"*

temperance and was brought to the brink of the grave, by the means, unsuspected by herself, of the compound spirits of lavender.

The Committee of the New York Temperance Society, in their Report for 1835, state, that “A celebrated professor of Materia Medica,” more than twenty years ago, declared his opinion, that "a large proportion of the drunkards were made so by the prescriptions of medical men.” The Medical Society of the City and County of New York, after quoting the above and other authorities on the same point, makes the following declaration : “The. daily and habitual use of ardent spirits, as a medicine, and especially in the form of bitters, cordials, and elixirs, of which alcohol in some form is the base ; and with which quack medicines, the country has been deluged, is one of the most prominent causes of forming intemperate habits and appetites, and ought to be universally abjured." The following resolutions of the Massachusetts Medical Society are corroborative of the same view of the subject : " That this Society agree to discourage the use of ardent spirits as much as lies in their power; and for this purpose, to discontinue the employment of spirituous preparations of medicine when they can find substitutes ;" and also, “that the excessive and constant use of wine, is, in the opinion of this society, a cause of many diseases; and that, though it is useful in some of them (as in the stage of weakness in fever) its use is, in those cases, often carried too far, and continued too long."

This branch of our inquiry may be very appropriately concluded by a quotation from an Essay of very great value and importance, written by Dr. Mussey, “So long,'

as alcohol retains a place among sick patients, so long there will be drunkards; and who would undertake to estimate the amount of responsibility assumed by that physician, who prescribes to the enfeebled dyspeptic patient the daily use of spirit, while, at the same time, he knows that this simple prescription may ultimately ruin his health, make him a vagabond, shorten his life, and cut him off from the hope of heaven. Time was when it was used only as a medicine, and who will

dare to offer a guarantee that it shall not again overspread the world with disease and death?”

“Ardent spirit,” adds thiş patriotic physician, “ already under sentence of public condemnation, and with the prospect of undergoing an entire. exclusion from the social circle, and the domestic fireside-still lingers in the sick chamber, the companion and pretended friend of its suffering inmates. It rests with medical men to say how long this unalterable, unrelenting foe of the human race, shall remain secure in this sacred, but usurped retreat. They have the power, and theirs is the duty to perform the mighty exorcism. Let the united effort soon be made, and the fiend be thrust forth from this strong but unnatural alliance and comPunionship with men, and cast into that “outer darkness” which lies beyond the precincts of human suffering and human enjoyment."* +

*

• Temperance Prize Essay, by Dr. Mussey. Washington, 1835.

† The subject of dispensing wholly with alcoholic preparations in medicine has undergone considerable discussion in this country, since the commencement of the temperance reform and especially since the publication of Drs. Mussey and Linsly's essays. While these gentlemen, and a few others, advocate the entire disuse of such preparations in medicine, the great mass of the profession contend for their limited use. They believe that cases occasionally occur, where it would be difficult, if not impossible to find a proper substitute ; and in these cases they consider it proper, and right to administer them. As to the argument, that intemperance will exist as long as alcohol is used as a medicine, it may be said that it will also continue as long as it is used in the arts, and to that period it would be difficult to set any bounds. If the physician believes that in any case, alcohol will prove the most useful remedy, it is his duty to employ it; but to suspend its ad. ministration the moment'it ceases to be indicated.

There can be no doubt, however, that a large proportion of the formulas contained in our Pharmacopæias, for the preparation of tinctures, might be dispensed with. Instead of 150 which are found in one of our latest, we believe that, at most, 30 would answer every purpose. Most of the tonic, barks, roots and woods which are now administered in a spirituous menstrum, contain an alkaline salt, which is soluble in water, and a bitter prins ciple, which is imparted to the same medicine, and on which the active properties for the most part depend. Besides, where tonics are indicated, the stimulating and intoxicating properties of alcohol are often injurious, and a watery infusion on the medicine in form of powder, is far more benefi. cial—all the spiritugus preparations of opium ought to be dispensed with, as the acetate, or vinegar is in all cases preferable, where a liquid form is required; in all other cases it may be given in substance; or its extracted alkaline salt.

With respect to the use of alcohol in disease, it is now admitted by our most scientific and skilful physicians, to be rarely necessary. We believe that a great change has taken place in the opinions and practices of physicians on this subject, and that there are but very few forms of disease which are now thought to require alcoholic stimulus. Our fevers, with the exception perhaps of typhus, which is extremely rare, get well without it; dyspepsia is no longer treated as a disease of debility; nervous complaints are made worse by it; and convalesence from all diseases, goes on with greater safety and regularity, when left to the aid of bland nourishment, and simple diluents. Still.we are not of the number of those who believe that the time will soon if ever arrive, when vinous and spirituous prepara• tions can be wholly dispensed with in medicine. Articles which are always injurious in health, may and do prove, to be highly useful remedies in disease. It is so with arsenic, opium, and alcohol. Indeed it is this established fact, that alcohol is a medicinal agent, that proves its inadaptation to a state of health.--AM. ED.

PART III.

CHAPTER IX.

HISTORY OF INTOXICATING LIQUORS.

Man is the only animal accustomed to swallow unnatural drinks, or to abuse those which are natural; and this is a fruitful source of a great variety of his bodily and mental evils. Rees's Cycloped. Art. Water.

The History of Intoxicating Liquors, presents strong examples of the ingenuity and perseverance of mankind, in the pursuit of animal gratification.

In the countries so frequently the scenes of Scripture incidents, the fruits from which wine was made, were grown in great profusion and variety. Grapes in particular were remarkable for their size and delicious flavour. The spies sent out by Moses, found in the valley of Eshcol, a bunch of

grapes which required two men to carry it. Doubdan, the traveller, while in the neighbourhood of Bethlehem, visited this valley, and was informed by some monks, that bunches were found which, even without the aid of cultivation, weighed from ten to twelve pounds.* Forster, was also informed by a person who had resided many years in Palestine, that bunches of grapes were found in the valley of Hebron, so large, that two men could scarcely carry one of them. Rosenmuller confirms this statement. Be. sides, he mentions, the large quantities of grapes and raisins, which are daily sent to the markets of Jerusalem, and other neighbouring places: Hebron alone, in the first half of the eighteenth century, annually sent 300 camel loads, that is, nearly three hundred thousand weight of grape juice, or honey of raisins, to Egypt. The grape

and other esculent and luscious fruits, form a very important part of human nourishment in those parts of the globe, where they are plentifully produced. The

a

heat of the climate prevents that desire for solid diet, which characterizes the inhabitants of the colder regions of the earth. Travellers relate, that grapes enter largely into the provisions made for their entertainments. Morden, for example, informs us, that at a visit made to the Aga of Essuaens, he was presented with coffee, and several bunches of

grapes

of delicious taste. The juice of the grape and of other fruits grown in hot countries, possesses peculiarly refreshing and invigorating properties. It is generally diluted with water. Å recent traveller, thus beautifully alludes to this practice: “Fatigued with heat and thirst, we came to a few cottages in a palmwood, and stopped to drink of a fountain of delicious water. In this northern climate, no idea can be formed of the exquisite luxury, of drinking in Egypt; little appetite for food is felt—but, when after crossing the burning sands, you reach the rich line of woods on the brink of the Nile, and pluck the fresh limes, and mixing the juice with Egyptian

sugar and the soft river water, drink repeated bowls of lemonade, you feel that every other pleasure of the senses must yield to this. One then perceives the beauty and force of those similes in Scripture, where the sweetest emotions of the heart are compared to the assuaging of thirst in a sultry land."**

The fruit and juice of the palm-tree, the pomegranate, the melon, and the grape, have, in every age, been deemed of the highest importance, both as articles of diet, and of refreshing drink.

“The pomegranate in most parts of Persia,” remarks Forster, " has a thin soft skin, and contains a large quantity of juice, than which nothing, in hot weather or after fatigue can be more grateful.”+

The use of watermelons in Egypt, is thus adverted to by Hasselquist. “The watermelon serves the Egyptians

. for meat, drink, and physic. It is eaten in abundance during the season, even by the richer sort of people ; but the common people scarcely eat anything else, and account this the best time of the year, as they are obliged