"MISCELLANEOUS.-Found dead, 3 males; do. drowned, 15 males and 9 females; poverty and destitution, 1 male; exposure to cold, 2 males and 1 female; hydrophobia, 1 male; total, 32. "Grand total for 1853, 312." Drink, no doubt, had much to do with all those classes italicised. 66 The Shrewsbury Chronicle reports amongst the proceedings at one of the Quarter Sessions (1847), that "the CORONER stated, that "the extravagant use of intoxicating liquors, and the temptations "held out to the people by the Public-houses and Beershops, "were the cause, either directly or indirectly, of nearly all the cases brought before him as Coroner for the county.” (§ 131). In the county of Lancaster alone, for 1846, we find amongst the items of expenditure, the cost of 1,455 coroners' inquests. Mr HEYES, a coroner for one of the districts, says :-"I have noted for pretty nearly the last twenty years, that if you exclude inquests held on children [many of which arise also from the carelessness of drinking mothers], and accidents in collieries, nearly nine-tenths of the inquests I hold each year, are on the bodies of persons whose deaths are to be attributed to drinking."* But perhaps the most emphatic testimony, is one given by a gentleman who, we shall be glad to learn, is now ready in his place in Parliament to sustain the Prohibitory doctrine which he some years back promulgated at two inquests ?-we refer to Mr WAKLEY, M.P. The case was published in the papers at the time; the first in June, 1839, and the other shortly afterwards. Here are the extracts made : "Mr WAKLEY: I think intoxication likely to be the cause of one-half the inquests that are held.-Mr BELL, (clerk to the inquests): The proportion of deaths so occasioned was supposed to be 3 out of 5.-Mr WAKLEY: Then there are annually 1,500 inquests in the Western division of Middlesex, and, according to that ratio, 900 of the deaths are produced by hard drinking. I am surprized that the Legislature, which is so justly particular about chemists and druggists vending poison, is not equally so with the vendors of gin, which appears to cause such a dreadful waste of life." At the second inquest, the same Coroner was reported as saying:- "Gin may be thought the best friend I have: it causes me to hold annually 1,000 inquests more than I should otherwise hold. But, besides these, I have reason to believe, that from ten to fifteen thousand persons die in this metropolis annually from the effects of gin-drinking, upon whom no inquests are held. Since I have been Coroner, I have seen so many murders, by poison, by drowning, by hanging, by cutting the throat, in consequence of drinking ardent spirits, that I am astonished the Legislature does not interfere. I am confident that they will, before long, be obliged to interfere with the sale of liquors containing alcohol. The gin-seller should be made as responsible as the chemist and druggist. If a publican allows a man to stand at his bar, and serves him with several glasses of liquor, Cited in Chaplain's Annual Report of the County House of Correction, at Preston, 1847. and sees him drink till he gets intoxicated; and if that man should afterwards die, and a surgeon should depose that his death was accelerated by the liquor so drunk, then would the publican be liable to be punished for having aided to bring about that death." When an advocate of Liquor-prohibition,* glorious JOHN MILTON, in his great epic, said— Some by violent stroke shall die, By Fire, Flood, Famine; by Intemperance more he softened the terrible truth, since, while Intemperance is itself, those are its companions and consequences. He goes on to predicate very justly, that Intemperance on the earth shall bring Diseases dire, of which a monstrous crew § 113. Referring to physiological treatises on the DISEASES of that Intemperance which the Traffic fosters, we merely present illustrations of the probable extent of loss which we sustain by the system, in reference, first, to the more special and fixed complaints of society, chiefly arising from impaired organisms; and, second, in reference to epidemics, and suddenly destructive disorders. The first may be estimated by the impaired health of drinkers, and by their increased mortality. Experiments in the Indian Army, and in the Army of the German Confederation, amongst thousands of men; the comparison of the Temperance Sick Clubs with the best of the ordinary ones; the tables of the mortality of the members of the Temperance Provident with that of the common Life Assurance Societies; all bring us to this conclusion as to relative sickness and mortality per cent. TEETOTALERS, 1; Careful Drinkers, 2; Intemperate, 4. It has long been noted that the London Bills of Mortality show a rise and fall in deaths corresponding with the consump tion (as that with the price) of spirituous liquors. For example, from 1741 to 1743 inclusive, the deaths exceeded the births by 41,094. This was during the Gin-mania (§ 52). But from 1751 to 1753, when heavy duties had been imposed on spirits, the deaths exceeded the births only by 15,346. A corresponding decrease in the spirit-excise had taken place. The Distilleries in 'full-blast' had destroyed 25,748 lives more in the former period of three years, than the Distilleries restricted' had been *"What more foul common sin among us than drunkenness? Who can be ignorant, that if the importation of wine were forbid, it would both clean rid the possibility of committing that odious vice, and men might afterwards live happily and healthfully without the use of intoxicating liquors." + Detailed by Lieut.-Col, SYKES in the Statistical Journal. Vide Mr CLAY'S Table in the Preston Sanitary Report (Health of Towns' Commission. 1st Report) allowed to do in the latter. In the former period, 16,473 persons perished in London of fever in the latter period, only 7581-a diminution of nearly 3000 cases annually. (The births varied but slightly.) The Act of 1751, then, by lessening the consumption of spirits, saved in three years, in the Metropolis alone, not less than 25,748 lives. It is worthy of observation also, that, in the first period, the deaths by excessive drinking were 43 annually; in the second period, only 16-a sufficient indication of general improvement. Nor are these isolated cases, or mere coincidences. As far as statistics enable us to go, the fact seems to be invariable. The general mortality, and the deaths by fever, so greatly curtailed by the partial restrictions of 1751, were still further lessened by the total prohibition of Distilling from March 25th, 1757, up (with an interval) to April 25th, 1760, when the duty was increased. We tabulate the results for comparison : GALLONS OF SPIRITS DISTILLED. The same fact of connexion between a florishing Traffic and an increased mortality is shown by taking the consumption of Spirits over a lengthened term of years. Thus : YEARS. On comparing the first term of ten years with the last, it will be seen that some general sanitary improvements must have been taking place in London, the effect of which had been hidden by the predominating influence of the Traffic in the intermediate half-century, but which now assert themselves. When, in 1826, the consumption of Spirits became doubled, as the consequence of reduced duty, the deaths in England and Wales increased by 13,143. From June, 1808, to December, 1809, the distilling of whisky from Corn was prohibited in Ireland, and, of course, the consumption greatly decreased. What followed in DUBLIN ? In those years, the patients admitted into the Fever Hospital, in Cork Street, were 1,071 and 1,051; but in 1810, when the pro hibition ceased, the patients increased to 1,774.* At the Sick Poor Institution, in Meath Street, there were, in 1808-9 respectively, 8,139 and 8,069 patients admitted: but, in 1810, the admissions were 9,075.† As to Mortality, Dublin gives similar evidence to London. The Dublin Journal, of December 31st, 1757, and Sleater's Dublin Gazette, for January, 1761, December 30th, 1758, and January, 1760, have preserved the following facts : In WATERFORD, the admissions in the Fever Hospital for the years of prohibition averaged 189, but in 1810 they increased to 410; while the patients admitted into the Dispensary rose from 4,227 to 5,708. In the City of Glasgow, in 1821 and 1822, the average deaths were 3690 but in 1823, when the duty on Spirits was greatly reduced, the deaths rose to 4670. In other words, the mere expansion of the Traffic killed, in that year, 980 people in one single city of Christendom! ESKILSTUN, in Sweden, with a population of 4000, is equally notorious for its drinking and its mortality. Professor Huss found, that of the whole number of males, one in 30, and of females, one in 40, died yearly! In the district of Jemtland, where comparative 'moderation' prevails, the mean annual deaths are but one in 78 of the males, and one in 82 of the females. § The loss of labor, general and domestic, and the cost of attendance, medical and other, involved in the system exposed, is absolutely incalculable. Our method gives the simple aggregated result of Disease in various forms; but it speaks of dyspepsia, dropsy, liver complaint, bilious fever, rheumatism, and chronic affections of the kidney and the brain; and, lastly, of the fatal, insidious phthisis! LIPPICH, in his work on Vital Statics, states that the result of enquiries into forty children of intemperate parents was, that six only could be in possession of vigorous health; while two-thirds of that offspring, which would have followed in the case of sober *See Report for 1817, p. 56. + See Report for 1817, p. 5. See Report by Dr BRACKEN, 1817. p. 13. Cited by the author of the Inquiry, etc. In 1821, according to Porter's Progress of the Nation, v. ch. iv., with a duty of 6s. 2d. per gallon on Spirits, the Scotch consumed per head, 1.14 gallons; but -in 1881, with a lowered duty of 3s. 4d., the consumption had reached 2.41 per head. * Om Sverges Endemiska Sjukdomar, p. 119. Stockholm, 1852. parents, were withered in the womb! To license the Traffic, therefore, is virtually to legalize the worst form of infanticide. Truly, did JOHN WESLEY declare, that the Traffickers are "Poisoners General.' § 114. The second class of disease wholly engendered of the Traffic or promoted into virulence by it, is shown in a variety of ways. According to LIPPICH, of 100 drunkards whose career had been minutely traced, fifty-two had perished within four years! This means erysipelas, mortification in hospitals, acute fevers, apoplexy, fatal fits, exposure to cold, 'found dead,' and the strange verdicts entitled " Died from the Visitation of God,” as well as the delirium tremens' and 'Intemperance' which are the sole acknowledged fruits of the Traffic in the Tables of Mortality.* Yet we learn from the Registrar General's Annual Report, that under the last two items were included, from 1838 to 1842, in England, not less than 2,044 persons! Mr NEISON, the actuary, has shown that the mortality of drunkards at the ages from 21 to 30, is five times, and from 31 to 50, four times greater than the rest of the community, at the same ages. He allows that, at the very least, 1 in 74 of our entire male population is an acknowledged, completed drunkard: and he shows that at the ages Between 41 and 50, there is 1 out of 16 who dies of drink. 1 out of 21 LIPPICH found that all common disorders became aggravated through drink, by tendencies to a nervous or putrid type, with rapid sinking of the strength. *Two-thirds of the deaths absurdly ascribed by unscrupulous Juries to 'Natural causes, are cases of poisoning by gin, ale, or other alcoholic mixture. The relatives of such parties often strive to conceal the truth, and thus make the inquest a mockery; and this under pretence of loving regard for the dead! These persons, who do not care for the victim so much as to deny themselves of a glass now and then-are only sensitive as to the publication of the fact! An instance occurred at an inquest at Rochdale, June 9th, 1856, on the body of L. J. Hunt, cut off in the prime of life, by what the Jury blasphemously called Natural causes'-viz. ale and spirit drinking! The surgeon deposed, that on the post mortem examination, he found"the lungs diseased, the right lung congested, with an effusion of two "or three quarts of bloody-serum in the left side of the chest, and some threads of "lymph, the result of inflammation. The heart was flabby, with more fat than usual. "The liver was extensively diseased, and indicated very free living. The stomach "was unhealthy-the mucous membrane indicating inflammation, as the result of "stimulants. The color of the liver was clearly such as was caused by stimulants." No doubt, chronic pleurisy and effusion, producing asphyxia, were the immediate cause of death-but it is equally certain that these conditons were induced by drinking. Of all such cases, far more numerous than the others, the register gives 'no sign-and Society, with a selfish hypocrisy, seeks to hush up and ignore them. The London papers of August 5th, 1856, narrate an inquest on the body of R. LOCKHART, a private in the Scots Greys, who died suddenly on the march from Farnham to Workingham. The fatigue and distress he experienced, be himself had attributed to having been up all night drinking, in the company of two women; and the post-mortem made by Dr LLEWELLYN showed the lungs gorged with blood, and led the doctor to tell the jury that the deceased had died of suffocation, produced by excessive drinking." Nevertheless, the jury found that the deceased had died from suffocation brought on by over fatigue,' from a compulsory march under a burning sun. This is solemnly lying in the face of the sun. +Journal of Statistical Society, xiv, p. 200. Our attention has just been called to a paper on 'The Vital Statistics of Strong |