EFFECT AND DANGER OF STRONG DRINKS.
The artificial thirst we previously alluded to, is that which for the moment appeals to strong drinks as a momentary relief. It gradually becomes so habitual that those who grow used to it cannot do without it even through the night, and have to leave their bed to appease it.
This thirst then becomes a real disease, and when he has reached that point, it may safely be said that he has not two years to live.
I travelled in Holland with a rich Dantzick merchant, who had for fifty years kept the principal house for the sale of brandy.
"Monsieur," said he "none in France are aware of the importance of the trade in brandy, which for nearly a century my father and myself have carried on. I have watched with attention the workmen who yield to it as too many Germans do, and they generally die in the same manner."
"At first they take simply a glass in the morning, and for many years this suffices. It is a common habit with all workmen, and any one who did not indulge in it would be ridiculed by his companions. Then they double the dose, that is to say, take a glass at morning and night. Thus things continue about three years, when they begin to drink three times a day, and will only taste spirits in which highly scented herbs have been infused. Having reached that point, one may be sure they have not more than six months to live, for they go to the hospital and are seen no more."
CHEVALIERS AND ABBES.
I have already referred to these categories of gourmandise destroyed by time.
As they disappeared thirty years since, few of the present generation ever saw them.
About the end of the century they will probably reappear, but as such a phenomenon demand the coincidence of many future contingencies, I think few who live will ever witness this palingenesia.