and frequency of the pulse-augments the heat of the body— quickens respiration —and imparts vigour, both to the corporeal and mental functions. But all the secretions and excretions, except that of the skin, are diminished. An adequate dose, lulls pain, and gives a delightful serenity of mind, within an hour. By daily repetition its alleviating influence becomes less and less observable; and a person who should begin with fifty drops, might, at the expiration of twelve months, require eight or nine drachms to produce the same effects. Its first effects are succeeded by head-ache, sickness, thirst, tremors, and some of those symptoms which sometimes supervene upon the excessive use of ardent spirits. But in truth, most persons must serve an apprenticeship of head-aches, and sicknesses, before they can master the art of deriving enjoyment from this drug. CAUSES OF INTOXICATION. How many things by season season'd are To their right use, and true perfection. SPENCER. THE subject of causes rests on rather slippery ground. To enumerate the great variety of causes which produce intoxication, would be no very easy matter,-perhaps, impossible. It may, however, not be altogether useless, to point out a few of the paths which lead to this seducing, but ruinous habit; or to examine, at what collateral avenues, so many evils have made their way into the world, through drunkenness. Intoxication is a habit which gains upon a man so imperceptibly, that before he suspects himself a tippler, he is fairly shackled in its trammels. So insiduous is it in its attacks, that few can distinctly mark their first deviation from sobriety; they become inebriates by a gradual initiation :— and few require to be told, that it is much easier to resist the first temptation, than to satisfy all those that follow. The most sober individual, may occasionally be drawn into a degree of inebriety, almost unconsciously. A sober man may sometimes be surprised before reflection can come to his rescue. He who accustoms himself to the use of strong fermented liquors, gradually becomes what may be called a drinker; if he check not the propensity, he obtains the name of a tippler, and passes insensibly into a drunkard. When the drunkard feels himself falling, as it were, in the scale of being, he forsakes bis former friends;-seems to shun his honourable acquaintance-and slides by degrees, into the company of men whom he formerly despised. The followers of the Muses in all ages and climes have sung with common consent the joys of wine. Homer, Anacreon, Horace, and many others have pictured its joys in most inviting colours. But then it so happens that this picture has two sides. That fermented liquors possess the power of inspiring genius and sentiment, especially of the poetic kind, has been the opinion not only of Poets, but of grave and eminent Authors. The graceful Horace observes that the man who drinks wine, must necessarily have more exalted ideas than he who drinks water. He even denies all possibility of fame to the water-drinking bard,-and pleasantly observes that the Muses themselves had no objection to a cheerer :— "It appeared by the savour exhal'd from their lips That each Muse in the morning, had taken her sips." Anacreon, one of the heartiest friends to the cause, carried his love of it, as hundreds have done since, rather too far. He was not merely its apologist, but its panegyrist also, and excuses its indulgence in excess. "The black earth drinks the falling rain, Trees drink the moisten'd earth again; Ocean drinks the mountain gales; And the sun's bright rays as soon - Why dash the Nectar from my lip?" The grave Lucretius is supposed to have been pretty well acquainted with good liquor, thus to describe its effects so accurately: "When once their pates with wine are fraught Their speech is check'd, confus'd each thought, With stuttering tongue and staring eye They hiccup mutual wrath and obloquy," Our modern poets seem to have followed up the theme, for they have made the welkin ring with its praises. We are told by the poet of the "Emerald Isle" that— "If with water you fill up your glasse You'll never write any thing wise," The talented Sheridan condescended to solicit the aid of wine: when said he," a thought is slow to come, a glass of good wine helps it, and when it does come, a glass of wine rewards it." Inclination is a skillful sophist. The theme, in point of fact, seems to descend as an inheritance, and has been banded about even by the paupers in the parish of poetry. We are not, however, to suppose that all the expressions concerning wine and genius are meant to be understood literally. Something must be allowed for poetry, which has its phraseology. The truth appears to be, that each poet used poetical terms of praise for whatever liquor happened to make him happy or drunk. Thus Burns has lauded his Sir John Barleycorn, and Carolan and Dermody their Potteen. In accordance with this view of the matter, succeeding ages might suppose that whisky was the rival of nectar, and that like it, was of such tenuity as to as to pass off by transpiration, diffusing around it rich perfumes! Whether when the fancy was thus in a "fine phrenzy rolling" the fire of their verses were always in accordance with the warmth of their devotion, may well be doubted. To such a question, the answer would, in all likelihood, be anything but triumphant. converse. On a black drizzling day, that blots out the face of things, one is often induced to take every opportunity of dismissing the mind from duty. Those who remain in frozen celibacy, having nothing within that can entertain, or employ them, are compelled to try all the arts of destroying time; and a recourse to the bottle, is one of the numberless expedients practised by this class of mortals to alleviate the burthen of life. One cause of drunkenness which ought not to be omitted, is the immense number of dram-shops which now deform the land, and until they are reduced, disease and distress must stalk abroad in our streets. The difference between three dram-shops and six, would, most certainly, turn many drunken, into sober men. The most effectual way to wean from crimes, is by lessening the temptation to commit them. The soldier and the sailor get drunk whilst narrating the dangers of the battle and the storm. The sailor, perhaps more frequently than the soldier. Sailors are seldom quite so fond of water as their old father Neptune; but relish their grog, whether at sea or on shore, all the better, for having like themselves, a sufficiency of spirit. Genius and talent try to forget in wine the outrages of fortune, and the ingratitude of the world. Men of talent feel misfortunes more acutely than other men. The mind, in proportion as it is expanded, exposes a larger surface to impression. The causes already enumerated, are those which most frequently lead to the habit of drunkenness. The causes of an occasional debauch are so numerous, as to set all classification at defiance. The following, however, may be mentioned. The most common cause, and the most natural, is that drinking promotes society and conversation. That it |