Book Of Mormon Central

When Christopher Columbus brought tobacco to Europe, it became a miracle drug. It was used for over 250 maladies (e.g., warts, asthma, ulcers, arrow wounds, toothaches, bad breath, deafness, tonsillitis, nosebleeds, epilepsy, etc.). From 1790 to 1830, alcohol consumption rose in America. Most men and some women and children drank alcohol regularly. Steven Harper recorded that in 1820, the upstate New York region near Joseph's home made a lot of corn whiskey and exported 65,277 gallons and 69 tons of beer. However, by 1830, temperance movements across the states—including a 239-member society in Kirtland—began attacking alcohol, tobacco, and other social ills (Harper, Making Sense of the D&C, 322-323). Several other food issues were discussed in local newspapers. A 19th-20th century contemporary of the Saints, Catherine Beecher, spoke against tea and coffee specifically as dangerous as alcohol. On February 1, 1833, four weeks before Joseph received this revelation, a Kirtland distillery (1819- 1833) closed du