p. 327 | Temperance by Dr. J. H. Hanaford

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · May 29, 1884

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 10, No. 21.

Temperance.

By Dr. J. H. Hanaford

Temperance and Health.

OMITTING all reference to the mental and moral ravages of intemperance, it would require a lifetime to recount the pains and aches, the malignant diseases, induced by the demon intemperance. We have already seen that all alcoholic liquors impair, retard, and complicate digestion, always and everywhere, both in the case of the sick and the well, thus preventing the normal and full nourishment of the system. Some of the robust may endure this for a time, but the sick may safely avoid all combinations of it, in the matter of digestion, as they need all of the strength possible that they may resist the inroads of disease. It always and everywhere wastes power—never generating any—prevents the renovation of the blood, the whole body, increases the labors of the heart, by which it must weaken that organ, deranges the brain and nerves, vitiates the blood and all of the digestive juices, none of which effects are favorable to even the robust, while none of the sick can tolerate any such antagonistic agencies.

The action of alcohol—as a drink, medicine, or as a bath—is always in the line of paralysis. Let this thought be emphasized; it always and everywhere tends to benumb, derange, and eventually impair and destroy the sensibilities. In illustration, observe the "rum-blossom" of the drunkard, the red and enlarged nose. The blood vessels are so paralyzed that they cannot perform their ordinary labors, from which fact, in consequence of their relaxed state, the blood is not urged on, the vessel becoming enforced at particular places—in the face, more especially—the accumulation and engorgement increasing the size of the nose, red enough to serve as a warning—like a light-house—to guard the young from being wrecked on the hidden rocks of drunkenness!

The intense red color of the drunkard's brain is produced in precisely the same way as that of the nose, namely, paralysis of the nerves which control the circulation of this part of the body. When the drunkard's face and nose are reddened, or blushing under the influence of alcohol, the brain blushes. The same may be said also of the lungs, the stomach, the liver, the kidneys, and other structures of his body. His whole physical being blushes with shame for the outrage against nature. In consequence of this intense congestion, and the fact that it receives one-fifth of all the blood in the body, the brain participates more than any other organ in the body, except the liver, in the injury wrought by the "demon drink." As before mentioned, it sometimes becomes hardened to such a degree, even during life, that it can be readily distinguished from a healthy brain by the sense of touch alone.

For this reason, no function of the system can be carried on in its normal condition, doing its legitimate labor or office. The brain, therefore, thus robbed of its normal energies by a partial paralysis, is unable intelligently to superintend the running of this wonderful machine, "fearfully and wonderfully made," while the semi-paralyzed nerves, losing a part of their vital force, fail to keep up the telegraphic communication between the brain and all parts of the body which harmony demands.

The heart—occupying the position of the prime motor—enervated by a fearful increase of toils by the use of alcoholic stimulants (goads), laboring under serious disadvantages, must fail to perform its part of the system labor, just to that extent failing to convey nourishment to all parts of the body, as well as failing to gather up the waste and poisonous parts, and convey them to the lungs for renovation and purification. A failure here is but another name for universal failure! If the stomach is not nourished and stimulated by pure blood, it must to that extent be unable to so transform the food into blood as to impoverish the whole system. There must be a general absence of vital force, the supplies being cut off, partially, and the renovating and purifying forces suffering to the same extent. Alcohol is a "two-edged sword," fearfully destroying the vital forces. It attacks both directly and indirectly, first reducing the power of all of the organs of the body; then indirectly aggravating the evils by reducing their nourishment, by impairing digestion. This is an apt illustration of the Bible assertion that "if one member suffers, all will suffer with it."

—Dr. J. H. Hanaford.