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TBK WASBXSfQTOmVt
VOL. I.]
THE WASHINGTON!AX.
PUBLISHED BY JAMES McCAFFERTY,
TWICE EVERY MONTH.
Office on Macintosh street — opposite the Post Office .
TERMS.
For a single cony, for one year, One Dollar; for six i
copies, to one address, Five Hollars ; for ten copies, to
one address, Eight Dollars—-and so in proportion.
Payment in all cases to he an te in advance.
.£/- All mail, must be rose paid,
to receive attention.
Ricbmoud County Washington Total Ab
stinence Society.
OFFICERS.
Dr. Joseph A. Eve, President.
Coi. John Milledgk, d
Hawkins Hoff,
Dr. F. IVI. Robertson, Vice Presidents.
Dr. I. P. Garvin,
J. \V. Meredith, I
Wm. Haines, Jr. Secretary if Treasurer.
MANAGERS.
James Harper, Wm. F. Pemberton,
John G. Dunlap, Wm. O. Eve,
Jesse Walton, A. Phillips,
E. E. Scofield, Dr. Benjamin Douglass, j
James Godbv, J. L. Mimms.
■■ . ; i
PHRENOLOGY Versus INTEMPERANCE.
A LECTURE OX TEMPERANCE,
Considered Physiologically and Phrenotogically,
or the Laws oj L'fe and the principles of the
human constitution, as dccclopcil by the
sciences of Phrenology and Phy
siology, ifc. ifc.
BY O. S. FOWLER, A. 8.,
PRACTICAL PHRENOLOGIST.
[Continued.)
These drinks sometimes induce a preaching
and praying disposition. This never occurs in
the earlier stages ofdnnk—never till they have
so deadened tile animal organs that large and
wore vigorous (because less stimulated,) moral
organs may in one case in thousands, take on
wore stimulant than the partially deadened pro
pensities are able to receive, but such piety, such
religion, such, intellect will never either tit a man
for Ins duties in this world nor h:sdestinies in the
next. I grant that these drinks sometimes stim
ulate the brain as a whole, yet this very rare ex
ception does not invalidate the general law under
consideration, especially since it occurs only
where the moral and intellectual organs decided
ly predominate.
Having shown that alcohol stimulates the mor
al and reasoning organs less than it does the ani
mal, the inference is plain, that the former, in the
confirmed sot, retain their vigor long after the
latter have been stupilied; his reasoning organs
clearly perceiving the wreck and devastation thus
made ot the entire man, whilst his still vigorous
moral faculties reproach him for his impiety, his
suiciJc, his abuse ol his family, and all his other
sins of both omission and commission; thusleav-;
ing his mental condition the most miserable and
paw tty imaginable.
This principle may perhaps be contested. It
will be objected that this proposition is toosweep
ing. and this inference subject to many and im
portant qualifications, growing out of differences
in climate, temperament, phrenological dcvelope
menis, and a great variety of both counteracting
.and concurring causes. It is freely admitted that
a oreat number and variety of causes and condi
tions combine to modify and qualify every great
physiological principle, that in some states ot the
nervous system these diinks will produce a far
greater effect than in some other states, that tea
anil coffee will stimulate some and injure some
constitutions more tiian strong drink will others,
that these drinks will injure some but benefit oth-1
ers, &c., &c.; but still the point at issue is this,
this only —is or is not this proposition a general
law of our nature, and are not these exceptions
traceable to the action ot other causes instead ot j
being nuliifiers of this law 1 Our object should
be, not to see who can argue the most plausibly, j
or cavil the most ingeniously, but what are the ;
facts in the case 1 What is the voice of nature,
that we may learn and follow her dictates, and J
thus secure our own happiness! It is due to
truth that we should here make the following
qualification ot this principle, that where the
talents are of a high order, and the intellectual
faculties have been much exercised, these drinks
will often excite these faculties to greatly in
creased action, because of their greater suscepti
bility to the influence of stimulus. There may:
be other exceptions, but our bussiness is to state
this general law, not to fortify it against all the
quibbles of those wild “love the good creature,”
for "there is no reasoning against a man’s appe
tite.
TOTAL ABSTINENCE ADVOCATE.
PROPOSIITON IX —Alcoholic drinks short- ■,
en human life. Every action of either brain or 1
j nerve, every exercise of thought, or feeling, or
j sensation, every motion of the body, every con- j
j traction of every muscle, in short, each and every j
j function and exercise of the animal or mental i
I economy, cquses a proportionate expenditure of
j that animal power, that vital energy, which we l
! showed in Proposition IV. to be manufactured
j by the vital temperament, or the internal organs,
i In children and youth, this class of organs great
i ly predominates, laying in that fountain that rc
-1 senior us animal power, or that constitutional
vigor on which the brain and muscles can draw,
! in after life. *ft her things being equal, the
larger this reservoir, the longer an individual will
live; but when this fund of vitality is exhausted, |
he must die inevitably. Food and sleep are the i
feeders or inlets of this reservoir, whilst every I
mental and physical 'effort draws upon it, When-1
ever the expenditure by the latter exceeds the j
supply by the former, a draught takes place on the
original stock of vitality, that is, on the constitu
tion, the inevitable effect of which is to hasten
death.
Alcoholic drinks therefore shorten human life
by destroying that balance of the temperaments
which we have already shown to be indispensa
j ble to the preservation of life and health.
This law of the animal economy might be apt
| ly compared to a merchant or business man, who
i lias his thousand pounds in bank, reserved to be
i used only in case ot necessity. Aside from this,
! he is making his daily deposites and drawing his
checks, so as to keep about square with himself.
At length his expenditures exceed his receipts,
and he is compelled to draw on his thousand
| pounds. Instead ofreplacingthe amountdrawn,
j he draws again, and again, and again, small
■ draughts, perhaps, but numerous. By thus con
stantly reducing and finally exhausting his origi
nal fund, he inevitably induces bankrupey. Now
the original stock of vital power laid up by Na
ture in the child and youth, is to him the thous
and in bank; whilst his daily receipts by food
and sleep, and his expenditures by labor and
mental action, are his checks on bank. These,
in the ordinary and healthy action ot the man,
will just about keep pace with each other, till old
age, drawing by small but certain draughts,
finally uses up this fund of life, causing death to
coine and close the scene. Thus theorder of our
nature is to spin out our days to a good old ago of
intelligence and enjoyment; while alcoholic
drinks, by powerfully stimulating the brain,
nerves and muscles, cause a prodigious exhaus
tion of the powers ol life, yet make no deposites
and furnish no supplies, because, besides being
indigestible, and containing no nutriment, they
at first over stimulate the stomach, only to per
manently weaken and eventually destroy it; for
it is a notorious fact, that hard drinkers cat less
than others. Hence, by impairing both appetite
and digestion, and that at the very time when the
greatest rc-supply of vitality is demanded, every
glass of alcoholic drinks proportionately exhausts
the reservoir of life, and thereby brings death
nearer. This coincides with the fact that the
energies of the system, including the health,
spirits, &c., sinks as far below zero as ardent spirit
raises them above. To take alcoholic stimulants,
is to commit suicide in proportion to the amount
taken. Let hard drinkers, and also moderate
and occasional drinkers, one and all, remember
this clear principle of our nature, and drink ac
cordingly. Do you wish to shorten your span of
life, and hasten your dissolution one knot or ten
knots per year, drinks your one glass or your ten
glasses per day; and just as surely us there is a
God in heaven, just assurely as you are a human
being and governed by the invariable laws of life,
just so surely will your end be attained; but who
ever wishes to prolong his earthly existence,
must abjure stimulants, in every form, in every
degree.
To evade by saying that although they may
have this effect upon some they will not upon you,
is utter folly. Ifyouarenot a human being, it
you are incapable of being stimulated by it, it you
can wash your open wounds in it without their
smarting, if you have no nerves, no feeling, no
brain, no mind; then indeed, but not till then,
may you drink to your hearts content, without
! incurring these terrible penalties. But as surely
as vou have a nerve in your body, or are capable
; of experiencing the least particle of sensation, as
surely as you have as much mind or sensat on as
a lizard or a snail, just so surely will alcohol fer
ret out and stimulate that mind and that sensa- j
Hon; and as surely as it stimulates, just so surely s
will it draw proportionally on the powers ot life, j
1 and thereby hasten the period of termination.
No more are the motions of earth and sun, or the ,
descent of bodies to the earth, or the growth and
decay of the vegetable kingdom, or the phenome- ,
na of optics, of mechanics, of chemistry, &c., gov- j
erned each by their respective laws, which are all i
certain and fixed and uniform, than are you gov-;
AUGUSTA, Ga. SATURDAY, APRIL 1, 1843.
OR,
erned by this invariable law oflife; and hence
as'soon, of their own accord, and in opposition to
their respective laws, will the stone mount up
wards, the water ascend the inclined plain, the
sun stand still or move backwards, the seasons
fail to return in due order, men sec without eyes,
or chemical affinities cease, as you can drink al
' cohol in any form or degree without shortening
! your life, and inflaming your animal, and weak
ening your moral nature.
You reply, “ But 'facts are stubborn things.’
Messrs. A. B. and C. have drank daily these for
ty years, and are alive and active yet.” 1 reply,
they will be found to be widc-chested and broad
shouldered, indicating so great a predominance
of their vital powers over their brains and nerves,
i that their small daily potations do not stimulate
; them enough to draw much on the powers oflife.
| The lessbiain and mind a man lias, the less in
jury will these drinks do him. A round-should
| ered, broad-faced, blunt-nosed, lazy, easy, dull,
listless, slow, thick-headed, neither-something
nor-nothing sort of a nobody, may indeed drink a
quart of grog without scarcely walking up his
sluggish animalship, (anil so can an old lazy ox,)
but in exact proportion to one's power of mind
and keenness of feeling, will alcoholic liquors
stimulate that mind and those feelings, and thus
shorten life, A fact in proof of this position is.
that when men of great talents take to drinking,
it kills them sooner than it does ordinary men.
Hence, since it is the mind, not the coat nor the
body, but the mind that makes the man, if these
drinks will not hurt you, it is because you have so
little to be hurt, so little mind to be affected.
A small fly once lighting upon the horn of an
ox, said to him, “ I beg your pardon, Mr. Ox,
butif I burdenyou I will remove,” “O no, not
at all, I did not know you were there,” was the
reply. When your mind compared with your
body is as significant as this fly was, then, but
not till then, may you stimulate without shorten
ing life, or rendering yourself an animal; and the
more of a man you are, the more of a beast will it
render you. These drinks will not stimulate the
snail or the toad, the swine or the rhinoceros, in
proportion as they do mankind, nor will the
w hip, and for the same reason. Your boast there
fore becomes your shame. But even if you have
but a little mind, is that any reason why you
should render it still weaker!
Again: the high pressure principle of the pres
ent day calls all our mental faculties into power
ful action. Men now live quite too fast without
being stimulated. Hence alcoholic drinks stimu
late and thus injure them double and triple as
much as they did forty years ago. They also in-’
jure the inhabitants of our cities and villages
more than those of the country, yet neither are
safe.
Still further: the constitutions of our young
men are not to be compared with those of our old
men: hence, alcohol will kill them off sooner than
it did the A., B. and C. mentioned above, who
did not probably contract this habit till they were
about forty years old. Alcohol will not injure
men in the decline of life as much as it will
young and middle aged men, because, first, their
bodies are less susceptible of being stimulated by
it; and, secondly, at this period, their strength
has ascended to the top of their heads, farther
from its influence.
It might be added here that persons of a highly
active mind and lively feelings, besides being the
more injured by these drinks, are more in danger
of being ruinied, and that soon, for being highly
excitable, they love the excitement of drink, es
pecially iftheir friendship be strong, and once in
the current, they will surely be carried over the
falls. With such the work is short but fearful.
2. Having incontcstibly shown that stimulants
shorten life by cutting off the other end of exis
tence, I add that they also cut off this end of life
on which we are living. The one great end of
man’s existence is enjoyment, as is evinced by
every contrivance of his body, every faculty of
his mind. These stimulants abridge his enjoy
ment by disturbing the equable, harmonious ex
ercise of both his physical and his intellectual
powers, and by violating every condition of hap
piness—animal,mental and moral. Nay more;
it is one of the most prolific sources of positive
misery that exist; of misery to drinkers, of mis
ery to their families, and to all in any way con
nected with them. Thus alcohol lights the taper
: oflife AT BOTH ENDS.
3. The principle is universally conceded and
enforced in all our medical works, that the vio
| lent exercise of the passions is not only a sworn
enemy to health and physical and mental enjoy
ment, but also shortens the days of the passion
ate man. Having incontcstibly shown that in
; toxicating drinks stimulate the animal passions to
I an ungovernable extent, and weaken the powers
| that control them, the inference is plain and for
cible that they thereby consume the life of man.
4. It also consumes it in the middle by worse
than wasting the means of sustaining life. A
bushel of grain is capable of sustaining a delight*
fill exercise of thought and virtuous emotion
nearly a month long. By consuming fifty to a
hundred bushels of grain per day, the distillery
or brewery consumes fifty to one hundred months
of thought and study, of friendship and parental
love, of intellectual and moral enjoyment.
If you reply, that but for the distilleries there
would be more grain than mouths, I answer, by
reducing your distilleries you augment the num
ber of human beings'; first, by prolonging the
lives of the drinkers, and thus also increasing
their families; and secondly, increasing the means
of subsistence would tend to multiply marriages,
and render them more fruitful, not only in our
own, but especially in other countries, to which
our grain would then go.
If you again answer, that the slops of distiller
ies and breweries are converted into milk, flesh,
&c., I answer, that a statement recently signed
and published by a large number of the New
York and Philadelphia physicians, attributes no
small share of the astonishing mortality of the
children of our large cities (above one-half of all
that are born) to the use of the milk of cows fed
on still-slops. Those who have seen and tasted
the pork thus fattened, know how unsuitable it is
for food, to say nothing of its greater liability to
be diseased. Indeed, its price in market is low,
and none but the poorest classes will knowingly
use it at all.
Again: a large proportion, say from half to
three-fourth, of the nutrition of the'grain is con
sumed by the process of distillation, and nine
tenths more by its being fed first to the animal
and then to the man; and even then, whilst flesh
contains only 55-100 of nutrition, wheat contains
80-100, that is, J more, so that not one onc-hun
dreth part of the original nourishment contained
in the grain distilled, finally reaches man. But
what is still more, the proposition is abundantly
susceptible of proof that whilst animal food is
heating and stimulating in its nature, and there
by excites the animal organs, bread stuffs arc cool
ing, and adapted to the exercise of the moral and
intellectual organs.
Finally as “time is money,” money is time.
For example, a capitalist builds and furnishes a
house which costs him ten thousand dollars,
which at two dollars per day’s work, makes 5,000
days, or some fourteen years of time put into that
house. Now the estimated cost of alcoholic
drinks is one hundred million dollars annually,
which at two dollars per day, amounts to fifty
million days, or some four thousand lives of
man’s precious time, of his probation, of his earth
ly existence, his all, consumed annually in
merely paying for this deadly drug, not to men
tion the time of the laborers employed in its man
ufacture and sale, nor the time expended in drink
ing it, nor the 30,000 drunkards killed annually
by its use, nor the lives of hundreds of thousands
rendered worse than valueless long before they
die.
Even in this imperfect view of the subject, how
vast is the consumption of man’s precious exis
tence, by the use of this destroyer of the life of
man, this worse than murderer of millions, this
foe to morality, intelligence and happiness, this
hot-house of animal passion, this enthroner of ail
that is vicious and miserable, and dethroner of all
that is good and great in our nature.
Inference. —Since alcohol shoitens human
life, no crime is greater than that of making t
rending or drinking it. Man’s existence is his
all.
Whatever shortens man’s existence, cuts him
off from all the blessings and enjoy ments of life.
Upon the value oflife I will not here descant.
Ask the dying man what he will give for a day or
an hour longer. “My all, and a world of thanks
besides!’’ W hat punishment is too great for the
murderer'! None; not all combined. Yet he
only abridges the period of man’s earthly exis
tence. Whoever furthers this result, be it by fire
or sword, by the knife or the gun, by arsenic or
laudanum, or by intoxicating stimulants, is e
qually guilty and equally deserving of punish
ment, because, mark well the ground of the infer
ence, they one and all do precisely the same
thing— they shorten human life.
Still farther. “ The partaker is as bad as the
thief.” All those who aid or abet, directly or in
directly, any criminal result, are guilty and pun
ishable. If one thief should engage you in con
versation and thereby enablo his partner to pick
your pocket, would be punishment of the actual
thief satisfy you! Should one robber stop the
horse of his victim, a second drag him from it, a
third hold his hands, a fourth plunge the fatal
dagger to his heart, a fifth rob, and a sixth bury
him, would the law be satisfied with the condign
punishment of the fourth one, or the actual mur
derer! Docs not every principle of law, every
element of right and justice, every principle of
reason, require the punishment of them all? I
appeal whether this principle of common law is
not also a principle of common sense and of even-
[No. 21.