HEALTH V. Vigorous secretions a defence to the system. will produce obesity. They possess, what an eminent medical man, in his evidence before the Parliamentary Committee, called, "a vigorous cardiac system," by which the secretions of the different organs are so copious, that the delicate surface of the lining membrane of the stomach, and the rest of the alimentary canal, is greatly defended from the pungency of alcohol-the abundance of mucous which covers it serving as a sheath. On this principle we may account for such a character becoming immensely fat, from drinking even spirits. The physician just referred to, stated to the Committee, that the fattest man he ever beheld was one who died of apoplexy, brought on by gin-drinking. He had been A remarkable accustomed to drink three or four pints of gin per day, and had been known to pour down his throat seventy-two glasses of the same liquor at one sitting, "to show what he could do." 99* This man grew fat from the carbonization of the blood by alcohol, his "vigorous cardiac system" protecting the surface of the alimentary canal, by a copious secretion of mucous. gin-bibber. common from fermented liquors. Nevertheless, instances of obesity from the use of ardent Obesity more spirits are very rare, for but few such constitutions exist; but among drinkers of malt liquors, who take their potations rather moderately, but frequently, and lead what are called easy lives, it is not uncommon to behold an individual having his digestive apparatus carried before him, in a butt beneath his vest, and upon which, if occasion required, he might almost lean his head and fall asleep. The celebrated Dr. George Cheyne was at one period of his life a remarkable example of obesity, from vinous indulgence and free living. Chinese Beauties. In his youth he was remarkably temperate, but repairing Obesity of to London, after his studies, for the practice of medicine," he found the bottle companions, the young gentry, and free livers, the most easy of access and susceptible of friendship; and being naturally of a cheerful temper and lively imagination, soon became much caressed by them, and grew daily in bulk and in friendship with those gay gentlemen and their acquaintances! He continued this course, not only from a natural inclination, but to obtain practice, having observed the method to succeed with others; and by this means his health was, in a few years, much impaired. He became excessively fat, short-breathed, lethargic, and listless. * Vide Evidence of Dr. Farre, Parliamentary Report, p. 102. Inconveniences of fat ones. HEALTH. DRINKING Fat favoring He swelled to such an enormous size, that he exceeded thirty-two stone [or 448 lbs.] in weight! Upon stepping into his chariot quickly, and with any effort, he was ready to faint for want of breath, and his face turned black. not able to ascend above one pair of stairs at a time, without extreme pain and blowing. He labored also under a nervous other diseases and scorbutic disorder, to the most violent degree. His life was an intolerable burden, and his condition deplorable. Having tried all the powers of medicine in vain, he resolved at last, to use milk and vegetable diet, which removed his complaint. His size was reduced to almost one-third; he Temperance recovered his strength, activity, and cheerfulness, with the free and perfect use of his faculties; and by regular observance of regimen, he reached a mature period, for he died at Bath in his seventy-second year,' "* after writing several valuable works for the promotion of temperance. superior to drugs. Obesity of Publicans are a class especially subject to obesity, arising from the constant facilities of sipping their "home-brewed," attended, generally, by free living and ease. The inconvenience of such a state of body is clearly seen in the case of Dr. Cheyne. The individual is encumbered with a load of matter from which he derives no strength, but which being elaborated over his entire cellular system, impedes the circulation of the fluids, and hinders the extraction of waste and assimilation of new muscular matter; while its weight presses upon him in a manner that he can scarcely withstand. He is deprived of activity and rendered imbecile; and if he should at any time venture or be compelled to from obesity. exert himself, he is "almost killed" by the effort. Such a character is most assuredly an object of pity. Imbecility Obesity is, moreover, a predisposing cause to numerous diseases, especially of gout and apoplexy. It also aggravates the deaths of fat symptoms of other maladies, and hence it is that death makes such short work of persons subject to it. Sudden people. Definition of a poison. From what has been adduced, it will be pretty manifest that alcohol is in strict verity a poison. In each detail gone into, we have seen it interfering with the first great law of health-the balance between the waste and supply of the system. In every way it exhibits itself a poison in the strictest sense of the term. For, asks Dr. Mussey-" What Vide Obesity, Paralysis, and Apoplexy, by J. Higginbottom, M.R.C.S., p. 9. HEALTH V. CUSTOMS. is a poison? It is that substance," he replies, "in whatever form it may be, which, when applied to a living surface, disconcerts and disturbs life's healthy movements. It is altogether distinct from substances which are in their nature nutritious. It is not capable of being converted into food and of becoming part of the living organs. We all know that proper food is wrought into our bodies; the action of animal life occasions a constant waste, and new matter has to be taken in, which, after digestion, is carried into the blood and then changed; but poison is incapable of this. It may, indeed, be mixed with nutritious substances, but if it goes into the blood, it is thrown off as soon as the system can accomplish its deliverance, if it has not been too far enfeebled by the influence of the poison. Such a Such a poison is Alcohol- Alcohol one. such in all its forms, mix it with what you may." SECTION III. festation of Alcohol as a Poison. SECONDLY, By hurrying the circulation of the blood, and Second Manidestroying its balance and healthy acting, alcohol likewise manifests itself a poison. On alcoholic liquor being taken into the system, a separation is immediately effected between the spirit and other substances combined with it; and while the watery part of the liquor is taken up by the excreting organs, the spirit forces its way along the blood, and by the medium of its circulation, ramifies the whole of the body, from the crown of the head to the extremity of the great toe. The first general effect experienced after this, is an increased degree of warmth, excitement of resulting from the general nervous excitement and the accelerated speed at which the blood is propelled through its vessels. But after a while, the influence of the spirit subsides; the rate of the circulation diminishes; and the glow followed by of warmth is no longer felt. Physical Alcohol depression. The Law of Now it is a law of the animal economy, that for every pulsation of the blood forced above its natural standard, there shall be one below as the principal, and a certain per centage Stimulation. as interest for the same. Consequently, upon the cessation of excitement, the person who increases his circulation from 70 pulsations per minute, to 80 or 85, has to encounter a depressed pulsation afterwards, when the influence of alcohol HEALTH V. is exhausted-his pulse being often reduced to 58 or 52 instead of seventy. This is the state of circulation in all who are accustomed to stimulate themselves with intoxicating liquors. Under Circulation the influence of alcohol the blood is boiling and bounding through the veins; and during the subsequent collapse, its course is languid, producing a sensation of general debility and lowness. of the blood in drinkers. Temperance and Cheerfulness. An equanimity of temperament is a conserver of health, and the source of the greatest happiness man can enjoy, for it establishes a serenity of mind which fills the soul with continual cheerfulness; but as this physical condition can only result from an evenness in the circulation of the blood, it is manifest that the consumer of alcohol cannot experience it. His circulation, in place of being calm and even, is like a troubled sea, whose waters at one moment swell up into mountain-waves, and at another, subside into the deep below. What should we think of the watch, whose fingers passed over the first six hours of the disc in four and a half, and over time-piece the latter in eight? Yet just such is the life of the drinker. His physical and mental systems are constantly deranged: He is ever either above or below the standard of nature; and, in consequence, is a stranger to the pleasing tranquillity of body and mind resulting from a well-balanced circulation. A deranged a drinker's circulation. The body liable to stimulation. During the depression of the system, the constitution is disease after exceedingly liable to disease, arising from the noxious influences which ever, more or less, surround us. Indeed, the balance in the circulation of the blood is the defence with which nature has provided us, against the operation of these evils; and by whatever circumstances we destroy that balance, we are disarming ourselves in the presence of the foe. A familiar comparison. We will endeavor to illustrate this in a familiar way. Suppose that by mechanism (on the same principle of balance as the circulation of the blood-for one above the standard, one below,) a wheel be made to revolve upon its axle, at just such a speed (say 1000 revolutions per minute) that an arrow could not be shot between its spokes. In this case, if a person ensconced himself behind it, it would clearly serve as an An analogy to efficient means of defence against an enemy, armed only of Circulation. with the bow; since the arrows shot against him would be struck to the ground by the rapid whirl of the spokes. But supposing the individual so timorous as not to be content the balance with the certain safety afforded by his instrument of defence, but (for what he considered still greater safety) were to increase the speed of the wheel from 1000 to 1300 revolutions per minute, it would follow, that when the additional forcethe stimulus-became exhausted, the revolutions would fall below the regular speed of ten hundred, to seven hundred, or perhaps six hundred and fifty revolutions in the minute. Now as the regular speed was just sufficient, and but just sufficient, as a means of defence, it is obvious that a diminished speed would not be sufficient; and as here would be a diminution of three hundred and fifty revolutions, there would be a possibility of the arrows gliding between the spokes, and striking the individual behind the wheel. HEALTH V. An analogy to the Depressed Circulation. The Balance Man's defence against disease. The thousand revolutions per minute-the regular speed of the wheel-will correspond to the balance of the circulation, and the increased revolutions to the stimulation by the use of alcoholic liquor; while the diminished revolutions will represent the depressed circulation which ensues when the influence of the stimulus dies away. Now with a balanced circulation, man is proof against the barbed arrows of disease, and as capable of withstanding the miasma of marshes, bogs, or ill-drained land, with every other noxious exhalation said to produce fevers and the plague, as the wild beast of the forest. Indeed, if we considered mal-aria (badairs) as the origin of those destructive distempers, the wild brute has less chance of escaping them than civilized man ; for having his lair in the jungle, he constantly breathes an atmosphere thickly impregnated with the exhalations of decayed vegetable matter, and loaded with the vapors ascending from the damp surface of the earth. Still, with chances exempt from against him, he is most fortunate, for, to our knowledge, we never heard of typhus fever, yellow fever, or the cholera, raging among the wild tribes of the forest and jungle; while man, on a cultivated soil, is swept to the grave by their ravages.* Fever is one of the most easily preventable diseases, and yet it is one of the most general and, at times, most devas * On this subject, a certain writer observes :-"It is not impossible, but that by great care, the body might be brought to such a tone, the fluids made so bland, that no miasma could corrupt them. Among domestic pampered animals, contagion is common; but naturalists give no account of epidemic diseases among the wild inhabitants of the woods, the air, or the waters."-Oracle of Health, p. 114. Wild beasts fevers, &c. Fever resulting from a destroyed balance of circulation. NOTE. *Health fortified by Temperance. |