An essay on the influence upon health of alchoholic drinks as an article of diet : including the consideration whether any quantity, of any kind, be necessary for the maintenance of health in those engaged in laborious occupations : to which was adjudged the prize offered by the Rev. J.A. James, to the students of the Royal School of Medicine and Surgery, Birmingham / by Edward Turner.

  • Turner, Edward, 1798-1837.
Date:
1838
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An essay on the influence upon health of alchoholic drinks as an article of diet : including the consideration whether any quantity, of any kind, be necessary for the maintenance of health in those engaged in laborious occupations : to which was adjudged the prize offered by the Rev. J.A. James, to the students of the Royal School of Medicine and Surgery, Birmingham / by Edward Turner. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    rits, that the use of these liquors is debilitating, instead of the re- verse. The immediate stimulus gives a temporary courage, and its effect is mistaken for an infusion of new strength; but the slightest attention will show how exactly the result is the reverse. It is suffi- cient to give men under hard and steady labour a draught of the usual grog, or a dram, to perceive that, often in a few minutes, they be- come languid, or, as they generally term it, faint ; losing their strength in reality, while they attribute that to the continuance of fa- tiguing exertions. He who will make the corresponding experiments on two equal boats' crews, rowing in a heavy sea, will soon be con- vinced that the water-drinkers will far outdo the others. But this debilitating effect may be carried so far as even to endanger life itself. It is inconceivable, says Richerand, that the muscular irritability may be so far impaired by the use of spirituous liquors that the heart and diaphragm might lose the power of contraction, which would bring on complete asphyxia. Emaciation is peculiarly characteristic of the spirit drinker. All drunkards, if they live long enough, be- come emaciated; the fat is absorbed from every part. The whole body gets lank and debilitated, and there is a want of due warmth. The occurrence of emaciation is not at all to be wondered at, for spi- rits, besides being possessed of no nutritive properties, lull the sensi- bility of the stomach by their narcotic effects ; and, thus cutting off that supply of nervous influence which is so essentially necessary to digestion, chymification of the food is prevented, the quality deterio- rated, and the quantity of chyle diminished. The principles of nu- trition being thus affected, it is not to be wondered at that emaciation should take place. But it is produced in a much greater degree by the increased energy of the arterial system, if this is too great, which it undoubtedly is. What is the consequence ? The system gets rid of more matter than it otherwise would, and becomes thin and lan- guid. Corpulency, not less a disease than the foregoing, is generally caused by malt liquors, principally by the nutritious matter they con- tain. The pimples on the face and general fulness, in persons ac- customed to drinking, arises from accumulation in the system ; but these symptoms arise more generally when a person who has been accustomed to this habit forsakes it. The secerning system, which was before sufficiently stimulated by what was taken to carry off all superfluous humours, this stimulant being taken away, the excretories grow torpid, and accumulations take place in the various viscera, and indeed the whole body ; for the excretories are more apt to become