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OR,
TOTAL ABSTINENCE ADVOCATE.
VOL. I.]
THE WASHINGTONIAN.
PUBLISHED BY JAMES McCAFFERTY,
TWICE EVERY MONTH.
Office on Macintosh street—opposite the Post Office .
TERMS.
Per a single copy, for one year, One Dollar; for six
I Copies, to one address, Fire Dollars ; for ten copies, to
f one address, Eight Dollars—and so in proportion.
(Xp Payment in all cases to lie made in advance.
lgj~ Ali communications by mail, must be rose r.uo,
to receive attention.
I. of Agents for the Washingtonian.
The following gentlemen are respectfully re
sjuefted and fully authorised by us, to act as agents for
the Washingtonian, in extending its circulation :
CitrkivUU— \ P r - w - !■ Rusk >
( Lewis Levy.
Dalehnrga— o. B. Leitucr.'
Covingioo—C. l'ace.
Decafui—L. Willard.
Jllhtnt —E L. Newton.
| Marietta —James V. Cooper,
s tXamAuj—H. Boyd.
Sander sri tie —A. G. Ware.
,i:> Social Circle —J. L. Gresham.
M Lincolnian —Henry J. Lang.
K *Cratefordville —Itev. John W. Wilson.
| Ptarrenton —F.liphalet Hale. j
|: CstrMlt's-ltev. 0. ollius.
K Sparta —N. C. Sayre.
H McDonough —lVa. L. Gordon.
■ CattviUe— Rev. Mr. Howard.
B Rockbridge—Jo ha W. F owler.
R OU Church P 0.-J A Bell.
I Hamburg, (S. C.)-C. H. Lindsey, P.M
B Harwell C. 11. (S C.)—o. D. Allen.
■ Rock Mills, (S. C)—W. A. Lewis.
* Richlands. (AT. C.) —Bryan H. Koonc 0 .
Tuskegce, (Jlla.) —Rev. G. P. Sparks.
Richmond County Washington Total Ab
stinence Society.
OFFICERS.
Dr- Joseph A. Eve, President.
Col. John MiLledge, )
Hawkins Burr,
Dr. F. M. Robertson. J. Vice Presidents.
Dr. i. P. Garvin,
J. W. Meredith, I
MANAGERS.
James Harper, Wm. F. Pemberton,
John G. Dunlap, Wm. O. Evk,
Jesse Walton, A. Phillips,
K. E. ScoFtKLO, Dr. Benjamin Douglass, i
I James Godby, J. L. Mimms.
Popular Error Exposed.
alcohol.
" There’s Alcohol in Wheat, and Rye, and j
| Potatoes, in Sugar, and all we eat.” — Common j
l ’ Talk. |
One of the popular errors current throughout
| the country, and one which is not at ail confined
to the vulgar, is, that alcohol is contained in su
gar, wheat, potatoes, bread, and in almost every
thing we eat and drink, and hence, some very
conscientious people refuse to sign the pledge for
fear that they should break it by eating bread and
molasses, or any other wholesome food, trom
which alcohol may be obtained. It is our present
purpose, briefly to examine and expose this fal
lacious error.
We will first notice the prevailing opinion that
a there must lie alcohol in sugar, (for example,) or
|| it could not be obtained from it.
The great variety of vegetable and mineral
substances, is less owing to a difference of matter
or elements in their composition, and in a differ-
R cnee in the proportions of the same elements ; for
| instance, the air we breathe is composed of oxy- j
|, gen and nitrogen, and so is aqua fortis; the at-1
I tnosphere being composed of ill parts in 190, of
I oxygen, and 79 of nitrogen, and aqua fortis of 1
I of nitrogen to <> of oxygen; but because they arc
com|iosed of the same elements, would any sane
man suppose that we breathed aqua fortis, or that
it was contained within the atmosphere! Cer
taily not.
Alcohol is obtained from the sugar or sweet
principle, which exists in ail the grains and
fruits which vield the poisonous spirit; but suoar
has no alcohol in it, although it is composed of
the same elements, no more than the air contains
aqua fortis. Sugar is composed of oxygen, car
bon, and hydrogen, in equal proportions. Alco
hol is composed of the same elements, but in
different proportions—(3 parts hydrogen, 2of
carbon, and lof oxygen.) So long as these ele
ments remain combined in equal proportions, so
lone will you have sugar and nothing else; and
to produce alcohol, this combination must be bro
ken up, and a new one formed.
Alcohol is the product of fermentation, which
is one of the first results of the partial decomposi
tion of vegetable matter. The conditions which
are required for establishing the vinous fermen
tation, which alone produces alcohol, are tour in
number, viz: The presence of sugar, water,
AUGUSTA, GA. SATURD
yeast, or some ferment and a certain temperature,
so that sugar alone is not sufficient to the pro
duction of alcohol. Fermentation destroys the
sugar entirely, and the elements immediately
form two new compounds; one is carbonic acid
gas, and the other alcohol. The whole of the
hydrogen, two parts of carbon, and one of oxygen,
united, form alcohol. One part of carbon and
two of oxygen, combine and form carbonic acid
gas, which rises to the surface.
To obtain the alcohol thus produced, in an ab
solute condition, it is necessary to subject it to
some mechanical agency—as distillation ; by
which it is merely separated from the water, co
loring matter, &c.
But. perhaps the reader is prepared to ask—
“As dough ferments , is there no alcohol in
bread 1”
There are at least four kinds of fermentation:
the Vinous, the Acetous, the Putrefactive, and
the Panary. The Vinous is the only one that
produces inebriating drinks; by the Acetous,
Vinegar is produced; the Putrefactive takes
place in the decomposition of bodies, and of course
alcohol is not the result.
The Panary fermentation occurs in the manu
facture of bread. Some scientific men assert that
this process is nothing more than the Vinous
fermentation, others that it is the Acetous. In
consequence of there being a small portion of
spirit in tlie brewer’s yeast, or from some other
cause, a weak kind of alcohol has been detected I
in the oven of the baker. Some time ago a spec- i
ulation was set on foot in London, (so says Dr.
Parson’s Anti-Bacchus,) for the purpose of con
densing and collecting the spirit, but upwards of
20,0001. have been squandered upon this scheme
without any adequate return, and we believe the
project is now abandoned.
If the Panary fermentation is the same as the
Vinous, still it is impossible that any spirit should
remain in the bread after it is baked; because
alcohol is given off at a heat of 170 degrees; and
as the baker’s oven must be much hotter than this,
whatever quantum of spirit may be in the dough,
must be evolved during the process of baking. If
Panary fermentation really produce alcohol, still
none of it would remain in the bread alter it
came from the oven, because the whole must
have been extracted by the heat necessary to bake
the loaves.
Consequently, those advocates for strong drink,
who tell us there is spirit in bread, display the
grossest ignorance concerning distillation, and
the heat at which alcohol is obtained.
[Columbia Washingtonian.
Great Undertaking of Mr. Delavau.
This distinguished gentleman, who has devot
ed, wc may say, his life to the cause of temper
ance, is now encaged in an enterprise which in
its character and results bids fair to surpass any
to which he has put his hand, and which we are
sure will be rewarded by the thanks and praises
of his fellow-citizens, and what is more, by the
secured temperance of the rising generation ofthe
empire State. It is an effort to place a hound vol
ume of Dr. Sewall’s Essay ontue 1 Pathology of
Drunkendness,’ witli the colored drawings of the
human stomach through ali the successive stages
ot disease induced by intoxicating liquors until
death by delirium tremens, in every school dis
trict library in the State, (of which there are over
10,000,)so that each one ofthe GOO,OOO children
in the district schools, as well as the families to
which they areattatched, may see at one glance
the legitimate effect of intoxicating drinks upon
the delicate organs ofthe human stomach. The
plan has been submitted to the committee on com
mon schools, and to many members of the Legis
lature, and unanimously approved. lie is also
desirous of furnishing a set of eight colossal draw
ings, framed separately, and to be hung up in as
many of the colleges, academies, lyceums, court
houses, jails, poor-houses, penitentiaries, steam
boats, railroad depots, and places of public resort,
as means can be iound to supply. He is encour- 1
aged to make this effort, by the universal approba
tion ofall those with whom he has advised. It is
supposed that no effort could be now made better
calculated to establish the principle of temperance
upon the minds ofthe rising generation, and in
duce a general abandonment of intoxicating li
quors as a beverage, than the exhibition of those
large and small colored drawings to the view of
the community generally, and in the,manner
proposed. As it will require many thousand
dollars to accomplish the object, he hopes for as
sistance from gentlemen who are friendly to it;
and for this purpose he has issued acircular, with
numerous testimonials to the importance of the
object, too numerous for insertion in the Journal.
The public authorities have ordered a set of the
framed drawings to be hung up in the Court
House, the Capital, and State Building at Albany
and Mr. Delavan has forwarded eight sets to be
hungup in the City Ilall. University, Medical
AY, DECEMBER 17, 1842.
College, Hospital, and other public buildings m
this city.
Should there be individuals who may wish to
supply districts with the large or small drawings,
Mr. Oliver Scovil of Albany, or Rev. J. Marsh, of
New-York, will receive and execute any orders
with the money, on the following terms:
The bound volume of the small plates, with
Dr. Sewall’s Essay, and a copy ofthe Rev. Dr.
Nott s Lecture on the Wines of Antiquity, and
intended for common schools, $75 the one hund
red copies.
The eight Colossal Drawings, each on paste
board and jiackcd in a neat ease $lO.
The same, each drawing trained separately and
varnished, ready for hanging up in public places,
and packed securely, S2O each set.
The same on canvass, each drawing separate,
so as to roll up, and can be packed in a trunk.
Price $10 —in this form, weight 3j pounds.
All profits devoted to advance the temperance
cause.— Jotl. Am. Temp. Union.
From tbe Fountain.
The Dram-Seller’s Soliloquy.
My new plan of operations works Well 1 Two
Washingtonians have already fallen beneath my
hands, as my tap room now discloses ! It rejoices
my heart to see their miserable return! Yes!
what a source of consolation it is for me to know
that my rum hath done the wo r k! Once more
are they drawn from the bosom of their families,
where Temperance had reinstated domestic hap
piness, to my shop, to consume the bane of life,
t hat they may be consumed / But what is that to
me! my family must be supported, though it cost
the lives of thousands! These temperance fa
natics shall not rule, so long as I can make a cent
by selling rum, or add a farthing to tny wealth!
My snccs and sarcasms have had the best effect
to relieve my failing busines, and bring back my
old customers! But the work is slow and tedious,
at the best, and must be managed with skill and
tact, or my plans may yet be frustrated 1 'Tie
hard for me to show so good a face, while so much
malice rankles in my heart! But whv should I
try to injure those who have never injured me!
Why; they have left my shop, and my destroying
drinks, that had proved to them so great a curse"
And yet, I would not ruin them when I know
the wrong is mine, were it not that I must have
their money! ’Twould be a loss that ill becomes
my avarice, if, with their earnings they did sup
ply their family wants, and thus secure enjoy
ment to themselves! Oh! how one’s love of
money will charje his thoughts and feelings! I
could not sec my wife and children shivering from
the cold, nor destitute of food, without a pang of
sorrow for their sufferings! Yet, I can know,
and see, that the wives and children of my custo
mers feel the severest want of money, that I pock
et without one thought of pity! My businesses
like a heated iron, that seared the conscience am!
dries up the fountains ofthe soul! (I hope there’s
no one listening to here my true confessions.)
But I must awake, and shake off these convic
tions of my guilt, or they will persuade me to the
course of duty! A glass of brandy sling will
revive my drooping spirits, and steel mv heart
anew. Here comes Brandy-face to get his dram.
“ A glass of bitters, if you please, Mr. -, I
feel confounded dry! (drinks.) I have just had a
talk with one of these temperance fellows, who
lives on cold water, and he’s been trying to make
me sign the pledge, and quit your shop. But 1
told him I guess’d I knew whether liquor done
me hurt or not, as long as I had used it.”
I never thought you drinked enough to hurt a
working man like yourself.—Some of these
Washingtonians act as if they wished to deprive
a man who works hard for a living, of a little com
fort! If you was a man who didn’t know when
he’d drinked enough, then it would be a different
thing, and time you’d signed the pledge.”
“ Yes, that’s what I told him, when I rr 0 t so I
could’nt manage myself, then I’d let other folks
manage for me, and that I was’nt going to be de
prived of my liberty, that my fore-lather's fought
and bled for, as long as 1 was’nt a slave.”
You reasoned likeaman of sense, and show
ed him that you was’nt such a fool as he took you
for. If you do go looking rather shabby, it’s no
sign you spend your money for rum. I say let a
man dress according to his work.”
“I guess I’ll take something more before I go;
it s a pretty cold day, and a little does a man good
such weather as this. I know when I’ve drinked
enough, and whether it does me good, as well as
any body can tell me.”
“ "V ou never drink a great deal, not enough to
do you any hurt. If I see you was making a \
beast of yourself, I would advise you to sign the >
pledge, as soon as these Washington fellows that!
make so much fuss about it.” (Exit Brandy
face.) “ Poor fool! he thinks I was sincere in I
what I said! But greatly was he deceived! I ]
would not trust him for any thing but rum, as far
■ as I could swing a dog, after all my palaver, and
protestations of friendship. I would keep the
custom of these rum heads, therefore do I spend
my breath and act a double part! My conquest
yet is small, for only two have I yet been able to
entrap; a number barely worth a boast, and
which but poorly pays for my deception. But I
will still go on in my nefarious work, and hope
for better times to compensate my labor.”
Cherry Bounce.
Symptoms of Intemperance.
Do you tind the desire of strung drink return
ing daily, and at stated hours'? Unless you soon
intend to travel all the length ofthe highway of
intemperance, it is time to stop. Unless you in
tend soon to resign your liberty forever, and coma
under a despotism of the most cruel and deplora
ble character, you must abandon the morning
bitters, the noon tide stimulant and the evening
bowl. 6
Do any of you drink in secret, because you are
unwilling your friends or the world should know
how much you drink? You might as well cut
loose in a frail boat before a hurricane, as to expect
safety. You are gone, gone irretrievably, if you
do not stop.
Are you accustomed to drink, when opportuni
ties present, as much as you can bare without any
public tokens of inebriation. You are an intem
perate, man now, and unless you check the habit,
you will become rapidly more anil more intemper
ate, until concealment becomes impossible.
Do your eyes, in an instance begin to trouble
you by their weakness and inflammation? If you
are iu the habit of drinking ardent spirits daily,
yod ifecd not ask the physician what w the mat
ter, nor enquire for eye water. Your redness of
eyes is produced by intemperance; and total ab
stinence, and that only, will cure them. It may
be well for every man who drinks daily, to look
in the mirror often, that he may see in his own
face the signals of distress at half matt, which
abused nature holds out one after another, and too
often holds out in vain.
Do any of you find a tremor of the hand co
ming upon you, and sinking of spirits, and loss of
appetite in the morning?. Nature is failing, and
giving vou timely admiriftion of her distress.
Do the pains of a diseased stomach, and blis
tered tongue and lips, began to torment you?—
You are far advanced in the work of self-destruc
tion—a few more months will probably finish it.
Do not be skeptical in relation to the foregoing
remarks, for be assured they are drawn with the
pencil ot by-gone experience, and such are the
symptoms that open the flood-gates of dissipation
—Good Samaritan.
A Good Argument.
Some of out citizens who have not yet signed
the Pledge, although satisfied that total abstinent*
Iron* all intoxicating drinks is the only true
doctrine and practice of temperance, are still re
markably and most unreasonably fearful, and
sensitive at the thought of the possible notoriety
that may be incurred by their publicly signing
the same. *
We happened to be conversing not long since
upon this very point, with one of this respectable
and highly influential class of our citizens—ono
who has however “ broken the tee,”—is immersed
in cold water to the lips, and is now an active and
efficient Washingtonian tee-totaler.
“ Before I signed the Pledge,” said he, «I had
a great horror at the idea of having it publicly
bandied about, that I had become a Washingti
nian. I was sensible that occasionally,— now
and then—on some great occasions, I took’a little
too much, and I began to find, for I was not alone
in those social indulgences, that the public knew
as much about my habits, as I knew myself, and
perhaps a little more. I saw that there was no
neutral ground,—that every man in the commu
nity, myself among the number, was becoming
by the peculiar circumstances of the times, pub
licly known as a drinker, just in proportion to his
indulgence -and that drink, or not drink, a cer
tain publicity would be the inevitable ’ conse
quence. 1 therefore took the Pledge, and pub
licly come out a tce-totaller, of the two conse
quences choosing the lesser evil, prefering by ail
odds, the publicity of not drinking at all, to the
publicity of being in danger of drinking too much
for the future, however moderate my drinking
had been for the past.”
This seemed to us a somewhat new, and very
forcibly presented argument in favor of signing
the Pledge; and we respectfully commend it to
the careful attention of all those, who are still
“ halting between two opinions” upon the subject.
Worcester Waterfall•
A Good Caution.
A Druggist in Boston has lately bad some
labels printed for his use, which reads as follows:
RUM.
PREPARES FOR EXTERNAL USE.
*y accident any should be swallowed, ad
minister an emetic immediately.
[No. 14.