HOW ALCOHOL WORKS

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Aug 21, 1893

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 19, No. 41.

HOW ALCOHOL WORKS.

STRONG drink is sure to tell on a man. It tells on his body. Joseph Cook, in one of his lectures, says: "Forbes Winslow, the celebrated English physician for the insane, once told a committee of Parliament that he could dip out of the brain of any habitual drunkard a fluid so full of alcohol that, when put in a spoon and a lamp placed beneath it, the liquid would burn with a blue flame. The blue flame which Forbes Winslow kindled shows the affinity of alcohol for the brain, and should be kept burning as a pillar of fire before tempted men."

A patient said once to a physician, 'Doctor, I must have some kind of a stimulant. I am cold, and alcohol warms me.'

"Precisely," answered the doctor. "See here. This stick is cold [taking up a stick of wood from the box beside the hearth and tossing it into the fire]. Now it is warm. But is the stick benefited?"

"Of course not. It is burning itself."

"And so are you when you are warming yourself with alcohol. You are literally burning up the delicate tissues of your stomach and brain. Some think that there is nourishment in alcohol, but there is just as much nourishment in it as there is in the lash of the whip with which a horse is urged to his highest speed."—Sel.