yy^M*u{^t^.j
Price 8*25 per hundred ;  $20,00 per thousand.
DR. MUSSEY'S ADDRESS
           ON

   ARDENT SPIRIT.
-<§#§£*■
        BOSTON:
PUBLISHED BY PERKINS & MARVIN,
     114, Washington Street. 
 
AN
ADDRESS
ON
ARDENT SPIRIT,
READ BEFORE THE
3£eto JMt^mmtiivt J&etrtcal Society
AT THBIR
    ANNUAL  MEETING, JUNE 5, 1827,




       AND PUBLISHED AT THEIR REQUEST.







        BY R. D. MWSSEY, M. D.

AT THAT TIME PRESIDENT OF THE SOCIETY, AND PROFESS OB OP
    ANATOMY AND SURGERY, IN DARTMOUTH COLLEGE.
           Boston:
PERKINS & MARVIN, 114, WASHINGTON STREET.
1829. 
ADDRESS.
  More than nine hundred years ago, an Arabian Chem-
ist discovered by  distillation, a pungent  and warming
liquor, to which  was given the name of Alcohol, and
which we call ardent spirit.   This, a modern writer as-
serts, is the  aqua divina, or water of the Elysian fields,
invented by  Democritus, and  he maintains  that the term
alcohol  has  nearly the same  import with golden liquor,
applied  by some of his  countrymen to the precious  in-
vention  of  the Greek  philosopher.  This  liquor  was
brought  into Europe at the  time  of  the  Moorish con-
quest, soon came into  general favor, and now exerts an
important influence over  a great  part  of the civilized
world.
  It is the object of the following  remarks to examine
the claims of this article to the extensive patronage and
confidence it has acquired.
  When taken in small  quantity into the stomach, it dif-
fuses its influence over the whole body ; a fresh impulse
is given to the living powers, the  countenance lights up
with pleasure, and the  mind  acts with new  interest and
vivacity.
  Under the influence of a larger dose of the exhilara-
ting fluid, sensibility and sympathy unfold themselves.
Tears fall, as a pensive  association crosses  the mind, or
a tale of common suffering is told, the benevolent  affec-
tions flow  cut upon  all  surrounding objects, and the
whole world is not too large a sphere for the exercise of
the  generous sentiments which swell  the bosom.   The
mind disburthened of care, and disregarding the past and
the  future, sees no impediment to the boldest and  most
extravagant enterprises ; and rioting in the  luxury of
present  existence, scarcely acknowledges  a superior in
the  universe.  Here the  distinctions of society begin to 
3
disappear.  The  idle and half starved vagrant is trans-
formed  into  a lord, and surrounded with  pomp  and
plenty ; and the miserable outcast, who has  tenanted a
prison for his crimes,  imagines  himself on  a throne,
clothed with power sufficient to  direct the destinies  of a
nation or of the world.
  The lover of alcohol sometimes resorts to poetry and
song in the expression of his ecstacies, but as the effect
of the ethereal liquor deepens,  he sings or shouts inar-
ticulate  responses  to music or  voices which seem to
come to him from a distance, but which are  occasioned
by a violent beating of the arteries of his own  hrain.
  If the corporeal part of man, in this happy  condition,
be  inspected, it presents phenomena which correspond
with those of the mind.   The whole face is swollen, the
forehead and  temples patched  with  red and  white, the
cheeks of a deep  crimson, the nose tipped with ruby, the
corners of the mouth drawn down, and  the under lip in-
clining to drop,  the eyes bloodshot  and glassy, roll up-
wards under their lids, and the body and limbs, no longer
subjected to the arbitrary control of the will, assume that
position  which is dictated by the power of gravitation ;
in a word, the whole man declining farther intercourse
with  external nature, retires within  himself,  and heed-
less of the material  creation around him,  remains for
hours, as if in a trance.   If such be  some of  the  effects
of  alcohol,  who can wonder  that  it has been called
golden drink, or that poets have chanted its praises?
  This,  however, is not ail.  It possesses,  more  than
any other invention of man, the power of transforming
character; but what is worthy  of particular  notice, is,
that all its good transformations are transitory, and nearly
all  its bad ones,  permanent.  Does it give momentary
strength to the feeble ? Its habitual use makes the strong
man weak.  Does it inspire the coward with desperation ?
It can break down the heart of courage, and reduce the
manly spirit to the  imbecility  of childhood.  Does it
make the poor man rich in imagination ?  It makes the
rich man poor in reality.   If it occasionally excite a flood
of sympathetic tears, and unclench the fist of avarice, it
relaxes benevolent  exertion, and renders  the mind ha-
bitually less sensible to  the sufferings of others. 
4
  What permanent influence does it exert upon the so-
cial  affections and the moral  feelings ?  Was  it ever
known to increase conjugal attachment and kindness, pa-
rental  tenderness, or filial love and obedience ?  Has it
ever given a spur to industry, in the farmer, the trades-
man, the merchant, or professional man, by urging upon
him  the claims  of a  dependent family, or a  suffering
friend ?  Who was ever  inspired by alcohol with lofty
moral sentiments ?  Who has felt its influences directing
his thoughts reverently upward towards the Author of
his  being,  and prompting  him to sincere confession of
departure from  duty,  to submission to his will, and obe-
dience to his commands ?  On the contrary who has not
seen its effects in poisoning the fountains of social  and
moral feeling, and in transforming the affectionate, kind,
and hopefully devout man, into a savage or a brute ?
  You have seen a youth of fine talents and promise,
coming into life encircled with the highest parental hopes
and expectations, and making regular and  rapid progress
towards a sphere of usefulness and respectability.  You
have seen  him  betake himself to the  bottle ; soon the
relish  for  study  or  business is lost;  industry,  ambition,
character, family reputation, virtuous society, are  all un-
meaning things; the high considerations  they  present,
he regards not, but wanders about, the associate of idlers
and  thieves, the butt of vulgar insolence, and the abhor-
rence of his former virtuous and intellectual companions.
His  parents weep for him in secret places.
   You have seen the man of talents, industry and  exten-
sive \isefulness, who  in the exercise of his vocation, had
acquired  high public confidence, thrown down, by the
magic power  of  alcohol, from  the pinnacle  of his eleva-
tion, to become the object of popular derision and abuse.
Was he a physician, or a lawyer, had he sat in the high
seat of public justice, or had his voice been heard in the
council of the nation, or had he borne the messages of
grace  to  guilty  men ; you  have seen him barter the
luxury of doing good, or grow regardless of the law and
of justice,  or despise the insignia of office and  public
confidence, or voluntarily tear off his priestly vestments,
and extinguish with his own hand, the flame of that altar,
before which he had ministered year after year; and all 
5
this for what ? for distilled spirit: for the privilege of
being the companion of fools and drunkards.
   What is the secret of this witchery which strong drink
exerts  over the  whole  man ?  I will try to tell  you.
After being received into the  stomach, it is sucked up by
absorbent vessels, is carried into the blood, and circulates
through the alimentary organs, through the lungs,  mus-
cles, and brain, and doubtless through every organ of
the  body.   Not a blood  vessel however minute,  not  a
thread of nerve in the whole  animal machine escapes its
influence.   What is the nature of this influence ?  It dis-
turbs the functions  of life ;  it increases  for a time, the
action of living organs, but  lessens  the  power  of that
action ; hence the deep depression and collapse which
follow  preternatural excitement.  By habitual  use, it
renders the living fibre less and less susceptible to  the
healthy  operation  of unstimulating  food and  drink, its
exciting influences soon  become incorporated with all
the  living actions of the body, and the diurnal sensations
of hunger, thirst, and exhaustion, are strongly associated
with the recollection of its exhilarating effects, and  thus
bring along with them,  the  resistless desire for its repe-
tition.
   Is evidence required of its being  absorbed, and  per-
vading  the  different organs  of  the  body ?  Approach
within a few feet of the rum or brandy drinker, and the
odour of his breath will  quickly  demonstrate, that the
lungs,  loaded  with  the foul  liquor,  are discharging it
with all the energy in their power.
   When taken  by the nursing  mother,  it enters  into
the  delicate food  prepared by  nature for  the nourish-
ment and growth of helpless infancy,  and in this way, as
may most rationally be supposed, produces  a relish  fbr
an article naturally disgusting, and lays  thus  early, rn> „-
some instances, a  foundation  for intemperance in  after
life.   What physician has not known a nursing mother
give a fretful child  a good night's sloep, by taking, hep-
self, a dose of brandy at bed time ?
  Other organs than  those destined for the  formation of
milk, manifest the  presence  of this  article  when  it fe
combined with peculiar odours;  those organs especially,
which are  set as waste gates to the system, soon show
                    1* 
6
how foreign it is, and ill adapted to the real wants of the
animal economy, by separating it from  the  blood and
taking it out of the general circulation as fast as possible.
  The brain,  that most delicate and wonderful organ,.
which forms the mysterious link between the other forms
of matter and  mind, the healthy functions of which are
essential to vigorous  intellectual operation, is  capable of
imbibing alcohol, and having all its  actions suddenly ar-
rested.   In point, is the case of the man who was picked
up dead in London, soon after  having drank  a quart of
gin upon a wager.   He was carried into the Westminster
hospital and there  dissected.  " In the ventricles of the
brain was found  a considerable  quantity of limpid fluid,
distinctly  impregnated  with  gin, both  to the sense of
smell and taste, and  even to the test of  inflammability.
The  liquid  appeared, to  the senses of the  examining
students, as  strong as one third gin to two thirds water."*
  We know that  alcohol, even when  diluted,  by long
contact  after death, hardens the brain, as well as the
other soft textures of the body  which contain albumen;
and although the vital principle may enable the brain to
resist in a great measure, and for a long time, this effect
of alcohol,  when brought  into  it from the stomach  by
the  general circulation, the fact, as alleged by many,
and as I am strongly induced to  believe from the limited
means I have  had of observing, viz. that the brains of
drunkards are literally harder  at death, than  those of
the temperate, may be considered in strict accordance
with  the effects of  intemperance upon the intellectual
functions.   If this organ be in  any  degree  hardened  by
the circulation of diluted alcohol through its minute and
most delicately organized parts, it  might well be sup-
posed to be less susceptible of those  exquisitely  balanced
actions,  which we can hardly  help  believing do exist in
the impressions made by external objects, and in the  va-
riety of combinations of them, produced by the  more
abstract and  retired  operations of the  mind.   That  a
large proportion of tipplers early discover an unnatural
obtuseness of intellect, and that frequently a  mind  origi-
nally quick and vigorous, becomes sluggish and imbecile,

      * Cooke on Nervous Diseases, p. 104.  Boston edition, 1824. 
7
need not be told to an assembly of physicians who hare
had the common opportunities of observing the effects
of intemperance.
  The stomach and liver of drunkards are generally
found to be  disordered;  the stomach  frequently con-
tracted, and the liver much harder than natural, exhib-
iting  an unnatural color  both upon  its  surface, and
throughout its  interior texture.  This, perhaps, is what
might be expected.  The stomach  receives the liquor,
in the most concentrated and active form, in which it is
taken into  the body.  From the stomach and the alimen-
tary canal below, most,  if not all of it, is probably car-
ried through the liver  in a state less dilute than  when
distributed  among the  remaining  organs  of the  body.
The texture  of the liver too, which consists merely of
vessels  and nerves with enough cellular membrane to
hold them  together, may perhaps serve to  show why it
is more obviously affected than the alimentary canal, inas-
much as this  canal  has  a distinct, and in some places, a
thick muscular coat, independently of its vessels.  The
skin of the inebriate is always more or less affected.  Its
fair colour soon fades under  the withering  influence of
ardent spirit;  and from  being smooth, soft, and elastic, it
becomes uneven, wrinkled and flabby, if the subject be
somewhat  advanced in life; or if young, the skin of the
face is bloated, uneven and frequently purple,  and very
often in middle life and after, a large crop of red pimples
is the only ornament the face exhibits.
  The eye, that window  of the mind,  loses its pearly
whiteness, its sparkling transparency, its quick and signifi-
cant motions, and becomes dim, sluggish and unmeaning.
  The  various phenomena  exhibited  in  the  different
stages of alcoholic influence, including its  immediate
and  more  permanent effects, and modified  by age and
constitutional temperament, would occupy more time in
the enumeration, than can be spared on the present oc-
casion.   The  case of him who has made free with his
cups, till they  have  produced  the following  train of
symptoms,  is not unfrequently submitted to the consider-
ation of a physician.   The forehead and  cheeks are
swollen, pale and slightly tinged with yellow, the lips
leaden coloured or pale, the eye  yellow,  dim and va- 
8
 cant, the lower eyelid loose  and hanging, the upper lid
 several times its natural thickness, diaphanous and droop-
 ing, the body twice its natural circumference, the limbs
 tottering and swollen, the  breath  insupportably  fetid,
 respiration  difficult and wheezing, accompanied  with a
 short  dry Gough.  " Throw medicine  to the dogs" in
 suGh a case.
   The bodies of some few drinkers  have  been so tho-
 roughly steeped  in spirit,  as literally  to take fire and
 consume to ashes.   It is said that no case of this spon-
 taneous combustion has ever occurred,  except among
 hard drinkers, and  it is  altogether probable that in every
 such case,  an inflammable  air has  exhaled  from the
 lungs  or skin, or  both, and  has been kindled  by the
 too  near approach of  a lighted taper, or some ignited
 substance.  A French chemist, it is  said,  after drinking
 a pint of ether during the day, used to amuse  himself at
 evening, by  lighting up his breath,  directed  in a very
 small stream upon the flame of a lamp.  Alcohol,* taken
 in large quantities,  would probably, in some constitutions
 at least, occasion a similar vapor to be thrown'from the
 lungs ; and there is, doubtless, more danger than has been
 imagined, in a deep drinker's bringing his mouth or nose
 close to a lighted taper at  evening*
  The numerous and  weighty considerations, some of
 which have been hinted at, and which a reflecting man
 must surmount, before  he  can  make up hia mind to be
 regarded  as a drunkard, place in  a  striking view  the
 strength of  the appetite, which is created by a long and
 habitual use of spirit.   Instances might be referred to,
 which set this in  a  painfully strong light.
  A few years ago, a tippler  was put into an almshoase
 in a populous town, in Massachusetts.   Within  a  few
 days, he had devised various expedients to procure rum,
 but failed.  At length  however, he hit upon one which
proved successful.  He went into the  wood-yard of  the
 establishment, placed hi« h.-»nd upon  a block, and  with
 en axe in the other, struck it off at a single blow.  With

  • As alcohol is strongly allied to ether in its chemical relations, and as it U
capable of passing from the stomach into other organs without having if*
Inflammability destroyed,  •* in  the case mentioned m page 6, where diluted
gin was found in the brain, the wonder, perhaps, is, that instances of
spontaneous human combustion should to rarely have occurred.  Plouque*
 mentions twenty-eight cases. 
9
  the stump raised  and streaming, he  ran into the house,
  crying « get  some rum, get some rum, my hand is off."
  In the confusion  and bustle of the occasion, a bowl of
  rum was brought, into which he plunged the  bleeding
  member of his body, then raising the bowl to his mouth,
  drank freely, and exultingly  exclaimed,  " now  1  am
  satisfied."
    In another  populous town in the same State, there liv-
  ed an habitual drinker, who in an interval of reflection,
  made a vow that he would drink no more spirit  for forty
  years;  not doubting at the time, that forty years  would
  place him in his grave.   He faithfully kept his vow, and
  at the expiration of the  stipulated period, ventured to
  take a little liquor, as it seemed no more than a friendly
  salutation given to an old acquaintance, and in  no very
  long time died a sot.
    1 once knew a man, who had been  for some time in
  the  habit of  intemperate drinking,  and  who  had, at
m times,  strong  remonstrances  of  conscience.   These
  admonitions,  together with  the motives and encourage-
  ments held up to him by  his kind and good wife, induced
  him  to make a solemn vow, " that by  the help of God,
  he would never again drink any thing  stronger than beer,
  unless prescribed for him as a medicine by a physician."
  He  regarded the vow, became sober  and apparently re-
  ligious,  and for several years sustained the character of
  a devout man.  At length he lost, by degrees,  his reli-
  gious sensibility, grew dull and stupid, heedless  alike of
  religious duty, and of the daily attentions to business ne-
  cessary  for the support of his family, and eventually died
  besotted with  rum.  When  warned of his  danger, soon
  after  it  was known that he had returned to his cups, he
  assigned  as a reason, the  prescription  of a  physician,
  which was made  on his  application for relief from mild
  dyspepsia.
    If such be  the strength of the habit, and so great  the
  danger of forming it, what apology is there for drinking
  spirit at all ?   Does a healthy labouring man need alco-
  hol ?  No more than he needs arsenic, corrosive sub-
  limate, or opium.  The experiment  has been made a
  thousand times, and the  result  is well  known,  namely,
  that  more labour  can be  accomplished in a month or a
  year, under the influence of simple nourishing food and 
10
unstlmulating  drink, than  through the  aid  of  alcohol.*
Does the warrior  need  this  stimulus to  inspirit him for
the conflict? M'Donough  has shown with what cool and
appalling bravery men Can fight without it, and a faith-
ful history of our army and navy would demonstrate, that
the use of it affords no security against defeat or disaster.
   If ardent  spirit  be  necessary  to  health  and activity,
how did the  world get  along without  it for forty  eight
hundred years ?  How could the Roman soldiery  withstand
the frightful   onsets of Hannibal,  with nothing to drink,
stronger  than vinegar  and  water ?   Take a soldier of the

  ~* It is very generally understood that the human constitution can endure in-
tense  cold under the influence of water as an article  of drink, longer than
under that of ardent spirit.  In proof of this, numerous striking facts might
be  referred to, but it  is unnecessary.   It may not be so generally known,
that great exposure to heat does  not require the use of ardent spirit.
  From a commercial friend in Massachusetts, I have lately received the fol-
lowing information. " I visited," says he, " four or five years since, in New
Jersey, an iron foundry  belonging to Mr. Wood, of Philadelphia; I think
there were thirty or forty men employed in the establishment,  and all they
drank was pure spring water.  I saw them often while lading out the hot melal
and sweating at every pore,  take a mug, run to the spring, and drink very
freely of the water. I inquired if they did not feel any ill effects from drink-
ing so much cold water; they answered, no ! The furnace went  into blast
in April and continued till October; all those employed had the  best of health
during the whole season, and returned to their friends in the Autumn with
better health, and fuller purses than they ever had before.
  " A vessel belonging to my  neighbor,  went from this  place  to South
America, and from thence to India ; no spirit was Vllowed to the  crew du-
ring the whole voyage ;  they all  arrived home in good health.  One of my
own Captains kept grog from his men  the whole of an India voyage 5 they
all  came home in fine health.—For  my crews in hot climates, I  direct spruce
beer,  made with the oil or essence of spruce, and molasses and water.  I
shipped two crews last week for long voyages in hot climates, and named to
the men that we should not allow them grog  ; there was not a  single objec-
tion made to signing the shipping papers.  It is in the power of every ship
owner to prevent the use of  ardent spirit on board his vessels, by sending
out a few  barrels of molasses,  and a few dozen  bottles of the essence of
spruce, for beer."
  To the foregoing suggestion,  it  may be proper to add, that, for laboring
men in hot  weather, sweetened water, sometimes with the  addition of gin-
ger, is a most salutary drink; so also is a mixture of milk and  water.
   ihe principle of life is afforded to every individual in such quantity, or in
such manner, as to admit of the living actions being carried on, under the
most  favorable circumstances, only for a  limited period:  and  as no human
power or skill can increase this principle one jot or tittle, so neither, can the
actions ot life be urged  beyond the standard  of sound health, (leaving casu-
alties out of the question) without  necessarily shortening it.  And  this short-
ening ot lite will be for  minutes or  months, or years, according  to the
degree  and continuance of the excitement beyond the natural and uniform
rate of healthy action.
   This  vital principle has been likened, not 'altogether inaptly, to oil in  a
lamp, which is capable of sustaining flame, only for a  certain length of time.
It the wick be raised higher than necessary to produce a full and clear light.
a part of the oil goes off in smoke and the whole is sooner consumed. 
11
present day, clothe him with heavy Roman armor, and
give him the pilum* and short sword, weapons which, it
has been said, ' conquered the world ;'  and it will soon
appear what blessings  we  have  derived  from alcohol.
The  modern  Achilles cripples under his load, unable  to
raise  from  the ground the instrument with which he is to
meet his foe.
   " But alcohol  is certainly useful as a medicine, and it
may be resorted to as an antidote to infectious diseases."
If it be  a good medicine, let it be  used only as a medicine.
What has  a  healthy  man to do  with medicine ?  Let it
be kept only on the shelves of the apothecary.   But
how does it appear that spirit affords security under  ex-
posure  to contagion ?   The history of certain epidemics
will show,  that they  destroy a larger proportion of tip-
plers, than of those who are temperate.  Two physicians
of my acquaintance were called to practise in the same
epidemic scarlet fever.  One drank spirit freely, the
other not at all;  they were  equally exposed to the con-
tagion, and both took  the disease.   The drinker died, the
other recovered.   If you are exposed to  the infectious
air of sick rooms, take plain nourishing food at regular
intervals, and unstimulating drinks.
   " But if useless  as a preventive, is  not alcohol im-
portant in  the treatment of disease ?"  I admit that it is
sometimes  convenient, but  I deny that it  is  essential to
the practice of physic or surgery.  Do we wish to rekin-
dle the  taper of life as it glimmers in a fainting fit?  We
have  ammonia and the volatile oil«, and what is better
than every thing else, cold water, to be administered by
affusion. Is it required to produce a tonic effect in a case
of long standing debility ?   The tonic roots, and barks,
and woods, impart their invigorating properties to water
or acid.  Are we called upon to  relieve pain ? Opium is
altogether  superior to alcohol.  Do we need a  solvent
for opium 1  We have it in the acetous acid.   The black
drop is one of the best solutions of opium ever invented.
   " But what is to be done with the medicinal resins and
aromatic oils, must not they  be dissolved in alcohol ?"
The medicinal resins  do not  constitute a very important
  *' The pilum was a missive weapon, which the Roman soldiers, in
charge, darted upon the enemy. It was a bar of wood, about four feet eight
or ten inches long, with a slip of iron the same length, hooked and jagged at
the end. Each soldier had two of them.' 
12
class of remedies, but they may be given in fine powder,
rubbed with some inert friable substance, or dissolved in
an essential oil, or made into an emulsion.  The ordina-
ry mode of using them does not carry them into the sto-
mach in  the  state of  solution,  as they  are  instantly
precipitated in  a  flocculent form  on being thrown into
water.  As for the aromatic oils, they may be  given in
the form of liquid soap, or emulsion rubbed with alkali,
or sugar  and water, and in  this way they exert their
specific effects.
  Is the  physician required to prescribe a  restorative ;
if quinine  and bark,  and bitters, and metallic tonics will
not do, shall he prescribe alcohol ?  This  is never cer-
tain, and always unsafe, inasmuch as there is imminent
danger of a permanent  relish being acquired for it;  nor
does  it compare, in its restorative  powers,  in  cases
where the complaint was not produced or modified  by
the previous use of it, with the  pure fermented and well-
preserved juices of the grape and the apple.  The fac-
titious wines extensively  vended in our  country,  are
poor  restoratives; they contain  a  large  proportion of
alcohol.  "
  I maintain then, that, taking into view the danger of
making tipplers by giving ardent spirit to  the sick,  and
considering  that all  its  medicinal virtues  are found  in
other  articles, mankind would not  on the  whole be  lo-
sers, if it should be banished not only from the houses of
every class in the  community, but also from the shops of
the apothecary.
   There  can be little doubt of the correctness  of  the
prevailing opinion, that the consumption of ardent spirit
has been, for a few years past, an alarmingly increasing
evil in our country.
   By the  marshal's returns in  1810, it appeared that no
less than  thirty three millions three hundred sixty five
thousand five hundred and twenty  nine gallons of spirit
were distilled, and imported for a single year's consump-
tion in the United States; and  there  is little doubt that
this estimate is far short of the truth, as there is, proba-
bly, every year, a considerable  quantity smuggled  into
the  country, of  which of course  no  account is  given.
If from that time, the consumption of  ardent spirit  has
only  kept pace with the population, it will amount to 
13
ififty six millions of gallons; but from the increase in th<2
consumption, says a distinguished gentleman of our State*
in an elaborate calculation, from  which the following
results are taken, ' we  may safely set it down at sixty
millions.  This will give to every individual, man, woman
and  child, including  bond and free, five  gallons each.
Deducting the slaves and children under  ten  years  of
age, it  will give to the  rest not less than eight gallons
each.'  Is this result impossible,  must there be an error
iu the calcuiation?   The common  seamen of our navy
are  allowed a daily  ration of half a pint of spirit each.
This is about twenty three  gallons a year, and when it
is considered  that hundreds of thousands of our citizens
drink twice, thrice,  or  even four times this quantity, the
foregoing result will  not appear improbable.
   ' Sixty  millions of gallons, taking into the estimate the
quantity of  home distilled spirits  disguised and sold  for
foreign liquors, the free dilution of home and imported
liquors  before they  reach  the consumer, and the large
proportion retailed in small quantities at a price greatly
in advance of the primary  cost,  may be fairly reckoned
at about one dollar the gallon, but to be  within  bounds
place it at fifty million dollars.  If to the actual cost of
ardent spirits, we add the loss of time, the waste of pro-
perty, the various expenses of sickness and lawsuits occa-
sioned by their use,  and the amount  expended  in the
support of paupers  reduced  to indigence by intemper-
ance, to what an enormous sum  will the whole amount?
One hundred  millions of dollars is  probably far short of
the truth.'  Let  half this sum be  annually levied upon
the people  in the form of a direct tax, and insurrection
and revolt would appear in every part of our country.
   From calculations made by  the  gentleman  before
alluded to,  in which  I have great confidence, but which
are too long to be admitted here, it appears in the high-
est degree probable, that, from twenty thousand to thir-
ty thousand persons  in the United  States, are annually
brought to  a  premature death through  the influence of
ardent  spirit.  Place the number at twenty-five thou-
sand.*
  * More recent estimates  by other gentlemen, from larger data, fix Uie
number at thirty thousand.
                 M 
14
  One hundred  millions of dollars, divided among the
different States according to their population, would give
to New  Hampshire, about two  millions five  hundred
thousand dollars.   Apply this  sum  to the support  of
government, of the clergy, and of schools;  improve the
means of education by the establishment of any reason-
able number of high schools, and the most extensive en-
dowment of the college ; make a hundred new  public
roads; cut canals, and build railways in every useful di-
rection; smooth down the rugged  features of the State,
by giving  the  most  liberal encouragements to agricul-
ture ; build up  manufacturing  establishments ;  cherish
the useful and  the fine arts  by large premiums and sala-
ries; endow a  hospital  in each county, and  distribute
unheard of sums among the numerous and charitable ob-
jects of the day; send a hundred  missionaries to India,
and as many to our western wilderness;  and in ten years
our treasury would groan under the burden of unappro-
priated monies.
  Twenty-five thousand lives in  our country in one year I
This number multiplied  by the  time  that  has elapsed
since the last peace  with Great Britain,  will  give threo
hundred thousand, a larger number than met in 1812, on
the  bloody plains spread out before the  ancient city  of
the Czars.   Apply this calculation to  the population  of
Europe, and you have three  hundred  and  seventy  five
thousand  annually,  or four  millions one hundred and
twenty five thousand in eleven years, the time since the
peace in 1816;  a number nearly equal to that  swallowed
up by that vortex of human life, the French revolution,
and its consequent  wars.
  How can any  thing be done effectually to check this
mighty evil?  I give the same  answer to this  question
which has  repeatedly been given  within the last  few
months ; change public opinion, make  it unpopular, un-
fashionable to drink spirit.  What is the use of applying
to Government for a  tax  upon  ardent spirit so large as  to
place it beyond  the reach  of the  lower classes8 in the
community  ?  Legislative enactments which far outrun
public opinion, are  worth nothing.  Fashion and custom,
hold men with a stronger arm than Legislative prescrip-
tion.  But how change public  opinion ?   Is it not already
an overwhelming torrent rolling onward with resistless 
15
and increasing power ?  Man can  accomplish  wonders
both in the physical and moral world: he  dares  even
meditate a canal across the isthmus  of Darien, expecting
to lower the waters in the gulph of  Mexico, and perhaps
to stop the gulph stream ;  and who that recollects the
mighty  moral  achievements accomplished in the time  of
the reformation by the efforts of a  single man, shall de-
spond at the vastness  of the change  now contemplated?
   Let  all good men,  all well wishers to social life and
family quiet; to health, industry and the arts ; to religion,
morals and good government, unite  their efforts; and by
all possible means, but chiefly by their example, in rigidly
abstaining  from ardent spirit, discourage and discounte-
nance  its use, among all within the sphere of their in-
fluence.
   ' I  know,' says some  worthy man, ' that the evil  of
spirit drinking is  a great one, and  1 heartily wish  we
were rid of it; but I  have been in the habit of taking
it occasionally for some years, and I find it at times par
licularly comfortable to me, and.as  1 am in no danger of
becoming intemperate, must I  give it up  only for the
benefit  of others?'  You take it frequently and are fond
of it; are you then in  no Hanger?   Unconsciousness  of
danger  is no  proof of security.  There may be  some
reason  for your leaving it  off on  j'our own account, but
if not, have you aot so much regard for your family and
the community as  to submit to a slight temporary  incon-
venience on their account ?  Why talk one way and act
the other?  Your influence is on the side of conduct, not
merely, of words.  What would be said of the physician
who should refuse to submit to the processes of cleans-
ing necessary  to rid  his clothes of the infection of  small
pox, because it would cost him a little time  or trouble or
other inconvenience ;  while by  thus disregarding the re-
gulations instituted for the  preservation of the public
health,  he  would expose his family  and his neighbors  to
the pestilence.   And whose sons  are more liable to be-
come  drinkers of ardent spirit than  the sons of him who
sets them the  example ?
   But the glorious work of reform has been commenced,
and is  now in rapid progress.  Within  the last  half
year,  societies  for the  promotion  of  thi»  object  have
sprung  into existence, like flowers upon  the bosom of 
16
spring after a  long and cold winter.  May an abundance
of fruit follow these  vigorous forth  puttings of moral
effort.
  I repeat it—let all  virtuous men unite to expel the
common enemy.   He  ought not to be allowed a place in
Christian society.  He is  a foreigner, a Mahometan : he
was born in the  land of robbers, and he has established
the genuineness of his origin  by the millions he has de-
prived of property, of morals, and of life.  He has come
to us in  the  robe of  friendship,  has  assured  us of bis
best regards, has proffered his aid and solace in sickness,
pain,  and poverty.   Such a friend, who could  reject ?
He has been  received into  general favor, and admitted
to Christian confidence and companionship ; and what re-
ward  has he  taken for his kind offices ?  He has stolen
away  character,  health, property, the rich blessings and
endearments of  society and  domestic  intercourse, the
moral sense, life, and  the hope of heaven.
  Gird up then  to the combat.   Always meet him as an
enemy; never again  admit him to your bosoms; give
him  no quarter; expel  him  from your houses;  drive
him  from the  land.   Always  treat him  as a murderer:
he has slain your brothers :4ie lurks for the life-blood  of
your children  : he whets his sabre for yon.
  Farmer, Mechanic, Professional man,  Orator,  hast
thou sought from ardent spirit strength to  labor, or in-
genuity or promptness in thy calling,  or eloquence  in
the hall of legislation  or justice ? It will palsy thine arm,
cnuse  thy right hand to  forget its cunning, and thy
tongue to cleave to thy mouth.
  Christian, what hast thou to expect from strong drink?
Art thou weary, and  dost thou linger on thine upward
journey;  and  will  ardent  spirit  bring thee sooner or
safer  to thine  home ?
   Dost thou wait in the sanctuary ; hast thou been sep-
arated to stand before the  congregation ; and when thy
graces languish,  when thy devotion  burns feebly and
faintly, dost thou rekindle it  with alcohol?   Ah 1 come
not near; bring  no more this strange  fire to the  altar,
lest,  from its  secret  and holy dwelling,  aflame brake
forth  upon thee, and  thou be  consumed, and the people
with  thee. 
 
TEMPERANCE  PUBLICATIONS.


        PERKINS  &  MARVIN,
              114, Washington Street,
                   BOSTON,
HAVE FOR SALE THE FOLLOWING BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS,
          ON THE SUBJECT OF TEMPERANCE.
Dr. Eeecher's  Six Sermons, on the Nature, Occasions,
  Signs, Evils and Remedy of Intemperance.
Nott's Appeal to the Temperate.
Dr. Mussey's Address on Ardent Spirit.
Humphrey's  Parallel between Intemperance and  the
  Slave Trade.
Beman's Discourse on Intemperance.
Putnam and  the  Wolf, or the Monster destroyed.   An
  Address  delivered at Pomfret, Conn, by Rev. John
  Marsh.
Dr. Peirson's Address on Temperance.
An Address  on Temperance,  to the Young Men of the
  United States, by the New York Young Men's  Society
  for the promotion of Temperance.
Dr. Sweetser's Address, before the  Burlington (Vt.)
  Temperance  Society.
The Rum Drinking Christian.  A Short Sermon.
An Address to Manufacturers and Venders  of Strong
  Drink.