TEMPERANCE COLUMN DR TRUBY KING ON ALCOHOL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2744, 17 October 1906, Page 12

TEMPERANCE COLUMN DR TRUBY KING ON ALCOHOL.

During Dr Truby King's lecture before the Ota?o Educational Institute on Friday, July 13", 1906, the following instructive remarks as to the effect of alcohol on individuals were given : —

The Effect on the Brain. Here wae the obvious physical basis for the association of ideas, impulses passing from one nerve cell to another through the twigs [as shown on the sheet by lantern slides]. This was the highest central department. Here incoming messages were received, registered, deliberated over, and dealt with, and outgoing messages were despatched. It was like a central telephone bureau, the communications and switchings taking place by contact from fibril to twig, and from twig to twig of neighbouring cells. Upon the proper cultivation and orderly growth of the ramifications of the psychic cells depend the capacity and resourcefulness of the mind. There can be no reasonable doubt that the growth which would bo promoted by moderate and norm&i stimulation would be marred by overstrain or other inimical influences. These cells or trees had the lower part of the trunk of each plunged in a dilatation of a channel of clear running fluid, which it was explained transuded from the blood. Thus each nerve cell was bathed, not in actual blood, but in a kind of filtered blood stream. The doctor then went on to explain how these cells became depressed or poisoned by any harmful substances which found their way into the circulation. 'ihe quality of the blood stream determined the working power of the cells which it fed, and wtfiich were actually bathed in it. That this was so was obvious when we considered the almost immediate effect of holding a handkerchief sprinkled with chloroform over -the face. In a moment the cell was bathed in a stream of poison. The effect of a'.cohol was slower but analogous.

The Best and Highest Suffer First. All that was best in man suffered first, because the cells that were most highly specialised had the least nutritive and resistive faculty. Thue the highest brain cells go under to alcohol or chloroform long before the other cells become paralysed. The central nervous system, says Dr King, is like a hierarchy. When the more exalted cells are paralysed the lower ones tend to run riot and have a good time. Under the influence of whisky a man become* a " jolly good fellow " ; he discloses his friend's secrets, and he tells you stories he would not have thought of telling under other circumstances, and he buys things he does not want at auction sales. His highest cells are poisoned first ; the best in him is para!ysed. This sort of thing certainly gives a friendlier and more sociable feeling, and that, in Dr King's view, is the best 6ide of alcohol. But control is the highest function of the brain, and- want of control is the leading feature of insanity.

Lunacy Through Drink. By going through a little stage, business with an assistant the lecturer made plain the state of a man who is an inmate of Seacliff. As the result of a severe fright, coming at the end of a period of heavy drinking, the cells of this nan's brain lost the power of registering any. new memories that would last for* more than 10 minutes although he retains his old memory oi things that happened and were registered before the change in his brain took place. Though he has been in close association with Dr King for 18 years, this man ne\er knows him and never learns anything, because he has no proper physical basis foi memon. But he has reason, and uses it.

ALCOHOL AND INSANITY.

The miM.Tioal authorities of Glasgow, according to the Lancet, recently appointed a special committee to inquire into the report on tho effect" of alcoholic drinks on the increase of lunacy, which has become a serKni*. matter in that municipality and in Scotland generally. Out of 565 admissions to the Glasgow District Asylum and 213 admissions to observation wards of the poorhouses during 12 month*, no les-, than 33 per cent wore traceable to alcoholic drinks as a cau=o The inquiries show that want and pmaticm have not led to insanity nor were they causes of alcoholic drinking, for tho cases thus admitted were from all classes and conditions of society, and in the majority the home •surrounding", condition,", and earnings wore good These are not iso'a-tod farts, for tho figure-, of the Roja! Edinburgh A'-ylum point in tho sani" ci.reet'on. The fommntee has forwarded (•epic of its report to the Secretary of State for Scotland as a matter for the serious attention of the Government. Tho usual estimate as to tho amoiin* of insanity due to alcoholic drink in America, has been about 10 or 12 per cent . ai <1 to find that it is more than tw.ee as gicat in S™±l»nd

at the present time is causing some concern. Light, October 14, 1906. LIFE AND DRINK. The United Kingdom Temperance and General Provident Institution has had o-\er 60 years' experience. During that time, in the general section, nearly 9000 have died, whereas in the abstaining section, with nearly the same number of years of risk, only a little o\cr 5000 have done so. The exact figures are :— Non-abstaining, jears of life, 466,943; deaths, 8947. Abstaining: Year* of life, 398,010; deaths, 5124. These figures show a mortality in the general section of 36 per cent, higher than that of the abstainers' section. — Light, October 14, 1906. IHE MELBOURNE AGE ON BARMAIDS. There is a simple and infallible method available of securing a sound solution of the problem, as to whether the occupation of barmaid is degrading or not. We believe that there is hardly a man to be found in the State who, asked if he would care to have his sister enter a bar, would not unhesitatingly and indignantly answer in the negative. The reasons are not far to seek. Barmaids are employed by hotelkeepers either on account of their handsome appearance as a, lure to attract custom to the bars, or from motives of economy. In almost every case they are paid poorer wages than men would accept, and they are compelled to work for longer hours. But this feature of the barmaid system, although serious enough, is the least objectionable. In order to keep her palce and make herself valuable to her emplojer, a barmaid is constrained by the exigencies of her peculiar calling to make herself a decoy and a snarer of men. It is her duty to please everybody, and to offend nobody. The most revolting expressions may be used in her hearing by customers far gone in drink, and the most insulting overtures may be made to her, but she cannot resent them f lest her employer lose a customer. On the other hand, she is encouraged — nay, ofttimes commanded — to use the arts of her sex to ensure the frequent return to the bar of men who have shown themselves susceptible to her attractions. It is her business to protract the visits of this class, and to secure their repetition. And since men cannot visit or remain long in a bar without drinking, and in the latter case imbibing freely, the barmaid thus becomes, in spite of herself, a living minister of vice. It is quite possible that she may preserve her purity through all temptations, and, indeed, we are quite willing to believe that the majority of barmaids are virtuous and reputable women. But we affirm, nevertheless, that the inevitable effect of the occupation is morally degrading. No woman can long act as the instrument of corrupting the moral fibre of others without paying toll in moral' lesion. And because the employm_ent_ of women in bars irresistibly tends to develop drinking habits in the men they serve, while at the same time it blunts and destroys all the finer sensibilities of the barmaids themselves, the whole system should be swept away. There is seldom, or never, any loitering to be seem in bars served by men. Customers enter, enjoy their drinks, and walk away. They come for one purpose only — to satisfy their thirst. Then they depart. But where «ho barmaid reigns thtere are always idlers to be found, and the natural consequences of idleness, coupled with opportunities of vicious, because unnecessary, indulgence. There are no barmaids in America, not because the occupation is forbidden to females by statute, but because a healthy public opinion and a truly chivalrous regard for women have compelled hotelkeepers to employ none but male bar tenders. We have not advanced yet to that most desirable stage in Victoria, when public opinion unaided can enforce flTe laws of conscience. But the great bulk of this community desires to secure the immediate removal of women from the morally debasing influence of bars, and Mr Bent will be well advised to amend his bill in that diiection.