50 ALCOHOLIC POISON.
tries to the north, over which they have exclu-
sive control, ‘to the great improvement,’ as Sir
John Richardson states, ‘ of the health and mor-
als of their Canadian servants, and of the Indian
tribes. —DRr. CARPENTER.
5. Alcohol Protects against Excessive Heat.
The advocates of drinking, like the man in
the fable, “blow both hot and cold,” in their ar-
guments. They love the beverage, and so it
must be useful in some way. Dr. Parkes says
on this point, “ Not only is heat less well borne,
but insolation (sunstroke) is predisposed to.”
“The common notion that some form of alcoholic
beverage is necessary in tropical climates is, 1
firmly believe, a mischievous delusion.” His
statements are supported by all the best authori-
ties on tropical diseases—Dr, Carpenter and oth-
ers.
Said Stanley, the African traveler, “A drunk-
ard cannot live in Africa.”
Said Prof. John Bell, M. D., an eminent medi-
cal author, “They who drink nothing but water
have been found to be more enduring of fatigue
and great labor, and of hardships and exposures
in every extreme of climate and season, than they
who use alcoholic beverages. The comparisons
have been made in almost every conceivable man-
ner (seldom, it is true, designedly), and with the
result just announced. Men who have to carry
on laborious occupations at a high temperature,
THE DRUNKARD'S ARGUMENTS. 51
- ag in iron-foundries, gas-works, sugar-houses, ete.,
find that the use of alcoholic liquors, while they
are so employed, is decidedly prejudicial to them.
Of twelve workmen—smiths in the dock-yard at
Portsmouth, England—who tried the experiment
for a week, six drank nothing but water, the
other six took the usual allowance of beer. After
the first day, the water-drinkers complained less
of fatigue than the others, and after each succes-
sive day, the advantage was on the side of the ab-
stainers, until the conclusion of the week, when
the water-drinkers declared that they never felt
so fresh in their lives as they had done during
this period.”
According to Sir James McGregor, quoted by
Dr. Bell, the Anglo-Indian army was never so
healthy as when in Upper Egypt, where no ar-
dent spirits were supplied to the troops on account
of the difficulties of transportation. The soldiers
were often exercised in the sun, the heat of which
was 50 great that the thermometer indicated 118
F. in the shade.
- It has been observed that among English sol-
diers in India those who are strict teetotalers en-
dure long marches under exposure to a tropical
sun much better than those addicted to the use
of liquor.
8. Alcohol Stimulates.
So, then, do opiuw, strychnia, and prussic acid
_stimulate, What is a stimulant? “Stimulant”