The bases of the temperance reform: an exposition and appeal./ With replies to numerous objections. By Rev. Dawson Burns.

A lcoliol a Cause of I~ipire Blood.
show the tendency of alcohol, whenever present in the
blood, to deteriorate the element on whose purity all
health depends. "By experimenting on the blood (drawn
from the body) with sherry wine, or diluted alcohol, the
blood disc becomes altered in shape, and throws out matter from its interior; minute molecular particles also
fringe the circumference. Some of these molecules separate from the blood discs, and float about in the fluid;
othlers elongate into tails which move about with a tremulous motion in a very remarkable manner."* Dr. Smiles,
in his Life of George Stephenson, relates an anecdote to
the effect that the great engineer, who was exceedingly
fond of microscopical observations, submitted to this test
blood taken from several of his friends, and pronounced
the blood of one, who was a teetotaler, to be "the most
lively of the whole." This might be a simple coincidence,
but it was in accordance with the principle that, other
things being equal, blood unaffected by alcohol will be
the purest and "most lively" of all.
(4) The fiowers aindfrocess of dzgestion are weakened and
impeded by the action of alcoholic liquor. Dr. Gordon,
of the London Hospital, in his evidence before the
Parliamentary Committee of 1834, said, " Dyspepsia has
become the common disease of the poor class, produced
entirely by the practice of sipping constantly and habitually small quantities of spirits." That the use of alcoholic
fluids hinders the process of digestion is also demonstrated
by direct experiments. Dr. Beddoes relates that, after
giving two young dogs, of the same litter, equal quantities of food, three drachms of the spirit of wine of commerce, mixed with a drachm of water, were poured down
the throat of one of the animals. On opening both, five
hours afterwards, the stomach of the dog to which the
alcohol had been given, was found nearly twice as full as
* "The Physiological Action of Alcohol," by Dr. Monroe.
5 1