A Temperance Item by Editor

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Apr 5, 1883

A Temperance Item

By Editor

Under the head of "A Temperance Item," we find the following in the Oakland Times of last Monday morning:—

"On last Sunday James Miller's son was hunting rabbits on his father's ranch, near the Green Schoolhouse, and ran into an old squirrel hole. He reached his hand in and pulled out some wool, made another grab and felt something bite him, and pulled his hand out with a large tarantula fastened to the third finger of his right hand. He pulled him loose and killed him, and then started for the house. Mr. F. Hartman was called and gave the boy all the whisky he could drink. He has fully recovered. Mr. Miller expresses his heartfelt thanks for the kind act of Mr. Hartman in saving his son's life after the poisonous bite of a tarantula.—Livermore Valley Review. "We forget just where the moral of this interesting story comes in."

It needs no "moral." It is simply a matter of fact that alcohol has a chemical affinity for certain kinds of poison, and therefore acts as a neutralizer or antidote to them. But a chemist would laugh at the idea that this fact proves that it is good for a daily drink. Quite the reverse.