Congress About Alcohol.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIV, Issue 250, 21 October 1893, Page 4 (Supplement)

Congress About Alcohol.

Attitude Taken by the Doctors.

Extraordinary Debate.

The fourth International Congress against ' the abuse of alcohol meb ab the Hague on • August 16. There were 346 delegates pre- ' senb, of whom 80 were ladies. About half of the total number of delogabes wero Dutch' ! while the other countries represented are J Greab Bribain, America, Germany, France, Ausbria, Belgium, Denmark-, Norway and ! Sweden, Finland, Russia and Swibzerland. ' Four Governments—those of France, Bel- . gium, Italy and Norway—were represented | officially. The first day's discussion was j opened by. Sir Dyce Duckworth, ' who read in French a long and interesting paper on 'The Physiological Efiects . of Alcohol on bhe Human Organism.' Ib j became evidenb, before he had proceeded far wibh it, bhab ib was an advocacy, nob of | bobal abstinence, to which the majoriby of those presenb were pledged, bub of moderate drinking, as conducive to health and general well-being. From an early; stage in tbe reading of tho paper bhe faces of the audience became an interesbing sbudy. They expressed in rapid succession perplexity, suspicion, embarrassmenb, consternation and indignation. Some were apparently undecided whether to be angry or amused. Speaking as a physician, with experience of the influences and effects of all forms and degrees of alcoholic consumption as witnessed, too, amongst all classes of socieby, he said he was far from considering the employment of alcohol as an unmixed evil in bhe world. , He believed ibs use to be beneficial bo humanity. All forms of intemperance were bad. Alcoholic misuse was only one variety of intemperance. They could no more abolish alcohol if they would than they could abolish bread and butter, and had therefore to take its existence and use in certain proportions into fair consideration. The whole question resolved itself into one of general progress in civilisatio-t. If all that had been asserted respecting the harmful effects of alcoholic consumption were true, the finest races of men would ere now have been exterminated. The Hebrew race, for example, had always taken alcohol, and was one of the healthiesb still existing in all parts of the world. A calm consideration of the whole question did nob allow them of the medical profession to affirm that the consumption of alcohol was an unmixed evil for civilised races. As medical men they did nob approach the question with any particular bi is, and were nob led by intimate familiarity with every form and variety of abuse of alcohol to entertain a horror of it. There was neither sense nor reason in taking up such a position, and there was no medical warrant, so far as he waa aware, for ib. He therefore recognised a legitimate use of alcohol, which, as a physician, he felt sure was food, whatever the physiolo-. gists might say to the contrary. He bad known life kept up by alcohol to bhe exclusion of all other ingesta save a little water. Therefore lie felb justified in recognising ib aa a food, for temporary use at all events. They found the greatest numbers, the best men and women, doing the besb work thr.c could bo done in tho worid, taking some form of alcohol with benefit to themselves and to their capacity for work. TheyJound a very much smaller number of persons who could do as much and as good work withoub this;* bub even in their cases thoy believed thab many of them would be the bettor for some form and amount of alcohol. _ A very fow persons never attained their best health till they ceased bo tako oven the little thoy formerly took. This was an idiosyncrasy, and nob a law for everybody. He knew of no evidence to prove thab a moderate consumption of alcoholic liquid taken with other food was injurious to the best hoalth of the textures of the human body, or incapacitated ib for its highest functions. He could give no exact definition of what modern tion meant in this matter for most people, but ho assumed thab the utmost limit or equivalent of alcohol taken in any clay should not exceed ono ounce or one ounco and a-half. Whatever the nature of the liquid taken, this amount should be takon with a meal, and as a rule when the day's work was done. None should be takon between moals. Teetotalers affirmed that an abstainer was ' safe,' which meant bhab ever so long as he abstained he could never misuse alcohol. If a man used alcohol at all bhey said ' He is unsafe,' because of bha indulgence in ever so small a degree, if this declaration referred to healthy persons he could not agree with it, nor with the view that regarded all alcoholic liquids! were so dangerous andwithalsounnecessary that thoy were in all cases besb dispensed with. To such statements he reply was thab alcohol was a good gift to man—a good servant, a bad master. When food was coarse and badly cooked there was greater need for and benefit to be derived from some form of wholesome alcoholic beverage. They could nob ignore the anaesthetic properties or alcoholics in tending in small quantities whichalbue were requisite to promote comforb. cheerfulness and greater ability, therefore, to carry on the world's work". Ho laid stress on the taking of alcohol only iv tho day,_ and never unless medicinally at other times. Any person requiring alcohol only ab meal times, presumably at; one meal between hia moals, was a sick person needing medical care. Wero this a universally recognised custom there would bo hardly a question relating to alcoholic intemperance to discuss or legislate for. The main points respecting its use were three : Firsb, bhab litble be taken ; secondly, that in whatever form it be consumed it be good of its kind, and thirdly, thab it be taken with meals. He offered no apology for statements which controverted much teaching now prevalent. The President thanked him for the paper remarking that it would probably excite considerable controversy.

Mr J. D. M. Pearce, ex-Mayor of Maidenhead, said bhis was a matter in which doctors differed greatly—(hear, hear)—and bhey had in England medical men as eminent as Sir Dyce Duckworth, who mainbained opinions directly opposed to those he had enunciated. (Cheers.) Speaking for himself, Mr Pearce said thab as an employer he preferred total abstainers, and all other employers whom he knew, brewers included, showed a similar prelerence. Dr. Bergeron, delegAte of bhe French Governmenb, said bhat he wished bo correct Sir Dyco Duckworth on one point. He, In the oourso of his argument, had cited the Jewish race, Now he (tho speaker) was nob a Jew, bub a Catholic, und ho desired to reoall to tho mind of the Congress that the Jews had always been, nob a drinking, bub essentially a sober race. (Cheers.) Pp.- Torol, Professor of the University of Zurich, as a medical man, also combated

Sir Dyce Duckworth's proposibions, denying thab alcohol was beneficial, even in cases of illness.

Professor Stokvis, of Amsterdam, one of the recognised heads of the medical profession in Holland, supported Sir Dyce Duckworth's propositions. Man, he remarked, could not do withoub a stimulant, and he maintained that alcohol was a good stimulant.

Mr Joseph Malms, of Birmingham, Grand Chief ot the Order of the Good Templars, addressing the Congress in English, argued that total abstinence was the only natural method of living. Could Sir Dyce Duckworth name any hospital other than the London Temperance Hospital that had a larger percentage of recoveries from diseases of every kind and from operations of the most dangerous character? (Cheers.) Mr Charles Wakeley, General Secretary of the Band of Hope Union of London, cited the opinions expressed by Sir Wm. Gull and Sir Henry Thompson as contrary in effect to those expressed by Sir Dyce Duckworbh. He mainbained thab alcohol no more nourished man than the use of the spur nourished tho horse. M. le Pasteur Bovet, of Berne, called attention to the immense concession Sir Dyce Duckworth had made in saying chat alcohol should be takeu only in small quantities with meals, and in the evening. If they could get people to do thab bhey mighb blow up with dynamite seveneighths of the distilleries in existence and three-fourths of the breweries. The remainder would do very little business. (Laughter and cheers.) Dr. Snieders, representing the Dutch Society of Medicine, entirely associated himself with Sir Dyce Duckworth ; and Mr Smitz, speaking in the name of the main body of medical men in Holland, asserted thab there was absolutely no danger to a healthy man in the moderate use of alcoholic drinks. On the contrary, such use mighb be made with distinct advantage to health. The Congress then adjourned.