The Other Side of the Story.

Thames Star, Volume XX, Issue 4715, 13 September 1888, Page 4

The Other Side of the Story.

The British Medical Association hare recently made some very laborious en. qttiries regarding the question of whether total abstinence is farourablo to longevity, and generally as to the results of habits ■ with reference to alcohol, extending over large numbers of people. The British Medical Journal of the 23rd of Jane con- . tains the Beport of the Collective Investigation Committee appointed for this pur- ,, r poie; and it will, we are sure, be a stir* '"■'■'■■•-:; prise to the general public, end a shook to :fxtreme Temperance advocates, to learn ;■,. r^hat the Beport is by no means favorable ''&■'■ to the theory that total abstainers Jive longer than other people. The enquiry was conducted in this manner. No fewer 1 than 178 Members of the British Medical Association obtained particulars regarding the habits of 4.234 persons aged 25 years and upwards, recently deceased. These were divided into 5 classes, namely, total abstainers, habitually temperate, careless drinkers, free drinkers, and decidedly intemperate. The age at death of those in each class was registered, together with the cause of death, and tbe average age at death for each class was found to be as follows :•— - * Clans Years. .. a 5122 b . 62.13 c . 59 67 d ' 57.59 •c 52 03 According to this the total abstainers died at an earlier age than any other class, not excepting habitual drunkards. It was quickly seen, however, that this was an error, arising from the fact that total abstainers &re on an average much yonnger than persons who use stimulants; which means, in other words, that few people carry the habit of total abstinence through life, by far the greater number of persons above tbe middle age coming under class b, namely, habitually temperate. In order to correct this error, therefore, the Committee set to work to prepare a second table, consisting of two columns, from one of which all persons who died under 30 were omitted, and from the other ' all who died under 40 Ihis gave the following results :-~ Class Ye&rs. Years, a 57.31 62 74 b 64 43 67.71 c 61.52 64.65 d 68.87 6198 : c 53 42 57.47 The effect of this is to show that as the younger lives are eliminated, the difference between the abstainers and tbe moderate drinkers becomes less marked, but that throughout, the moderate drinkers have the advantage. It will be seen from the third column, that even when all lives under 40 are eliminated—that is to say, shutting out of tbe calculation tbe grant '-, number of young people who died before tbe age when on the average the habit of using alcohol is contracted,—the moderate < drinkers were still found to live 5 years longer than the total abstainers and the careless drinkers 2 years longer. The British Medical A ssociation seem to have adopted these figures as conclusive ; and tbe Post Magazine and Insurance Monitor, the recognised Insurance organ, in an able article on the subject, endorses that view. ' The Investigation Committee furnish an important additional foundation for their conclusions ■ in a table- of tbe causes of death. From this it appears that, contrary to the generally received opinion, consumption is commoner among total abstainers than among those who use alcohol, and is comparatively rare among free drinkers. The enquiry also shows that cancer has less tendency to develop in those who consume stimulants than in those who eschew them. The Insurance Monitor rightly points oat, however, that this must not. be taken as a justification for indulgence, because the intemperate nan subjects himself to other scourges sot less fatal than consumption or cancer. . —Wellington Press.