The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1879-01-09
Hereditary Effects Of Drink.

DIR. Willard Parker, referring to the
hereditary effect OF drink, said to New
York repoi ter: "Of all agents, alcohol
is the most potent in establishing hered-
ity that exhibits itself in the destruction
of mind and body. It transmits an ap-
petite for strong drink to the children,
and these are likely to have that form
OF drunkenness which may be termed
paroxysmal; that is, they will 60 for
considerable period without any indul.
gence, until at last all barriers OF self
control give way. The drunkard by in
heritance is a more helpless slave than
his progenitor, and the children he
begets are more helpless still. Heredi.
tary effects OF drink are shown in insani-
ty, idiocy, epilepsy and other affections
of the brain and nervous systr,n. Prit-
chard and Esquirol, two great authori-
ties on the subject, attribute one-half
OF the cases Of insanity in England to
the use OF alcohol, and the same is prob
ably true in this country. One-half of
the idiots are of drunken parentage.
have been acquainted with several men,
having brilliant and cultivated minds,
who inherited the vice, and they have
stated to me that there were times when
the impulse to drink strong liquor was
irresistible, and that nothing had power
to dissuade them from yielding to it.
An instance of how a mother, accus-
toned to the use of alcohol, influences
her offspring, may be related from my
own experience. A merchant in good
circumstances came to me for medical
advice. He was in the habit of getting
intoxicated every night before retiring.
His mother also drank habitually, and
died of paralysis. He had two brothers
and three sisters. The oldest brother
died a paroxysmal drunkard. My patient
was always in q state of mental discom.
fort and was suspicious and jealous to
the most unreasonable degree. The
third brother and child died drunkard,
and the fourth child, sister, was an
inmate of lunatic asylum. The fitth
child was intolerable on account of her
eccentricity. The sixth child, also a
woman, died of ofconsumption. The second
son, my patient, married a woman of
fine physical and mental organization.
They had two sons; the elder was asso-
ciated with his father in business, and
was an energetic man. but very excitable,
and although not an habitual drunkard.
was slave to his other animal appetite,
The other child was in reality a moral
idiot. Here, in spite of the restraining
influence of the fine mental and physical
organization of the mother, we see the
effects OF alcohol cropping ont in the
third generation. We do not always
see the worst effects OF the hereditary
influence Of alcohol, because OF the fire.
quent miugling of good blood with that
which is tainted. From my own obser-
vatiops and the testimony OF others, am
led to the conclusion that by far the
larger share of mental disease, poverty
and crime is the direct heritage of alco-
hol. 1t is also the cause of great share
OF our bodily disease, and is shortening
the average duration of life. Robbins,
in work on sanitary science, says that
the average duration of life in this city
in 1910 was between twenty-six and
twenty-seven years. Since then it has
decreased until the average age does not
now exceed fifteen years. If we reduced
the death rate to what it was fifty years
ago there would be saving OF more
than IL 600 lives every year. Our city
ought to be one of the healthiest in the
world. A careful examination will al
ways reveal the fact that indulgence in
alcoholic beverages and the death rate,
as we'll as the increase in mental and
nervous diseases, have relative proper.
ton. OF course there are other de.
generative causes, but they 60 back to
intemperance as the primary one."