TEMPERANCE COLUMN.

Otago Witness, Issue 3961, 11 February 1930, Page 5

TEMPERANCE COLUMN.

Published by Arrangement with the United Temperance Reform Council.

THE VICIOUS CIRCLE OF ALCOHOL. It is a common charge against temperance reformers that they exaggerate in stating their case. As a matter of fact, it is deficient knowledge on the part of those who ought to be better informed which hinders their realisation of the truth that the evils arising from alcoholism cannot be exaggerated. It should not be forgotten, liowevet, that sometimes the mental clarity which is the privilege of those whose intellect is undimmed by the use of alcohol leads to perceptions quite different from those acquired by the investigators themselves. The classic illustration of this was the Eugenics Laboratory’ Memoir on “ The Influence of Parental Alcoholism on the Physique and Ability of Offspring,” from which quite opposite conclusions were derived from the same basic data. Discussing Dr Jamieson Hurry’s four remarkable books—“ Vicious Circles in Disease,” “ The Vicious Circles of Neurasthenia and Their Treatment,” “ Poverty and Its Vicious Circles,” and “ \ ieious Circles in Sociology' and Their Treatment”—a contemporary’ medical in-| vestigator inquired whether the theory of | “vicious-circles” were not overdone. It / only’ requires some practical experience of social work, and an impartial study of tb.e relation of alcoholism to othei factors which hinder betterment, to create the conviction that “ the vicious circle of alcohol ” touches at some point in its evolution all the other problems of health, amenities and poverty, and that in their settlement its “breaking” would be a vitally ameliorative factor. If any doubt existed upon that point, it would soon be dissipated by a dispassionate study of “ vicious circles,” which would carry the social student along a fascinating path of inquiry leading to most important and inevitable conclusions. \\ hatever hypercritical objection may’ be taken on the ground that a theory of “ vicious circles ” may lead to exaggerated preconceptions, experience abundantly proves their perpetual evolution. There is abundant material to indicate the connection between alcohol and disease. and to support the conclusion that . but for the recurring influence of alcohol in family history the physical conditions I favourable to the development of tuberculous and similar diseases from one generation to another might be cut off. Even small dhses of alcohol are sufficient to hinder the power of resistance which habeen known to operate in preventing ; latest disease germs from becoming active Moreover. the reversion to alcohol after one generation of abstinence may recreate susceptibility to disease, and again set in revolution the circle partially broken. The medical treatment, therefore, which will straighten out the path to health must include the elimination of dietetic alcohol if it is to prove effective. There is a complaint increasingly’ prevalent in these war times, both in and out of the army, which is classed as “ neurasthenia, a chronic functional disorder due to the exhaustion of the neurons, usually associated with impaired ideation ” —a description indicating a variety of conditions readily recognised in connection with shell-shock as well as in a morbid state, sometimes sufficiently pronounced to enable an applicant for exemption not to “ pass the doctor.” When the vicious circles in Sociology come under consideration, the persistence of alcohol is discovered as the dominant motor amid many circles, the concurrent gyrations of which perpetuate the conditions that constitute the social problem of the day. “Alcoholism, narcomania, betting and gambling, are illustrations of what may be called habit circles. Every indulgence weakens self-control and paves the way for recurrence.” In the classification of the mere environment circles, those associated with poverty are preeminent as factors, the treatment of which is essential in any constructive betterment after the war. Simply to enumerate them from Dr Jamieson Hurry’s last volume at once indicate s their interrelationship, and consequently their effective treatment only as a whole, and enforces the vital imperative; that the breaking of the vicious circle of alcohol is fundamental to that treatment. Therefore. no longer must the temperance cause be relegated by social workers to the position of Cinderella in their councils, but the fact must be recognised that it does lie at the foundation of all social and political reform. The vicious circles of poverty associated with defective housing, malnutrition, inadequate clothing, unemployment, inefficiency, anxiety, improvidence, indolence, sickness, sweating, inebriety, crime, pawning, employment of women and children, wastefulness and demoralisation would be directly affected by the breaking of the alcohol circle through the abstinence of individuals, leading to the ultimate suppression of the misuse of alcohol as a dietetic by’ an enlightened democracy There are other poverty circles, as well as some Dr Hurry describes as artificial, which would appear to be less directlyaffected by- breaking the alcohol circle. For instance, the elimination of economic disabilities and class injustice is dependent more upon the combined pressure of an awakened community than upon individual action. Nevertheless, how can the self-perpetuating. self-aggravating and fatal disorder of poverty, which, with all its contributories constitutes the greatest hindrance to social emancipation, be ameliorated or cured, but by first destroying the most powerful and productive in the web of vicious circles which enmeshes the body politic? The crying need of the times is for mental clarity and self-con-trol. The breaking of the vicious circle of alcohol would, within a short period, increase these two factors to such an extent that all the others would be ss®n ; attacked. The study of vicious circles 1 shows conclusively that the recognised factors, e.g., poverty and drink, are not ■ equally powerful in provoking each other. Ignorance, apathy, alcohol are the factors which combine with inefficiency to form those self-perpetuating conditions, wtiio.h must be removed i f tne nation is to survive the war. The operative factor is , alcohol, because it is the parent of th* i I other three, and of a large progeny o' • collaterals the entail of which would soon be cut off by its destruction.