BY EDWARD HITCHCOCK, Professor of Chemistry and Natural History in Amherst College. PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE AMERICAN TEMPERANCE IT BEING THE ESSAY TO WHICH A PREMIUM WAS AWARDED. JONATHAN LEAVITT, NEW YORK; PIERCE AND WILLIAMS, BOSTON, Soc 4492.830.220 HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRRY FROM THE HEIRS OF GEORGE C. DEMPSEY DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS,.... To wit: District Clerk's Office. Be it remembered, that on the ninth day of April, A. D. 1830, in the fifty fourth year of the independence of the United States of America, J. S. and C. Adams, and Company of the said district, have deposited in this office the title of a Book, the right whereof they claim as Proprietors in the words following, to wit: An Essay on Alcoholic and Narcotic Substances, as articles of common use addressed particularly to Students. By Edward Hitchcock, professor of Chemistry and Natural History in Amherst College. Published under the direction of the American Temperance Society. It being the Essay to which a premium was awarded. In conformity to the act of Congress of the United States, entitled "an act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned;" and also to an act entitled 66 an act supplementary to an act,entitled an act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts and books to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the times therein mentioned; and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, and etching historical and other prints." JNO. W. DAVIS, Clerk of the District of Massachusetts. Tao lleirs of ESSAY, &c. THE substances in common use which contain the largest quantity of alcohol, are ardent spirit and wine. The propor tion of this principle, in 100 parts, of the most usual varieties of these articles, is as follows: Sherry, Lisbon, & Malaga, from 18 to 20 Claret from 13 to 17 10 Tokay Nearly all the wines used in this country contain a much larger proportion of alcohol than the above table indicates ; as it is well known to be the practice of many dealers in wine, to add brandy and other articles, to give them more life and a richer color. Indeed, it is stated by a most respectable medical authority, that "for every gallon of pure wine which is sold, there is perhaps a pipe, or fifty times the quantity, of that which is adulterated, and in various manners sophisticated-the whole, without exception, the source of a thousand disorders, and in many instances an active poison imperfectly disguised."* Of the narcotic substances commonly used, opium and tobacco contain much the largest quantity of the narcotic principle. I would, therefore, solicit the attention of every student and other intelligent young man, to an examination of the nature, relations, and effects of spirit, wine, opium, and tobacco; in the hope of persuading them all, totally to abstain from their use. * Journal of Health, Vol. I. p. 136. |