TEMPERANCE COLUMN

Otago Witness, Issue 2811, 26 August 1908, Page 15

TEMPERANCE COLUMN

The following is the introduction to one of the latest and most important- books published upon the question of alcohol. The authors of this work are Sir Victor i Horsley and Dr Mary D. Sturge, physician I to the Birmingham and Midland Hospital for Women, and holder of numerous other ! offices. The qualification of these two ; highly-placed physicians to speak on this matter is beyond controversy. It is pro- ' posed to give in this .-column during the ! following weeks a number of chapters : from the book iteelf, Avhich should be read ! by all persons who are interested in the question of the harmfulness or otherwise of the moderate consumption of alcoholic liquors. The consumption of these liquors in exceee is, of course, universally acknowledged to be indefensible but the moderate use is still a. matter much -debated : — INTRODUCTION TO ALCOHOL AND ; THE HUMAN BODY. | Two or three years ago copies of the '■ f manifesto which appears at the beginning of this book were placarded officially in various parts of Paris. The "posters" — printed in large black print (the sign of their being issued with Government authority) — were affixed to the walls of the waiting rooms and corridors of hospitals ; they were put up in the post offices and streets of that great city, and upon the outside wall of the Hotel de Ville (municipal buildings), itself. ! Now it must be observed that it was not by teetotallers that this was done, but by men in the highest positions in Paris — d.c., the -director and secretary of the Poor LaAV Administration, the dean of the Medical Faculty of Paris, and others — men whose work as guardians^ of the public health -brought them face to" face with the great problem of how to make France a vigorous and efi'ectiA-e nation. The end of the fit-ory, alas ! possesses elements of human frailitv and selfishness. ' The vendors of alcohol in Paris rose up in indignant protest, declaring that the manifesto Avas calculated to injure their trade. It was removed from many places, but it was left in certain hospitals and on the wall of the Hotel de Ville. Avhere we saAV it in June, 1903. Upon application at the office of Public Health Aye were given copies, Avith a caution not to placard them o\--er England — the officials" hinting, with a smile, not that the facts were at fault, but that the " Trade " in England might make trouble, as it had done m Paris ' It is worLhy of note that in France tbe medical profession has been striving for forre time to arouse public anxiety on , this matter of the danger of alcohol, a danger which that country as a Avhole is noAV beginning to realise. ! In England a concurrent adA'ance of medical knowledge and thought has lately been taking place, Avhich has been due to, and kepu pace Avith, the steady flood of scientific light that of recent years has boen thrcnvn upon the bubject of the action of alcohol upon the human bod\ , a light Avhich has elucidated facts botli new and unexpected. As thete important , facts have been discoA-ered, fresh zeal has been inspired and fresh investigations &et on foot — new methods nnd neAv instruments being constantly deA-if.ed in order that the investigations might be more effective!}' carried on. Such earnestness is one .~ign of the Avidespread enthusiasm for scientific research which, has sAvept over Europe during the last 40 years, ! transforming both our understanding of whole prOA'inces of natural phenomena and also our methods of dealing with them. Particularly in regard to the alcohol question, this increase of information and consequent growth of scientific opinion have been most striking. Until recently there has been relatively little accurate — i.e.. experimental — knowledge upon the subject, and the popular belief that the feffect of alcohol was beneficially soothing and stimulating has been accepted without criticism. As an excitant, always ready to hand, it was concluded — this "being a matter of pure assumption — that it Avas a drug of permanent value as a stimulant, and one which any person might use at his own discretion. Herein lay not only an assumption, but a profund error, the rectification of which has been reserved for the scientific Avorkers of the present day, Avith more accurate methods of observation and more delicate appartus of greater exactitude and precision. For instance, the improvement of

microscope " and of hisfcological ] methods -has rendered possible the discovery of changes in organs and cells which 50 yeaxs ago were undreamed of j> and such discoveries alone are fast altering the' whole aspect of the alcohol question. The interest of men of science in the subject, although at its origin purely abstract, has in some cases developed into a patriotic desire to discover the actual facts about a liquid so largely consumed by mankind, and which, therefore, must inevitably rank as an important factor in the national welfare either for good or evil. Indeed their discoveries have not infrequently had the unexpected effect of making them advocates of temperance reform. For instance, Professor Kraepelin, of Munich, states that as a- result of his prolonged inA'estigßtions into the i effects of. very email quantities of alcohol on the nervous system, and the mind he has become "an opponent of alcohol." The following remarks preface chapter " The baneful effects of the poison affect ' all communities." — Yon Ziemssen. J " Alcohol is a poison — so is strychnine ; ; so is arsenic ; so is opium. It ranks -with ' these agents. Health is always in some . way injured by it."— The late Sir Andrew j Clark, M.D., physician to H.M. Queen ! Victoria. " Through the accumulation of small injuries it is that constitutions are com- 1 monly undermined, and break down long before their time. And if Aye call to mind , how far the average duration of life falls below the possible duration, we see how immense is the loss." — Herbert Spencer, t "Education," p. 14. j "The old saying, 'Wine is the milk of old people,' is entirely wrong ; that, on the contrary, milk is for old people, with ' rare exceptions, one of the best articles j of food ; while the habitual use of alcohol, , excepting in the smallest quantity, is to , them more injurious' than to younger people in their full activity." — Sir Her* < mann Weber, "M.D., P.R.C.P., 1906, : author of "The Prolongation of Life." ,