The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1874-04-21
The skeleton In Modern Society.

This is the title Of an article In HGrperS
Magazine for May. II treats not Of one skel.
eton but oI several. 1t moralizes over Ger.
tain statistics in regard to Intemperance,
Prostitution, Suicide, Insanity, Paralysis,
Child Murder, and War, and sums them
all up under the general head Of 1.-THE
Skeleton in Modern Society,"" Prom
inent in this skull and bones ennumera-
tion Is 1ntemperance. The writer deals
with 1t by the light Of figures quoted from
the records Of the Vital Economists, TO
prove It's effects in shortening the average
duration of human life. It seems from
these figures that the probability Of death
in the case Of habitual drinkers Of ardent
spirits Is vastly increased between the
ages OF q and DO years as compared
with those who arc abstemious,
and amounts TO ten times the latter's
liability. Between the ages Of Al
and 90 1t amounts TO four times, and
over sixty to twice the liability OF
society at large. 1t Is shown by English
statistics that out Of 1000 tipplers, IS die
In year, whereas the average Of society
generally is only 10 out every one thou.
aand persons, The writer says that
"Alcohol and tobacco may well DO called
the Moloch and the Hecate Of modern
society-the one ktndling men into burn.
Ing madness and tho other lulling them
into deadly melancholy, while both make
war upon the benign order Of nature and
destroy the healthy glow and genial calm
Of true liie." L1EBIG, the famous chem
ist, Is quoted in regard to the use Of
brandy and tobacco. He calls them zoos.
mopolitan vices" and in speaking Of
brandy says that ut works upon torpid
natures as adepraving stimulant, and acts
upon mankind not merely as cause but
as symptom and consequence OF social
perversity." 1t Is stated as curious fact
that in the countries Of Brandenburg and
Pomerania the amount Of brandy con-
Bumed is in proportion TO the illegitmacy
ol births, and, what is more curious still,
the same thing Is said to be generally
characteristic of brandy drinking coun-
tries"
In regard to the consumption Of ardent
spirits in this country, 1t ls said to be on
the increase. The annual expense for
stimulants in the United States Is now
set down as amounting to $6O0,000,000
per annum. This is enormous and al
most incredible. How far this extensive
use Of simulants is responsible for the
other skeletons discussed by the author
he does not say. In fact he does not con.
meet II with them, nor one with the other:
he treats each skeleton by itself. But no
doubt 1t plays leading part in the in.
crease Of insanity and suicide, he saws
that "the general opinion Is that insanity
Is on the increase In modern civilization
and is multiplying that saddest form Of
death, the ruin Of the intellect" There
arc now in Europe, including idiots,
100000 insane persons, and the greatest
relative number-two per thousSnd-arc
found among the most highly civilized
nation-tho German" Suicide. also, is
on the increase in civilized countries. II
appears that from 1915 to 1865, two
hundred and eighty thousand cases have
bean critically investigated and reported
upon. The result shows constant In
crease Of the evil in all European coun-