In a Treatise of this Kind nothing must pass unobserved that is important; and nothing is more so, than the destructive Practice of drinking spirituous Liquors. For a Woman to have a Habit of Dram-drinking is always detestable; but for one who gives Suck, it is horrible beyond Expression: it is fraught with double Mischief, Destruction to herself, and Destruction to the Child. One would imagine, that so odious a Vice wanted not to be inveigh’d against; or at most that the Caution could no where be useful, but amongst Basket-women and Billingsgates. ’Tis true indeed, that the Illiterate and Vulgar are the most addicted to it; but melancholy Experience shews us, that Women every way happy in Life, Women of the best Understanding, and the best Education, are but too often tainted with it. It is not my Design in general to write on the Foibles or Vices of Parents, but of Children; yet it must be owned, that where the Actions of the one have an Influence on the other, where the Connection is so close that the Health or Morals of Children are affected by the Conduct of Parents, it is perfectly consistent with the Plan I have laid down; and consequently is within my Province. Thus then I observe, that there are many Women who never tasted spirituous Liquors ’till they gave Suck. A Child is kept lugging at the Breast ’till the Mother is ready to sink, and a Friend recommends a Dram: the innocent Woman starts at the Proposition; but it being strenuously urg’d that it will do her good and the Child too, she follows the Counsel and drinks it. How reluctantly and with how much dislike may be known by her shaking her Head at the very Smell of it, making Faces when it is down, and declaring it is nasty Stuff. Now for a while let me talk like an Apothecary. The Nerves give Sensation to our whole Frame whether of Pain or Pleasure. This Dram acts immediately on the Nerves of the Stomach, and instantly communicates itself to those of the Brain, which are exquisitely fine; the Sensation is pleasing, a general Glow is felt, and the temporary Relief it gives, persuades her that Drams are not so pernicious as People pretend. But by and by the Languor returns, and she has recourse to her Dram again; tho’ perhaps with this Difference, that instead of being persuaded into it she seeks it herself; and thus by a Return of Wants, she finds a Return of Desire; she flies so often to her fancied Remedy, that at length she is innocently and insensibly led into a Habit which infatuates her: even so far as often to rob her of the Power of getting rid of it. But the Habit contracted, what is the Effect? Why, that which at first was only a slight Injury, by this means becomes a mortal Wound.