and cooling, which are the great uses of drink
pointed out to us by nature. Hence it is evident that water in general
is the best and most wholesome drink; but as some constitutions require
something to warm and stimulate the stomach, fermented liquors may be
proper, if taken in moderation. It is necessary however, that beer, ale,
cider, and wine, be taken in a sound state and of proper age, or they
will be highly detrimental. Spirituous liquors, taken too freely, or in
a raw state, are attended with direful effects, and are the destruction
of thousands. From the degree of heat they have undergone in
distillation, they acquire a corrosive and burning quality, which makes
them dangerous to the constitution. They contract the fibres and smaller
vessels, especially where they are tenderest, as in the brain, and thus
destroy the intellectual faculties. They injure the coat of the stomach,
and so expose the nerves and relax the fibres, till the whole stomach
becomes at last soft and flabby. Hence ensues loss of appetite,
indigestion, and diseases that generally terminate in premature death.
Light wines of a moderate strength, and matured by age, are more
wholesome than strong, rich, and heavy wines, and pass off the stomach
with less difficulty. Red port is strong and astringent, but white port
and Spanish wines are stimulating and attenuating. French wines are
lighter, and not so strong as the Portuguese and Spanish wines, which
renders them wholesomer for thin and dry constitutions. Rhenish and
Moselle wines are the most wholesome of any, where acidity is not
hurtful. Home made wines are prejudicial to all constitutions, being
very windy and heady. The notion that liquors of any kind assist
digestion, is quite erroneous, as wine and all other strong liquors are
as hard to digest as strong solid food. Those who drink only water or
small beer at their meals, are able to eat and digest almost double the
quantity of what they could, if they drank strong liquors. When the
stomach is uneasy from too much food, or such as is indigestible, strong
liquors produce a deceitful glow in the stomach, which induces a belief
of their having the beneficial effect of assisting digestion. The
fallacy of this conclusion is sufficiently apparent from the state in
which cherries are found, after they have been steeped in brandy:
instead of becoming more tender, they are rendered as tough as leather.
Similar effects are produced on food in the st