the United States,
with a cold and violently changeable climate, the habit of drinking
either wines or stronger liquors is liable to develop in some cases a
habit of intemperance. Notably in our country, where nervous
sensitiveness is seen in its extreme manifestations, the majority of
brain-workers are not safe so long as they are in the habit of even
moderate drinking. I admit that this was not the case one hundred years
ago--and the reasons I have already given--it is not the case to-day in
Continental Europe; even in England it is not so markedly the case as in
the northern part of the United States. _For those individuals who
inherit a tendency to inebriety, the only safe course is absolute
abstinence, especially in early life._"
In the same article, Dr. Baird remarks: "The number of those in this
country who cannot bear tea, coffee or alcoholic liquors of any kind, is
very large. There are many, especially in the Northern States, who must
forego coffee entirely, and use tea only with caution; either, in any
excess, cause trembling nerves and sleepless nights. The susceptibility
to alcohol is so marked, with many persons, that no pledges, and no
medical advice, and no moral or legal influences are needed to keep them
in the paths of temperance. _Such persons are warned by flushing of the
face, or by headache, that alcohol, whatever it may be to others, or
whatever it may have been to their ancestors, is poison to them._"
But, in order to give a higher emphasis to precepts, admonition and
medical testimony, we offer a single example of the enslaving power of
appetite, when, to a predisposing hereditary tendency, the excitement of
indulgence has been added. The facts of this case were communicated to
us by a professional gentleman connected with one of our largest
inebriate asylums, and we give them almost in his very words in which
they were related.
A REMARKABLE CASE.
A clever, but dissipated actor married clandestinely a farmer's daughter
in the State of New York. The parents of the girl would not recognize
him as the husband of their child; rejecting him so utterly that he
finally left the neighborhood. A son born of this marriage gave early
evidence of great mental activity, and was regarded, in the college
where he graduated, as almost a prodigy of learning. He carried off
many prizes, and distinguished himself as a brilliant orator. Afterwards
he went to Princeton and studied for the ministry. While
|