THE POOR AND THE LIQUOR.
The poor workman who has accustomed his stomach to perform digestion
only through the excitement of a previous stimulant, cannot, even if he
knows the miserable condition he is in, abandon this bad habit without
almost superhuman efforts.
Working makes him hungry; but his stomach not being able to digest solid
food, eating becomes disagreeable to him. His relaxing strength,
however, demands support. His vital activity is suppressed; he must have
a fresh supply of strength to be able to work and earn his living. To
accomplish this, he knows no other means than liquor again! For,
unfortunately, experience has taught him that spirits not only stimulate
him for the moment and increase his vital activity, but that they can
also be to him a kind of substitute for food.
It was not until quite recently that science told us how and in what
manner the use of spirits may actually promote the working power of the
starving. It is of the utmost importance to obtain a correct idea of
this.
Work promotes evaporation and respiration. Evaporation, however, that is
perspiration proper, is nothing but a part of the food we have taken,
and which is thus secreted from the body. Precisely the same holds good
with the breath we exhale; it consists of carbonic acid, which is
likewise formed from the food we have taken. A man in state of rest does
not perspire and breathe so much as the man at work; therefore he needs
less food. If, on the other hand, a person works without taking food,
the perspiration and carbonic acid of the breath are formed from the
muscles of his body; for which reason he must greatly decrease, both in
strength and volume. We must bear in mind, however, that it is one of
the qualities of spirits to be decomposed in the body very easily into
water and carbonic acid; the water is then secreted in the form of
perspiration; the carbonic acid, by exhalation. Thus, if a man works
without food, he becomes reduced immediately, because perspiration and
breath are supplied from the flesh of his body; while if he drinks
liquor, perspiration and breath are formed from the liquor itself,
instead of his body, which thus, partly at least, remains intact.
This is the solution of the great problem, viz., "How can drunkards live
a long time on nothing but spirits, and, moreover, how can they work?"
We know it now; liquor furnishes them the material for perspiration and
breath; and their body is not nearly so much taxed as would be the case,
if they were to take no spirits at all. Since, then, the drunkard cannot
eat, and even if he could, would not be nourished, because food passes
through him undigested, he must needs continue taking spirits even if he
works but little. Spirits help him at his work, and save his body from
being consumed.
That spirits are no articles of food, has been known long; but it was
not known until recently, why spirits can be a substitute for food, or,
more correctly, a kind of _saving of food_.
Unfortunately, liquor is as deplorable as a substitute as it is fatal as
a means of saving. It is only calculated to entirely destroy the doomed
man that uses it.
Now, is it not more judicious to understand the reason why the drunkard
cannot abstain from spirits, than to endeavor to reform him merely by
"prayer" and stories about the "devil in the alcohol?" And is it not of
the highest importance to all, that the friends of humanity should take
care that the workman has good and healthy food, and that he be always
able to earn enough, so as not to be obliged to replace bad food by
liquor?
The workman who has nothing but potatoes to eat, is bound to become a
drunkard. This food is insufficient to afford him a proper quantity of
carbonic acid for the purpose of breathing; he therefore must draw for
this from his body, and, since he must needs work for his living, he
takes to spirits to save his body from being consumed. Many an "Apostle
of Temperance" would, in a similar situation, act no better. For this
reason let us all provide healthy food for the working class;
intemperance will then greatly diminish.
Owing to the importance of the subject we have spent much time over
"Breakfast," and the chapter on "Spirits" connected with the same; but
we could not help it; nay, we must ask our readers' pardon for
continuing the subject. We propose to touch upon the sad consequences of
intemperance, and desire to give the wives of the workmen a hint, by
which they may succeed in checking the vice of their husbands and the
misfortune of their families.