The Grange advance., 1874-11-11
the FITTEST SURVIVE.

THE FITTEST SURVIVE.
And the Fittcst are the Drfnkers-A
Comforting Deduction from Oar.
From Paris Letter.l
When l wrote last from Paris, giving
an account of the singular views enter
tanned by NJ. Douis Langue in regard to
the necessity Of abandoning the weak
and sickly to their fate without making
any attempt to rescue them from death
by medical or surg gical treatment, had
learned but half the deductions made
by that savant from Mr.. Darwin's doc
trine of the survival of the fittest. 1t
will be remembered that natures meth
cd of producing fine race was the law
Of the survival Of the fittest, since
in the struggle for existence the weak
are crushed out and only the strong
survive and propagate. By reason Of
our hospitals and doctors we have for
ages interfered with nature, apparently
Tor our own good, but really to our own
hurt, since now there is hardly man
who has not some inherited disease or
diseased diathesis, whereas, if we al
lowed nature full play, the earth would
now be inhabited by race Of intel
lectual and physical giants. NJ. Langue
therefore proposes, since it is even not
now toa late to correct our error, that
medicine should be done away with and
the sick and wealthy die. since they are
unfit to survive.
A peculiar twist has been given to
these views by August Fillenont, a
member of the same scientific coterie,
somewhat cynical and sort Of rnadcap
philosopher, but thoroughly we'll in
formed in modern science, and occasion
ally contributor to The Reoue des
Deur Mondes. He was an intimate
friend Of the late Alfred de Musset, and
is, as he was, addicted to the use of
absinthe. A late article in The Rerate
des Dea4r Mondes, entitled "Alcohol-
ism," which attracted wide attention,
is said to have been suggested, in part
at least, by him. His thesis is as fol-
lows:
From the earliest dawn of history we
find that alcoholic stimulants have
been used, the whole process of distil-
lation being, as Humboldt pointed out,
depicted in the pyramids of Egypt.
The Hebrew scriptures show that Noah
the survivor Of the deluge, became in
toxicated almost as soon as he had
landed on Ararat. Nearly all the great
men Of antiquity, as Alexander, Deme-
trius, Antony the Triumvir, Caesar and
others were addicted to the use Of
alcohol, even in profusion. Races,
which are the strong races of history,
as the Norsemen, the Romans, the
more modern Anglo-Saxon, the Ger
mans, and the English, have always
been great drinkers, the Norsemen
pouring down the mead by the gallon,
as the modern Germans do their wire e
and beer, while the people known for
their cdeminacy and weakness have
been abstemious- witness the Hindoos
and Asiatics generally. Conquering
races drink; the conquered are abste-
mious. What is true of the general is
here also true Of the individual !;
in literature and art nothing
great was ever produced by q
total abstainer, while much that is best
came from the hands of men whose
brains were endless receptables of alco-
hol which they could hold without de-
triment to physique or intellect. It
may be roughly said that man, take:
him by and large, drinks alcohol, al.
ways has and always will
do so. The poor inebriate who
reels about the streets, neglects his
duty, and ruins his estate, is the. ex-
ception-he is weak and in the strug-
gle for existence, of which alcohol is a
concomitant, he goes down, his powers
decay, and among other evidences Of
his general anfftRess for his environ
ment. he becomes unable to propagate
his species; this is one OF the earliest
and most marked symptoms Of alcohol
ism. Those who drink largely and
whose systems are strong enough to
survive and conquer alone propagateiy
the lonI, rnn, and thus unmistakably
evidence their fitness. Then
are our great men, and glance
at the great leaders of men
now in the world-notoriously Prince
Bismark-will conclusively show that
here NJ. Fillemont is right. Our weak
lings, our Spiritualists. male dress re-.
formers, advanced persons political
''reformers, ''come-ohters." and al
that sort Of persons-are' almost to :
man .abstemious and dyspeptic: In
this struggle for life. so far forth as
alcohol is concerned, it is evident that
the ''bummers'' and those who attempt
to battle all imperious demand of ma
ture for stimulant, and therefore quar-
rel with their environme ment, must sooner
or later disan nnear from the earth. The