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NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE
             Washington
Founded 1836
U. S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare
Public Health Service 
 
 
          EXTRACTS

   FROM DR. BENJAMIN RUSH'S

    /   INQUIRY

          INTO THE EFFECTS OF

ARDENT  SPIRITS
            UPON THE

  FIU3IAX BODY AND MIND,
M
            PHILADELPHIA:
TO BE HAD OF BENJAMIN & THOMAS KITE, NO. 20, NORTH THIRD
 STREET: AND FOR SALE HT SOLOMON W. CONRAD, NO. 87, KIMBKR
 St SHARPLESS, NO. 93, AND JOHN RICHARDSON, NO. 31, MARKET
 STREET; ALSO, CALEB RICUARDSON, NO. 8, NORTH THIRD STREKT.

                 1813.
.Yo.7.—2d. ed.—6000. 
 
BXTKACTS,  $c.
  BY ardent spirits,  I  mean those liquors only which are ob-
tained by distillation  from fermented substances of any kind.
To their effects upon  the bodies and minds of men, the follow-
ing inquiry shall be exclusively confined.
  The following  diseases are the usual  consequences of the
habitual use of ardent spirits, viz.
   1. A decay of appetite, sickness at stomach, and a puking
of bile or a discharge of a frothy and viscid phlegm by hawk-
ing, in the morning.
  2. Obstructions of  the liver.
  3. Jaundice and dropsy  of the belly and limbs, and finally
of every cavity in the body.
  4. Hoarseness, and a husky cough, which often terminate in
consumption,  and sometimes in an acute and fatal  disease
of the lungs.
  5. Redness and eruptions  on different parts of the body.
They generally begin on the nose, and after gradually extend-
ing all over the face,  sometimes  descend to the limbs in the
form of leprosy.   In  persons who have occasionally  survived
these effects of ardent spirits on the skin, the face altera while
becomes bloated, and its redness is succeeded by a death-like
paleness.
  6. A  fetid breath composed of every thing that is offensive
in putrid animal matter.
  7. Frequent and disgusting belchings.
  8. Epilepsy.
  9. Gout in all its various forms  of swelled limbs, colic,  pal-
sy, and  apoplexy.
  Lastly,  10. Madness.  The late Dr. Waters,  while he
acted as house pupil  and  apothecary of the Pennsylvania
Hospital, assured me, that in one-third of the patients confined
by this terrible disease,  it had been induced by ardent spirits.*

  * Dr. Willan, of the London College of Physicians, in his " Reports
on the Diseases of London," says, " On comparing my own observations
with the bills of mortality, I am convinced that considerably more than
one-eighth of all the deaths which take place in the metropolis in per-
sons above  twenty years  old, happen prematurely through excess in  » 'i
drinking spirits."                                    Editor. 
4-
  Most of the diseases which have been enumerated are oP a
mortal nature.  They are more certainly induced  and termi-
nate more speedily in death, when spirits  are taken in  such
quantities, and at such times, as to produce frequent intoxica-
tion ; but it may serve to remove an  error with which some
intemperate people console themselves, to remark, that ardent
spirits often bring on fatal diseases without producing drun-
kenness. I have known manv persons destroyed by them, who
were never completely intoxicated during the whole course of
their lives.  The solitary  instances of longevity which are now
and then met with in  hard  drinkers, no  more  disprove  the
deadly effects of ardent spirits, than  the solitary instances of
recoveries from apparent  deatli by drowning, prove that there
is no danger to life from a human body lying an hour or two
under water.
  Not less destructive are the effects of ardent  spirits  upon
the  human mind.  They impair the memory, debilitate the un-
derstanding, and pervert  the moral  faculties.  It was proba-
bly  from observing these  effects of intemperance in drinking,
upon the mind, that a law was formerly passed in Spain whieh
excluded drunkards from  being witnesses in a court of justice.
  A more affecting spectacle cannot be exhibited vsan a per-
son into whom this infernal  spirit, generated by habits of in-
temperance, has entered.  It is more or less affecting according
to the station  the person fills in a family, or in society, who is
possessed by it.  Is he a husband ?   How  deep  the anguish
which rends the bosom of his wife!   Is she a wife ?  Who can
measure the shame and aversion which she excites in her hus-
band ?  Is he the father,  or is  she the  mother of a family of
children ?  See their averted looks from their parent, and their
blushing looks at each other !   Is he a magistrate ?  Or has he
been chosen to fill a high  and respectable station in the coun-
cils of his country ?   What  humilitating fears of corruption
in  the administration  of  the laws, and of the subversion  of
public order and happiness, appear in the countenances of all
who see him !
  In pointing out the evils produced  by  ardent spirits, let us
not pass by their effects upon the estates of the persons  who
are addicted to  them.  Are they inhabitants of cities ?—Behold
their houses stripped  gradually of their furniture, and pawned,
or sold by a constable, to  pay tavern debts !  See their names
upon record in the dockets of every court, and whole pages of
newspapers filled with advertisements of their estates for pub-
lic sale!  Are they inhabitants of country  places?  Behold
I heir houses with shattered windows,—their  barns with leaky 
 roofs,—tlieir gardens overrun with weeds,—their fields  with
 broken fences,-their hogs without yokes,—their sheep without
 wool,—their cattle and horses without fat,—and theirchildren
 filthy, and half clad, without manners, principles,and morals!
 This picture of agricultural  wretchedness is >eidom of long
 duration.  The farms and property thus neglected, and depre-
 ciated, are seized and sold for the benefit of a group of credi-
 tors.  The children that were born with the prospect of inhe-
 riting them, are  bound  out to service in the neighbourhood  ;
 while their parents, the unworthy authors of their misfortunes,
 ramble into new and distant settlements, alternately  fed on
 their way by the hand of charity, or a little casual labour.
   Thus we see poverty and  n.i.-ery,  crimes and infamy, dis-
 ease and death, are all the natural .md usual consequences of
 the intemperate use of ardent spirits.
   I  shall now take notice of the occasions and circumstances
 which are supposed to render the use of ardent spirits neces-
 sary,  and  endeavour to show that the arguments in  favour of
 tiieir use in such cases  are founded in error, and  that in each
 of them, ardent spirits, instead  of affording strength to the
 body, increase the evils they are intended to relieve.
   11. They are said to be  necessary in very cold weather.  This
 i- far from being true ; for the temporary warmth they produce,
 is always succeeded by a greater disposition in the hotly to be
 affected by cold.   Warm dresses, a plentiful meal just before
 exposure to the  cold, and eating occasionally a little ginger-
 bread,  or any other cordial food, is a much more  durable me-
 thod of preserving the heat of the body in cold weather.
   2.  '1[Iny are said  to be necessary  in very warm  weather.
 Experience proves that they  increase, instead of lessening the
 effects of heat upon the body, and thereby dispose to diseases
 of all kind-.   Even in the warm climate of  the West Indies,
 Dr. Bell asserts this to be true. " Rum, (says this author) whe-
 ther used habitually, moderately, or in excessive quantities in
 the West Indies, always diminishes the strength of the body,
 and  renders men more susceptible of disease, and unfit for anv
 service in which vigour or activity is require';.' * As well mi«l!t
 we throw oil  into a hou?e, the roof of which  was on fire^in
 order to prevent the flames from  extending to its inside, as pour
ardent spirits into the stomach, to lessen the effects of a hot
sun upon the skin.
   3.  Nor do ardent spirits lessen the effects  of .hard labour

  * Inquiry into the causes  which produce, and  the means of pre-
venting diseases among British officers, soldiers and others in the West
Indies.
                          A 2 
6
upon the body.   Look at the horse; with every muscle of his
body swelled from morning till night in the plough, or a team,
does he make signs for a draught of toddy, or a glass of spirits
to enable him to cleave the ground, or to climb a hill ?  No-
he requires nothing but cool water, and substantial food.  There
is no  nourishment in ardent spirits.   The strength they pro-
duce in labour, is of a transient nature, and is always followed
by a sense of weakness and fatigue.
  But are there no conditions of the  human  body in  which
ardent spirits may be given ? I answer—there are.  1st.  When
the body has been suddenly exhausted of its  strength,  and a
disposition to faintness has been induced.  Here a tew  spoon-
fids, or a wine glassful of spirits, with or without water, may
be administered with safety, and  advantage.   In this case  we
comply strictly with the advice  of Solomon,  who restricts the
use of " strong drink" only " to him  who is ready to perish."
2dly.  When the body has been exposed for a long time  to wet
weather, more especially,  if it  be combined with cold.  Here
■£ moderate quantity of spirits is not only safe, but highly pro-
per to obviate debility, and to prevent a fever. They will more
rcrtahly have those salutary effects, if the feet are at the same
time bathed with them, or a half  pint of them poured into the
?hoes or boots.  These  I  believe are the only two cases in
which  distilled spirits are useful or  necessary to persons in
health.
   But it may be said, if we reject spirits from being a part of
our drinks, what liquors shall we substitute in their room ?  I
answer in the first place,
   1. Simple Water.  I have known many instances of per-
sons who have  followed the most laborious employments for
many  years, in  the open air, and in warm and cold weather,
who"never drank any thing but water, and enjoyed uninter-
rupted good health.  Dr. Moseley, who resided many years in
the West Indies, confirms this remark.  "  I  aver, (says  the
doctor) from my  own knowledge and custom, as  well as the
custom and observations of many other people, that those who
drink  nothing but water,  or make it their principal drink,  are
but little affected by the climate, and can undergo the greatest-
fatigue without inconvenience, and are never subject to trou-
blesome or dangerous diseases.
   Persons who are unable to relish this simple beverage of na-
ture, may  drink some one, or of all  the following liquors in
preference to ardent spirits.
   2. Cyder. This excellent liquor contains a  small quantity
 of spirit, but so diluted, and blunted by being combined with 
7
a large quantity of saccharine matter, and water, as to be per-
fectly wholesome.  It sometimes disagrees with persons sub-
ject to the rheumatism, but it may be made inoffensive to such
people, by extinguishing a red hot iron in it, or by mixing it
with water.
   3. Malt Liquors.  They contain a good  deal  of  nourish-
ment ; hence we find many of the poor people in Great Britain
endure hard  labour, with no other food than a quart or three
pints of beer, with a few pounds of bread in a day.  As it will
be difficult to prevent small beer from becoming sour in warm
weather, an excellent substitute may be made for it by mixing
bottled porter, ale,  or strong beer with an equal quantity of
water; or a pleasant beer may be made by adding to a bottle
of porter, ten quarts of water, and a pound of brown sugar or
a pint  of molasses.  After they have been well mixed, pour
the liquor into bottles and place them,  loosely corked, in a
cool cellar.   In two or three days, it  will be fit for  use.  A
spoonful of ginger added to the mixture, renders it more lively,
and agreeable to the taste.
   4. Molasses  and  Water,  also Vinegar  and  Water
sweetened with  sugar,  or molasses, form an agreeable drink
in warm weather.   It is pleasant and cooling, and tends to
keep up those gentle and uniform sweats on which health, and
life often depend.   Vinegar and water constituted  the only
drink of the  soldiers of the  Roman  republic,  and it is well
known they marched, and fought in a warm climate, and be-
neath a load  of arms which weighed sixty pounds.   Boaz, a
wealthy farmer in Palestine, we find treated his reapers with
nothing but bread dipped in vinegar.  To such persons  as ob-
ject to the taste of viuegar, sour milk, or buttermilk, or sweet
milk diluted  with water, may be given in its stead.   I have
known the labour of the longest and hottest days in summer
supported by means  of these pleasant and whofesoine drinks
with great firmness,  and ended, with scarcely a complaint of
fatigue.
   5. Coffee possesses agreeable and exhilarating qualities,
and might be used with great advantage to obviate the painful
effects of heat, cold and fatigue upon the body.  I once knew
a country physician who made it a practice to drink a pint of
strong coffee previously to his taking a long or cold ride.  It
was more cordial to him than spirits, in any of the  forms in
which they are commonly used.
   The use of the cold bath in the morning, and of the warm
bath in the evening,  are happily calculated to strengthen the
body in the former part of the day, and to  restore it  in the 
  latter,  from the langour  and  fatigue which are induced by
  heat and labour.
    Let it not be said, ardent spirits have become necessary from
  habit in harvest, and in other seasons of uncommon and ardu-
  ous labour.   The habit is a bad one, and may be  easily broken.
  Let but half a dozen farmers in a neighbourhood combine to
  allow higher wages to their labourers than are common, and a
  sufficient quantity of any of the pleasant, and wholesome li-
  quors I have recommended, and they may soon, by their exam-
  ple, abolish  the practice  of giving them spirits.  In a little
  while they will be delighted with the good effects of their as-
  sociation.   Their grain and hay will be gathered into their
  barns in less time, and in abetter condition than  formerly, and
  of course at a less expense, and a hundred disagreeable scenes
'  from sickness, contention  and accidents will be avoided, all
  of which follow  in a greater or less degree the use of ardent
  spirits.
   Nearly all diseases have their predisposing causes.  The *
  same thing may be said of the intemperate use of distilled spi-
 rits.  It will, therefore, be useful to point  out  the different
 employments, situations, and conditions of the bodjT and mind
 which predispose to the love of those liquors, and  to  accom-
 pany them with directions to prevent  persons being ignorantly
 and undesignedly seduced into  the habitual  and destructive
 use of them.
   1. Labourers bear  with great difficulty, long  intervals be-
 tween-their meals.  To enable them to support the waste of
 their strength, their stomachs should be constantly, but mode-
 rately stimulated by aliment, and this is best done bv their
 eating four or five times in a day, during the  seasons of great
 bodily exertion.  The food at this time should be solid, con- ]
 sisting chiefly of salted meat.   The  vegetables used  with it,
 should possess some activity, or they  should be made savoury
 by a mixture of spices.   Onions and garlic are of a most cor-
 dial nature.  They composed a part of the diet which enabled
 the  Israelites to endure in a warm climate the  heavy tasks
 imposed upon them by their Egyptian masters, and they were
 eaten, Horace and Virgil tell us, by the Roman farmers, to
 repair the waste of their strength, by  the toils of harvest.__
 There are likewise certain sweet substances which support the
 body under the pressure of labour.  The negroes  in the West
 Indies become strong, and even fat, by drinking the juice of
 the sugar cane in the season  of grinding it.   The  Jewish sol-
 diers were invigorated by occasionally eating raisins and figs.
 A bread composed of  wheat flour, molasses, and ginger, com- 
9
 monly called gingerbread, taken  in  small quantities during
 the day, is  happily calculated to obviate the debility induced
 upon the body by constant labour.   All these substances, whe-
 ther of an animal or vegetable nature, lessen the desire, as
 well as the necessity for  cordial drinks, and  impart equable
 and durable strength, to every part of the system.
    2. Valetudinarians,  especially those who are afflicted with
 diseases of the stomach and  bowels,  are very apt to seek re-
 lief from ardent spirits. Let such people be cautious how they
 make use of this dangerous remedy.  I have known many men
 and women of excellent characters and  principles,  who have
 been betrayed by occasional  doses of gin  and brandy,  into a
 love of those liquors, and have afterwards fallen sacrifices to
 their fatal effects.  The  different preparations  of opium are
 much more safe and  efficacious  than distilled  cordials of any
 kind, in flatulent or spasmodic affections of the stomach  and
 bowels.  So great is the danger  of contracting a love for dis-
 tilled  liquors, by accustoming the stomach to their stimulus,
 that as few medicines as possible should be given in spirituous
 vehicles, in chronic diseases.   A physician  of  great eminence,
 and uncommon worth,  who died towards the  close of the last
 century, in London, in  taking leave of~a young physician of
 this city, who had finished his studies under his patronage, im-
 pressed this caution with peculiar force upon him, and lament-  «
 ed at the same time in pathetic terms, that he had innocently
 made  many sots by prescribing brandy and water in  stomach
 complaints.  It is difficult to tell how many persons have been
 destroyed by those physicians who have  adopted Dr.  Brown's
 indiscriminate practice  in the use of stimulating remedies, the
 most popular of which  is ardent spirits, but it is well known,
 several of  them have died of intemperance in this city, since
 the year 1790.  They  were probably led  to  it, by drinking
 brandy and water to relieve themselves from  the frequent at-
 tacks of debility and indisposition to which the labours of a
 physician expose him,  and for  which rest, fasting, a gentle
 purge, or  weak diluting  drinks,  would have been  safe and
^more certain cures.
   None of  these remarks are  intended to preclude the use of
 spirits in the low  state of short, or what are called acute dis-
 eases, for in such cases, they produce their  effects too soon, to
 create an habitual desire for them.
   3. Some  people, from living in countries subject  to  inter-
 mitting fevers, endeavour to fortify themselves against  them,
 by taking two or three  wine-glasses of bitters, made with  spi-
 rits, every day.   There is great  danger of contracting habits of
 intemperance from this practice.  Besides, this mode of pre- 
10
venting  intermittent^,  is far from  being a certain one.  A
much better security against them, is a  tea-spoonful of the
Jesuits bark, taken every morning, during a sickly season.  If
this safe and excellent medicine cannot be had, a gill or half a
pint of a strong watery infusion  of centaury, camomile, worm-
wood, or rue, mixed with a little of the  calimus of our  mea-
dows, may be taken every morning with  nearly the same ad-
vantage as the Jesuits bark. Those persons who live in a sickly
country, and cannot procure any of the preventives of autum-
nal fevers, which have been mentioned, should avoid the morn-
ing and evening air;—should kindle fires in their houses, on
damp days, and in  cool evenings, throughout the whole sum-
mer, and put on winter clothes,  about the first week in  Sep-
tember-  The last part of these directions, applies only to the
inhabitants of the middle states.
  4. Men who follow professions, which  require constant ex-
ercise of the faculties of their minds, are very apt to seek re-
lief, by  the use of ardent  spirits, from the fatigue which suc-
ceeds great mental exertions.  To such persons, it may be a
discovery to know,  that tea is a much better remedy for that
purpose. By  its  grateful and gentle stimulus it removes fa-
tigue, restores the excitement ofthe mind, and invigorates the
whole system.  I am no advocate for the  excessive use of tea.
When taken too strong, it is hurtful, especially to the female
constitution; but when taken of a moderate degree of strength,
and in moderate quantities, with sugar and  cream, or milk, I
believe it is in general innoxious, and at all times to be pre-
ferred to ardent spirits, as a cordial for studious men.   The
late Anthony Benezet, one of the most laborious schoolmas-
ters I ever knew, informed me, he had been prevented from
the love of spirituous liquors, by  acquiring a love for tea in ear-
ly life.  Three or four cups, taken in an afternoon, carried off
the fatigue of a whole day's labour in his school. This worthy
man lived to be seventy-one years  of age, and died of an
acute disease, with the full exercise of all  the faculties of his
mind.  But  the use of tea, counteracts a desire for distilled
spirits, during great bodily  as well as mental  exertions.  Of,
this, Captain Forrest has furnished us with a recent, and re-
markable proof, in  his  history of a voyage from  Calcutta,
to the Marqui  Archipelago.   "  I have always observed (says
this ingenious mariner) when sailors drink tea, it weans them
from the thoughts of drinking strong liquors, and  pernicious
grog; and with this, they are soon contented.  Not so with
whatever will  intoxicate, be it what it will.  This has always
been my remark!  I therefore  always encourage it, withoyf
their knowing whv." 
11
  5. Women have sometimes been led to seek relief from sick-
ness of  the stomach, by the use of  ardent  spirits.   A little
•ringerbread, or biscuit, taken occasionally, so as to prevent
die stomach being empty, is a much better remedy for that
disease.
  6. Persons under the pressure of  debt, disappointments in
worldly pursuits, and  guilt, have  sometimes sought to drown
their sorrows  in  strong  drink.  The only radical cure for
those evils, is to be found in Religion.
  7. The sociable and imitative nature of man, often disposes
him to adopt the  most odious and destructive practices from
his companions.  The French soldiers who conquered Hol-
land, in  the year 1794, brought back with them the love and
use of brandy, and thereby corrupted the inhabitants of seve-
ral of the departments of France, who had been previously dis-
tinguished for their temperate and sober manners. Many other
facts might be mentioned, to show how important it is to avoid
the company of persons addicted to the use of ardent spirits.
   8.  Smoking and chewing tobacco, by  rendering water and
simple liquors insipid to  the taste, dispose very much to the
stronger stimulus of ardent spirits.  The practice of smoking
segars, has  in  every part  of our  country,  been  followed
by a general  use of brandy and water, as a common drink,
more especially by that class of citizens who have not been in
 the habit of drinking wine, or malt liquors.  The less, there-
fore, tobacco is useain the above ways,  the better.
   9. No man ever became suddenly a drunkard.   It is by gra-
dually accustoming the taste and stomach to ardent spirits, in
the forms of grog and toddy, that men  have been led to love
them in their more  destructive mixtures, and in their simple
state.  Under the impression of this truth, were it possible for
me to speak, with a voice so loud as to be heard from the river
St.  Croix, to  the remotest shores of the Mississippi, which
bound the territory of the United States, I would say,—-Friends
 and Fellow Citizens! avoid the habitual use of those two se-
 ducing liquors, whether they be made with brandy, rum, gin,
Jamaica spirits, whiskey, or what is called cherry bounce.  It
is true, some men, by limiting the strength of those drinks, by
measuring the spirit  and water, have drunken them for many
years, and even during a long life, without acquiring habits of
intemperance or  intoxication; but many  more have been insen-
sibly led, by  drinking weak toddy and grog, first  at their
meals, to take them for their constant drink, in the intervals of
their meals; afterwards to take them, of  an increased strength,
before breakfast  in the morning, and finally to destroy them-
selves  by drinking undiluted spirits, during every hour of the 
                              12

  day and night.  I am not singular in this remark. « The con-
  sequence of drinking rum and water, or grog, as it is called
  (says Dr. Moseley) is, that habit increases the desire of more
  spirit, and decreases its effects; and there are very few »rog
  drinkers, who long survive the practice of debauching witit it,
  without acquiring  the odious  nuisance of  dram-drinker's
  breath, and downright stupidity and impotence."*  To enforce
  the caution against the use  of those  two apparently innocent
  and popular liquors still further, I shall select one  instance,
  from among many, to show the ordinary manner, in which they
  beguile and destroy their votaries.  A citizen of Philadelphia,
  once of a fair and sober character, drank toddy for many years,
  as his constant drink.  From  this he  proceeded to drink grog.
  After a while,  nothing  would satisfy him, but slings made of
 equal parts of rum and water, with  a little sugar.   From
 slings, he advanced to raw rum, and from common rum, to Ja-
 maica spirits.  Here he rested for a few  months, but at length
 finding even Jamaica spirits were not strong enough  to warm
 his stomach, he made it a constant practice to throw a table-
 spoonful  of ground pepper into each glass of his spirits, in
 order, to use his own words, "  to take  offtheir coldness.*'  He
 soon afterwards died a martyr  to his intemperance.
   It has been said, that the disuse of spirits should be gradual :
 but  my  observations  authorize  me to say, that persons who
 have been addicted to them, should abstain from them suddenly
 and entirely.
   i( Taste not, handle  not, touch not,"  should be inscribed upon
 every vessel that contains spirits in  the house of a man who
 wishes to be cured of habits  of  intemperance.!
   Ministers of the  Gospel of every denomination, in the United
 States!—aid me vrith all  the weight you  possess  in  society,
 from tne dignity and usefulness of your sacred  office, to save
 our fellow men from being destroyed, by the great destroyer of
 their lives and souls.   In order more successfully to effect this
 purpose, permit me to suggest  to  you, to employ the same
 wise modes of instruction, wmich you use in your attempts  to
 prevent  their destruction by  other  vices.  You expose  the
 evils of covetousness, in order to prevent theft;  you point out
 the sinfulness of impure desires, in order to prevent adultery;

  * Treatise on Tropical Diseases.
  f Dr. Willan, in speaking of the steps to be pursued to break off the
 habits of intemperance, says, " This cannot be accomplished by ex-
 changing one form of spirit for another, nor by substituting in place of
 spirits, Opium, or any of its preparations : a plan which many have
tried, but with the effect of producing a much worse state, and nioro
dreadful sensations, than those they wished to avoid."      >;:irron. 
13
   and you dissuade from anger, and malice, in order to prevent
   murder.  In like manner, denounce by your preaching, con-
   versation and examples,  the  seducing  influence of toddy and
   grog, when you aim to prevent all  the crimes and miseries,
   which are the offspring of strong drink.
     We have hitherto considered  the effects of ardent spirits
   upon  individuals, and the means of preventing them.  I shall
   close this head of our inquiry, by a few remarks on their ef-
   fects upon the population and welfare  of our country, and the
   means of obviating them.
■*    It is highly probable, not less than 4000 people die annually,
   from the use of ardent spirits, in the  United  States.  Should
   they continue to exert this deadly influence upon  our popula-
5  tion, where  will their evils terminate ? This  question may be
   answered, by asking, where are all the Indian tribes, whose
   numbers and  arms formerly spread terror among their civil-
   ized neighbours ? I answer in the words of the famous Mingo
   Chief, " the blood  of many of them flows not in the veins of
   any human creature."  They have perished, not by pestilence,
   nor Avar, but by a  greater foe to human life than either of
   them,—Ardent Spirits.   The loss of 4000 American citizens,
   by the yellow fever, in a single  year,  awakened  general sym-
   pathy and terror, and called forth all  the  strength  and inge-
   nuity of laws, to prevent its  recurrence. Why is not the same
   /.eal manifested in protecting our citizens from the more gene-
   ral and consuming ravages  of distilled  spirits ?—Should the
   customs of civilized life, preserve our nation from extinction,
   and even from an increase of mortality, by those liquors;  they
   cannot prevent our country being governed by men, chosen by
   intemperate and corrupted voters.   From such legislators, the
   republic would  soon be in danger.  To avert this evil;—let
   good  men of every class unite  and  besiege the general and
   state  governments, with petitions to  limit the number of ta-
   verns—to impose  heavy duties upon ardent spirits—to inflict
   a mark of disgrace, or a temporary abridgment of  some  civil
   right, upon every man, convicted of drunkenness;  and finally
   to secure the property of habitual drunkards, for the benefit of
   their  families, by placing it in the hands of trustees, appointed
   for  that purpose, by a court  of justice.
     To aid the operation of these laws, would it not be extremely
   useful for the rulers of the  different denominations of Chris-
   tian churches to unite, and render the sale and consumption of
   ardent spirits, a subject of ecclesiastical jurisdiction?—The
   Methodists, and society of Friends, have for some  time past,
   viewed them as  contraband articles, to the pure laws  or the'
                              B 
14
 gospel, and have borne many public and private  testimonies
 against making them the objects of commerce.  Their success
 in this benevolent enterprise, affords ample encourao-emetit for
 all other religious societies to follow their example. °

 The following extract from Dr. Willan's work entitled, " Re-
   ports on the Diseases of London;- is added, in the hope that
   the  judicious advice it contains  may prove useful to those1
   who desire to abstain from habits of intemperance
   " Whoever  makes the  attempt to abandon spirit drinking
 will find, from time to time, a rankling on the stomach, with a
 sensation of sinking, coldness, and inexpressible anxiety. This
 may be relieved by taking often a cupful of an infusion of cloves,
 made  by steeping  about an ounce of them in a pint of boiling
 water for six hours, and then straining off' the liquor.         ,
   In a state of permanent langour and debility, an ounce andi
 a half  of the Cascarilla bark should be added to the infusion.
 This mixture, taken in the quantity above specified, three times
 a  day, will be found a useful strengthener of the stomach and
 bowels, when they have been  disordered by frequent excess
 and  intoxication.  In the trial to exchange the use of spirits
 for that of malt liquor, &c. there will be for the first month or
 two, a  disagreeable heat and  acidity occasionally felt in the
 stomach, which maybe removed by a tea-spoonful of magnesia,
 or prepared chalk,  taken in tiie infurion of cloves, or in a glass
 of simple peppermint water.  The yolk of an egg taken From
 the shell, without any preparation, likewise contributes to the
same effect.   The  diet should  be  so regulated, as to nourish
and support the body, without  oppressing the organs oF diges-
tion: but little should be taken at a time, and repeated accord-
 ing to the  state of  the appetite ; the food  to consist of tea, or
 cocoa,  with a good  proportion of milk in it; gruel, broth, sago,
 jell is, and bread pudding; afterwards as strength is restored,
 uysters,nnd any light fresh meat.  The slighter articles maybe
 taken between meals, for the purpose of alleviating the sensation
 of faintness and sinking at the stomach, which so frequently
 recurs."

 The following impressive narrative of a circumstance ivhichoc-
   curred in a voyage from this country to England, is taken from
   Thomas Outlkleifs Journal, and will serve to exhibit some of
   the lamentable effects of yielding to habits of intoxication.
   After we had been at sea about seven weeks, our doctor
had a dream  to this effect;, which himself related to me:  He
said, "  He dreamed that he went on shore at a great and spa- 
15
cious town, the buildings whereof were high, and the streets
broad; and as he went up the street he  saw a large sign, on
which was written in great golden letters SHAME.   At the
door of the house to which the sign belonged stood a woman
withacan in her hand, who said unto him, Doctor, will you drink?
he replied, with all my heart, for I have not drunk any thing
but water a great while (our wine and cyder being all spent,
having had a long passage) and he drank a  hearty  draught,
which he said, made him merry; so he went up the street reel-
ing to and fro, when a grim fellow coming behind him, clapped
him on the shoulder, and told him, that he arrested him in the
name of the governor of the  place.  He asked him for what ?
ana said, what have I done ?  He answered, for  stealing the
woman's can: the can he had indeed, and so he was had be-
fore the governor, which was a mighty black dog, the biggest
and grimest  that ever he saw in his life;  and witness  was
brought in against him by an old companion of his, and he was
found guilty, and his sentence  was to  go to prison, and there
lay for ever."
   He told me this dream so punctually, and with  such an em-
phasis, that it affected me with serious sadness, and caused my
heart to move within me, for to me the dream seemed true, and
the interpretation »ure.  I then told him he was  an ingenious
man, and might clearly see the interpretation of that dream,
which exactly answered to his  state and condition, which I
 thus  interpreted to  him:  "This great  and spacious place,
 wherein the buildings were high and the streets broad, is thy
great  and high  profession:  the sign, on which  was written
shame, which thou sawest, and  the woman at the door,  with
the can  in her hand, truly  represents that great, crying, and
shameful sin  of  drunkenness, which thou  knowest to be thy
great weakness, which the woman with the can did  truly re-
preseiH to thee : the grim fellow who arrested thee in the devil's
 territories is death, who will assuredly arrest all mortals: the
 governor whom thou sawest, representing  a  great black dog,
 is certainly the devil, who after  his servants have served him
 to the full, will torment them eternally in hell."   So he got up,
 as it were in haste, and said, "God forbid ! it is nothing but a
 dream."  But I told him it  was a very significant one, and a
 warning to him from the Almighty, who sometimes speaks to
 men by dreams.
   Some days after the doctor's dream a grievous accident, hap-
  fiened to us.  We meeting with a Dutch vessel in Lime bay a
  ittle above the Start, hailed her, and she us.   They  said they
 came  from Lisbon,  and  were bound  for Holland.  She was
 loaded with wine, brandy, fruit, and  such like commodities ; 
16
  and we having little buc water to drink (by reason our passage
  was longer than  we expected) therefore  we sent our boat on
  board, in order to buy us a little wine to drink with our water.
  Our doctor, and  a merchant that was  a passenger, and one
  sailor, went on board, w here they staid so long until some of
  them were overcome with wine, although they were desired to
  beware thereof;  so that  when they came back, a rope bein"
  handed to them, they being filled with wine unto excess, were
  not capable of using it dexterously, insomuch that they overset
  the boat, and she turned bottom upwards, having the  doctor
  under her.  The  merchant  caught hold of a rope called the
  main sheet, whereby his life was saved. The  sailor not getting
  so much drink as the other two, got  nimbly  on the bottom o?
  the boat, and  floated on  the  water till such  time as our other
 boat was hoisted out, which was done with great speed, and we
 took him  in; but  the  doctor was  drowned before  the boat
 came.  The seaman that sat upon the boat saw him sink, but
 could not help him. This was the great&st  exercise  that we
 met within all our voyage ;  and much the more so, as  the doc-
 tor was of an evil life and conversation, and much given  to ex-
 cess in drinking.   When he got on board the aforesaid ship,'
 the master sent for a  can of wine,  and said doctor will you
 drink ?  He replied, yes, with all my heart, for I have drunk
 no wine a great while.  Upon which he drank a hearty draught,
 that made him merry, as he said in his dream;  and notwith- ?:i
 standing the  admonition which was  so clearly manifested to
 him but three days before, and the many promises he had  made
 to  Almighty  God, some of  which I  was a witness of,  when
 strong convictions were upon him, yet now he was unhappily
 overcome, and in  drink  when he was drowned.  This is, I
 think, a lively representation  of the  tender  mercy, and just
 judgment of the Almighty to poor mortals;  and 1 thought it
 worthy to be recorded to posterity as a  warning to all "reat
 lovers of wme and strong liquors.   This exercise was so  great
 to me, that I could  not for several days get over it; and one day
 while I was musing in my mind on those things  relating to the
 doctor, it was open  to me, that God and his servants  were
 clear, and his  blood was on his own head;  for he had been
faithfully warned of his evil ways.
J.H.A.SKERUKTT, PIlINTEll 
 
 
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