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VOLUME 11. fflrrtrii THE MEADOW LILIES. “ Consider the Lilies Found we lilies in the meadow Where they made the hay, Blowing in the July weather On a sultry day. Hung they there, like crowns of crimson Studded well with gems, Flashing through the silken grasses From their glossy stems. Glad were we to fill our aprons With the bright boquefs, Sitting where \ on maple’s shadow On its carpet plays. Talked we of the Lilies’preaching— Preached so many years, Ere the:r great Interpreter Opened human ears, — Talked we gaily ’mid the clover, Sisters, side by side; Heartsunfolding, like those lilies In the summery pride. Sate when we would gather lilies In the July weather, Slow our pace is, for no longer Go we all together. One’s afar among green hills Where the Lehigh flashes, And another sweet young rose Slumber in Death’s ashe3. Father, let Thy lilies bright To our hearts come preaching ! Lifr us up from dust and night ’Neath Thy spirit’s teaching? Show us that Thy ways are right In all kinds of weather— That in Thee we may unite And seek flowers together? Emily Herrmann. THE GARDEN GATE. “ Stand back, bewildering politics! I’ve placed rnv fences round ; Pass on, with all your party tricks, Nor tread my holy ground. Stand back —I’m weary of your talk, Your squabbles, and your hate : You cannot enter in this walk— I’ve closed my garden gate. ‘ Stand back, ye thoughts of trade and pelf; I have a refuge here ; I wish to commune with myself— My mind is out of gear. These bowers are sacred to the page Os philosophic lore; Within these bounds no envies rage — I’ve shut my garden door. “Stand back, Fri ’olity and Show, It is a day of Spring ; I want to see my roses blow, And hear the blackbird sing. I wish to prune my apple trees, And nail my peaches straight; Keep to the causeway, if you please— I’ve shut my garden gate. “I have no room for such a you, My house is somewhat small; bet Love come here, and Friendship true, 111 give them welcome sll; They will not scorn my household stuffs, Or criticise my store. Uasion—the world is large enough— Ive shut my garden door. Stand back, ye Pomps! and let me wear T.’ie liberty I feel. 1 Lave a coat at elbows bare— -1 love its dishabille . ‘Within these precincts let me rove, nature, free fiom state; There is no tinsel in the grove — l ‘e shut my garden gate. hat boots continual glare and strife ? cannot always climb : w °uld not struggle all my life— need a breathing time. P ° ass on—l’ve sanctified these grounds friendship, love and lore: cannot come within the bounds— *'c *but my garden door. t he use of alcohol. lc Use and Abuse of Alcoholic Uf juvrs in Health and Disease: Prize Essay. By William B. Carpenter, M. D., F. R. S., F. G. Examiner in the University of Condon, Professor of Medical Ju risprudence in University College and Author of Principles of Hu man Physiology, etc. Phila.: Lea & Blanchard. We have given the title entire \t may be seen that the distin author is no quack or indi- L Peking, by a treatise on a popular topic, to bring himself into L Served notoriety. The work L as Written in consequence of a 1* hundred guineas’ prize being for the best essay on this Drunfrii tii jCittrntttrr, null Slrt, tjj? irniis us dMiit /dlntnsjitp, Jllnsnnnj unit iGrnrrnt topic. This is the successful pro duction. As it is calmly and tem perately written, and probably most of the real arguments (except the moral ones) against the use of alco holic beverages are plainly given, we propose, in a condensed form, to present them to our readers, di recting them to the work itself for particulars. W hat are the effects, corporal and mental, of alcoholic liquors on the healthy system ? “ We shall commence (says Dr. Carpenter) by examining the influ ence of alcohol upon the yhysi'eal, chemical and vital properties of the several components of the animal labric. The most important physi cal change which the contact of al cohol effects in the softer animal tissues, is that ot corrugation —or a shrinking of the animal substance ; the chemical change is the coagula tion of soluble albumen. Alco hol applied to the living skin pro duces irritation, inflammation and dealh.” Intoxication (as its etymology de notes) is poisoning. A single mod erate draught of alcoholic beverage excites the pulse ; the appetite and digestive powers are increased, and the secretions of the skin and kidneys augmented. The mind is also enlivened,and the natural qual ities made manifest. Another close and the voluntary control of the thoughts and muscles is completely destroyed. The third stage is one ot coma, which differs little from apo plexy, and not unfrequently is fol lowed by death. The rapidity with which alcohol enters into the circulation is remark able. It could scarcely 7 be more rapid were it injected into the veins. “In one of Dr. Percy’s experiments the animal fell lifeless to the ground immediately that the injection of alcohol into the stomach was com pleted, (the respiratory movements and pulsations of the heart entirely ceasing within two minutes.) the stomach was found nearly void, •j whilst the blood was strongly im pregnated with alcohol.” Alcohol seems to possess a natural affinity for the brain, and the blood of this organ is found to contain a larger proportion of alcohol than that in other parts of the sy’slem. Nature soon carries off the poison, and leaves only the disordered condition it has produced. The skin and kidneys emit large quanti ties, the lungs exhale it, and still more is carried off by its combustion in the blood, changing it, bv com billing with oxygen, into carbonic acid and water, which arc speedily exhaled by the lungs. The remote results of the excess ive use of alcoholic liquors are Delirium Tremens and Insanity— in ninety eight asylums in England and Wales, of 12,007 cases, 15 per cent were from Intemperance. In the Glasgow Lunatic Asylum at least one fourth. In nine provincial asylums the proportion was 32.02 percent. In an asylum in the East Indies the per centage was 41.07. At the Richmond Hospital, Dublin, one half owed their madness to drinking. Another common form of insanity is called Oinomania : “it is the lrre resistible propensity to swallow stimulants in enormous doses when ever and wherever the} 7 can he pro cured. The poor victim derives no pleasure from the taste, tor he gulps down the liquor, of whatever kind it he ; or from society, for he gen erally avoids it; hut he only de rives a temporary satisfaction from the gratification of an insane im pulse.” The disease is what many possess who seem compelled by some demon, at periodical intervals, to “go on a spree,” as it is here commonly expressed. It is seldom cured, even after years ot confine ment, this disease returns with a power the poor victim cannot re strain . The mental debility of the off spring is one of the most painful consequences of this vice—idiocy, insanity, and mental debility’. Plu tarch long ago said, “one drunkard begets another;” and Aristotle’s re mark has come down to us, that “drunken women bring forth chil dren like unto themselves.” In the Report on Idiocy 7 , by r Dr. Howe, to the Legislature of Massachusetts, he says , “ The habits of the pa- SAVANNAH, GA.. SATURDAY, AUGUST 3, 1850. rents of 300 idiots were learned; and 145, or nearly half were known to be habitual drunkards. The pa rents of No. 02 were drunkards, and had seven idiotic children.”— Paralysis and epilepsy are also fre quently caused by liquor. Besides these there are many dis eases directly originating from the constant and excessive use of alco holic drinks. Among many others, ihese are enumerated : irritation and inflammation of the mucous membrane of the stomach and in testines ; dyspepsia and various diseasesof the liver, some forms of which are known as the “drunkard's liver,” many affections of the kid neys, &c. Every one has observed probably the tendency to diseases of the skin, which is more or less manifest among alt frequent drink ers. The liability to epidemic dis eases is made manifest, and the causes of spontaneous combustion, which many think improbable, are also given. A note under tfie head of “Di minished power of sustaining inju ries by disease or accident,” gives this anecdote, showing the enormous powers both of strength and endu rance to which man can, by long and severe training, he raised. It is a statement made by one of the coal heavers employed on the Thames. “I was a strict tee-total er for many years, and 1 wish I could be so now. All that time I was a coal-whipper, at the heaviest work,’and I have made one of a gang that has done ISO tons in a day. I drank no fermented liquors tlie whole time. I had only 7 ginger beer and milk, and that cost me Is. Gd. It was in the summer time. I didn’t huff it that day; that is I didn’t take my shirt off. Did ibis work at Regent’s Canal, and there was a little milk shop close on shore and I used to run there when I was dry. I had about two quarts of milk and five hollies of beer, or about three quarts of fluid altogeth er. I found that amount of drink necessary. 1 perspired very vio lently 7, my shirt was wet through, 1 and my flannels wringing wet with ibe perspiration over the work.— The rule among us is. that we do 28 tons on deck and 23 tons filling in the hold. We go on that way during the day 7 . The perspiration in the summer streams down our foreheads so rapidly 7 that it will of ten get into our eyes before we have time to wipe it off. This makes them very sore. The perspiration is of avery r briny nature. We are often so heated over our work that the perspiration runs into our shoes, and often from the dust and heat jumping up and down, and the feet being galled with the dust, 1 have had my shoes filled with blood. — The thirst produced by the work is very excessive. It is completely as if you had a fever on you. The dust gets into the throat and near ly suffocates. You can scrape ihe coal dust off the tongue with the teeth ; and do what you will, it is iimpossible to get the least spittle into ihe mouth. I have known the coal dust lo he that thick in the hold of a ship that I have been unable to see my mate, though only two teet from me. Your legs totter under you. Both before and alter 1 was a tee-lotaler i was one of the strong est men in the business. 1 was able to carry 7 7 cwt. on my hack for fifty yards, and I could lift nine half hun dreds with rnv right arm. After finishing my day’s work, I was like a child for weakness. Then there is the coal to he carried up a nasty ladder twenty feet—and a sack of coals weighs two cwts. and a stone at least ; the sack itself heavy and thick. Isn’t that a strain on a man? No horse could stand it long. The sweat runs into ihe bools, and I have felt it run down me for hours as I had to trudge along.” Another say 7 s : “It is food only that can give real strength to the frame. 1 have hacked GO ions in a day since 1 took the pledge, and have done it without any intoxica ting drink, with perfect ease to my self, and walked five miles to a temperance meeting afterwards.— Coal-hacking from the ship’s hold is the hardest work that man can do. Going up a ladder sixteen feet high, with 238 1 Us. weight on a man’s back is sufficient to kill any one ; indeed it does kill the men in a few years ; they’re soon old men at that work.”—Surely, on reading such statements we must exclaim, “there were giants in those days.” And this incredible labor is done better and easier without ihe use of alco hol ! What labor then requires it? It is pitiful to think that these men, so powerful in other respects, are prostrated by the slightest attack of disease; surgeons shrink from tri vial operations upon these bulky and strong men, with constitutions destroyed by liquor. Statistics of Insurance Compa nies, Army Reports, and Hospital Accounts, prove the facts that the duration of life is much shortened by the excessive use of liquors with the important corrollary—‘lntem perance is the chief cause of crime.” In answer to the serious question, “Does Physiology or Experience teach us that Alcoholic liquors should form part of the ordinary sustenance of men, particularly un der circumstances of exposure lo severe labor or extremes of temper ature ?” Theory is given to prove the negative, and facts from actual experience of shipwrecked sailors, those who have wintered in Green land, and been exposed to the heats of Africa, that such drinks are plainly deleterious. Neither is any more necessary for the fatigues con sequent upon mental exertion. “It is the testimony of general experi ence, that when men of genius have habitually had recourse to alcoholic stimulants for the excitement of their powers, they 7 have died at an early age, as if in consequence of the premature exhaustion of their nervous energy. Mozart, Burns, and Byron (Lamb and Goldsmith) may be cited as remarkable exam ples of this result.” We might easily enlarge ihe list by additions from this country. Practised Gam- J biers are remarked, when about to engage in contests requiring sagac ious calculations, lo “keep them selves cool.” The greatest part of that intellectual labor that has ex tended the domain of human knowledge, has been performed by water drinkers. “Under this last category are enumerated Demos thenes and Haller. Dr. Johnson, in the latter part of his life, took nothing stronger than tea, whilst Voltaire and Fontenelle used coffee; and Newton and Hobbes were ac customed to solace, not to excite themselves, with the fumes of to bacco. In regard to Locke, whose long life was devoted to constant intellectual labor, ‘his diet was the same as oiher people’s except that lie usually drank nothing hut water.’ ” As an assistant to endu rance of cold, the proof is conclu sive that it is injurious. When the stomach is empty, liquor is better than nothing. Food, especially of an oleaginous nature, is best. The reaction of the system alter the ef fect of the drink is over, is especial ly pernicious. This is proved by the experience of arctic voyagers, Ihe hunters of Charnouni, and many oiliers leading exposed lives. “In 1019 ihe crew of a Danish ship of GO men, well supplied with provis ions and ardent spirit*', attempted to pass the winter at Hudson’s Bay; but 58 of them died before spring; while in the case of an English crew of 52 men, in the same cir cumstances, but destitute of distill ed spirit, only two died !” Many other similar cases are given. As an aid to endurance ot heat, and that it is necessary to support the system under the excessive loss by perspiration, at high temperature, it seems lo be thought because water is drawn off’ from the blood through the pores of the skin, alco hol must be taken in to replace it, a most egregious absurdity. Experience shows that sweating is not exhausting in itself, for the same fatigue is experienced when the atmosphere is loaded with dampness, even at a low tempera ture. A person clothed in water proof garments experiences the same unpleasant results from the inteiference with the customary in sensible perspiration. The follow ing chacteristic Address of Sir Chas. Napier to the 96th Regiment in Cal cutta, May, 1849, sums up whole tables of army reports, and conden ses the experience of thousands : “Let me give you a bit of ad vice—• that is, don’t drink. I know young men don’t think much of advice trom old men. They put their ton gue in their cheek, and think they know a great deal better than ihe old cove that is giving them advice. But let me tell you that you are com ing to a country where, if you drink, vou are dead men;ifvou be sober and steadv, you will get on web ; but if y r ou drink, you are done lor. You will either be invalided ordie. 1 ! knew two regiments in this country; (one drank and the other didn’t, j The one that didn’t drink is one of I the finest regiments, and has got on as well as any regiment in existence. The one that did drink has been till but destroyed. For any regiment for which l have any respect (and there is not one ofihe British regi ! merits that I don’t respect), 1 should I always try and persuade them to keep from drinking. I know i there are some men who wili drink | in spite of the devil, and their offi cers- but such men will soon he in the hospital, and very few that go ! in, in this country, ever come out I again.’ The resistance to Morbific ! Agencies is, also, less with the spir i it taker : the Cholera and other pes i tilential diseases which are known l to first attack the drinker, is proof I of this. The consequences of the habitu al ‘moderate’ use of alcoholic li quors, are quite extensive. Asa stimulant to the stomach, it over-ex cites it- which, besides weakening that organ by too much use, has a tendency lo produce a general state of nlethora, which is favorable to local congestions, and inflammatory diseases ot . various organs, and which especially disposes to hem orrhages and the diseases of the liver. The effect on the nervous system, and on nutrition, have pre viously been briefly noticed ; and in a synopsis like this, the difference between the effects of excessive and moderate drinking are too slight to be delineated. They differ mostly in amount. The effects on nutrition are most marked. A slight cut in a healthy water drinker, if the incised edges oe placed together, will usu ally unite as it were, and the wound be entirely healed in a few days. No such action takes place in similar injuries of the drinker. The wound becomes a ‘sore,’ and goes through a tedious process of suppuration be fore health is restored to the part. Many people who complain that ‘their flesh does not heal quick,’ per hapsdo not think that this habit is frequently the (for it is not the only) cause. ‘Are there any special modifica tions of the bodily or mental condi tion of man, short of actual disease, in which the occasional or habitual use of Alcoholic Liquors may be necessary or beneficial V In the demand for extraordinary bodily 7 exertion the author allows that in cases which resemble the ef forts of a race-horse, the spur may he used if absolutely necessary ; but it is necessary 7 to remember, that ihe spur gives no strength in ad vance to the laboring sailor or the exhausted orator, but calls out the vigorous exercises of the remaining strength. The racer may fall dead at the winning-post, and the over exertion of the vital powers must ultimately tell upon the fabric. Al coholic beverages may be advan tageous to resist ihe influences of temporary exposure to damp and wet (as in the case of a traveller on the top of a coach,) but where the exposure is daily or long-continued, ihe result of its use is unquestiona bly injurious. Where there is a de ficiency of adequate sustenance, as in the case of the Mutiny of the Bounty, a teaspoonful of rum given to each man by Capt. Bligh, every morning, was undoubtedly of great utility. In some cases of deficien cy of constitutional vigor, it is not uncommonly of use, but the great number might take up with Aber nethy’s advice, “ Live on a shilling a day and earn it.’ Liquor will not supply the place with p.oper food, pure air, and sufficient exercise. In cases of Pregnancy there are states of irritability of the stomach where distilled or fermented drinks are useful ; but both in this and in Lac tation, care should be taken not to substitute a beverage for a medi cine. ‘The regular administration of alcohol, with the professed object of supporting the system under the demand occasioned by the flow o> milk, is ‘a mockery* a delusion, and a snare.’ ’ For alcohol nflords no single element of the secretion, and is more likely to impair than to im prove i lie quality of the milk; and stiil more, the milk secreted by sue! stimulation is so modified in its character, that it is not unfrequenl lv unfit nourishment for the child. ‘The only cases,’ says Dr. Mucnish, ‘in which a moderate portion ot malt liquor is justifiable, are when the milk is deficient, and the nurse unable or averse to putting anolhei in her place.’ (The writer of this synopsis, in the year 1543, made a series of ex aminations of the various kinds ol of cows’ milk generally found in this city. In that produced by the cows fed on ‘distillery slop,’ the re fuse after distillation, the ‘epithelial scales,’ or the small glands in which the milk is formed, were found to have been cast oft’from the secreting membranes of the udder, and were in a highly inflamed and diseased stale. Such milk giv en to delicate children produced al most immediately vomiting, pur ging, &c., although in usual health before, and living on ordinary grass fed milk. Perhaps the-milk of wo men is similarly affected by similar drinks ?) In childhood it is supposed that the habitual use of fermented drinks is advantageous, especially in those that inherit a scrofulous diathesis. Cold water, sea bathing, exercise, and air, are far better, if they are to be used at all, they should resent ble splints for a broken leg, to be removed as speedily as possible, so that nature may not he accustomed to rely upon them for support. In old age its use is far less fre quent than is generally supposed. As the waste of the body is far less than in youth, a proportionably less quantity of food is necessary to sup port life. The stimulation of the old, unaccustomed to these incen tives, is most likely to effect a loss of digestive power, which no treat ment, medical or hygienic, can ever completely repair. ‘ls the employment of Alcoholic Liquors necessary in the practice of Medicine : if so, in what diseases, or in what forms and stages of disease, is the use of them necessary or beneficial V This is not denied by the author but it must be administered with more care than is generally consid ered useful. Alter a severe blow, which lias apparently almost over thrown the pow'ers of life, and more particularly when ihe brain is the part to which the injury has occur red on account of the special deter mination of blood to this organ : aft er extensive burns; lliese stimu lants are manifestly beneficial in maintaining the heart’s action, and keeping up the nervous excitability* In the treatment of acute dis eases, where the shock is tempora ry, in some stages of fever, erysi pelas, &c., in the recovery from prostration when the vital powers are not so much exhausted as de pressed,in these and other forms of acute diseases, alcohol is useful. In chronic diseases but little good can be expected from its adminis tration. Its use is like raising the wick when there is a deficiency of oil; since it is procured not by the re-animation of power which exists in the body but has previously lain dormant, but bv the rapid consump tion of the ‘small stock of power left.’ We have given this work a thorough digest, and endeavor to state the views of the author clearly and fully. ‘The author may seem to be somewhat of an enthusiast on the subject, and has, without doubt, stated all that may be said in rela tion to the physical effects of alco hol on the human system. We might not perhaps agree with every statement therein contained, but we consider it questionable if it would be profitable at the present lime to go into any extended examination of them. In the main he is undoubt edly correct, and il he errs does it on the safe side. —Literary JVutld . Cotton goods, manufactured in Alabama, have been recently sold in the Boston market, right next to Lowell. This competition with the North is much more sensible than threatening disunjoq. NUMBER 22.