SOCIAL VALUE OF ALCOHOL

Evening Star, Issue 20655, 1 December 1930, Page 10

SOCIAL VALUE OF ALCOHOL

A PROFESSOR'S VIEWS EFFECTS ON THE BRAIN Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright. LONDON, November 29. Professor Sidney Smith, when lecturing at Edinburgh University, gave . one of the most competent analyses of the social value of alcohol in the history of pedagogics. He expressed the opinion that it exerted its effects almost entirely on the brain. Under its influences little worries tended to disappear, small disappointments of everyday life lost their sting, and the world in general appeared to be more pleasant. Alcohol made self-expression easier, the shy man lost self-consciousness, and the critic became less critical. Nevertheless, when the reactions were analysed it would he found that there was a subtle but distinct loss of discrimination and fastidiousness ’of contrqle, which became more pronounced with larger doses, especially if taken without food. There was little correlation between drunkenness and serious crime, but close correlation between drunkenness and minor 'violence and neglect of children. ’