Study and Stimulants | Page 2

R. S., F. G. S.
D'Orsey, The Rev. Alex. J. D., B. D.
O'Donovon, Mr. Edmund
Dowden, Professor, LL. D.
Edison, Professor
Ellis, Mr. Alex. J., F. R. S., F. S. A.
Everett, Professor
Fairbairn, Professor R. M.
Francillon, Mr. R. E.
Freeman, Mr. Edward A., D. C. L., LL. D.
Furnivall, Mr. F. J., M. A.
Gardiner, Mr. Samuel R., Hon. LL. D.
Gladstone, Rt. Hon. W. E., M. P.
Greville, Mdlle. II
Gubernatis, Count
Guenin, M. L. P.
Guy, Dr. William
Haeckel, Professor Ernst
Hamerton, Mr. Philip Gilbert
Hardy, Mr. Thomas
Harrison, Mr. Frederic
Henty, Mr. G. A.
Holmes, Mr. Oliver Wendell
Holyoake, Mr. George Jacob
Hooker, Sir J. D., F. R. S.
Howells, Mr. W. D.
Joule, Dr. J. P.
Lansdell, The Rev. Henry
Leathes, Rev. Stanley, D. D.
Lecky, W. E. H.
Lees, Dr. F. R.
Levi, Mr. Leone, F. S. A.
Lubbock, Sir John, Bart. M. P.
Magnus, Professor
Maitland, Mr. Edward, B. A.
Martin, Sir Theodore, K. C. B.
Martineau, The Rev. James, D. D.
Maudsley, Dr. Henry
May, Sir Thomas Erskine, K. C. B., D. C. L.
Mayor, Rev. John E. B., M. A.
Moigno, The Abbe
Morrison, Rev. J., D. D.
Mongredien, Mr. Augustus
Murray, Dr. J. A. H.
Murray, Mr. D. Christie.
Newman, Professor
Pattison, The Rev. Mark, B. D.
Payn, Mr. James
Pitman, Mr. Eizak
Plaute, M. Gaston
Plummer, The Rev. A.
Pocknell, Mr. Edward
Rawlinson, Professor George
Reade, Mr. Charles
Reed, Mr. Thomas Allen
Rodenberg, Dr. Julius
Russell, Dr. W. H.
Ruskin, Mr. John
Sen, Keshub Chunder
Simon, M. Jules
Skeat, Professor
St. Hilaire, M. Barthelemy
Spottiswoode, Mr. W., D. C. L., LL. D.
Siemens, Dr. C. W., D. C. L., F. R. S.
Smith, Mr. G. Barnett
Taine, M.
Trollope, Mr. Anthony
Thomson, Sir William, M. A., LL. D., D. C. L., F. R. S.
Trantmann, Professor
Tyndall, Professor, LL. D., F. R. S.
Tourgueneff, Mr. Ivan
Twain, Mark
Walford, Mr. Cornelius, F. S. S., F. I. A.
Watts, Mr. G. F., R. A.
Wilson, Professor Andrew, Ph. D., F. R. S. E.
Winser, Mr. Justin
Wurtz, M.
III. APPENDIX
TESTIMONIES OF:
Bennett, Dr. Risdon
Brooke, The Rev. Stopford A., M. A.
Bryant, William C.
Chambers, Dr. King
Fraser, Professor Thomas R.
Herkomer, Hubert, A. R. A.
Higginson, Colonel Thomas Wentworth
Howitt, William
Kingsley, The Rev. Charles
Martineau, Harriet
Miller, Professor
Proctor, Mr. R. A., F. R. S.
Richardson, Dr. B. W., F. R. S.
Sala, Mr. George Augustus
Temple, Bishop
Thompson, Sir Henry, F. R. C. S.
Williams, Mr. W. Mattieu, F. R. A. S., F. C. S.
Yeo, Dr. Bumey, M. D.
IV. CONCLUSION

STUDY AND STIMULANTS

THE REV. DR. ABBOT, EDITOR OF THE "CHRISTIAN UNION," NEW YORK.
I have no experience whatever respecting tobacco: my general opinion is adverse to its use by a healthy man; but that opinion is not founded on any personal experience, nor on any scientific knowledge, as to give it any value for others. My opinion respecting alcohol is that it is a valuable and necessary ingredient in forming and preserving some articles of diet--yeast bread, for example, which can only be produced by fermentation--and that its value in the lighter wines, those in which it is found in, a ratio of from 5 to 10 per cent., is of the same character. It preserves for use other elements in the juice of the grape. As a stimulant, alcohol is, in my opinion, at once a deadly poison and a valuable medicine, to be ranked with belladonna, arsenic, prussic acid, and other toxical agents, which can never be safely dispensed with by the medical faculty, nor safely used by laymen as a stimulant, except under medical advice. As to my experience, it is very limited; and, in my judgment, it is quite unsafe in this matter to make one man's experience another man's guide: too much depends upon temperamental and constitutional peculiarities, and upon special conditions of climate and the like.
1. I have no experience respecting distilled spirits; I regard them as highly dangerous, and have never used them except under medical advice, and then only in rare and serious cases of illness. 2. Beers and the lighter wines, if taken before mental work, always--in my experience--impair the working powers. They do not facilitate, but impede brain action. 3. After an exceptionally hard day's work, when the nervous power is exhausted, and the stomach is not able to digest and assimilate the food which the system needs, a glass of light wine, taken with the dinner, is a better aid to digestion than any other medicine that I know. To serve this purpose, its use--in my opinion-- should be exceptional, not habitual: it is a medicine, not a beverage. 4. After nervous excitement in the evening, especially public speaking, a glass of light beer serves a useful purpose as a sedative, and ensures at times a good sleep, when without it the night would be one of imperfect sleep.
I must repeat that my experience is very limited; that in my judgment the cases which justify a man in so overtaxing his system that he requires a medicine to enable him to digest his dinner or enjoy his sleep must be rare; and that my own use of either wine or beer is very exceptional. Though I am not in strictness of speech a total abstinence man, I am ordinarily a