98 ALCOHOLIC POISON.
mention, but which may be found presented in
other connections.
We will conclude with a brief summary of the
arguments adduced against the employment of
alcohol as a medicine.
Summary of Arguments against Alcoholic Med
ication.
L. Its medical properties are due to the fact
that it is expelled from the body, and to the
manner in which it is expelled.
2. It is a poison in all doses, and is treated as
such by the system,
3. It is in no sense a food.
+. It does not supply force nor support vitality.
5. It wastes force and vitality. :
6. It is a poison to the sick as well as to the
well.
7. Its effects upon the body are always injuri-
ous. It lessens sensibility, and occasions the de-
struction of the tissues.
8. It does not prevent or cure disease.
9. Its common use in medicine as a stimulant
or supporter of vitality, or nerve force, is entirely
unnecessary and unjustifiable, and is productive
of a vast amount of harm.
10. The only cases in which its use could pos-
sibly be of any benefit are those which require
the momentary application of an irritant to pre-
vent death from sudden collapse by exciting the
vital energies,
WINE AND THE BIBLE.
Perversion of Scripture.
AMONG civilized nations, the Bible is almost
universally admitted to be at least an admirable
code of morals, even by those who do not regard
it as an inspired book. An authority held in
such high esteem would necessarily have very
oreat influence in molding the judgments of
wen and forming their opinions. It is for the
purpose of gaining the support of this generally
accepted authority that the adherents of any
special theory or doctrine appeal to the Scrip-
tures for testimony in favor of the same. It
need not be at all surprising, then, that the lan-
guage of Holy Writ should often be grossly per-
verted by enthusiasts and unscrupulous persons
in their attempts to find for their pet theories
the needed indorsement. Illustrations of this
use of the Scriptures ave very abundant. A
large class of modern agitators who call them-
selves “social reformers” and have made them-
selves notorious by the laxity of morals advocal
ed and practiced by them, claim to find in s e
Word of God license for their immorality. | o-
lygamists, likewise, appeal to inspiration in wb
port of their unchrstian practice. Only v ew
years ago, American slavery received from thou-