DELUSION CONCERNING ALCOHOL.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVI, Issue 10042, 9 January 1909, Page 6 (Supplement)

DELUSION CONCERNING ALCOHOL.

The present is pre-eminently mi iconoclastic age. in almost nil tho fields of sci ncc, theories and systems that for years ha\e .received the support of many wis* and skilled men of the day lmv* been overthrown, sweut nwny, and re-legii-led to the litnljo of lb.' liilivt recruit to the ranks of the icouo-ola-ts is i'i' llenrv Smiili Williams, who in .\1 Cl.uVs ior (h-loiivr, only lell.su, I hat many oi the most cherished bolio'-j cnueming alcohol are delusions, pure and i.ii.ple, and have not the semblance ol ». foundation in fact. Ho sweeping are th-i writer's statements, t-o remarkable aro tl evidences lie lias accumulated, one cainu • help that the Prohibition part* could "earcofv ha-.o done better than C have addud 'the article to its campus ' literaiiiro. Regarded as an attack on ,th drinking habits of tho community, it may bo truthfully described as ft series o( knockdown blown. It had very gcnor.nl. y been supposed tliat alcohol was a fitimulant: that it promoted digestion and til* heart's fiction, ineroasod muscular activity, and even fortified tho mind. Those wlw hold to such ideas have boon living in •• fool's paradise "The now ovidcncc sco.im to show that, in tho final analysis, AlcnlUN stimulates none of these activities; tluw its final effect is everywhere depressive and inhibitory (at an- rate, lis regard, hiirher functions) rather than stimulative; that, in short, it is properly to bocluMe-t with the anaesthetics and narcotics. Bearing in mind tho fact that more thft'.i 1,000,000,000 gallons of alcoholic beyoi ages aro consumed each year in tho LniUv States tho grounds for this now viffv should U "f intend, to «,very uty.vll. Ur Williams makes tho k*""- 1 ' 1 " 1 liUit " ment. that, an regards digestion, evper i.n-nts show tint «'bilr> ,Vi;»h<> u'i.""l I'" li'ui•!•;. it id!'..' 1.. n.in t" i.'■•■'■• I"'. " : • '':'' normal action; "no ti a! uifciiii.rily u 1 effect neutralises llv-w>lhor. ,'\s_ cm.•(•-.. tho heart, "the ultimate cnoflt is to U ■•• ' press, in largo .loses to mralwe, ttu' ! organ." Most important of all, as re ' cards muscular activity, "tho experiment* L show that alcohol does not incroaso '.."• ', capacity to do muscular work, b\U. d ■ 1 tinctly decreases it." "Doubtless > tht» ' scorns at variaaioo with many a, man s observation of himself; but the explanation ' is found in tho fad- that alcohol blurt 1 tho judgment. A« Voigt remarks, it gm* not strength, but nt most tho fooling ;> ' streneth. A man may think lie is wont ing faster and better under the lniflucno: of alcohol than ho would otherwise d-->: ' but rigidly conducted experiments do not ', confirm this opinion." On this point Dr John J. Abel, of ,Tolui& Hopkins University, soys: "lioth scicncfl ' and tho experience of llifo hnvo explodled f the pernicious tlieory that alcohol given any persistent increase of niunuuljir power. ', . It is well understood by all who i control largo bodies of men engaged in . physical labor, that alcohol and effective , -work aro incompatible" , Dt Williams cites the eminent physicist, , Von Helmhollz, who declared that ' the , very smallest quantity of akohol served r effectively, whilo its influoncc Mated, to banish from bis mind all' possibility of ' crcaiivo effort; all capacity to solve an \ abstrise problem." Profc:.Bor James claims i that "tho reason, for craving alcohol is , that it is an a-iuosthctio even in modemto , quantities. It obliterates a part of the 3 field of coaiaciousne.'-8 and jvlxilishos colr lateral trains of thought." In Germany » many practical experiments have been • mndo to test the basa.l operations of tin* s mind. In one of these the subject sit-a f at a table with his finger upon a telegraph koy. . i "At a given signal,—say, a, flash ot - light,—he releases tho key. The timo that f elapses between signal and response. . . . i is called the simplo or direct reactionI time. . . . Kxmor found that when an ; individual bad imbibed a- small quantity : of alcohol his reaction-time was lengthen- ■ cd, though tho subject believed himself to I bo responding more promptly than Ijo- - fore." ~ Other experiments tested more compli- ■ cated mental processes. Tho subject would • place a Jiand on a telegraph key, right • and left. A signal would be given for omo ■ key by a rod light, and for the other i by a whito light. After the ingestion i of a glass of beer there was a " lar f k , ed : disturbance of tho mental processes. Tlio ■ keys would be released more rapidly than , before tho alcohol was taken, but ths • wrong key would bo pressed much more frequently. , Ivurz and Kraeplin estimated that after : consuming eighty grammes of alcohol to ■ a man for twelve successive days tho working capacity of that individual's ' mind was lessoned from 25 -per cent, to > 40 per cent. Smith found that after I tho same period the power to odd was i impaired 40 per cent., and tho power to memorise was reduced. 70 per cent. Forty . to eighty grammes of alcohol aro equal to a half-bottle or a. bottle of ordinary ■wino. Professor Aschaflenburg, referring to these experiments, points the obvious moral: - , . "The so-called moderate drinker, who consumes his bottle of wino as a matter of course each day with his dinner—and who doubtless would declare._ that he 'is never under the influence of liquor,—i« in reality never actually sober from one week's and to anothor." Professor Aschaffciiburg conducted ascries of experiments on lour professional typesetters, extending over four days. Tho first and third days woro observed as normal days, no alcohol being .given j on ,tho second and fourth days each worker received a little more than one ounce of Greek wine. "A comparison of tho results of work on normal and on alcoholic days showed, in tho case of ono of tho workers, no difference. ISut the remaining throe snowed greater or loss retardation of work, amounting in tho most pronounced cure to almost 14 per cent." Dr Williams .gives tho reeulte of many other interesting exporimonte, which wo have not space to reproduce He addresses the concluding paragraphs of his paper to the "moderate drinker" : "I am bound to boliove, in tho light of what ecienco has revealed: (1) That you aro tangibly threatening tho physical structure! of your stomach, your livor, your kidneys, your heart, your blood-ves-sels, your nerves, your brain; (2) that you aro unequivocally decreasing your capacity for work in any field ... (3) that you aro lowering the grade of your mind, dulling your higher aesthetic sense, and taking the fine edge off your morals; (4) that you are distinctly lessening your chances of maintaininß hcnlth and attaining longevity; and (51 that you may bo entailing upon your descendants yet unborn a bond of incalculable misery."'