Human griefs seem little worth assuaging; human happiness too paltry (at the best) to be worth increasing.
When dissolved in water, however, carbonic acid gas is a gentle stimulant to the mouth, stomach and bowel, the mixture being absorbed more rapidly than plain water; hence its greater value in assuaging thirst.
During the Polish insurrection Gorchakov rebuffed the suggestions of Great Britain, Austria and France for assuaging the severities employed in quelling it, and he was especially acrid in his replies to Earl Russell's despatches.