An essay on the pernicious effects of the use of ardent spirits / by the late Doctor Benjamin Rush.

  • Rush, Benjamin, 1746-1813.
Date:
1815
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An essay on the pernicious effects of the use of ardent spirits / by the late Doctor Benjamin Rush. 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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    with spirits, every day. There is great danger of con- tracting habits of intemperance from this practice. Be- sides, this mode of preventing intermittents, is far from being a certain one. A much better security against them, is a teaspoonful of the Jesuits bark, taken every morning during a sickly season. If this safe and excel- lent medicine cannot be had, a gill or half a pint of a strong watery infusion of centaury, camomile, wormwood, or rue, mixed witli a little of the calamus of our mead- ows, may be taken every morning with nearly the same advantage as the Jesuits bark. Those persons who live in a sickly country, and cannot procure any of the pre- a entires of autumnal fevers, which have been mentioned, should avoid the morning and evening air—should kindle fires in their houses, on damp days, and in cool evenings, throughout the whole summer, and put on winter clothes about the first week in September. The last part of these directions, applies only to the inhabitants of the middle states. 4. Men who follow professions, which require constant exercise of the faculties of their minds, are very apt to seek relief, by the use of ardent spirits, from the fatigue which succeeds great mental exertions. To such persons it may be a discovery to know, that tea is a much bet- ter remedy for that purpose. By its grateful and gentle stimulus, it removes fatigue, restores the excitement of the mind, and invigorates the whole system. I am no advocate for the excessive use of tea. When taken too strong, it is hurtf-il, especially to the female constitution; but when taken of a mod'- rate degree of strength, and in moderate quantities, with sugar and cream, or milk, I believe it is in gen; rid innoxious, and at all times to be preferred to ardent spirits, as a cordial for studious men. The late Anthony B< n n t, one of the most laborious