287. The effect produced by dmnkenness npon the mind
and moral affections of the individual addicted to it, is very
remarkable. If the intellectual faculties are at first excited,
and even rendered temporarily more vigoroas by the stimnlas
of alcoholic drinks, the continued abuse of these tends to their
enervation. Many a man, posseted of brilliant abilities and
prospects in early life, has, before his career has reached its
meridian, either stimulated himself into madness, or degene-
rated into a confirmed melancholiac, or into a state little
better than that of an idiot. Again, how utterly isjthe moral
nature degraded, the temper embittsred, and the gushing
affections of man sapped in their very source, by this de.
grading habit. Not only does the drunkard disregard the
distinction between right and wrong, strict adherence to truth,
right of property, and the many high obligations to himself,
his fellowmen, and his God, by which religion and morality
should bind him, but his perverted sense renders him callous
to matters which concern his own temporal interest, and to
the welfare of those who should be most dear to him, and he
plunges himself and those who depend on him for support,
into the lowest depths of misery. When we consider tho
various ills, physical and moral, that are the consequences of
the inordinate Gup, we may well exclaim with the great
dramatic poet, " O ! that men should put an enemy in their
mouths to steal away their brains ! that we should with joy;
pleasure, revel, and applause, transform ourselves into
beasts !"

288. Ag»n old age prematurely overtakes the dmnldard ;
the young man of thirty who has given himself up to drinking,
often has the grey hairs and wrinkled aspect of the very aged.
