TEMPERANCE COLUMN.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVII, Issue 13, 16 January 1909, Page 12

TEMPERANCE COLUMN.

[The matter for this coiumn Is supplied by a lppresentative of the local temperance bodies, who alone is responsible for the opinions expressed in it.] THE PENALTY OF "STIMULATION." In what may be called the prescientific era the tieaeheicus character of alcohol as a "stimulant" was perfectly well known. The 3c.*ipture wisdom-books aie so clear on the point that the com-n-endation of fermented beverages which sume declare they find there may 'usually be traced to inadequate translations, lor there is not a passage of approval that can bo certainly said to refer to intcxicoting drink. On the other hand, the liquors that "mock" and "deceive, " that bring "woe," ''sorrow," and "redness of eyes," that at the last bite like the serpent and sting like the adder, need no commentary to explain their nature. Moreover, side ,by side with the caution the phenomena of alcoholic fermentation are graphically set forth — the visible "working" of the liquor and the characteristic red stain that appears as the alcohol extracts! the hitherto insoluble dye from the grapeskins. Scientific study of the physiological effects of alcohol began simultaneously with the modern temperance movement, and the accuracy of the earlier observers is beyond all praise. The unique case of Alexis St~ Martin, whose living stomach was the subject of systematic ex- , amination, is still the standard authority on the subject, and the old conclusions of- Mingaye Syder — imperfect as I was the chemical or physiological knowledge of his day — still hold good, to say nothing of the later work of Dr. F. E.. Lees. With all modern advance in the way of exact methods of research, caieful investigators haye 1 done not much more than confirm the earlier conclusions, establish them on an impregnable basis, and emphasise their warning against the treacherous "stimulus" of alcohol. Alcohol is proved not to stimulate, but to depress. The suggestion that it is a food is exploded. A later theory, that it had a beneficial effect in "conserving issue," is a misrepresentation of one of its most insidious dangers ; the truth being that it retards or prevents the natural elimination of waste and dead matter, poisoning the fluids, rendering the system defenceless against diseasegeirns, -and causing fatty degeneration of the muscles. One of the first requisites in the enquiry is to discriminate between an irritant and a stimulant. There is a superficial resemblance in the effects of these respective agents which may easily deceive the uninstructed observer, but there is no excuse for any professed scientific investigator who interchanges the terms. The point is easily illustrated. A. foreign substance enters the eye — an ant, it may -be, charged with formic acid — al' the surrounding glands flood the eye with water, diluting the acid and washing the intruder away. A man, by accident or design, swallows a severe dos& of croton oil, and straightway all nis. physical forces concentrate in a violent effort to expel the dangerous drug. In other, but no less effective ways, when alcohol is taken into the stomach, all available vital force is brought to bear upon its speedy elimination. And it is noteworthy that it passes away as alcohol, whether in vapour from the breath or skin, or carried off with other iiuids. It is a hostile and alien element, apparently as incapable of assimilation as so much powcUred glass. In these 'instances, the' formic acid, tne croton oil, and the alcohol irritate the body, or the organ specially attacked, causing unwonted and violent exertion, but they do not stimulate. The reserve of physical strength is drawn upon, and vital force is withdrawn from its normal and regular purposes to the work of defence. Reaction and depression follow. A true stimulant — as, for example, a draught of hot milk in a case of weariness or depression, does not produce the immediate and perceptible effect of an irritant, but it restores instead of depleting the •''vital force, and no reaction follows. Dr. Williams shows that alcohol is a prime deceiver in this respect, ac the morbid nerve excitement it prodi'oes is so often mistaken for an access of strength. It is taken, for example, to "aid digestion." It induces-, it is true, an increased flow of the digestive fluids ; but at the same time (as St. Martin's case proved), it destroys their normal action. "Ordinarily," say*, T)t. Martin, '<jne effecv neutralises the other. As regards the action on the heart, the ultimate oifect is to depress, in large doses/ to paralyse, that organ. Experiments show that aJcohol does not increase capacity to do muscular work, but distinctly decreases it. " It is pointed out that the man who takes alcohol as a stimulant will not generally be found to agree with this view ; but Dr. Williams replies that alcohol blurs the judgment. "As Voit remarks, it gives, not strength, but, at mosfc, the feeling of strength. A man may think ho is working faster and better under the influence of alcohol than he would otherwise do; but rigidly conducted experiments do not confirm this opinion. Both science and the experience of Hie,' says Dr. John J. Abel, of Johns Hopkins University, ' have .exploded the pernicious theory that alcohol gives any persistent increase of muscular power. The disappearance of this universal error will greatly reduce the •consumption of alcohol among labouring men. It is well understood by all who control large bodies of mon engaged in physical k>bour that alcohol and effective work are incompatible.' " This brings us' to the verge of the psychological branch of the enquiry— the effect of alcohol on the mental processes. Di. Williams, records the results of some exceedingly interesting and instructive experiments in this direction, to which we may direct, attention at a later opportunity. THE TRAFFIC IN HAWAII. In 190? a strong but unsuccessful fight was made in the Hawaii Legislature for a local option law. Instead, a statute was passed by which the licensing of saloons is put absolutely into the hands of a board of license commissioners for each county (corresponding to the four Erincipa! islands in the group), each oard consisting of five members and ap pointed by the Governor of the Territory These boards act upon all applications for both wholesale and retail licensets, and have absolute discretionary power in every case, from which there is no appeal. Licenses are renewed semiannually, and each board has a salaried inspector whejt duties require him to keep a careful watch upon the conduct of every licensee. The authority from which this statement is taken apparently has little faith in prohibition or local option. He says that the new law is a great improvement on the very lax laws, which were formerly in force. But, despite good laws, the liquor que&tion is a \ T ery live issue still. " Like most primitive peoples," he says, " the Hawaiian has suffered much from the indulgence in hquors. His powers of resistance appear to be less than that of the white races, and alcohol has doubtless played its full part in reducing thr; native population estimated at least 400,000 when the islands were visited by Captain Cook, to less than 30,000 full-blooded Hawaiians ' today."