ALCOHOLIC POISON.
Young man do you drink? If so stop a moment and listen to a few facts. We will give you facts, not mere theories, scientific facts. We are not going to preach a sermon to you, we merely wish to have a little friendly chat; and we promise to be perfectly fair and cnndid, hoping you will consider thoughtfully and carefully the facts which we present.
Old man, do you drink? You need not answer, for your blooming nose, and trembling hands, and bloodshot eyes have already answered for ypu. They advertise you as a drunkard wherever you go. Everybody knows it, and you need not be offended because we have told you a notorious truth. Have the kindness to pause a moment, won’t you? You need not be in such a hurry to imbibe another glass of liquid fire. You have already drank your hogshead of the devilish stuff, and you have but a few more drams to drink; so you had better be moderate. We are going to talk a little to this young man, a neighbor of yours, about “ Alcoholic Poison,” and we want to use you for illustration. In the meantime, if you stay, perhaps you may learn a fact or two yourself, if your brain has not become too hard to receive the impress of an idea.
ALCOHOL IS A DEADLY POISON.
A gill of the pure article will kill a man as quick as a bullet through his brain. Do you
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ALCOHOLIC POISON.
say that no one drinks it pure?. Very true, though more than half, of some liquors, is alcohol; and if the quantity of the poison taken is smaller, the work of poisoning will only be more prolonged. Many poisons act slowly, but none the less surely. Alcohol in small doses is one of these.
ALCOHOL THE RESULT OF DECAY.
“But,” you say, “alcohol is found in wheat and rye and barley; it cannot be so very poisonous.”
You are mistaken, sir. The Creator never made a’cohol. There is not a vegetable that grows which contains it. Not a single animal, man excepted, ever produced it. It is a product of decay. By means of fermentation, the starch and sugar of grains or fruits is decomposed, alcohol and carbon di-oxide (carbonic acid) bei&g produced as the results. The carbon di-oxide escapes as a gas, leaving the alcohol behind as a fluid. Alcohol, the great destroyer, is itself the offspring of destruction.
ALCOHOL IS A CHEMICAL AGENT.
The chemist can make alcohol from the elements themselves, just as he can make iron-rust or carbonate of soda. It belongs to the same class of compounds as fusel oil and naphtha. It very closely resembles benzine and petroleum in ts properties, bfcing, like them, very inflammable. It is most useful to the chemist as a burning fluid.
ALCOHOL DESTROYS THE BODY.
Alcohol is one of the most destructive agents that can be taken into the body. Placed upon the skin it raises a blister. Held in the mouth
ALCOHOLIC POISON.
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a few minutes it occasions an intense degree of irritation, and so deadens the nerves of the tongue that the sense of taste is nearly lost. When it reaches the stomach, it corrodes the mucous membrane of that organ, induces inflammation, and occasions the formation of ulcers. When it is absorbed into the blood, it cuts the delicate corpuscles in pieces as a sausage grinder does a piece of pork. Those which it does not destroy, it renders incapable of service in the body. The ultimate effect of this drug is to injure every fiber of the body, and shrivel and harden the tissues.
ALCOHOL PARALYZES THE NERVES AND HARDENS THE BRAIN.
When the alcohol in the blood reaches the centers of the nervous system, it paralyzes them just as does chloroform or ether, which are both made from this drug; its effect is the same, only less powerful. A man who is “ dead drunk ” is in essentially the same condition as a man who is insensible under the influence of chloroform. All the tissues are more or less hardened by the use of alcohol, but the brain suffers more than any other organ in this respect. The brain of an old drinker is almost pickled.
END OF A DRUNKARD’S CAREER.
Young man, look at this poor old wreck of humanity. He is a specimen of the work of rum. Do you ask for evidence of the truthfulness of the statements made concerning the effects of alcoholic poison ? here you find it. Notice his trembling hands; they indicate a shattered nervous system. Mark his ruddy nose; its hue is
4*	7; alqoholic poison.
evidence fo£ ja f pfycsdyzod ,t circulation.•• Every blood-ye$§eJ in l^is bqoly ^-relaxed, distended, and engorge4 with -gross ai^d poisenrladon bipod. Listen ?to his senseless words; very , brain is paralyzed, Noticp his ,tpttenpg .gait* ;the certain symptom of a fatal, maLadjy, Does he enjoy existence?. Qanfhe appreciate, the glorious beauties of the natural world, or. “ look through nature up,to natures,Godr Oh. nq; his brutal/ gross, besotted . mind knows pnly one enjoyment— ,p$INK. ,	'• , .	; , :
A few more; weekp wilj end/hns. sensual*, career. A few more sips at the poisonous cup, and he will drink the bitter cup of death f and, such a death asv‘he will die!' Among the woful Sights that meet the human dyh,1 ^drunkard’s death sur-passfes all in horror* • No I pen can picture-half its wretchedness, no tongue describe its awful agony.
dn face- of facts so plains, can any mam dispute the charge7 that .alcoholic liquors are a curse to humanity, poisoning, the body , and dethroning the mdnd? ;	>
Young man, reform fat once, before both mind and body are alike debased.
Old man,' reform if yet yoii may, before you sink; into the dark; oblivion of a drunkard’s grave.	J	. ? ■-
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