Page:Sermon on malt.pdf/20

 In some cases reason seems to be blotted out, and the miserable victim of intemperance lives and dies a literal fool. In other cases still more numerous, there is a manifest approximation to idiotacy, where this deplorable consequence does not actually follow. Who has not witnessed the wane of intellect around him ? Who has not seen the shrewd accountant become dull : the profound philosopher rendered obtuse ; the arch politician bewildered ; the eager flight of the learned advocate flag ; and that precocity of genius which, in the dawn of life, attracted the steady gaze, and promised a giant manhood, dwindle into mental insignificance and death ? The world may, perhaps, stand and wonder at the change, and speculate upon the latent cause. But lift the curtain and the mystery is solved. There stands the bottle, and the death of intellect is in it. Trace the effects of this habit upon the talents, and learning, and prospects of a young man of early promise ; fix your eye upon one who is gifted with as fine a mind as was ever moulded by this hand of heaven ; and let him become addicted to his cups ; and let him continue to suck and suck at the bottle, and he will ultimately possess (to borrow an allusion from Dr. Rush), just about the intellect of a ‘CALF.’ As to madness, every one knows that it is a common effect of excessive drinking. It is stated on good authority, that one-third of all the cases of insanity, in the United States, may be traced to intemperance as the direct cause.