, arising from the use of intoxicating liquors, is not so much from those diseases which are obviously the result of known excess, as from those which originate in the practice of moderate drinking, but which are in general attributed to other causes. When the subject is fairly investigated, it will probably be found that a very large proportion of the disease which at present exists, arises from the moderate use of intoxicating liquors.

The influence of health on national welfare and prosperity renders this division of our inquiry a matter of paramount importance. Recent calculations and investigation present an almost incredible amount of ease attributable directly or indirectly to the use of alcoholic stimulants. The removal of this source of human misery would therefore be attended with the happiest national results. Increased physical capabilities would ensure increased general prosperity; and human beings would be less sub

Remarks on Sandwich Islands, by Alonzo Chapin, M.D., late a resident missionary at those islands.

ject to those precarious influences which so materially deduct from the gross amount of human happiness.*.

* The value of human life has been much increased within the last two hundred years, chiefly by improved habits of cleanliness, and ventilation and by a more nutritious and healthy diet. It would not be exaggeration to say that within that time, from these causes alone, more than ten years have been added to the average duration of life. But for the general use of alcoholic drinks there is good reason to believe, that it would have been lengthened at least five years more, making instead of twenty-eight or thirty years, the extent of a generation, forty-five years. It has been ascertained by careful observation, that of the Irish immigration to this country, the average dura. tion of life after they arrive, is but five years--which is doubtless owing to their free use of intoxicating liquors. It is not generally known that foreigners are more subject to phthisis than our own citizens. Thus in 1837, of deaths from all diseases in this city, one in nine of our own native population was of consumption; while of foreigners, one in three was of the same disease. This increased fatality is, in a great degree, owing to their more liberal use of ardent spirits.-Am. ED.

L

CHAPTER VI.

THE EFFECTS OF INTEMPERANCE ON THE MORAL AND INTEL

LECTUAL POWERS.

Unhappy man, whom sorrows thus and rage,
Two different'ills, alternately engage,
Who drinks, alas! but to forget-nor sees ;
That melancholy, sloth, severe disease,
Memory confused, and interrupted thought,
Death's harbingers, lie latent in the draught,
And in the flowers, that wreath the sparkling bowl
Fell adders hiss, and poisonous serpents roll.-PRIOR.

In the preceding chapter, the injurious effects of intoxicating liquors on national character and prosperity, have been developed, and copiously illustrated. The consequences of indulgence therein exhibited are strong and conclusive, and the proposition forces itself on our notice, that the aggregate evil arises from individual example and influence. All disastrous national evils have originated in practices, which, probably in the first instance, appeared unlikely to be attended with injurious effects. The progress of vice, however, is gradual and insinuating. If its approaches at first excite either alarm or distrust, evil habits soon acquire and retain an ascendancy, until the overwhelming influence of long continued and artificial custom assumes an irresistible sway :

The breach, though small at first, soon opening wide,
In rushes folly with a full-moon tide.

Such has invariably been the experience of mankind in all vicious practices, and such also, has ever been the origin of great and ruinous national calamities.

In the present day especially, many artificial and pernicious practices exist in society. Man is peculiarly subject to numerous and strong temptations. His intellectual and moral powers are in continual quest of variety and novelty, and to escape danger, require for their correct guidance frequent examination and judicious restraint. To attain