An inquiry into the effects of ardent spirits upon the human body and mind : with an account of the means of preventing, and of the remedies for curing them / by Benjamin Rush, M. D. professor of medicine in the University of Pennsylvania.

  • Rush, Benjamin, 1746-1813.
Date:
1819
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An inquiry into the effects of ardent spirits upon the human body and mind : with an account of the means of preventing, and of the remedies for curing them / by Benjamin Rush, M. D. professor of medicine in the University of Pennsylvania. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    spirits, than the solitary instances of recoveries from apparent death by drowning, prove that there is no danger to life from a human body ly- ing an hour or two under water. The body after its death, from the use of distilled spirits, exhibits by dissection certain appearances which are ©f a peculiar nature. The fibres of the stomach and bowels are con- tracted ;—abscesses,—gangrene,—and schirri are found in the viscera—The bronchial vessels are contracted,—the blood-vessels and tendons in many parts of the body are more or less ossi- fied, and even the hair of the head possesses a crispness which renders it less valuable to wig - makers than the hair of sober people. Not less destructive are the effects of ardent spirits upon the human mind. They impair the memory, debilitate the understanding, and pervert the moral faculties. It was probably from observing these effects of intemperance in drinking upon the mind, that a law was for- merly passed in Spain, which excluded drunk- ards from being witnesses in a court of justice. But the demoralizing effects of distilled spirits do not stop here. They produce not only falsehood, but fraud, theft, uncleanliness, and murder. Like the demoniac mentioned in the New-Testament, their name is legion,' for they convey into the soul a host of vices' and crimes. A more affecting spectacle cannot be ex- hibited than a person into whom this infernal sptrit, generated by habits of intemperance, has entered. It is more or less affecting according to the station the person fills in a family) or in society, who is possessed by it- Is he a hus- band I How deep the ailguish which rends