The physiological errors of moderation / by William B. Carpenter.

  • William Benjamin Carpenter
Date:
[1855]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The physiological errors of moderation / by William B. Carpenter. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    THE I PHYSIOLOGICAL ERRORS OF MODERATION. I ; “ Waiteii,” said one of a party of travellers that was stopping, in tire old days of stage-coacliing, tO' dine at the half-way hotd,, “ bring me a glass of brandy-and-water, because it’s hot.” “ Waiter,” cried another, “ bring me a glass of brandy-and-water, because it’s cold.” “ Waiter,” said athird, in the hearing of both, “ bring me a glass of brandy-and-water, because I like it.” If this little stoiy had not been so old and' weU knomi, one 1 lAight have almost imagined tliat it had been invented for the j very purpose of typifying the present aspect of the question we ] are about to discuss; namely, whether the “ moderate” use of ; Alcoholic liquors is beneficial or is injurious to the human system, or may be considered as a matter of such indifiference that it may be fairly left to the decision of individual taste. For, just as the first two of our travellers thought it necessary to assign some i ground for their self-indulgence, so have the advocates of “ Modera- j tion” been driven, by the cogency of the moral arguments for ■ “ Total Abstinence,” to show that thek habit is physiologically good for them; and in attempting to do this, and to rebut the argu- ments of the Total Abstainers, the Moderationists have often advanced reasons as inconsistent with each other, as were those given by the gentlemen in question; nay more, they have not unfrequently contradicted themselves. We feel sure, however, that at least nine hundred and ninety-nine out of every thousand j of those who take their daily draught of ale, or their glass or two of wine, or their tumbler-full of whisky-toddy, would be found— if, like our third traveller, they were honest enough to confess the truth—to do so “because they like it;” and it would be much more to their credit, if they would put the matter on this down- right footing. The author of a recent defence of “ Moderation,”* T> • * Ph/siological Errors of Teetotalism,” in the “ Westminster I Review,” July, 1855.