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ADDRESS 



EFFECTS OF INTEMPERANCE 



INTELLECTUAL, MORAL, AND PHYSICAL POWERS 



ORIGINALLY DELIVERED 



BEFORE TH» 



WASHINGTON CITY TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. 



BY THOMAS ISEWALL, M. D. 

Frefmor of Anatomy and Physiology in the Columbian College* 



PUBLISHED BY THE 

AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 

4ND SOLD AT THEIR DEPOSITORY, NO. 144 NASSAU-STREET, NEA* 

THE CITY-HALL, NEW-YORK ; AND BY AGENTS OF THE 

SOCIETY, ITS BRANCHES AND AUXILIARIES, IN 

THE PRINCIPAL CITIES AND TOWNS 

IN THE UNITED STATES. 



& BR. 

SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION OF DRUNKARDS. 

The spontaneous combustion of drunkards is a fact well 
established in Medical science. The following are among 
numerous instances which have been related by eminent 
physicians and others. 

Dr. Peter Schofield, in a late address delivered at the 
formation of a Temperance Society in the township of 
Bastard, in the district of Johnstown, in the province of 
Upper Canada, states a case of spontaneous combustion 
which occurred in his practice, 'fit is well authenticated," 
says the Doctor, "that many habitual drinkers of ardent 
spirits are brought to their end by what is called 'sponta- 
neous combustion." By spontaneous combustion I mean 
when a person takes fire by an electric shock, and burns 
up without any external application. Trotter mentions 
several such instances. One happened under my own ob- 
servation. It was the case of a young man about twen- 
ty-five years old: he had been an habitual drinker for 
many years. I saw him about 9 o'clock in the evening on 
which it happened. He was then, as usual, not drunk, 
but full of liquor. About 11 the same evening I was called 
to see him. I found Tiim literally roasted from the crown 
of his head to the soles of his feet. He was found in a 
blacksmith's shop, just across the way from, where he had 
been. The owner, all of a sudden, discovered an exten- 
sive light in his shop, as though the whole building was in 
one general flame. He ran with the greatest precipitancy, 
and on flinging open the door, discovered a man Standing 
erect in the midst of a widely extended silver-colored 
blaze, bearing, as he described it, exactly the appearance 
of the wick of a burning candle in the midst of its own 
flame. He seized him by the shoulder and jerked him 
to the door, upon which the flame was instantly extin- 
guished. 

" There was no fire in the shop, neither was there any 
possibility of fire having been communicated to him from 

(See page 3 of cover. 

No. 249. 



DR. 

any external source. It was purely a case of spontaneous 
ignition. A general sloughing soon came on, and his flesh 
was consumed, or removed in the dressing, leaving the 
bones and a few of the larger blood vessels standing. The 
blood, nevertheless, rallied around the heart and maintained 
the vital spark until, the thirteenth day, when he died, not 
only the most loathsome, ill-featured, and dreadful picture 
that was ever presented to human view ; but his shrieks, 
his cries, and lamentations, were enough to rend the heart 
of adamant. He complained of no pain of body — his 
flesh was gone.. He said he was suffering the torments of 
hell ; that he was just upon its threshold, and should soon 
enter its dismal caverns; and in this frame of mind gave 
up the ghost. O, the death of a drunkard ! Well may it 
be said to beggar all description. I have seen other drunk- 
ards die, but never in a manner so awful and affecting. 
They usually go off senseless and stupid, as it regards a 

future State !" _ Kingstoa Gazette. 



THE; BURNING OF THE HIBIAN BODY BY HABITUAL 
DRUNKENNESS. 

Many curious examples of this are given in the history 
of intoxicating liquors contained in the third volume of DK 
Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopaedia. In these cases, the body 
became so saturated with spirits, that it took fire either 
spontaneously or by the proximity of flame, which other- 
wise could have produced no injury. We extract the 
following; 

Mary Clues, aged, fifty, was much addicted to intoxica- 
tion. Her propensity to this was such, that for about a 
year scarcely a day passed in which she did not drink at 
least half a pint of rum, or anniseed-water. Her health 
gradually declined ; she was attacked with jaundice, and 
was confined to her bed. She still continued her old ha- 
bit of drinking. One morning she fell on the floor ; and 
her weakness haying prevented her getting up, she remain- 
ed so till some one entered and put her to bed. The fol- 

No. 249. 



4 dr. sbwall's address. 24 page* 

lowing night she wished to be left alone. A woman, on ; 
quitting her, had put coal on the fire, and placed a light on 
a, chair at the head of the bed. At five in the morning a 
smoke was seen issuing through the window, and the door 
being broken open, some flames which were in the room 
were soon extinguished. Between the bed and the chim- 
ney were found the remains of the unfortunate Clues. One 
leg and a thigh were still entire ; but there remained no- 
thing of the skin, the muscles, or the viscera. The bones 
of the cranium, the breast, the spine, and the upper ex- 
tremities were entirely calcined. The furniture had sus- 
tained little injury. The side of the bed next the chimney 
had suffered most ; the wood of it was slightly burnt, but 
the feathers, clothes, and covering were safe. Nothing 
except the body exhibited any strong traces of fire. 

f Grace Pitt, aged about*60, had a habit of coming down 
from her bed-room, half dressed, to smoke a pipe. One 
night she came down as usual. Her daughter, who slept 
with her, did not perceive she was absent till next morning, 
when she went down to the kitchen and found her mother 
stretched out on the right side, with her head near the 
grate, having the appearance of a log of wood consumed 
by fire, without an apparent flame. The foetid odor and 
smoke which exhaled from the body almost suffocated some 
of the neighbors, who hastened to the girl's assistance. The 
trunk was in some measure incinerated, and resembled a 
heap of coals covered with white ashes. The head, the 
arms, the legs, and the thighs had also participated in the 
burning. This woman had drunk a large quantity of spi- 
rituous liquor. There was no fire in the grate, and the 
candle had burned entirely out in the candlestick, which 
was close to her. Besides, there were found near the con- 
sumed body the clothes of a child and a paper screen, which 
had sustained no injury. The dress of this woman consisted 

Of a COttOn gown. Christian Journal. ; 



Orders for Tracts will receive prompt attention, if ad- 
dressed to " The American Tract Society, No. 144 Nassau* 
street, opposite the City-Hall, New-York." 

No. 249. ■ - 



NO. 249. 
ADDRESS 

ON THE 

EFFECTS OF INTEMPERANCE 

ON THE * 

INTELLECTUAL, MORAL, AND PHYSICAL POWERS. 



ORIGINALLY DELIVERED BEFORE THE WASHINGTON CITY TEMPE- 
RANCE SOCIETY, 

BY THOMAS SEW ALL, M. D. 

Professor of Anatomy and Physiology in the Columbian College. 



We are convened, my fellow-citizens, to attend the first 
anniversary of a Society for the promotion of Tempe- 
rance ; an institution which, in accordance with the spirit 
of the times, has been established through our land by the 
almost united voice of the nation, and this for the sup- 
pression of one of the most alarming evils that ever in- 
fested human society ; a vice, too, so odious in its nature, 
so injurious in its consequences, and attended with so many 
circumstances of suffering, mortification, and disgrace, that 
it seems difficult to understand how it should ever have be- 
come a prevalent evil among mankind ; and more especially 
how it should have come down to us from the early periods 
of society, gaining strength, and power, and influence, in its 
descent. That such is the fact, requires no proof. Its de- 
vastating effects are but too obvious. In these latter times, 
more especially, it has swept over our land with the rapidity 
and power of a tempest, bearing down every thing in its 
course. Not content with rioting in the haunts of ignorance 
and vice, it has passed through our consecrated groves, has 
entered our most sacred enclosures: and oh! how many 
men of genius and of letters have fallen before it! how 
many lofty intellects have been shattered and laid in ruins 
by its power ! how many a warm and philanthropic heart 



[318 

has been chilled by its icy touch ! It has left no retreat u ra- 
vished ; it has alike invaded our public and private assem- 
blies, our political and social circles, our courts of justice 
and halls of legislation. It has stalked within the very walls 
of our Capitol, and there left the stain of its polluting touch 
on our national glory. It has leaped over the pale of the 
Church, and even reached up its sacrilegious arm to the 
pulpit and dragged down some of its richest ornaments. 
It has revelled equally on the spoils of the palace and the 
cottage, and has seized its victims, with an unsparing grasp, 
from every class of society; the private citizen and public 
functionary, the high and the low, the rich and the poor, the 
enlightened and the ignorant : and where is there a family 
among us so happy as not to have wept over some of its 
members, who have fallen by the hand of this ruthless de- 
stroyer 1 

As a nation, intemperance has corrupted our morals, im- 
paired our intellect, and enfeebled our physical strength* 
Indeed, in whatever light we view it, whether as an indivi- 
dual, a social, or national evil, as affecting our personal in- 
dependence and happiness, our national wealth and in- 
dustry; as reducing our power of naval and military de- 
fence, as enfeebling the intellectual energies of the nation, 
and undermining the health of our fellow-citizens ; as 
sinking the patriotism and valor of the nation, as in- 
creasing paupers, poverty and taxation, as sapping the foun- 
dation of our moral and religious institutions, or as introdu- 
cing disorder, distress and ruin into families and society; it 
calls to us, in a voice of thunder, to awake from our slum- 
bers, to seize every weapon, and wield every power which 
God and nature have placed within our reach, to protect 
ourselves and our fellow-citizens from its ravages. 

But the occasion will not permit me to dwell on the ge- 
neral effects of intemperance, nor to trace the history of its 
causes. I shall, therefore, confine myself more particularly 
to a consideration of its influence on the individual: its ef- 
fects on the moral, intellectual and physical constitution of 
man — not the primary effect of ardent spirit as displayed in 
a fit of intoxication ; it is the more insidious, permanent 
and fatal effects of intemperance, as exemplified in the case 
of the habitual dram-drinker, to which I wish to call your 
attention. 



319] dr. sewall's address. 8 

I. The effects of ardent spirit on the moral powers. It 
is perhaps difficult to determine in what way intemperance 
first manifests its influence on the moral powers, so va- 
riously does it affect different individuals. Were I to speak 
from my own observation, I should say that it first appears 
in an alienation of those kind and tender sympathies which 
bind a mm to his family and friends ; those lively sensibili- 
ties which enable him to participate in the joys and sor- 
rows of those around him. " The social affections lose 
their fulness and tenderness, the conscience its power, the 
heart its sensibility, till all that was once lovely, and rendered 
him the joy and the idol of his friends, retires-V and leaves 
hi n to the dominion of the appetites and passions of the 
brute. " Religious enjoyment, if he ever possessed any, 
declines as the emotions excited by ardent spirit arise.' 
He loses, by degrees, his regard to truth and to the fulfilment 
of his engagements — he forgets the Sabbath and the house 
of worship, and lounges upon his bed, or lingers at the 
tavern. He lays aside his Bible — his family devotion is not 
heard, and his closet no longer listens to the silent whispers 
of prayer. He at length becomes irritable, peevish, and pro- 
fane; and is finally lost to every thing that respects decorum 
in appearance, or virtue in principle ; and it is lamentable 
to mark the steps of that process by which the virtuous and 
elevated man sinks to ruin. 

II. Its effects on the intellectual powers. Here the in- 
fluence of intemperance is marked and decisive. The in- 
ebriate first loses his vivacity and natural acuteness of per- 
ception. His judgment becomes clouded and impaired in 
its strength, the memory also enfeebled and sometimes quite 
obliterated. The mind is wandering and vacant, and incapa- 
ble of intense or steady application tG any one subject. This 
state is usually accompanied by an unmeaning stare or 
fixedness of countenance quite peculiar to the drunkard. 
The imagination and the will, if not enfeebled, acquire a 
morbid sensibility, from which they are thrown into a state 
of violent excitement from the slightest causes : hence the 
inebriate sheds floods of tears over the pictures of his own 
fancy. I have often seen him, and especially on his re- 
covery from a fit of intoxication, weep and laugh alternately 
over the same scene. The will, too, acquires an omnipo- 
tent ascendency over him, and is the only monitor to which 



4 dr. sewall's address. [320 

he yields obedience. The appeals of conscience, the claims 
of domestic happiness, of wives and children, of patriotism 
and of virtue, are not heard. 

The different powers of the mind having thus lost their 
natural relation to each other, the healthy balance being de- 
stroyed, the intellect is no longer fit for intense application, 
or successful effort — and although the inebriate may, and 
sometimes does, astonish, by the wildness of his fancy and 
the poignancy of his wit, yet in nine cases out of ten he 
fails, and there is never any confidence to be reposed in him. 
There have been a tew who, from peculiarity of constitu- 
tion, or some other cause, have continued to perform intel- 
lectual labor for many years, while slaves to ardent spirits; 
but in no instance has the vigor of the intellect or its ability 
to labor been increased by indulgence : and where there is 
one who has been able to struggle on under the habits of 
intemperance, there are thousands who have perished in the 
experiment, and some among the most powerful minds that 
the world ever produced. On the other hand, we shall find, 
by looking over the biography of the great men of every 
age, that those who have possessed the clearest and most 
powerful minds, neither drank spirits nor indulged in the 
pleasures of the table. Sir Isaac Newton, John Locke^ 
Dr. Franklin, John Wesley, Sir William Jones, John 
Fletcher, and President Edwards, furnish a striking illus- 
tration of this truth. One of the secrets by which these 
men produced such astonishing results, were enabled to per- 
form so much intellectual labor, and of so high a grade, 
and to arrive at old age in the enjoyment of health, was a 
rigid course of abstinence. But I hasten to consider more 
particularly, 

III. Its effects on the physical powers. In view of this 
part of the subject, the attention of the critical observer is 
arrested by a series of circumstances, alike disgusting and 
melancholy. 

1. The odor of the breath of the drunkard furnishes 
the earliest indication by which the habitual use of ardent 
spirit becomes known. This is occasioned by the exhala- 
tion of the alcoholic principle from the bronchial vessels 
and air-cells of the lungs — not of pure spirit, as taken into 
the stomach, but of spirit which has been absorbed, has 
mingled with the blood, and has been subjected to the ac- 



321] dr. sewall's address. 5 

tion of the different organs of the body; and not containing 
any principle which contributes to the nourishment or reno- 
vation of the system, is cast out with the other excretions, 
as poisonous and hurtful ; and this peculiar odor does not 
arise from the accidental or occasional use of spirit ; it 
marks only the habitual dram-drinker — the one who indul- 
ges daily in his potation ; and although its density varies in 
some degree with the kind of spirit consumed, the habits 
and constitution of the individual, yet it bears generally a 
close relation to the degree of intemperance. These obser- 
vations are confirmed by some experiments made on living 
animals by the celebrated French physiologist, Magendie. 
He ascertained that diluted alcohol, a solution of camphor, 
and some other odorous substances, when subjected to the 
absorbing power of the veins, are taken up by them, and 
after mingling with the blood, pass off by the pulmonary 
exhalants. Even phosphorus injected into the crural vein 
of a dog, he found to pass off in a few moments from the 
nostrils of the animal in a dense white vapor, which he 
ascertained xo be phosphoric acid. Cases have occurred, 
in which the breath of the drunkard has become so highly 
charged with alcohol as to render it actually inflammable 
by the touch of a taper. One individual in particular is 
mentioned, who often amused his comrades by passing his 
breath through a small tube, and setting it on fire as it is- 
sued from it. It appears, also, that this has been the source 
of that combustion of the body of the drunkard which has 
teen denominated spontaneous ; many well authenticated 
cases of which are on record. 

2. The perspirable matter which passes off from the skin 
becomes charged with the odor of alcohol in the drunkard, 
and is so far changed in some cases as to furnish evidence 
of the kind of spirit drank. I have met with two instances, 
says Dr. McNish, the one in a claret, and the other in a 
port drinker; in which the moisture that exhaled from their 
bodies had a ruddy complexion, similar to the wine on which 
they had committed their debauch. 

3. The whole system soon bears marks of debility and 
decay. The voluntary muscles lose their power, and cease 
to act under the control of the will ; and hence all the 
movements become awkward, exhibiting the appearance of 
stiffness in the joints. The positions of the body, also, are 



6 dr. sewall's address. [322 

tottering and infirm, and the step loses its elasticity and vigor. 
The muscles, and especially those of the face and lips, are 
often affected with a convulsive twitching, which produces 
the involuntary winking of the eye, and quivering of the lip, 
so characteristic of the intemperate. Indeed, all the mo- 
tions seem unnatural and forced, as if restrained by some 
power within. The extremities are at length seized with a 
tremor, which is more strongly marked after recovery from 
a lit of intoxication. The lips lose their significant expres- 
sion, and become sensual — the complexion assumes a sickly 
leaden hue, or is changed to an unhealthy, fiery redness, 
and is covered with red streaks and blotches. The eye be- 
comes watery, tender, and inflamed, and loses its intelligence 
and its fire. These symptoms, together with a certain cede- 
matous appearance about the eye, bloating of the whole body, 
with a dry, feverish skin, seldom fail to mark the habitual 
dram-drinker ; and they go on increasing and increasing, till 
the intelligence and dignity of the man is lost in the tame- 
cess and sensuality of the brute. 

But these effects, which are external and obvious, are 
only the "signals which nature holds out, and waves in to- 
ken of internal distress;" for all the time the inebriate has 
been pouring down his daily draught and making merry over 
the cup, morbid changes have been going on within ; and 
though these are unseen, and it may be, unsuspected, they 
are fatal, irretrievable. A few of the most important of 
these changes I shall now describe: 

4. The stomach and its functions. This is the great organ 
of digestion. It is the chief instrument by which food is 
prepared to nourish, sustain and renovate the different tis- 
sues of the body, to carry on the various functions, and to 
supply the waste which continually takes place in the sys- 
tem. It is not strange, therefore, that the habitual applica- 
tion to the organ of any agent, calculated to derange its 
functions, or change its organization, should be followed by 
symptoms so various and extensive, and by consequences 
so fatal. The use of ardent spirit produces both these ef- 
fects; it deranges the functions of the stomach, and if per- 
sisted in, seldom fails to change its organic structure. 

The inebriate first loses his appetite, and becomes thirsty 
and feverish; he vomits in the morning, and is affected with 
spasmodic pains in the region of the stomach. He is often 



323] dr. sewall's address. 7 

seized with permanent dyspepsia, and either wastes away 
by degrees, or dies suddenly of a fit of cramp in the stomach. 

On examining the stomach after death, it is generally 
found irritated, and approaching a state of inflammation, with 
its vessels enlarged, and filled with black blood ; and particu- 
larly those of the mucous coat, which gives to the internal 
surface of the stomach the appearance of purple or reddish 
streaks, resembling the livid patches seen on the face of the 
drunkard. 

The coats of the stomach become greatly thickened and 
corrugated, and so firmly united as to form one inseparable 
mass. In this state, the walls of the organ are sometimes 
increased in thickness to the extent of ten or twelve lines, 
and are sometimes found also in a scirrhous or cancerous 
condition. 

The following case occurred in my practice several years 
since: A middle-aged gentleman, of wealth and standing, 
had long been accustomed to mingle in the convivial circle, 
and though by no means a drunkard, had indulged at times 
in the use of his old cogniac, with an unsparing hand. He 
was at length seized with pain in the region of the stomach, 
and a vomiting of his food an hour or two after eating. In 
about eighteen months he died in a state of extreme ema- 
ciation. 

On opening the body after death, the walls of the whale 
of the right extremity of the stomach were found in a scir- 
rhous and cancerous condition, and thickened to the extent 
of about two inches. The cavity of the organ was so far 
obliterated as scarcely to admit the passage of a probe from 
the left to the right extremity, and the opening which re- 
mained was so unequal and irregular as to render it evident 
that but little of the nourishment he had received could have 
passed the lower orifice of the stomach for many months. 

I have never dissected the stomach of a drunkard, in 
which the organ did not manifest some remarkable deviation 
from its healthy condition. But the derangement of the 
stomach is not limited to the function of nutrition merely. 
This organ is closely united to every other organ, and to 
each individual tissue of the body, by its sympathetic rela- 
tions. When the stomach, therefore, becomes diseased, 
other parts suffer with it. The functions of the brain, the 
heart, the lungs, and the liver become disordered ; the secre- 



8 dr. sewall's address. [324 

tions are altered, and all the operations of the animal econo- 
my are more or less affected. 

5. The liver and its functions. Alcohol, in every form 
and proportion, has long been known to exert a strong and 
speedy influence on this organ, when used internally. A- 
ware of this fact, the poultry-dealers of England are in the 
habit of mixing a quantity of spirit with the food of their fowls, 
in order to increase the size of the liver ; so that they may be 
enabled to supply to the epicure a greater abundance of that 
part of the animal, which he regards as the most delicious. 

The influence of spirit on the liver is exerted in two ways: 
First, the impression made upon the mucous coat of the 
stomach is extended to the liver by sympathy : the second 
mode of action is through the medium of the circulation, and 
by the immediate action of the alcoholic principle on the 
liver itself, as it passes through the organ, mingling with the 
blood. In whichsoever of these ways it operates, its first 
effect is to increase the action of the liver, and sometimes 
to such a degree as to produce inflammation. Its secretion 
becomes changed from a bright yellow to a green or black, 
and from a thin fluid to a substance resembling tar in its 
consistence. There soon follows also an enlargement of 
the liver and a change in its organic structure. I have met 
with several cases in which the liver has become enlarged 
from intemperance, so as to occupy a greater part of the 
cavity of the abdomen, and weighing from eight to twelve 
pounds, when it should have weighed not more than four 
or five. 

The liver sometimes, however, even when it manifests 
great morbid change in its organic structure, is rather dimi- 
nished than increased in its volume. This was the case in 
the person of the celebrated stage-actor, George Frederick 
Cook, who died a few years since in the city of New-York. 
This extraordinary man was long distinguished for the pro- 
fligacy of his life, as well as for the native vigor of his mind 
and body. At the time of his death the body was opened 
by Dr. Hosack, who found that the liver did not exceed its 
usual dimensions, but was astonishingly hard, of a lighter 
color than natural, and that its texture was so dense as to 
make considerable resistance to the knife. The blood-ves- 
sels, which in a healthy condition are extremely numerous 
and large, were in this case nearly obliterated, evincing that 



325] dr. sewall's address. 9 

the regular circulation through the liver, had long since 
ceased ; and tubercles were found throughout the whole 
substance of the organ. 

I have met with several cases in the course of my dissec- 
tions, in which the liver was found smaller than natural, 
schrivelled, indurated, its blood-vessels diminished in size 
and number, with the whole of its internal structure more 
or less changed. In consequence of these morbid changes 
in the liver, other organs become affected, as the spleen, 
the pancreas, &c. either by sympathy or in consequence of 
their dependence on the healthy functions of the liver for 
the due performance of their own. 

6. Of the Brain and its functions. Inflammation and en- 
gorgement of this organ are frequent consequences of in- 
temperance, and may take place during a debauch — or may 
arise some time after, during the stage of debility, from a 
loss of the healthy balance of action between the different 
parts of the system. This inflammation is sometimes acute, 
is marked by furious delirium, and terminates fatally in the 
course of a few days, and sometimes a few hours. At other 
times it assumes a chronic form, continues much longer, 
and then frequently results in an effusion of serum, or an 
extravasation of blood, and the patient dies in a state of in- 
sensibility, with all the symptoms of compressed brain. 
Sometimes the system becomes so saturated with ardent 
spirit, that there is good reason to believe, the effusions 
which take place in the cavities of the brain, and elsewhere, 
are composed, in part at least, of the alcoholic principle. 
The following case occurred, not long since, in England* 
and is attested by unquestionable authority. 

A man was taken up dead in the streets of London, soon 
after having drank a quart of gin, on a wager* He was 
carried to the Westminster Hospital, and there dissected. 
*' In the ventricles of the brain was found a considerable 
quantity of limpid fluid, distinctly impregnated with gin,. 
both to the sense of smell and taste, and even to the test of 
inflammability. The liquid appeared to the senses of the 
examining students, as stvong as one-third gin, and two- 
thirds water." 

Dr. Armstrong, wl>o has enjoyed very ample opportunitj 
of investigating this s' ubject, speaks of the chronic inflamraa- 



10 dr. sewall's address. [326 

tion of the brain and its membranes, as frequently proceed- 
ing from the free use of strong liquors. 

It is a fact familiar to every anatomist, that alcohol, even 
when greatly diluted, has, by its action on the brain after 
death, the effect of hardening it, as well as most of the tis- 
sues of the body which contain albumen, and it is common 
to immerse the brain in ardent spirit for a few days, in order 
to render it the firmer for dissection. 

On examining the brain after death of such as have long 
been accustomed to the free use of ardent spirit, it is said 
the organ is generally found harder than in temperate per- 
sons. It has no longer that delicate and elastic texture. 
Its arteries become diminished in size, and lose their transpa- 
rency, while the veins and sinuses are greatly distended and 
irregularly enlarged. 

This statement is confirmed by my own dissections, and 
they seem also to be in full accordance with all the intellectual 
and physical phenomena displayed in the drunkard, while 
living. 

7. The heart and its functions. It has generally been 
supposed, that the heart is less frequently affected by in- 
temperance, than most of the other great vital organs; but, 
from the history of the cases which have come under my 
own observation, I am convinced that it seldom escapes dis- 
ease under the habitual use of ardent spirit. And why 
should it, since it is thrown almost perpetually into a state 
of unnatural exertion, the very effect produced by the vio- 
lent agitation of the passions, the influence of which upon 
this organ is found so injurious? 

The following case came under my notice, a few winters 
since. A large athletic man, long accustomed to the use of 
ardent spirit, on drinking a glass of raw whiskey, dropped 
instantly dead. On carefully dissecting the body, no ade- 
quate cause of the sudden cessation of life could be found 
in any part, except the heart. This organ was free from 
blood, was hard and firmly contracted, as if affected by 
spasm. I am convinced that many of those cases of sudden 
death which take place with intemperate persons, are the re- 
sult of a spasmodic action of the heart, from sympathy with 
the stomach, or some other part of the system. The use of 
ardent spirit, no doubt, promotes also the ossification of the 



327] dr. sewall's address. 11 

valves of the heart, as well as the developement of other 
organic affections. 

8. The lungs and their functions. Respiration in the ine- 
briate is generally oppressed and laborious, and especially 
after eating or violent exercise ; and he is teased with a 
cough, attended with copious expectoration, and especially 
after his recovery from a fit of intoxication ; and these 
symptoms go on increasing, and unless arrested in their pro- 
gress, terminate in consumption. 

This affection of the lungs is produced in two ways ; first, 
by the immediate action of the alcoholic principle upon the 
highly sensible membrane which lines the trachea, bronchial 
vessels, and air-calls of the lungs, as poured out by the ex- 
halants ; and second, by the sympathy which is called into 
action between the lungs and other organs already in a state 
of disease, and more especially that of the stomach and liver. 

I have met with many cases, in the course of my practice, 
of cough and difficult breathing, which could be relieved only 
by regulating the functions of the stomach, and which soon 
yielded, on the patient ceasing to irritate this organ with 
ardent spirit. I have found the liver still more frequently 
the source of this affection ; and on restoring the organ to its 
healthy condition, by laying aside the use of ardent spirit, 
all the pulmonary symptoms have subsided. 

On examining the lungs of the drunkard after death, they 
are frequently found adhering to the walls of the chest ; 
hepatized, or affected with tubercles. 

But time would fail me, were 1 to attempt an account of 
half the pathology of drunkenness. Dyspepsia, Jaundice, 
Emaciation, Corpulence, Dropsy, Ulcers, Rheumatism, Gout, 
Tremors, Palpitation, Hysteria, Epilepsy, Palsy, Lethargy, 
Apoplexy, Melancholy, Madness, Dtlirium-tremens, and Pre- 
mature old age, compose but a small part of the catalogue 
of diseases produced by ardent spirit. Indeed, there is 
scarcely a morbid affection to which the human body is 
liable, that has not, in one way or another, been produced 
by it ; there is not a disease but it has aggravated, nor a 
predisposition to disease, which it has not called into action; 
and although its effects are in some degree modified by age 
and temperament, by habit and occupation, by climate and 
season of the year, and even by the intoxicating agent itself; 
yet, the general and ultimate consequences are the same. 



12 dr. sewall's address. [328 

But I pass on to notice one state of the system, produced 
by ardent spirit, too important and interesting to leave 
unexamined. It is that predisposition to disease and death 
which so strongly characterizes the drunkard in every situa- 
tion of life. 

It is unquestionably true, that many of the surrounding 
objects in nature are constantly tending to man's destruc- 
tion. The excess of heat and cold, humidity and dryness, 
noxious exhalations from the earth, the floating atoms in the 
atmosphere, the poisonous vapors from decomposed animal 
and vegetable matter, with many other invisible agents, are 
exerting their deadly influence ; and were it not that every 
part of his system is endowed with a self-preserving power, 
a principle of excitability, or in other words, a vital princi- 
ple, the operations of the economy would cease, and a dis- 
solution of his organic structure take place. But this princi- 
ple being implanted in the system, re-action takes place, 
and thereby a vigorous contest is maintained with the war- 
ring elements without, as well as with the principle of decay 
within. 

It is thus that man is enabled to endure, from year to year, 
the toils and fatigues of life, the variations of heat and cold, 
and the vicissitudes of the seasons — that he is enabled to 
traverse every region of the globe, and to live with almost 
equal ease under the equator and in the frozen regions of 
the north. It is by this power that all his functions are 
performed, from the commencement to the close of life. 

The principle of excitability exists in the highest degree 
in the infant, and diminishes at every succeeding period of 
life ; and if man is not cut down by disease or violence, he 
struggles on, and finally dies a natural death ; a death 
occasioned by the exhaustion of the principle of excita- 
bility. In order to prevent the too rapid exhaustion of this 
principle, nature has especially provided for its restoration 
by establishing a period of sleep. After being awake for 
sixteen or eighteen hours, a sensation of fatigue ensues, and 
all the functions are performed with diminished precision 
and energy. Locomotion becomes feeble and tottering, the 
voice harsh, the intellect obtuse and powerless, and all the 
senses blunted. In this state the individual anxiously re- 
tires from the light and from the noise and bustle of busi- 
ness, seeks that position which requires the least effort to 



329] DR. SEWALL'S ADDRE8S. 13 

sustain it, and abandons himself to rest. The will ceases 
to act, and he loses in succession all the senses ; the mus- 
cles unbend themselves and permit the limbs to fall into the 
most easy and natural position ; digestion, respiration, cir« 
eulation, secretion^ and the other functions, go on with di- 
minished power and activity ; and consequently the wasted 
excitability is gradually restored. After a repose of six 
or eight hours, this principle becomes accumulated to its 
full measure and the individual awakes and finds his system 
invigorated and refreshed. His muscular power is augment- 
ed, his senses are acute and discriminating, his intellect ac- 
tive and eager for labor, and all his functions move on with 
renewed energy. But if the stomach be oppressed by food, 
or the system excited by stimulating drinks, the sleep, 
though it may be profound, is never tranquil and refreshing. 

The system being raised to a state of feverish excite- 
ment, and its healthy balance disturbed, its exhausted exci- 
tability is not restored. The individual awakes, but finds 
himself fatigued rather than invigorated. His muscles are 
relaxed, his senses obtuse, his intellect impaired, and his 
whole system disordered ; and it is not till he is again under 
the influence of food and stimulus that he is fit for the occu- 
pations of life. And thus he loses the benefits of this wise 
provision of repose designed for his own preservation. 

Nothing, probably, tends more powerfully to produce pre- 
mature old age than disturbed and unrefreshing sleep. 

It is also true that artificial stimulus, in whatever way 
applied, tends constantly to exhaust the principle of exci- 
tability of the system, and this in proportion to its intensi- 
ty, and the freedom with which it is applied. 

But there is still another principle on which the use of 
ardent spirit predisposes the drunkard to disease and death. 
It acts on the blood, impairs its vitality, deprives it of its 
red color, and thereby renders it unfit to stimulate the 
heart, and other organs through which it circulates ; unfit, 
also, to supply the materials for the different secretions, and 
to renovate the different tissues of the body, as well as to 
sustain the energy of the brain ; offices which it can per- 
form only while it retains the vermilion color, and other 
arterial properties. The blood of the drunkard is several 
shades darker in its color, than that of temperate persons, 



14 dr. sewall's address. [330 

and also coagulates less readily and firmly, and is loaded 
with serum; appearances which indicate that it has ex- 
changed its arterial properties for those of the venous blood. 
This is the cause of the livid complexion of the inebriate, 
which so strongly marks him in the advanced stage of in- 
temperance. Hence, too, all the functions of his body are 
sluggish, irregular, and the whole system loses its tone 
and its energy. If ardent spirit, when taken into the 
system, exhausts the vital principle of the solids, it destroys 
the vital principle of the blood also ; and if taken in largo 
quantities, produces sudden death ; in which case the blood, 
as in death produced by lightning, by opium, or by violent 
and long continued exertion, does not coagulate. 

The principles laid down are plain, and of easy appli- 
cation to the case before us. 

The inebriate having, by the habitual use of ardent spirit, 
exhausted to a greater or lesser extent the principle of ex- 
citability in the solids, the power of reaction ; and the 
blood having become incapable of performing its offices 
also, he is alike predisposed to every disease, and render- 
ed liable to the inroads of every invading foe. So far, 
therefore, from protecting the system against disease, in- 
temperance ever constitutes one of its strongest predis- 
posing causes. 

Superadded to this, whenever disease does lay its grasp 
upon the drunkard, the powers of life being already en- 
feebled by the stimulus of ardent spirit, he unexpectedly 
sinks in the contest, and but too frequently to the mortifica- 
tion of his physician, and the surprise and grief of his 
friends. Indeed, inebriation so enfeebles the powers of 
life, so modifies the character of disease, and so changes 
the operation of medical agents, that unless the young 
physician has studied thoroughly the constitution of the 
drunkard, he has but partially learned his profession, and 
is not fit for a practitioner of the present age. 

These are the true reasons why the drunkard dies so 
easily, and from such slight causes. 

A sudden cold, a pleurisy, a fever, a fractured limb, or a 
slight wound of the skin, is often more than his shattered 
powers can endure. Even a little excess of exertion, an 
exposure to heat or cold, a hearty repast or a glass of cold 



331] DR. SEWALl/s ADDRESS. 15 

water, not unfrequently extinguishes the small remains of 
the vital principle. 

In the season that has just closed upon us, we have had 
a melancholy exhibition of the effects of intemperance in 
the tragical death of some dozens of our fellow-citizens; 
and had the extreme heat which prevailed for several days 
continued for as many weeks, we should hardly have had a 
confirmed drunkard left among us. 

Many of those deaths which came under my notice 
seemed almost spontaneous, and some of them took place 
in less than one hour from the first symptoms of in- 
disposition. Some died apparently from a slight excess of 
fatigue, some from a few hours' exposure to the sun, and 
some from a small draught of cold water ; causes quite in- 
adequate to the production of such effects in temperate 
persons. 

Thus, fellow-citizens, I have endeavored to delineate 
the effects of ardent spirit upon man, and more especially 
to portray its influence on his moral, intellectual, and phy- 
sical powers. And now let me mention a few things 
which must be done in order that the evil may be era- 
dicated. 

1. Let us keep in view the objects of this Society, and 
the obligation imposed on us, to use all proper measures to 
discourage the use of ardent spirit in the social circle, at 
public meetings, on the farm, in the mechanic shop, and in all 
other places. It is not a mere matter of formality that we 
have put our names to this Society's constitution ; we have 
pledged ourselves to be bold, active, and persevering in the 
cause ; to proclaim the dangers of intemperance to our 
fellow-citizens, and to do what we can to arrest its progress. 

In view of these objects and of this pledge, then, let us, 
if indeed we have not already done it, banish ardent spirit 
from our houses at once, and for ever, and then we can act 
with decision and energy, and speak in a tone of authority, 
and our voice will be heard, if precept be sanctioned by 
example. 

2. Let us use our utmost endeavors to lessen the number, 
and, if possible, utterly exterminate from among us those 
establishments which are the chief agents in propagating 
the evils of intemperance. I refer to those shops which are 
licensed for retailing ardent spirit. Here is the source of 



16 dr. sewall's address. [332 

the evil. These are the agents that are sowing among us 
the seeds of vice, and poverty and wretchedness. 

How preposterous ! that an enlightened community, pro- 
fessing the highest regard for morality and religion, making 
laws for the suppression and punishment of vice, and the 
promotion of virtue and good order, instituting societies to 
encourage industry, enlighten the ignorant, reclaim the vi- 
cious, bring back the wanderer, protect the orphan, feed 
the hungry, clothe the naked, bind up the broken-hearted, 
and restore domestic peace, should, at the same time, create 
and foster those very means that carry idleness, and igno- 
rance, and vice, and nakedness, and starvation, and discord 
into all ranks of society ; that make widows and orphans, 
that sow the seeds of disease and death among us; that 
strike, indeed, at the foundation of all that is good and great. 

You create paupers, and lodge them in your almshouse — 
orphans, and give them a residence in your asylum — con- 
victs, and send them to the penitentiary. You seduce men 
to crime, and then arraign them at the bar of justice — im- 
mure them in prison. With one hand you thrust the dag- 
ger to the heart — with the other attempt to assuage the pain 
it causes. 

We all remember to have heard, from the lips of our pa- 
rents, the narration of the fact, that in the early history of 
our country the tomahawk and scalping-knife were put 
into the hands of our savage neighbors, by our enemies at 
war, and that a bounty was awarded for the depredations 
they committed on the lives of our defenceless fellow-citi- 
zens. Our feelings were shocked at the recital, and a pre- 
judice was created, as well to these poor wandering savages, 
as to the nation that prompted them to the work, which 
neither time nor education has eradicated. Yet, as merci- 
less and savage as this practice may appear to us, it was 
Christian, it was humane, compared with ours : theirs sought 
only the life-blood, and that of their enemies ; ours seeks 
the blood of souls, and that of our own citizens, and friends, 
and neighbors. Their avarice was satiated with a few inches 
of the scalp, and the death inflicted was often a sudden and 
easy one ; ours produces a death that lingers ; and not 
content with the lives of our fellow-citizens, it rifles their 
pockets. It revels in rapine and robbery ; it sacks whole 
towns and villages ; it lays waste fields and vineyards ; it 



333] dr. sewall's address. 17 

riots on domestic peace, and virtue, and happiness; it sets at 
variance the husband and the wife ; it causes the parent to 
forsake the child, and the child to curse the parent ; it tears 
asunder the strongest bonds of society ; it severs the ten- 
derest ties of nature. 

And who is the author of all this 1 — and where lies the re- 
sponsibility 1 I appeal to my fellow-citizens ! 

Are not we the authors ? — does not the responsibility rest 
upon us ? — is it not so ? 

The power emanates from us ; we delegate it to the con- 
stituted authorities, and we say to them go on, " cast fire- 
brands, arrows, and death ;" and let the blood of those that 
perish " be on us and on our children." We put the toma- 
hawk and scalping-knife into the hands of our neighbors, and 
award to them a bounty. We do more — we share the plun- 
der. Let us arouse, my fellow-citizens, from our insensi- 
bility, and redeem our character for consistency, humanity, 
and benevolence. 

3. Let us not confine cur views or limit our operations 
to the narrow boundaries of our own city or district. In- 
temperance is a common enemy. It exists every where, and 
every where is pursuing its victims to destruction ; while, 
therefore, we are actively engaged upon the subject in our 
own city, let us endeavor to do something elsewhere ; and 
much may be done by spreading through our country cor- 
rect information on the subject of intemperance. To this 
end, every newspaper and every press should be put in re- 
quisition. Circulate through the various avenues suitable 
Tracts, essays, and other documents, setting forth the causes 
of intemperance, its evils, and its remedy, together with an 
account of the cheering progress now making to eradicate it. 

Do this, and you will find thousands starting up in differ- 
ent parts of the country, to lend their influence, and give 
their money in support of your cause; individuals who have 
hitherto been unconscious of the extent and magnitude of 
the evil of intemperance; you will find some who have been 
slumbering upon the very precipice of ruin, rallying round 
your standard. Indeed we have all been insensible, till the 
voice of alarm was sounded, and the facts were set in array 
before us. 

4. Appeal to the medical profession of the country, and 
ask them to correct the false idea which so extensively, I 



18 dr. sewall's address, [334 

may say almost universally prevails, viz. : that ardent spirit 
is sometimes necessary in the treatment of disease. This 
opinion has slain its thousands and its tens of thousands, 
and multitudes of dram-drinkers daily shelter themselves 
under its delusive mask. One takes a little to raise his des- 
ponding spirits, or to drown his sorrow ; another to sharpen 
his appetite or relieve his dyspepsia ; one to ease his gouty 
pains, another to supple his stiffened limbs or calm his qui- 
vering muscles. One drinks to overcome the heat, another 
to ward off the cold; and all this as a medicine. Appeal, 
then, to the medical profession, and they will tell you, every 
independent, honest, sober, intelligent member of it will tell 
you, that there is no case in which ardent spirit is indis- 
pensable, and for which there is not an adequate substitute. 
And it is time the profession should have an opportunity 
to exonerate itself from the charge under which it has long 
rested, of making drunkards. But I entreat my professional 
brethren not to be content with giving a mere assent to this 
truth. You hold a station in society which gives you a com- 
manding influence on this subject; and if you will but raise 
your voice and speak out boldly, you may exert an agency 
in this matter which will bring down the blessings of un- 
born millions upon your memory. 

5. Much may be done by guarding the rising generation 
from the contagion of intemperance. It is especially with 
the children and youth of our land, that we may expect our 
efforts to be permanently useful. Let us, then, guard with 
peculiar vigilance the youthful mind, and with all suitable 
measures, impress it with such sentiments of disgust and 
horror of the vice of intemperance, as to cause it to shrink 
from its very approach. Carry the subject into our Infant 
and Sunday Schools, and call on the managers and teachers 
of those institutions, to aid you by the circulation of suitable 
Tracts, and by such other instructions as may be deemed 
proper. Let the rising generation be protected but for a 
few years, and the present race of drunkards will have dis- 
appeared from among us, and there will be no new recruits 
to take their place. 

6. Let intelligent and efficient agents be sent out into 
every portion of our country, to spread abroad information 
upon the subject of intemperance, to rouse up the people 
to a sense of their danger, and to form temperance societies ; 



535] dr. sewall's address, 19 

and let there be such a system of correspondence and co- 
operation established among these associations as will con- 
vey information to each, and impart energy and efficiency 
to the whole. "No great melioration of the human condi- 
tion was ever achieved without the concurrent effort of 
numbers ; and no extended and well directed association of 
moral influence was ever made in vain." 

7. Let all who regard the virtue, the honor, and the 
patriotism of their country, withold their suffrages from those 
candidates for office who offer ardent spirit as a bribe to 
secure their elevation to power. It is derogatory to the 
liberties of our country, that office can be obtained by such 
corruption — be held by such a tenure. 

8. Let the Ministers of the Gospel, wherever called to 
labor, exert their influence, by precept and example, in 
promoting the cause of temperance ; — many of them have 
already stepped forth, and with a noble boldness have pro- 
claimed the alarm, and have led on in the work of reforma- 
tion ; but many timid spirits still linger, and others seem not 
deeply impressed with the importance of the subject, and 
with the responsibility of their station. Ye venerated men, 
you are not only called to stand forth as our moral beacons, 
and be unto us burning and shining lights; but you are 
placed as watchmen upon our walls, to announce to us the 
approach of danger. It is mainly through your example and 
your labors that religion and virtue are so extensively dis* 
geminated through our country — that this land is not now a 
moral waste. You have ever exerted an important influ- 
ence in society, and have held a high place in the confidence 
and affections of the people. You are widely spread over 
the country, and the scene of your personal labors will fur- 
nish you with frequent opportunities to diffuse information 
opon the subject of temperance, and to advance its progress. 
Let me then ask you, one and all, to grant us your active 
and hearty co-operation. 

9. Appeal to the female sex of our country, and ask 
them to come to your assistance ; and if they will consent 
to steel their hearts against the inebriate, to shut out from 
their society the man who visits the tippling shop, their in- 
fluence will be omnipotent. And by what power, ye mothers* 
and wives, and daughters, shall I invoke your aid? Shall I 
sarry you to the house of the drunkard, and point you te 



20 dr. sewall's address. [336 

his weeping and broken-hearted wife, his suffering and de- 
graded children, robed in rags, and poverty, and vice 1 Shall 
I go with you to the almshouse, the orphan asylum, and to 
the retreat for the insane, that your sensibility may be 
roused ? Shall I ask you to accompany me to the peniten- 
tiary and the prison, that you may there behold the end of 
intemperance? Nay, shall I draw back the curtain and dis- 
close to you the scene of the drunkard's death-bed 1 No — 
I will not demand of you a task so painful: rather let me 
remind you that you are to become the mothers of our fu- 
ture heroes and statesmen, philosophers and divines, lawyers 
and physicians: and shall they be enfeebled in body, de- 
bauched in morals, disordered in intellect, or healthy, pure, 
and full of mental energy] It is for you to decide this ques- 
tion. You have the future destiny of our beloved country 
in your hands. Let me entreat you, then, for your children's 
sake, and for your country's sake, not to ally yourselves to 
the drunkard, nor to put the cup to the mouth of your off- 
spring, and thereby implant in them a craving for ardent 
spirit, which, once produced, is seldom eradicated. 

10. Call upon all public and private associations, religious, 
literary, and scientific, to banish ardent spirit from their 
circle ; call upon the agricultural, manufacturing, and com- 
mercial establishments, to withhold it from those engaged in 
their employment; call upon the legislatures of the different 
states to co-operate by the enactment of such laws as wilt 
discourage the vending of ardent spirit, and render licenses 
to sell it unattainable : call upon the proper officers to ba- 
nish from the army and navy that article which, of all others, 
is most calculated to enfeeble the physical energies, corrupt 
the morals, destroy the patriotism, and damp the courage of 
our soldiers and sailors; call upon our national legislature 
to impose such duties on the distillation and importation of 
ardent spirit as will ultimately exclude it from the list of 
articles of commerce, and eradicate it from our land. 

Finally, call upon every sober man, woman, and child, to 
raise their voices, their hearts, and their hands in this sacred 
cause, and never hold their peace, never cease their prayers, 
never stay their exertions, till intemperance shall be ba- 
nished from our land and from the world. 

END. 






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