Pick Your Poison

Alcohol: its place and power

A treatise commissioned by the Scottish Temperance League in the mid-19th century, this book describes the ways in which alcohol fits into society—as a part of quotidian life, as a substance that helps people endure hardship and discomfort, as a medicine, as a ruiner of health, and as fuel for an addiction, pointing out the pitfalls of each role it plays. Miller details the drug’s physiological effects and warns against its use. Alcohol: its place and power was published in 1859, when the Scottish Temperance Movement was in full swing. Doctors, political figures, clergymen, and concerned citizens took up the cause against alcohol, citing its physiological and moral ills. Similar campaigns in North America and many other European countries and colonies were underway in this period, as well.