The Use and Need of the Life of Carry A. Nation
From the regular theatre she passed, and for the same reasons, to the
vaudeville, and did her regular "stunts" along with the singers, the dancers,
the harlequin's, acrobats, and the burnt cork humorists. The writer
of this has seen her in one of these performances, and considers it entirely
unique and unmistakably commendable.
It was in one of the most "free and easy" vaudeville shows in Greater
New York, and the audience, composed of men and boys, was a hilarious
one, and could have even become a turbulent one, if anything had occured
that did not please them. Many were half drunk, or nearly so.
"Smoke, if you want to," was lettered on a conspicuous sign, and most
of this audience wanted to. In the midst of the exercises, an interlude
occurred, in which the audience was invited to a saloon down stairs, where
they could proceed still farther in the liquid burning out of their bodies.
On the same stage of this same vaudeville theatre, John L. Sullivan, the
retired prize fighter, had, only a week before, appeared "in monologue,"
and had sometimes been so drunk that he could not go through with his
part.
In the midst of all this, Carry Nation was announced, and she stepped
upon the stage, unattended by any glare of colored lights or fanfare
of music. A quiet, motherly looking woman, plainly dressed, with a Bible
in her hand, she commanded almost immediately the respect of that large
crowd--from the men in the orchestra stalls to the gallery gods. One
half intoxicated fellow began to scoff at her, but was almost immediately
hushed by the scarcely less drunken ones around him. It was a sight
that hushed them all into respectful silence, for a respectable, earnest
woman, with the Holy Book in her hand, will have a subduing effect upon
almost any company of people.
Mrs. Nation announced her text, and preached a sermon, and delivered
a temperance lecture, both within the half-hour. (The latter she calls
a "prohibition lecture"--hating the word temperance, as applied to drink.)
She said words, such as had probably not been heard by most of those
there, for a great many years. She told them what sots they were making
of themselves, and made her points so emphatic that they cheered her
--almost in spite of themselves. She commenced her speech as an experiment,
so far as that day's audience was concerned; she closed a
heroine. She did not remain idle during the time between her appearances
on the stage, but cultivated the acquaintances of the actors and actresses,
and, it is said, to their good.
That is what Mrs. Nation is doing now, on what is called the eastern
vaudeville circuit; and it would be hard to see how one woman could do
more good in half an hour, than she does; and that among those that
need it most.
Mrs. Nation's whole name is Carrie Amelia Nation, but having noticed
from old records that her father wrote the first name "Carry," she
now does the same, and considers the name portentous as concerns what
she is trying and means to do. She believes, she says, that it is her mission
to "carry a nation" from the darkness of drunken bestiality into the
light of purity and sobriety; and if she can do this, or in any great measure
contribute to it, there are millions of people in the world, that will
bid her Good speed.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
A scientific article on the effects of alcohol on the human system.
If any doctor should try to deceive you here is the proof of his malicious
intent to drug you.
LIQUOR DRINKING IN HEALTH AND DISEASE.
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE UPON THE PROGRESS MADE IN MEDICAL SCIENCE
IN FAVOR OF TEMPERANCE DURING THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 1, 1902--A. W.
GUTRIDGE, CHAIRMAN. READ AT THE THIRTY-FIRST ANNUAL CONVENTION
OF THE CATHOLIC TOTAL ABSTINENCE UNION OF THE ARCHDIOCESE OF ST.
PAUL, AND ORDERED PUBLISHED BY THE CONVENTION.
In order to understand what progress has been made during the year,
it is necessary to note the condition of affairs at the commencement of
the period.
Long before this committee began work the leading physicians of
every enlightened country, the men to whom the entire profession looks
for guidance, had declared against the use of alcohol both in health and
in disease.
IS ALCOHOL A DRINK!
One reason why all the greatest physicians believed it harmful was
because it had been found that alcohol was not a drink. The most abundant
substance found in the human body, is water. About 130 pounds of
the weight of a 160-pound person is water, "Quite enough if rightly
arranged to drown him." Man has been irreverently described as "about
30 pounds of solids set up in 13 gallons of water." So it is quite natural
for us to hunger for water; "death by thirst is more rapid and distressing
than by starvation." "It is through the medium of the water contained
in the animal body that all its vital functions are carried on."
Dr. W. B. Richardson of England has pointed out more than fifty
characteristics of the action of a natural drink upon the system. The action
of alcohol is the opposite of these in every particular, and therefore it
is not a real or natural drink. Of course the water which is found in
mixture in all alcoholic liquors serves to quench thirst, even though it
is often foul water.
IS IT A FOOD!
We also found, upon taking up the work imposed upon us, that
alcohol had been demonstrated not to be a food. Many classifications
of foods have been made, but about the best is that which divides them
broadly into two classes: to use homely language, flesh formers and body
warmers; those which build up or repair the bodily waste, and those
which sustain the animal warmth. The slow fire within us being necessary
to life we hunger for that only which will replace the substance
destroyed by the burning. "To the child of nature all hurtful things
are repulsive, all beautiful things attractive," As to flesh formers, it had
been noted that all foods useful in repairing bodily waste contain the
element nitrogen. Alcohol contains no nitrogen, and so could not be
classed among body builders. The chief body warmer is sugar. Alcohol
being a product of sugar, people were all misled for years into thinking
that it does in some kind and degree feed the system. The mistake
was easy, since after taking alcohol there is a temporary increase in
vivacity of mind and manner and in surface temperature, and a lessened
requirement for regular foods. These opinions had been tested in the
light of truth and proved erroneous. Axel Gustafson, in his Foundation
of Death, considers this subject at length. As early as 1840 French
physicians discovered that alcohol actually reduced the temperature of
the body. Prominent German and English medical men soon confirmed
the statement, and in 1850, Dr. N. S. Davis of Chicago, the founder of the
American Medical Association, in speaking of a number of observations
during the active period of digestion after ordinary food, whether nitrogenous
or carbonaceous, the temperature of the body is always increased,
but after taking alcohol, in either the form of the fermented or the distilled
drinks, it begins to fall within half an hour and continues to
decrease for from two to three hours. The extent and duration of the
reduction was in direct proportion to the amount of alcohol taken." The
most prominent physicians in Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Scandinavia
and Russia reached similar conclusions shortly after this. In explorations
in the Arctic regions where the cold is intense, no alcoholic drinks
are permitted. Dr. Nansen, the great Norwegian, attributes the fatalities of
the Greely expedition to the use of liquor, and this is the only
expedition of recent years which permitted the use of alcoholic drinks.
As a matter of fact it was long ago proved that "Alcohol does not warm
nor cool a person, but only destroys the sensation and decreases the
vitality." Superficial observers, however, have upheld the use of alcohol
as a food, saying, "See how fleshy it makes people." Well, healthy fat
is not always an advantage, but beer drinkers' fat is not the genuine
article. Healthy fat represents a stock of body warming food laid up
for a time of need and is formed only in health. The "fat" usually exhibited
by beer drinkers is not a fat at all; oil is not its chief factor. It
consists of particles of partly digested flesh forming food which the
system required, but which it was unable to assimilate owing to the presence
in the body of the alcohol which the beer contained. This sort of fat
instead of indicating health points to disease. This general teaching as
to the worthlessness of alcohol as a food had been set forth by the leaders
in medical profession, and accepted largely by the rank and file of
practitioners for about twenty-five years. An occasional cry came from
the other side, however, and late in 1899 Dr. W. O. Atwater, professor
in Wesleyan University, announced that he had, by an extended series
of experiments, proved the truth of the claims of those experimentors
who believed alcohol to have value as a food. Dr. Atwater's reports were
widely published by the whiskey press, and a state of some unrest
amongst thinking physicians followed, which had not been wholly quieted
when this committee began work.
IS IT A MEDICINE?
At the time we began work, however, it had been demonstrated that
alcohol is not a medicine. Many years ago Dr. Nottinghham, a great
English physician, said: "Alcohol is neither food nor physic." Dr.
Nicols, editor Boston Journal of Chemistry, long ago wrote, "The banishment
of alcohol would not deprive us of a single one of the indispensable
agents which modern civilization demands. In no instance of
disease in any form, is it a medicine which might not be dispensed with."
Dr. Bunge, professor of physical chemistry in the University of Basle,
Switzerland, said: "In general let it be understood that all the workings
of alcohol in the system which usually are considered as excitement
or stimulation are only indications of paralysis. It is a deep-rooted error
sense of fatigue is the safety value of the human organism. Whoever
dulls this sense in order to work harder or longer may be likened to an
engineer who sits down on his safety valve in order to make better speed
with his engine." Dr. F. H. Hammond of the U. S. army said: "Alcohol
strengthens no one. It only deadens the feeling of fatigue." Dr. Sims
Woodhead, professor in Cambridge University, England, had given the
following list of conditions in which alcohol should not be used: In
those (1) who have any family history of drunkenness, insanity or nervous
disease. (2) Who have used alcohol to excess in childhood or youth.
(3) Who are nervous, irritable or badly nourished. (4) Who suffer
from injuries to the head, gross disease of the brain and sunstroke. (5)
Who suffer from great bodily weakness, particularly during convalescence
from exhausting disease. (6) Who are engaged in exciting or
exhausting employment, in bad air and surroundings, in work shops and
mines. (7) Who are solitary or lonely or require amusement. (8) Who
have little self-control either hereditary or acquired. (9) Who suffer
from weakness, the result of senile degeneration. (10) Who suffer from
organic or functional diseases of the stomach, liver, kidney or heart.
(11) Who are young.
Much has been said concerning the stimulating effect of alcohol upon
the heart, and this had been treated at length. There is an increased
action of about four thousand beats in twenty-four hours for every
ounce of alcohol used. This fact still misleads some physicians into
prescribing it to strengthen the weak heart, but the increase is not due to
new force. The heart action normally is the result of arterial pressure