The physiology of digestion, considered with relation to the principles of dietetics / By Andrew Combe.

  • Andrew Combe
Date:
1845
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The physiology of digestion, considered with relation to the principles of dietetics / By Andrew Combe. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    they are resorted to on all occasions, mournful and convivial, as if they were alike a specific against every evil, and an enhancer of every joy. Among the poor, especially, whisky or gin is con- sidered a sovereign remedy for every disease. Even to infants it is admi- nistered with a recklessness which sa- vours strongly of barbarism ; and, as might be expected, the consequences are deplorable. Among the higher classes, too, brandy and strong stimuli are in more frequent use than they ought to be; and medical men should be on their guard against directly or indirectly encouraging in their pa- tients a practice so utterly destructive to both physical and moral happiness. ¥or it is to be feared that, in some in- stances, the stimulant bitters and anti-spasmodics, so generally had re- course to in indigestion and nervous diseases, have had an unsuspected share in the formation of a habit of intem- perance. é Of late years, great exertions have been made, both in this country and in America, to warn the public against indulging in the use of ardent spirits ; and powerful facts and arguments, as well medical as moral, have been ad- duced to demonstrate the unspeakably greater advantages of temperance. These efforts have been followed with astonishing success, and the good al- ready effected is immense. In Ire- land especially, the reformation in the habits and morals of the people under the total abstinence system so ener- getically and eloquently advocated by Father Mathew, almost surpasses be- lief from its extent and universality, and must be highly gratifying to every philanthropic mind. It is probable, however, that the good thus achieved would be still further increased, and rendered more permanent, if mere ab- stinence from intoxicating liquors were not so exclusively inculcated, and the advocates of reform concerned themselves more in improving the general character, as the surest road to reformation, and in providing re- sources by means of which the reforma- tion, when once effected, may be fuily produced by elevation of mind, and an improved state of moral feeling, wil be not only much more beneficial in its consequences, but infinitely more proof against temptations, than that which is observed merely in fulfilment of a vow; and unless something be made to come in the place of the en- joyment which is withdrawn, the dan- ger of a relapse will continue to be great. The importance of this prin- ciple is perhaps not sufficiently recog- nised in the otherwise valuable labours of Temperance Societies: but the in- stitution of reading-rooms accessible to the poor at a trifling expense is an important step in the right direction ; and every one must rejoice to witness the powerful and successful efforts now made to provide parks and pleasure- grounds for the recreation of the people in large towns. Those annual or bien- nial exhibitions of manufactured ar- ticles, curiosities, and objects of art, which have lately been made in the Mechanics’ Institutions of Manchester, Liverpool, and Leeds, and which were visited by vast multitudes of work- people and their families, are also worthy of high commendation. Cheap railway and steam-boat trips to places remarkable for scenery or other in- teresting objects, are another excel- lent means of promoting, both physi- cally and morally, the cause of tem- perance; and I doubt not that, ere long, many new sources of recreation to the lower classes will be opened up. If to the boundless stores of cheap and excellent literature that nowissue from the press, an efficient system of national education were added, the increase of sobriety, consequent on these and other appliances, would be such as to make posterity look back with surprise or incredulity upon the barbarous intem- perance of the present and former times. Many persons imagine that spirits, taken in moderate quantity, cannot be injurious, because they feel no immediate bad effects from their use. If the fun- damental principle which I have ad- vanced is sound, and if all the func-
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