AN INQUIRY
INTO THE
Effects of Ardent Spirits
UPON THE
HUMAN BODY AND MIND,
WITH AN
Account of the Means of preventing,
ARD OF THE
REMEDIES FOR CURING THEM.
BY BENJAMIN RUSH, M. D.
Professor of Medicine in the University of Pennsylvania,
06
THE EIGHTH EDITION, WITH ADDITIONS.
EXETER :
Printed for JOSIAH RICHARDSON preacher of
the Gospel
1819.

70
60
50
40-
30
10-
0
INTEMPERANCE.
VICES,
DISEASES.
PUNISHA
Punch,
MENTS.
Idleress,
Sickness,
Debt,
or
Gaming, Peevish-Tremors of the hands in the
Toddy and Egs Rum,
Jail.
ness, Quarreling. morning,puking, bloatedness
Grog-Brandy and water,
Fighting, Horse Inflamed eyes, red nose and Black Eyes,
Racing,
face,
and Rags.
Flip and Shrub,
Lying and Swear.Sore and swelled legs, jaun. Hospital
ing,
dice,
Poor House,
Bitters infused in Spirits and stealing and Pains in the hands, burning
Cordials.
Bridewell.
Swindling, in the hands and feet,
Drams of Gin, Brandy and
Rum, in the morning,
Perjury,
Dropsy, Epilepsy,
State Prison.
The same morning and evening, Burglary Melancholy, palsy, apoplexy, do. for life.
The same during day and night, Murder, Madness, Despair,
(GALLOWS.

10
20
30
40_
50
60
70-
A MORAL AND PHYSICAL THERMOMETER.
A scale of the progress of Temperance and Intemperance.-Liquors with effects in their usual order.
TEMPERANCE.
Health and Wealth.
Water,
Milk and Water,
Serenity of Mind, Reputation, Long Life, and Happiness.
Small Beer,
Cider and Perry,
Wine,
Cheerfulness, Strength, and Nourishment, when taken only in small
quantities, and at meals.
Porter,
Strong Beer,

CONTENTS
PART I.
Of the effects of ardent spirits, as they appear in a fit of
drunkenness,
Of the chronic effects of their habitual use upon the body
Of their effects upon the mind,
Of their effeets upon property,
Arguments in favour of their use answered,
Cases in which a small quantity of them may be taken
with safety,
5
9
11
12
- 18
15
PART II.
15
Substitutes for ardent spirits,
Cautions and directions to sundry classes of people, with
respect to the use of ardent spirits,
Means of preventing their general use suggested to eivil
and ecelesiastical bodies of men,
20
PART III.
- 29
Remedies for a fit of drunkenness,
Remedies for preventing the pernicious effects of the ha-
bitual and intemperate use of ardent spirits
30

AN
INQUIRY, &c.
PART I.
BY
Y ardent spirits, I mean those liquors only
which are obtained by distillation from ferment-
ed substances of any kind. To their effects upon
the bodies and minds of men, the following in-
quiry shall be exclusively confined. Fermented
liquors contain so little spirit, and that so inti,
mately combined with other matters, that they
can seldom be drunken in sufficient quantities to
produce intoxication, and its subsequent effects,
without exciting a disrelish to their taste, or
pain, from their distending the stomach. They
are inoreover, when taken in a moderate quanti-
ty, generally innocent, and often have a friendly
influence upon health and life.
The effects of ardent spirits divide themselves
into such as are of a prompt, and such as are of
a chronic nature. The former discover them-
selves in drunkeness; and the latter, in a nu-
merous train of diseases and vices of the body
and mind.
1. I shall begin by briefly describing their
prompt, or immediate effects, in a fit of drunk.
enness.
This odious disease (for by that name it should
be called) appears with more or less of the fol-
lowing symptoms, and most commonly in the ora
der in which I shall enumerate them.
1. Unusual garrulity.

6
ON THE EFFECTS OF
2. Unusual silence.
3. Captiousness, and a disposition to quarrel.
4. Uncommon good humour, and an insipid
simpering, or laugh.
5. Profane swearing, and cursing.
7. A disclosure of their own, or other people's
secrets.
8. A rude disposition to tell those persons in
company whom they know, their faults.
9. Certain immodest actions. I am sorry to
say, this sign of the first stage of drunkeness,
sometimes appears in women, who, when sober,
are uniformly remarkable for chaste and decent
manners.
10. A clipping of words.
11. Fighting ; a black eye, or a swelled nose,
often mark this grade of drunkeness.
12. Certain extravagant acts which indicate a
temporary fit of madness. These are singing,
hallooing, roaring, imitating the noises of brute
animals, jumping, tearing off ciothes, dancing
naked, breaking glasses and china, and dashing
other articles of household furniture upon the
ground, or floor. After a while the paroxysm
or drunkeness is completely formed. The face
now becomes flushed, the eyes project, and are
somewhat watery, winking is less frequent than
is natural; the under lip is protruded,--the head
inclines a little to one shoulder ;-the jaw falls;
belchings and hiccup take place, the limbs
totter; the whole body staggers ;- The unfor-
tunate subject of this history next falls on his
seat he looks around him with a vacant coun-
tenance, and mutters inarticulate sounds to him-
self; he attempts to rise and walk. In this at-
tempt, he falls upon his side, from which he
gradually turns upon his back. He now closes

ARDENT SPIRITS.
his eyes, and falls into a profound sleep, fre-
quently attended with snoring and profuse sweats,
and sometimes with such a relaxation of the
muscles, which confine the bladder and the low-
er bowels, as to produce a symptom which deli-
cacy forbids me to mention. In this condition
he often lies from ten, twelve, and twenty-four
hours, to two, three, four, and five days, an ob-
ject of pity and disgust to his family and friends
His recovery from this fit of intoxication, is
marked with several peculiar appearances. He
opens his eyes, and closes them again ;
-be
gapes and stretches his limbs-he then coughs
and pukes,--his voice is hoarse, che rises with
difficulty, and staggers to a chair ; his eyes re-
semble balls of fire, his hands tremble, --he
loaths the sight of food ; -he calls for a glass of
spirits to compose his stomachnow and then
he emite a deep-fetched sigh,or groan from a tran-
sient twinge of conscience, but he more frequent-
ly scolds, and curses every thing around him. In
this state of languor and stupidity,he remains for
two or three days, before he is able to resume
his former habits of business and conversation.
Pythagoras, we are told, maintained that the
souls of men after death, expiated the crimes
committed by them in this world, by animating
certain brute animals ; and that the souls of
those animals in their turns entered into men,
and carried with them all their peculiar qualities
and vices. This doctrine of one of the wisest
and best of the Greek Philosophers, was proba-
bly intended only to convey a lively idea of the
changes which are induced in the body and mind
of man by a fit of drunkenness. In folly, it caus-
es him to resemble a calf-in stupidity, an ass,--

ON THE EFFECTS OF
in roaring, a mad bull-in quarrelling and
fighting, a dog --in cruelty, a tyger,-in fetor,
a skunk,-in filthiness, a hog,-and in obsceni.
ty, a he-goat.
It belongs to the history of drunkenness to
remark, that its paroxysms occur, like the par-
oxysms of many diseases, at certain periods, and
after longer or shorter intervals. They often
begin with annual, and gradually increase in
their frequency, until they appear in quarterly,
monthly, weekly, and quotidian or daily periods.
Finally they afford scarcely any marks of remis-
sion either during the day or the night. There
was a citizen of Philadelphia many years ago,
in whom drunkenness appeared in this protract-
ed form. In speaking of him to one of his
neighbours, I said, “ Does he not sometimes get
drunk ?” “ You mean," said his neighbour, "is
he not sometimes sober ?"
It is further remarkable, that drunkenness
resembles certain hereditary, family and conta-
gious diseases. I have once known it to descend
from a father to four out of five of his children.
I have seen three, and once four, brothers who
were born of sober ancestors, affected by it, and
I have heard of its spreading through a whole
family composed of members not originally re-
lated to each other. These facts are important,
and should not be overlooked by parents, in de-
ciding upon the matrimonial connexions of
their children.
Let us next attend to the chronic effects of
ardent spirits upon the body and mind. In the
body, they dispose to every form of acute dis-
ease ; they moreover excite fevers in persons
predisposed to them, from other causes. This
has been remarked in all the yellow feyers which

ARDENT SPIRITS.
9
have visited the cities of the United States.
Hard drinkers seldom escape, and rarely recov.
er from them. The following diseases are the
usual consequences of the habitual use of ardent
spirits, viz.
1. A decay of appetite, sickness at stomach,
and a puking of bile or a discharge of a frothy
and viscid phlegm by hawking, in the morning.
2. Obstructions of the liver. The fable of
Prometheus, on whose liver a vulture was said
to prey constantly, as a punishment for his steal-
ing fire from heaven, was intended to illustrate
the painful effects of ardent spirits upon that ore
gan of the body
3. Jaundice and cropsy of the belly and limbs,
and finally of every cavity in the body. A swel-
ling in the feet and legs is so characteristic a
mark of habits of intemperance, that the mer-
chants in Charleston, I have been told, cease to
trust the planters of South Carolina, as soon as
they perceive it. They very naturally conclude
industry and virtue to be extinct in that man, in
whom that symptom of disease has been produc-
ed by the intemperate use of distilled spirits.
4. Hoarseness, and a husky cough, which oft-
en terminate in consumption, and sometimes in
an acute and fatal disease of the lungs.
5. Diabetes, that is, a frequent and weakening
discharge of pale, or sweetish urine.
6. Redness, and eruptions on different parts
of the body. They generally begin on the nose,
and after gradually extending all over the face,
sometimes descend to the limbs in the form of
leprosy. They have been called "Rum-buds,
when they appear in the face. In persons who
have occasionally survived these effects of

10
ON THE EFFECTS OF
ardent spirits on the skin, the face after a while
becomes bloated, and its redness is succeeded
by a death-like paleness. Thus the same fire
which produces a red colour in iron, when urg-
ed to a more intense degree, produces what has
been called a white heat.
7. A fetid breath, composed of every thing
that is offensive in putrid animal matter.
8. Frequent and disgusting belchings. Dr.
Haller relates the case of a notorious drunkard
having been suddenly destroyed in consequence
of the vapour discharged from his stomach by
belching, accidentally taking fire by coming in
contact with the flame of a candle.
9. Epilepsy.
10. Gout, in all its various forms of swelled
limbs, colic, palsy, and apoplexy.
Lastly, 11. Madness. The late Dr. Waters,
while he acted as house pupil and apothecary
of the Pennsylvania Hospital, assured me, that in
one third of the patients confined by this terrible
disease, it had been induced by ardent spirits.
Most of the diseases which have been enume-
rated are of a mortal nature. They are more
certainly induced, and terminate more speedily
in death, when spirits are taken in such quanti-
ties, and at such times, as to produce frequent
intoxication ; but it may serve to remove an
error with which some intemperate people con-
sole themselves, to remark, that ardent spirits
often bring on fatal diseases without producing
drunkenness. I have known many persons
destroyed by them who were never completely
intoxicated during the whole course of their lives.
The solitary instances of iongevity which are
now and then met with in hard drinkers, no
more disprove the deadly effects of ardent

ARDENT SPIRITS.
spirits, than the solitary instances of recoveries
from apparent death by drowning, prove that
there is no danger to life from a human body ly-
ing an hour or two under water.
The body after its death, from the use of
distilled spirits, exhibits by dissection certain
appearances which are of a peculiar nature.
The fibres of the stomach and bowels are con-
tracted ;-abscesses--gangrene,and schirri
are found in the viscera. The bronchial vessels
are contracted the blood-vessels and tendons
in many parts of the body are more or less ossi-
fied, and even the hair of the head possesses &
crispness which renders it less valuable to vig-
makers than the hair of sober people.
Not less destructive are the effects of ardent
spirits upon the human mind. They impair
the memory, debilitate the understanding, and
pervert the moral faculties. It was probably
from observing these effects of intemperance in
drinking upon the mind, that a law was for-
merly passed in Spain, which excluded drunk-
ards from being witnesses in a court of justice.
But the demoralizing effects of distilled spirits
do not stop here. They produce not only
falsehood, but fraud, theft, uncleanliness, and
murder. Like the demoniac mentioned in the
New Testament, their name is “legion,' for
they convey into the soul a host of vices and
crimes.
A more affecting spectacle cannot be ex-
hibited than a person into whom this infernal
sptrit, generated by habits of intemperance, has
entered. It is more or less affecting according
to the station the person fills in a family, or in
society, who is possessed by it.
Is he a hus-
band? How deep the anguish which rends

12
ON THE IFFLCTS OF
the bosom of his wife ! Is she a wife? Who
can measure the shame and aversion which she
excites in her husband ? Is he the father, or is
she the mother of a family of children ? See
their averted looks from their parent, and their
blushing looks at each other ! Is he a magis.
trate? or has he been chosen to fill a high and
respectable station in the councils of his coun-
try? What humiliating fears of corruption in
the administration of the laws, and of the sub-
version of public order and happiness, appear
in the countenances of all who see him ! Is hea
minister of the gospel ?-Here language fails
me. If angels weep-it is at such a sight.
In pointing out the evils produced by ardent
spirits, let us not pass by their effects upon the
estates of the persons who are addicted to them.
Are they inhabitants of cities ?-Behold! their
houses stripped gradually of their furniture, and
pawned, or sold by a constable, to pay tavern
debts. See! their names upon record in the
dockets of every court, and whole pages of
newspapers filled with advertisements of their
estates for public sale. Are they inhabitants of
country places ? Behold ! their houses with
shattered windows-their barns with leaky
roofs,_their gardens overrun with weeds,-
their fields with broken fences, their hogs with-
out yokes, their sheep without wool,—their cat-
tle and horses without fat, and their children
filthy and half clad, without manners, princi-
ples, and morals. This picture of agricultural
wretchedness is seldom of long duration. The
farms and property thus neglected, and depre-
ciated, are seized and sold for the benefit of a
group of creditors. The children that were
born with the prospect of inheriting them, are

ARDENT SPIRITS.
13
bound out to service in the neighbourhood';
while their parents, the unworthy authors of
their misfortunes, ramble into new and distant
settlements, alternately fed on their way by the
hand of charity, or a little casual labour.
Thus we see poverty and misery, crimes and
infamy, diseases and death, are all the natural
and usual consequences of the intemperate use
of ardent spirits.
I have classed death among the consequences
of hard drinking. But it is not death from the
immediate hand of the Deity, nor from any of
the instruments of it which were created by him.
It is death from SUICIDE. Yes--thou poor
degraded creature, who art daily lifting the
poisoned bowl to thy lips--cease to avoid the
unhallowed ground in which the self-murderer
is interred, and wonder no longer that the sun
should shine, and the rain fall, and the grass
look green upon his grave. Thou art perpe-
trating gradually, by the use of ardent spirits,
what he has effected suddenly by opium-ora
halter. Considering how many circumstances
from surprise, or derangement, may palliate his
guilt, or that (unlike yours) it was not preceded y
and accompanied by any other crime, it is prob.
able his condemnation will be less than your's
at the day of judgment.
I shall now take notice of the occasions and
circumstances which are supposed to render the
use of ardent spirits necessary, and endeavour to
show that the arguments in favour of their use
in such cases are founded in error, and that in
each of theli, ardent spirits instead of affording
strength to the body, increase the evils they are
Batended to relieve.
B

ON THE EFFECTS OF
1. They are said to be necessary in very cold
weather. This is far from being true ; for the
temporary warmth they produce, is always suc-
ceeded by a greater disposition in the body to
be affected by cold. Warm dresses, a plentiful.
meal just before exposure to the cold, and eat-
ing occasionally a little gingerbread, or any
other cordial food, is a much more durable meth-
od of preserving the heat of the body in cold
weather.
2. They are said to be necessary in very
warm weather. Experience proves that they
increase, instead of lessening the effects of heat
upon the body, and thereby disposes to diseases
of all kinds. Even in the warm climate of the
West Indies, Dr. Bell asserts this to be true,
« Rum (says this author) whether used habitu-
ally, moderately, or in excessive quantities in
the West-Indies, always diminishes the strength
of the body, and renders men more susceptible
of disease, and unfit for any service in which
vigor or activity is required."* As well might
ve throw oil into a house, the roof of which was
on fire, in order to prevent the flames from ex-
tending to its inside, as pour ardent spirits into
the stomach, to lessen the effects of a hot sun.
upon the skin.
3. Nor do ardent spirits lessen the effects of
hard labour upon the body. Look at the horse :
with every muscle of his body swelled from
morning till night in the plough, or a team,
does he make signs for a draught of toddy, on:
a glass of spirits to enable him to cleave the
ground, or to climb a hill ?-No-he requires
* Inquiry into the causes which produce, and the means of
preventing diseases among the British officers, soldiers and othe
ers in the West Indies.

ANDENT SPIRITS.
15
nothing but cool water and substantial food.
There is no nourishment in ardent apirits. The
strength they produce in labour is of a transient
nature, and is always followed by a sense of weak-
ness and fatigue.
But are there no conditions of the human
body in which ardent spirits may be given ? I
answer there are. 1st. When the body has
been suddenly exhausted of its strengti), and a
disposition to faintness has been induced. Here
a few spoonfuls, or a wine-glass full of spirits,
with or without water, may be administered with
safety and advantage. In this case we comply
strictly with the advice of Solomon, who re-
stricts the use of “ strong drink" only “to him
who is ready to perish."--dly. When the body
has been exposed for a long time to wet weath.
er, more especially if it be combined with cold
Here a moderate quantity of spirits is not only
safe, but highly proper to obviate debility, and to
prevent a fever. They will more certainly have
those salutary effects, if the feet are at the same
time bathed with them, or a half pint of them
poured into the shoes or boots. These I be-
live are the only two cases in which distilled
spirits are useful or necessary to persons in
health.
PART II.
BUT it may be said, if we reject spirits from
being part of our drinks, what liquors shall we
substitute in their room? I answer in the first
place,
1. SIMPLE WATER. I have known many in-
stances of persons who have followed the most
laborious employments for many years, in the

16
ON THE EFFECTS OF
open air, and in warm and cold weather, who
never drank any thing but water, and enjoyed
uninterrupted good health. Dr. Mosely, who
resided many years in the West-Indies, confirms
this remark “ I aver, (says the Doctor) from
my own knowledge and custom, as well as the
custom and observations of many other people,
that those who drink nothing but water, or
make it their principal drink, are little affected
by the climate, and can undergo the greatest
fatigưe without inconvenience, and are never
subject to troublesome or dangerous diseases."
Persons who are unable to relish this simple
beverage of nature, may drink some one, or of
all the following liquors, in preference to ardent
spirits.
2. CYDER. This excellent liquor contains a
small quantity of spirit, but so diluted, and blant-
ed by being combined with a large quantity of
saccharine matter, and water, as to be perfectly
wholesome. It sometimes disagrees with per-
sons subject to the rheumatism, but it may be
made inoffensive to such people, by extinguish-
ing a red hot iron in it, or by mixing it with
water. It is to be laniented that the late frosts
in the spring so often deprive us of the fruit
which affords this liquor. The effects of these
frosts have been in some messure obviated by
giving an orchard a north-west exposure, so as
to check too early vegetation, and by kindling
two or three large fires of brush, or straw, to
the windward of the orchard, the evening be-
fore we expect a night of frost. This last expe-
dient has in many instances preserved the fruit
of an orchard to the great joy and emolument of
the ingenious husbandman.

ARDENT SPIRITS.
17
3. MALT LIQUORS. The grain from which
these liquors are obtained, is not liable, like the
apple, to be affected by frost, and therefore they
can be procured, at all times, and at a moderate
price. They contain a good deal of nourish-
ment; hence we find many of the poor people in
Great Britain endure hard labour with no other
food than a quart or three pints of beer, with a
few pounds of bread in a day. As it will be dif-
ficult to prevent small beer from becoming sour
in warm weather, an excellent substitute may
be made for it by mixing bottled porter, ale, or
strong beer, with an equal quantity of water
or a pleasant beer may be made by adding to
a bottle of porter, ten quarts of water, and a
pound of brown sugar or a pint of molasses.
After they have been well mixed, pour the li-
quor into bottles and place them loosely corked,
in a cool cellar. In two or three davs, it will be
fit for use.
A spoonful of ginger added to the
mixture, renders it more lively and agreeable to
the taste.
3. WINES. These fermented liquors are
composed of the same ingredients as cyder, and
are both cordial and nourishing. The peasants
of France who drink them in large quantities,
are a sober and healthy body of people. Unlike
ardent spirits, which render the temper irritable,
wines generally inspire cheerfulness and good
humour It is to be lamented that the grape
has not yet been sufficiently cultivated in our
country, to sfford wine for our citizens : but
many excellent substitutes may be made for it,
from the native fruits of all the States. If two
barrels of cyder fresh from the press, are boiled
into one, and afterwards fermented, and kept
B 2

18
ON THE EFFECTS OF
for two or three years in a dry cellar, it affords
a liquor which, according to the quality of the
apple from which the cyder is made, has the
taste of Malaga, or Rhenish wine. It affords
when mixed with water, a most agreeable drink
in summer. I have taken the liberty of calling
it POMONA WINE. There is another method of
making a pleasant wine from the apple, by
adding four and twenty gallons of new cyder to
three gallons of syrup made frem the expres-
sed juice of sweet' apples. When thoroughly
fermented, and kept for a few years, it becomes
fit for use.
The blackberry of our fields, and
the raspberry, and current of our gardens, afford
likewise an agreeable and wholesome wine,
when pressedand mixed with certain propor-
tions of sugar and water, and a little spirit, to
counteract the disposition to an excessive fer-
mentation It is no objection to these cheap
and home-made wines, that they are unfit for
use until they are two or three years old.
The
foreign wines in common use in our country,
require not only a much longer time to bring
them to perfection, but to prevent their being
disagreeable even to the taste.
4. MOLASSES and WATER, also VINEGAR and
WATER sweetened with sugar or molasses,
form an agreeable drink in warm weather. It
is pleasant and cooling, and tends to keep up
those gentle and uniform sweats on which health
and life often depend. Vinegar and water con-
stituted the only drink of the soldiers of the
Roman republic, and it is well known they
marched and fought in a warm climate, and
beneath a load of arms which weighed sixty
pounds. Boaz, a wealthy farmer in Palestine,
we find treated his eapers with nothing but

ARDENT SPIRITS.
bread dipped in vinegar. To such persons as
object to the taste of vinegar, sour milk, or
buttermilk, or sweet milk diluted with water
may be given in its stead. I have known the
labour of the longest and hottest days in sum-
mer supported by means of these pleasant and
wholesome drinks with great firmness, and end.
ed with scarcely a complaint of fatigue.
5. The SUGAR MAPLE affords a thin juice
which has long been used by the farmers in
Connecticut as a cool and refreshing drink in
the time of harvest. The settlers in the West-
ern countries of the middle States will do well
to let a few of the trees which yield this pleasant
juice, remain in all their fields. They may
prove the means not only of saving their chil-
dren and grand-children many hundred pounds,
but of saving their bodies ulta disease and
death, and their souls from mivery beyond the
grave.
6. COFFEE possesses agreeable and exhilara-
ting qualities, and might be used with great
advantage to obviate the painful effects of heat,
cold and fatigue upon the body. I once knew
a country physician who made it a practice to
drink a pint of strong coffee previous to his
taking a long or cold ride. It was more cor-
dial to him than spirits, in any of the forms in
which they are commonly used.
The use of the cold bath in the morning, and
of the warm bath in the evening, are happily
calculated to strengthen the body the former
part of the day, and to restore it in the latter
from the languor and fatigue which are induced
by heat and labour.
Let it not be said, ardent spirits have become
necessary from habit in harvest, and in other

ON THE EFFECTS OF
seasons of uncommon and arduous labour.
The habit is a bad one, and may be easily bro-
ken. Let but half a dozen farmers in a neigh-
bourhood combine to allow higher wages to
their labourers than are common), and a suffi.
cient quantity of any of the pleasant and whole-
some liquors I have recommended, and they
may soon, by their example, abolish the prac-
tice of giving them spirits. In a little while
they will be delighted with the good effects of
their association. Their grain and hay will be
gathered into their barns in less time, and in a
better condition than formerly, and of course at
a less expense, and an hundred disagreeable
scenes, from sickness, contention and accidents,
will be avoided, all of which follow, in a greater
or less degree, the use of ardent spirits.
Nearly all riases have their predisposing
The sa jne thing may be said of the in-
temperate use of distilled spirits. It will there-
fore, be useful to point out the different employ-
ments, situations, and conditions of the body
and mind which predispose to the love of those
liquors, and to accompany them with directions
to prevent persons being ignorantly and unde-
signedly seduced into the habitual and destruc-
tive use of them.
1. Labourers bcar with great difficulty, long
intervals between their meals. To enable them
to support the waste of their strength, their
stomachs should be constantly, but moderately
stimulated by aliment, and this is best done by
their eating four or five times in a day, during
the seasons of great bodily exertion. The food
at this time should be solid, consisting chiefly of
salted meat. The vegetables used with it should
epossss somc activity, or they should be made
calises,

ARDENT SPIRITS.
21
savoury by a mixture of spices. Onions and
garlic are of a most cordial nature. They com-
posed a part of the diet which enabled the Is-
raelites to endure, in a warm climate, the heavy
tasks imposed upon them by their Egyptian
masters; and they were eaten, Horace and Vir-
gil tell us, by the Roman farmers, to repair the
waste of their strength, by the toils of harvest.
There are likewise certain sweet substances
which support the body under the pressure of
labour. The negroes in the West-Indies become
strong, and even fat, by drinking the juice of the
sugar cane in the season of grinding it. The
Jewish soldiers were invigorated by occasion-
ally eating raisins and figs. A bread composed
of wheat flour, molasses, and ginger (commonly
called gingerbread) taken in small quantities
during the day, is happily calculated to obviate
the debility induced upon the body by constant
labour. All these substances, whether of an
animal or vegetable nature, lessen the desire, as
well as the necessity for cordial drinks, and im-
part equable and durable strength to every part
of the system.
2. Valetudinarians, especially those who are
afflicted with diseases of the stomach and bow.
els, are very apt to seek relief from ardent spir.
its. Let such people be cautious how they
make use of this dangerous remedy. I have
known many men and women of excellent char.
acters and principles, who have been betrayed
Ly occasional doses of gin and brandy, into a
love of those liquors, and have afterwards fal-
len sacrifices to their fatal effects. The different
preparations of opium are much more safe and
efficacious than distilled cordials of any kind, in
flatulent or spasmodic affections of the stomach

22
ON THE EFFECTS OF
and bowels. So great is the danger of contract-
ing a love for distilled liquors by accustoming
the stomach to their stimulus, that as few med-
icines as possible should be given in spiritous
vehicles, in chronic diseases. A physician of
great eminence, and uncommon worth, who died
towards the close of the last century in London,
in taking leave of a young physician of this city,
who had finished his studies under his patronage,
impressed this caution with peculiar force upon
him, and lamented at the same time, in pathetic
terms, that he had innocently made many sots
by prescribing brandy and water in stomach
complaints. It is difficult to tell how many per-
sons have been destroyed by those physicians
who have adopted Dr. Brown's indiscriminate
practice in the use of stimulating remedies, the
Most popular of which is ardent spirits ; but it
is well known, several of them have died of in-
temperance in this city, since the year 1790.---
They were probably led to it, by drinking bran-
dy and water to relieve themselves from the fre-
quent attacks of debility and indisposition to
which the labours of a physician expose him, and
for which rest, fasting, a gentle purge, or weak
diluting drinks would have been more safe and
more certain cures.
None of these remarks are intended to pre-
clude the use of spirits in the low state of short
or what are called acute diseases; for in such
cases, they produce their effects too soon, to
create an habitual desire for them.
3. Some people, from living in countries sub-
ject to intermitting fevers, endeavour to fortify
themselves aginst them, by taking two or three
wine-glasses of bitters, made with spirits, every

ARDENT SPIRITS.
23
day. There is a great danger of contracting
habits of intemperance from this practice. Be-
sides, this mode of preventing intermittents, is
far from being a certain one, a much better se-
curity agalnst them, is a tea-spoonful of the
Jesuits bark, taken every morning during a
sickly season. If this safe and excellent medi-
cine cannot be had, a gill or half pint of a strong
watery infusion of centaury, camomile, worm-
wood, or rue, mixed with a little of the calamus
of our meadows, may be taken every morning
with nearly the same advantage as the Jesuits
bark. Those persons who live in a sickly coun-
try, and cannot procure any of the preventa-
tives of autumnal fevers, which have been men-
tioned, should avoid the morning and evening
air,--should kindle fires in their houses on damp
days, and in cool evenings, throughout the
whole summer, and put on winter clothes about
the first week in September. The last part of
these directions applies only to the inhabitants of
the middle States.
4. Men who follow professions, which re-
quire constant exercise of the faculties of their
minds, are very apt to seek relief, by the use of
ardent spirits, from the fatigue which succeeds
great mental exertions.
To such persons it
may be a discovery to know, that tea is a much
better remedy for that purpose. By its grate-
ful and gentle stimulus, it removes fatigue, rea
stores the excitement of the mind, and invigor-
ates the whole system. I am no advocate for
the excessive use of tea. When taken too strong
it is hurtful.especially to the female constitution
but when taken of a moderate degree of strength,
and in moderate quantities, with sugar and
cream, or milk, I believe it is in general innox.

ON THE EFFECTS OF
ous, and at all times to be preferred to ardent
spirits, as a cordial for studions men. The late
Anthony Benezet, one of the most laborious
schoolmasters I ever knew, informed me, he
had been prevented from the love of spirituous
liquors, by acquiring a love for tea in early life.
Three or four cups, taken in an afternoon, car-
ried off the fatigue of a whole day's Jabour in
his school. This worthy man lived to be sev-
enty-one years of age, and died of an acute
disease, with the full exercise of all the faculties
of his mind, But the use of tea counteracts a
desire for distilled spirits, during great bodily as
well as mental exertions. Of this, Captain
Forest has furnished us with a recent and re-
markable proof, in his history of a voyage from
Calcutta to the Marqui Archipelago. “I have
always observed, (suys this ingenious inariner)
when sailors drink tea, it weans them from the
thoughts of drinking strong liquors, and perni-
cious grog ; and with this, they are soon con:
tented. Not so with whatever will intoxicate,
be it what it will. This has always been my
remark! I therefore always encourage it, 'with-
out their knowing why."
5. Women have sometimes been led to seek
relief from what is called breeding sickness, by
the use of ardent spirits. A little gingerbread
or biscuit, taken occasionally, so as to prevent
the stomach being empły, is a much better rem-
edy for that disease.
6. Persons under the pressure of debt, disap-
pointments in worldly pursuits, and guilt, have
sometimes sought to drown their sorrows in
strong drink. The only radical cure for those
svils, is to be found in Religion ; but where its
support is not resorted to wine and opium

ÅRDONT SPIRI29.
25
should always be preferred to ardent spirits.
They are far less injurious to the body and mind,
than spirits : and the habits of attachment to
them are easily broken, after time and repen-
tance have removed the evils they were taken to
relieve.
7. The sociable and imitative nature of man,
often disposes him to adopt the most odious and
destructive practices from his companions. The
French soldiers who conquered Holland, in the
year 1794, brought back with them the love and
use of brandy, and thereby corrupted the inhab-
itants of several of the departments of France,
who had been previously distinguished for their
temperate and sober manners. Many other
facts might be mentioned, to shew how impor-
tant it is to avoid the company of persons addicto
ed to the use of ardent spirits.
8. Smoking and chewing tobacco, by render..
ing water and simple liquors insipid to the taste
dispose very inuch to the stronger stimulus of
ardent spirits. The practice of smoking segars,
has, in every part of our country, been more
followed by a general use of brandy and water,
as a common drink, more especially by that class
of citizens who have not been in the habit of
drinking wine, or malt liquors. The less, there-
fore, tobacco is used in the above ways the better.
9. No man ever became suddenly a drunk-
ard. It is by gradually accustoming the taste
and stomach to ardent spirits, in the forms of
GROG and TODDY, that men have been led to love
them in their more destructive mixtures and
in their simple state. Under the impression of
this truth, were it possible for me to speak, with
a voice so loud as to be heard from the river
St. Croix to the remotest shores of the Missi-

26
ON THE EFFECTS OF
sippi, which bound the territory of the United
States, I should say,-Friends and Fellow-Citi-
zens ! avoid the habitual use of those two sedu-
cing liquors, whether they be made with brandy,
rum, gin, Jamaica spirits, whisky, or what is cal-
led cherry bounce. It is true, some men, by lim-
iting the strength of those drinks, by measuring
the spirit and water, have drunken them for
many years, and even through a long life, with-
out acquiring habits of intemperance or intoxi-
cation ; but many more have been insensibly led
by drinking weak toddy, and grog first at their
meals, to take them for their constant drink, in
the intervals of their meals ; afterwards to take
them, of an increased strength, before breakfast
in the morning, and finally to destroy them-
selves by drinking undiluted spirits, during eve.
ry hour of the day and night. I am not singu.
lar in this remark. “ The consequences of
drinking rum and water, or grog as it is called
(says Dr. Mosely) is, that habit increases the
desire of more spirit, and decreases its effects;
and there are very few grog-drinkers, who long
survive the practice of debauching with it with-
out acquiring the odious nuisance of dram-drink-
er's breath, and downright stupidity and impo-
tence."* To enforce the caution against the
use of those two apparetly innocent and popu-
lar liquors still further, I shall select one instance,
from among many, to shew the ordinary man-
ner, in which they beguile and destroy their vo-
taries. A citizen of Philadelphia, once of a fair
and sober character, drank toddy for many years,
as his constant drink. From this he proceeded
After a while, nothing would
to drink grog:
* Treatise on Tropical Diseases.

ARDENT SPIRITS.
27
satisfy him, but slings made of equal parts of
rum and water, with a little sugar. From slings,
he advanced to raw rum, and from common
rum, to Jamaica spirits. Here he rested for a
few months, but at length finding even Jamaica
spirits were not strong enough to warm his sto-
mach, he made it a constant practice to throw a
table-spoonful of ground pepper into each glass
of his spirits, in order, to use his own words," to
take off their coldness.” He soon afterwards
died a martyr to his intemperance.
Ministers of the gospel, of every denomina-
tion in the United States -aid me with all the
weight you possess in society, from the dignity
and usefulness of your sacred office to save our
fellow-men from being destroyed by the great
destroyer of their lives and souls. In order more
successfully to effect this purpose, permit me to
suggest to you, to employ the same wise modes
of instruction, which you use in your attempts
to prevent their destruction by other vices. You
expose the evils of covetousness, in order to pre-
vent theft ; you point out the sinfulness of im-
pure desires, in order to prevent adultery ; and
you dissuade from anger, and malice, in order
to prevent murder. In like manner, denounce,
by your preaching, conversation and examples,
the seducing influence of toddy and grog, when
you aim to prevent all the crimes and miseries
which are the offspring of strong drink.
We have hitherto considered the effects of ar-
dent spirits upon individuals, and the means of
preventing them. I shall close this head of our
inquiry, by a few remarks on their effects upon
the population and welfare of our country, and
the means of obviating them.

28
ON THE EFFECTS OF
It is highly probable, not less than 4000 peo-
ple die annually from the use of ardent spirits,
in the United States. Should they continue to
exert this deadly influence upon our population
Where will their evils terminate ? This question
may be answered by asking, where are all the In-
dian tribes, whose numbers and arms formerly
spread terror ainong their civilized neighbours?
I answer in the words of the fanious Mingo
Chief," the blood of many of them flows not in
the veins of any human creature." They have
perished not by pestilence, nor war, but by a
greater foe to human life than either of them
Ardent Spirits. The loss of 4000 American cit-
izens, by the yellow fever, in a single year, awak-
ened general sympathy and terror, and called
forth all the strength and ingenuity of laws, to
prevent its recurrence. Why is not the same
seal manifested in protecting our citizens from
the more general and consuming ravages of dis-
tilled spirits ?--Should the customs of civilized
Jife, preserve our nation from extinction, and
even from an increase of mortality, by those li-
quors ; they cannot prevent our country being
governed by men, chosen by intemperate and
corrupted voters. From such legislators, the
republic would soon be in danger. To avert this
evil.-let good men of every class unite and be-
seige the general and state governments, with
petitions to limit the number of taverns-to im-
pose heavy duties upon ardent spirits-to inflict
a mark of disgrace, or a temporary abridgment
of some civil right, upon every man, convicted
of drunkenness ; and finally, to secure the prop-
erty of habitual drunkards, for the benefit of their
families, by placing it in the hands of trustees,
appointed for that purpose, by a court of justice.

ARDENT SPIRITS.
29
To aid the operation of these laws, would it
not be extremely useful for the rulers of the
different denominations of Christian churches to
unite, and render the sale and consumption of
ardent spirits a subject of ecclesiastical jurisdic-
tion ?- The Methodists, and society of Friends,
have for some time past, viewed them as contra-
band articles, to the pure laws of the gospel, and
have borne many public and private testimonies
against making them the objects of commerce.
Their success in this benevolent enterprize, af-
fords ample encouragement for all other relig-
ious societies to follow their example.
PART III.
enness;
WE come now to the third part of this In-
quiry; that is, to mention the remedies for the
evils which are brought on by the excessive use
of distilled spirits. These remedies divide
themselves into two kinds.
I. Such as are proper to cure a fit of drunk-
and
II. Such as are proper to prevent its recur-
rence, and to destroy a desire for ardent spirits,
1. I am aware that the efforts of science and
humanity, in applying their resources to the cure
of a disease induced by an act of vice, will meet
with a cold reception from many people. But
let such people remember, the subjects of our
remedies are their fellow creatures, and that the
miseries brought upon human nature, by its
crimes, are as much the objects of divine com
passion, (which we are bound to imitate) as the
distresses which are brought upon men, by the
crimes of other people, or which they bring upon
C 2

30
ON THE EFFECTS OF
themselves, by ignorance or accidents. Let us
not then pass by the prostrate sufferer from
strong drink, but administer to him the same re-
lief, we would afford to a fellow creature, in a
similar state, from an accidental and innocent
cause.
1. The first thing to be done to cure a fit of
drunkenness, is to open the collar, if in a man,
and remove all tight ligatures from every other
part of the body. The head and shoulders should
at the same time be elevated, so as to favour a
more feeble determination of the blood to the
brain.
2. The contents of the stomach should be dis-
charged, by thrusting a feather down the throat.
It often restores the patient immediately to his
senses and feet. Should it fail of exciting a
puking.
3. A napkin should be wrapped round the
head, and wetted an hour or two with cold water,
or cold water should be poured in a stream upon
the head. In the latter way, I have sometimes
seen it used when a boy, in the city of Philadel-
phia. It was applied, by dragging the patient,
when found drunk in the street, to a pump, aud
pumping water upon his head for ten or fifteen
minutes. The patient generally rose, and walked
off, sober and sullen, after the use of this remedy.
Other remedies, less common, but not less ef-
fectual for a fic of drunkenness are
4. Plunging the whole body into cold water.
A number of gentleman who had drunken to in-
toxication, on board of a ship in the stream near
Fell's point, at Baltimore, in consequence of their
reeling in a small boat, on their way to the shore,
in the evening, overset it, and fell into the water,
Several boats from the shore hurried to their re-

ARDENT SPIRITS.
lief. "They were all picked up, and went home
perfectly sober to their families.
5. Terror A number of young merchants,
who had drunken together, in a compting-house.
on James river, above thirty years ago, until they
were intoxicated, were carried away by a sudden
rise of the river, from an inamense fall of rain.
They floated several miles with the current, in
their little cabin, half filled with water. An isl-
and in the river arrested it. When they reached
the shore that saved theirlives, they wereall sober.
It is probable terror assisted in the cure of the
persons who fell into the water at Baltimore.
6. The excitement of a fit of anger. The late
Dr. Witherspoon used to tell a story of a man
in Scotland, who was always cured of a fit of
drunkenness, by being made angry. The mean
chosen for that purpose, was a singular one. It
was talking against religion.
7. A severe whipping. This remedy acts by
exciting a revulsion of the blood from the brain
to the external parts of the body.
8. Profuse sweats. By means of this evacu-
ation, nature sometimes cures a fit of drunken-
ness. Their good effects are obvious in labourers
whom quarts of spirits taken in a day will sel-
dom intoxicate, while they sweat freely. If the
patient be unable to swallow warm drinks, in or-
der to produce sweats, they may be excited by
putting him in a warm bath, or wrapping his
body in blankets, under which should be placed
half a dozen hot bricks, or bottles filled with hot
water.
9. Blecding. This remedy should always be
used where the former ones have been prescribed
to no purpose, or where there is reason to fear

32
ON THE EFFECTS OF
from the long duration of the disease, a material
injury may be done to the brain.
It is hardly necessary to add, that each of the
above remedies, should be regulated by the
grade of drunkenness, and the greater or less
degree, in which the intellects are affected in it.
II. The remedies which are proper to prevent
the recurrence of fits of drunkenness, and to de-
stroy the desire for ardent spirits, are religious,
metaphysical, and medical. I shall briefly men-
tion them.
1. Many hundred drunkards have been cured
of their desire for ardent spirits, by a practical
belief in the doctrines of the Christian religion.
Examples of the divine efficacy of Christianity
for this purpose, have lately occurred in many
parts of the United States,
2. A sudden sense of the guilt contracted by
drunkenness, and of its punishment in a future
world. It once cured a gentleman in Philadel-
phia, who, in a fit of drunkenness, attempted to
murder a wife whom he loved. Upon being told
of it when he was sobershe was so struck with the
enormily of the crime he had nearly committed,
that he never tasted spirituous liquors afterwards
3. A sudden sense of shame. Of the efficacy
cf this deep-seated principle in the human bosom,
in curing drunkenness, I shall relate three re-
markable instances.
A farmer in England, who had been many
years in the practice of coming home intoxicated,
from a market town, one day observed appear-
ances of rain, while he was in market. His hay
was cut, and ready to be housed. To save it, he
returned in haste to his farm, before he had taken
his customary dose of grog. Upon coming into
his house, one of his children, a boy of six years

ARDENT SPIRITS.
33
ern.
old, ran to his mother, and cried out, “O!
mother, father is come home, and he is not
drunk.” The father who heard this exclama.
tion, was so severely rebuked by it, that he sud-
denly became a sober man.
A noted drunkard was once followed by a
favourite goat, to a tavern, into which he was in-
vited by his master, and drenched with some of
his liquor. The poor animal staggered home
with his master, a good deal intoxicated. The
next day he followed him to his accustomed tave
When the goat came to the door, he paus-
ed: his master made signs to him to follow him
into the house. The goat stood still.
An at-
tempt was made to thrust him into the tavern.
He resisted as if struck with the reco!lection of
what he suffered from being intoxicated the night
before. His master was so much affected by a
sense of shame, in observing the conduct of his
goat to be so much more rational than his own,
that he ceased from that time to drink spirituous
liquors.
A gentleman in one of the southern states, who
had nearly destroyed himself by strong drink,
was remarkable for exhibiting the grossest marks
of folly in his fits of intoxication. One evening,
sitting in his parlour, he heard an uncommon
noise in his kitchen. He went to the door and
peeped through the key hole, from whence he
saw one of his negroes diverting his fellow-ser-
vants, by mimicking his master's gestures and
conversation when he was drunk.The sight
overwhelmed him with share and distress, and
instantly became the means of his reformation.
4. The association of the idea of ardent spirits
with a painful or disagreeable impression upon
some part of the body, has sometimes cured the

34
ON THE EFFECTS OF
love of strong drink. I once tempted a negro
man, who was habitually fond of ardent spirits,
to drink some rum (which I placed in his way)
and in which I had put a few grains of tartar
emetic.--The tartar sickened and puked him to
such a degree, that he supposed himself to be
poisoned. I was much gratified by observing
he could not bear the sight nor sinell of spirits,
for two years afterwards.
I have heard of a man, who was cured of the
love of spirits, by working off a puke, by large
draughts of brandy and water; and I know a
gentleman, who, in consequence of being affect-
ed with a rheumatism, immediately after drink-
ing some toddy, when overcome with fatigue
and exposure to the rain, has ever since loathed,
that liquor, only because it was accidentally as-
sociated in his memory with the recollection of
the pain he suffered from his disease.
This appeal to that operation of the human
mind, which obliges it to associate ideas, acci-
dentally or otherwise combined, for the cure of
vice, is very ancient 'It was resorted to by Mo-
ses when he compelled the children of Israel,
to drink the solution of the golden calf (which
they had idolized) in water. This solution, if
made as it most probably was, by means of what
is called hepar sulphuris, was extremely bitter,
and nauseous, and could never be recollected af.
terwards, without bringing into equal detestation,
the sin which subjected them to the necessity of
drinking it. Our knowledge of this principle
of association upon the minds and conduct of
men, should lead us to destroy, by means of other
impressions, the influence of all those circum-
stances with which the recollection and desire
of spirits are combined. Some men drink only

ARDENT SPIRITS,
35
At
in the morning, some at noon, and some at night. Some
men drink only on a market day, some at one tavern
only, and some only in one kind of company. Now by
finding a new and interesting employment, or subject
of conversation for drunkards at the usual times in
which they have been accustomed to drink, and by re-
straining them by the same means from those places
and companions, which suggested to them the idea of
ardent spirits, their habits of intemperance may be com-
pletely destroyed. In the same way the periodical re-
turns of appetite, and a desire of sleep have been de-
stroyed in an hundred instances. The desire for
strong drink, differs from each of them, in being of an
artificial nature, and therefore not disposed to return,
after being chased for a few weeks from the system.
5. The love of ardent spirits has sometimes been
subdued, by exciting a counter passion in the mind.
A citizen of Philadelphia, had made many unsuccess-
ful attempts to cure his wife of drunkenness.
length, despairing of her reformation, he purchased a
hogshead of rum, and after tapping it, left the key in
the door of the room in which it was placed, as if he
had forgotten it. His design was to give his wife an
opportunity of drinking herself to death. She suspect-
ed this to be his motive, in what he had done, and sud.
denly left off drinking. Resentment here became the
antidote to intemperance.
6. A diet consisting wholly of vegetables cured a
physician in Maryland of drunkenness, probably by
lessening that thirst, which is always more or less ex-
cited by animal food.
7. Blisters to the ankles, which were followed by an
unusual degree of inflammation, once suspended the
love of ardent spirits, for one month, in a lady in this
city. The degrees of her intemperance may be con-
ceived of, when I add, that her grocer's accompt for
Brandy alone, amounted annually, to one hundred pounds
Pennsylvania currency, for several years.
I. A violent attack of an acute disease, has some-
times destroyed a habit of drinking distilled liquors. I
attended a notorious drunkard, in the yellow fever, in
the year 1798, who recovered with the loss of his rel.
ish for spirits, which has, I believe, continued ever
since.

36
ON THE EFFECTS OF, &C.
enness.
9. A salivation has lately performed a cure of drunk
enness in a person in Virginia. The new disease excit
ed in the mouth and throat, while it rendered the ac.
tion of the smallest quantity of spirits upon them, pain-
fül, was happily calculated to destroy the disease in the
stomach which prompts to drinking, as well as to ren-
der the recollection of them disagreeable by the laws of
association formerly mentioned.
10. I have known an oath taken before a magistrate,
to drink no more spirits,produce a perfect cure of drunk.
It is sometimes cured in this way in Ireland.
Persons who take oaths for this purpose, are called afli-
davit men.
11. An advantage would probably arise from frequent
representations being made to drunkards, not only of
the certainty, but of the suddenness of death, from habits
of intemperance. I have heard of two persons being
cured of the love of ardent spirits, by seeing death sud.
denly induced by fits of intoxication, in the one case in a
stranger, in the other in an intimate friend:
12. It has been said, that the disuse of spirits should
be gradual; but my observations authorise me to say,
that persons who have been addicted to them, should
abstain from them suddenly and enrirely.
handle not, touch not,” should be inscribed upon every
vessel that contains spirits in the house of a man, who
wishes to be cured' of habits of intemperance. To 05.
viate for a while, the debility which arises from the
sudden abstraction of the stimulus of spirits, laudnum,
or bitters infused in water, should be taken, and
perhaps a larger quantity of beer or wine, than is con-
sistent with the strict rules of temperate living. By
the temporary use of these substitutes for spirits, I have
never known the transition to sober habits, to be at
tended with any bad effects, but often with permanent
health of body, and peace of mind.
* Taste not,
THE END
1919
Rush,
Beran
14344