p. 9 | ALCOHOL | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Apr 28, 1898

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 24, No. 17.

ALCOHOL

Alcohol is, perhaps, the most deceitful drug in the whole materia medica.

All drugs have a primary and secondary effect, and are usually prescribed for the former; but where, as in the case of alcoholic beverages, large quantities are apt to be taken with great frequency, the secondary effects of the remedy become of great importance.

The first action of alcohol is to stimulate the circulation and brain; it borrows from the vital resources a sufficient amount of force to make a display of apparent strength, but at a great cost to the organism, and a too frequent repetition of the draft must eventuate in physical bankruptcy. But, unfortunately, the very process which enables a man to make this display of seeming health and energy soon destroys his ability to correctly gauge his vital reserve, and the neurotic taint, sole inheritance of many, clamors more and more vehemently for the stimulant which shall make its unfortunate possessor the momentary peer of any man.

The inception of the drink habit is the first step in the process of mental, moral, and physical suicide; and the physician whose faulty judgment recommends alcohol in any form for indigestion, debility, etc., shoulders a weight of responsibility which no honest man should willingly assume.—Medical Brief.