ALCOHOLISM.

White Ribbon, Volume 26, Issue 305, 18 November 1920, Page 12

ALCOHOLISM.

"F>i unk< nness, the manifentatllin of acute intoxication by alcohol, is far Irom always or necessarily preceding the series of disorders that constitute chronic alcoholism. Often the* latter runs its course independently of any symptom of drunkenness. It manifest:; itself after a longer or shorter time, several months or years from the time when excess began. Its beginning is insidious. In general it begins with digestive troubles . . . then come nervous disorders . . . disposition becomes irritable; the expression changes .. . Then begins a period of organic changes.”- I>r. Magnus Huss. "Every day people die of alcoholism without ever having been drunk. What happens with such a drinker is practically what happens to his brother, the morphine addict. He begins by taking regularly small enough quantities of alcohol. Then he experiences the phenomenon of habituation seen with many ether poisons; he no longer '4ets the expected excitation from the same amount, so he- increases the dose. To custom succeeds necessity. If he is deprived of his usual excitant he falls into a state of depression. He* resumes the* use of this preferred poison, increasing the dose a little Usually he does not get drunk, but he slowly poisons himself. He becomes alcoholic without knowing it. This form of alcoholism is the most frequent and the* most dangerous. l>ecause* the most insidious." Hr. Jacques Hertillon (Paris). "Alcoholism is chronic poisoning resulting from the habitual use of alcohol, even when this is not taken in amounts sufficient !e> produce drunkenness . . . The man who daily drinks an immoderate amount of wine, cider or l>eer lx*comes as surely alcoholic as one* who drinks brandy.” French Municipal poster drafter by Drs. Behove and Faisans. "Whether found in beer, wine or spirits. alcohol remains a chemical substance of well-defined formula, ancV it.i toxic- action in the human system is the same. You all recognise tho symptoms of alcoholic poisoning because drunkenness is really only acute and rapid poisoning by a toxic substance. . . . Slow and chronic intoxication without drunkenness Is not less serious. It is entirely possible to produce* it by beer-.” —Hr. Ley (Belgium.) The Fhinese* Gonsul at New York writes: “’Ve believe that the liquor

traffic ought to be kept out of China. We oppose it just as we oppose the opium traffic. We are, therefore, doing the best we can to prevent our people from being burdened with this traffic. We have wired a request to the Government that it do all it can to assist this new committee, and personally 1 hope the Committee will have every success, wherever they work, and especially in my country. The Chinese as a whole do not want liquor to come among them. The> have suffered terribly from the opium traffic. The* liquor traffic should not be* forced upon them.