human
Mr. Ridley, with his old appetite not dead, but only half asleep and lying in wait for an opportunity, goes also to Mr. Birtwell's, and the sparkle and flavor of wine and the invitations that are pressed upon him from all sides prove too much for his good resolutions. He tastes and falls. He goes in his right mind, and comes away so much intoxicated that he cannot find his way home. How he reached there at last I do not know--he must have been in some station-house until daylight; but when I saw him, his pitiable suffering and alarmed face made my heart ache. He had killed his wife! He, or the wine he found at Mr. Birtwell's? Which?
gpt
And I, he added, before Doctor Kline could respond--
human
I went to the party also, and the sparkle and flavor of wine and spirit of conviviality that pervaded the company lured me also--not weak like Archie, nor with a shattered self-control like Mr. Ridley--to drink far beyond the bounds of prudence, as my nervous condition to-day too surely indicates. A kind of fatality seems to have attended this party.
gpt
Not a nervous chill?
human
No; a moral chill, if I may use such a term, replied Doctor Hillhouse--
gpt
It would have been nothing except for the baleful effects of that party, answered the doctor, whose thought could not dissever itself from the unhappy consequences which had followed the carousal (is the word too strong?) at Mr. Birtwell's.
human
If I had not been betrayed into drinking wine enough to disturb seriously my nervous system and leave it weak and uncertain to-day, if Mr. Ridley had not been tempted to his fall, if poor Archie Voss had been at home last night instead of in the private drinking-saloon of one of our most respected citizens, do you think that hand, holding up his right hand as he spoke,
gpt
Thank God that the stimulus which I had to substitute for nervous power held out as long as it did. If it had failed a few moments sooner, I might have--
human
Do you know, doctor, he said, after a pause speaking in a low, half-confidential tone and with great seriousness of manner,
gpt
It is the last time, said Doctor Hillhouse, breaking at length the silence and speaking with unwonted emphasis,
human
I am not so sure that you will help as much as hurt by this abstinence, replied Doctor Kline.
gpt
If you are in the habit of using wine daily, I should say keep to your regular quantity. Any change will be a disturbance and break the fine nervous tension that is required. It is easy to account for your condition to-day. If you had taken only your one or two or three glasses yesterday as the case may be, and kept away from the excitement and--pardon me excesses of last night--anything beyond the ordinary rule in these things is an excess, you know--there would have been no failure of the nerves at a critical juncture.
human
Is not the mind clearer and the nerves steadier when sustained by healthy nutrition than when toned up by stimulants?
gpt
If stimulants have never been taken, yes. But you know that we all use stimulants in one form or another, and to suddenly remove them is to leave the nerves partially unstrung.
human
Which brings us face to face with the question whether or not alcoholic stimulants are hurtful to the delicate and wonderfully complicated machinery of the human body. I say alcoholic, for we know that all the stimulation we get from wine or beer comes from the presence of alcohol.