Temperance prize essays / By Drs. Mussey and Lindsly.

Date:
1835
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Temperance prize essays / By Drs. Mussey and Lindsly. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    CHAPTER X. » Do Alcoholic Stimulants Contribute to Strength ? Tuis question has at different times given rise to no little discussion, but it seems at last irre- versibly decided in the negative. ‘The idea which formerly prevailed, that alcoholic liquors contri- bute permanently to strength, arose no doubt from the temporary feelings of excitement and appa- rent strength which they occasion. But these illusions have long since vanished before the rea- sonings and observations of a more correct phi- losophy, and a more extended experience. Lord Bacon has somewhere remarked, that a regimen which conduces to the prolongation of life may be injurious to health; and that a, regi- men. beneficial to health may abridge life—but although this may in some instances be true, yet as there isa close and intimate connexion between health and permanent strength, we may suppose that whatever conduces to the one will contribute to the other; and hence the best way of ascer- taining whether alcoholic stimulants increase strength is to inquire into their effects on health. The different degrees of debility, which may of course vary from the slightest degree of exhaus- tion to almost total prostration, can be relieved by two methods, the one gradual, the other. rapid.