Phrenology versus intemperance : a lecture on temperance, considered physiologically and phrenologically : or, The laws of life, and the principles of the human constitution, as developed by the sciences of phrenology and physiology, applied to total abstinence from all alcoholic and intoxicating drinks / by O.S. Fowler.

  • Fowler, O. S. (Orson Squire), 1809-1887.
Date:
1841
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Phrenology versus intemperance : a lecture on temperance, considered physiologically and phrenologically : or, The laws of life, and the principles of the human constitution, as developed by the sciences of phrenology and physiology, applied to total abstinence from all alcoholic and intoxicating drinks / by O.S. Fowler. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    latter. No law of nature is more clear or universal than that by which alcohol excites the brain and nerves. As soon may one deny the effects of gravity, or question the phenomena of optics or chemistry, as attempt to controvert this proposition. As soon can he carry coals of fire in his bosom and not be burned, as bring alcohol in contact with the brain or nerves without powerfully exciting them. Indeed, it is taken mostly on account of its stimulating qualities. PROPOSITION VI.—The exciting properties of alcohol are re- tained after it is taken into the system.—1. This is abundantly evinced by the stimulus or increased action which it imparts to the muscles, and indeed to the whole animal economy. 2. It passes unchanged into the blood, having the same irritating effect in the system that it has when applied externally. It has been extracted from the blood by chemical analysis, and found in the watery secretions of the brain of drunkards after death, and that in such abundance as to send forth the alcoholic flame and smell. E. C. Delavan put the question, Is alcohol digesti- ble? to forty of our most eminent physicians, and every reply con- tained a full, unequivocal negative. Cases of spontaneous combustion, in which the bodies of topers, in spite of their incombustibility, actu- ally ignite and burn to death, incontestibly establish this point. Again: this blood, thus surcharged with this powerful stimulant, this deadly poison, is brought into direct contact with every part and particle of the entire system, with every shred of every nerve, and with every fibre of every muscle, the ramifications of its vessels being inconceiva- bly minute and numerous. The blood thereof is indeed the life thereof. As is the state of the blood, so is that of the system in gen- eral, and of the brain and mind in particular. The same is substantially true of the stomach. Its condition powerfully affects that of the great sympathetic nerve, which in its turn influences the entire system, espe- cially the base of the brain. PROPOSITION Yll.—Moui one seventh part of the blood is sent to the head, ivhich is several hundred per cent, more in proportion to its size, than is carried to any other portion of the system.'—This is the universal testimony of all physiologists. The reason is obvious. By a law of our nature, every action of every nerve and muscle, every exercise of brain and mind, causes a proportionate expenditure of vital energy. The blood being the great medium for re-supplying this exhaust- ed vital energy, is most abundant where the greatest re-supply is deman- ded. Hence, since the brain is the organ of the mind, since the irritating effect of alcohol is most powerful, almost as much so as fire or arsenic, since its exciting property is retained after it is taken into the blood, and since so much greater a proportion of blood is sent to the head than to any other part of the system, the effects of alcohol upon the mind of man must be most powerful and tremendous, either for good or for evil. Still farther: however extraordinary man is as a merely physical being, it is his intellectual and moral qualities which constitute the chief ends of his existence. He was never made merely to eat and sleep, to breathe and labor and die. He was created mainly to think and feel, to adore God and to study his works. It is not his coat, nor yet his body, but it is his intellectual and moral nature which constitutes the manhood of man. All else is not worth counting. This is the man. This consti-