The anti-monopolist. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1874-1878, 1874-11-19
THE FITTEST SURVIVE.
And the Fittcst are the Drinkers-A
Comforting Deduction from OAR
WiniSm.
From a Paris letter.

When 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 surgical 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 nature 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 too 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 Fillemont, a
member of the same scientific coterie,
somewhat cynical and sort Of madcap
philosopher, but thoroughly well in
formed in modern science, and OCCASION
ally contributor to The Rerue 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 Rerue
des Deu:r 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
| <hn
pouring down the mead by the gallon,
as the modern Germans do their wire
and beer, while the people known for
their cffeminacy and weakness have
been Observation-Disclosures 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 a
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. 1t
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
conctmitant, he goes down, his powers
decay, and among other evidences of
his general unfitRess 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 lon; RIM. and thus unmistakably
evidence their fitness. Then
are our great men, and a 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-outers," and all
that sort Of persons-are almost to a
man abstemious and dyspeptic. In
this struggle for life. so far forth as
alcohol is concerned, it is evident that
the hummer" and those who attempt
to battle all imperious demand of ma
ture for stimulant, and therefore quar-.
rel with their environment, must sooner
or later disappear from the earth. The
race then dominant will be capable of
the widest abandonment to pleasure
when so inclined, and the ablest atten-
ton to affairs (see Plutarch on Deme-
trius and Antony when this is needed.
In short the world may 60 on a great
undetrimental drunk. and this new race
crown itself the king Of men, As did the
old Berserkirs- The theory is able.
AID seems to be thoroughly legitimate.
Patent Fifth Act.
From the St Louis Globe.l