ALCOHOL AND CHILD LIFE.

White Ribbon, Volume 29, Issue 344, 18 February 1924, Page 9

ALCOHOL AND CHILD LIFE.

At a conference of women convened by the W.C.T.U. of Hobart, the following paper was read by Mrs Waterworth. Secretary of the Child Welfare Association:— In the course of this she said that from her own personal experience she could say without hesitation that she knew alcohol was an evil thing, and she would welcome the day when Prohibition was established, if only on account of the harm she had seen it do to the children. For many years now alcohol had be«*n recognised as a narcotic, and not, as was formerly believed, a stimulant. It would be as reasonable to expect »nen and women to indulge in the habitual use of opium, morphine, or cocaine without any adverse effects on their children as to think they could drug themselves with alcohol without doing harm of this kind. Quoting the result of scientific investigations, she said that the brunt of the evil heritage caused by alcoholism fell upon the nervous system of the next generation. Owing, first, to the deterioration of the germ cells, and. secondly, to the impoverishment of the system of the mother, children of such parentage fre. quently possessed an enfeebled nervous organisation at birth. It might be impossible to recognise this immediately, although even during infancy impaired nerve vitality frequently showed Itself in convulsions, meningitis, and other debilities. With regard to mental development. many children of alcoholic parents showed signs of stupidity, men tal deficiency, moral instability, and a lack of normal control, whilst others exhibited idiocy, epilepsy, and hysteria, together with various unbalanced cravings. The four great classes of mental deterioration in children of alcoholic parents w r ore summed up by the investigating scientists as (1) Idiocy and Imbecility; (2) epilepsy; (3) feeblemindedness; (4) mental deficiency, as shown In school work. So much for Its effect on the children who survived. Rut it was also classed as one of the great causes of deaths of infants, by inducing (1) lowered vitality of offspring; (2) deficient lactation on part of mother. With regard to alcohol being a cause of deficient lactation. Professor Bunge, of Basle, set out, as he said, “from purely scientific researches carried out without the least idea of their tendencies, or the

•lightest preconceived idea. 1 have for the last 30 years occupied myself with chemical researches on tin* composition of milk and the causes of deficient lactation in some women.’ After explaining the wonderful chemical composition of human milk, and the impossibility of finding a perfect substitute, he stated that in his investigations lu* encountered alcoholism as one of the indisputable causes of inability to suckle children. In conclusion, Sir Victor Horsley said: “That alcohol affects disastrously the minds and bodies of innocent, unborn children must be tin* undoubted opinion of those who weigh the evidence brought forward.’ He sounded, emphasised Mrs Waterworth. a serious warning note against the increased drinking of alcoholic liquors amongst women.