The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1882-04-20
King Alcoho's Victims.

The current number Of the Sanitarian
contains an article by DR.. Crothers Of
Hartford based upon the Investigations
of several English physicians and statist-
clans, who have endeavored to as certain
what part of the mortality in the United
Kingdom is due, directly or indirectly, to
the excessive use Of alcoholic drinks.
The writer most quoted is DR. Norman
Kerr Of London, who has read several pa
pers on the subject before the social
science congress and the lIaryeian So
ciety. Accurate data, however, cannot
easily he obtained. DR.. Kerr asserts that
in England registration affords no criter-
ion of the death-rate due to inebriety,
from the circumstance that certificates
are required to state the actual cause of
death, and not what produced the fatal
disease. Apart from causes where the
name of the malady, as delirium tremens,
indicates the presence of alcohol as the
agent which induced death, the medical
profession, for obvious reasons dUnot en-
ter into particulars in making out a ccrtiti-
cate which is liable to be made public Dr.
Kerr suggests that if experts, independ-
ent Of private practice, gave death certlli-
Gates, OF were the history of the original If
the disease treated as confidential report
for purpose of public health, there would
be a much closer approximation to the
| actual causes of preVentable mortality
than IS now practicable. tie kept re
cord of deaths occurring in his OWL prac-
tict during the year. Fitty-tive deaths
were registered by him, and of these
til rteen died either primarily or second
arilt from, t,a nt l1nbbn1 Tho
tice of twelve doctors i'm different parts
of the kingdom was studied, and the
statistics gave a larger percentage than
he had deduced from his own cases. En-
larging his view, and estimating on the
basis ascertained from these thirteen
physicians record, allowing for YaTia
tions OF place and practice, he inferred
that the sixteen thousand physicians III
the kingdom would report death roll Nt
over one hundred and twenty eight thous-
and a year as a result Of excessive use Of
liquor. The number be gives includes
deaths from violence. accidents and eX-
cases among women and children suffer
ing, directly or indirectly from inebriety.
One fourth Of the infant mortality il at
trbuted III this estimate IT, the results
Of alcoholism. Twenty three thousand
deaths III public institutions We're traced
to inebrlety. and a coroner is quoted who
found i'll fifteen hundred inVuest, that
nine hundred deaths were due to drink.
Altogether Pr Kerr concludes that the
mortality roll would approach two hun
dred thousand names The actual figures
! given by this doctor as the report Of bis
own practice, and the known number Of
physicians in Great Britain. together con
stitute a farer basis for an inference than
any general statement concerning in
! direct and fatal injuries from liquor. And
this inference each one can make for him
self. There is always danger Of pressing
the unQuestioned calamitics growing ont II
the excessive use of drink beyond reas0na-
ble limits, and it is possible THAT Dr. Kerr i
estimate is too large but il is a sad story
at best.
Another side Of the STORY is presented
in the View taken Of this matter ny
Dr. Morton OF London, also quoted by
DR.. CrOlhers. who questions the ac-
curacN OF the statistics Just given. pr.
Morton gave the results Of the practice
reported 10y twenty physicians. The
cases were o1 persons between the ages
of 25 and y, nearly all from the middle
classes. The inference derived from these
facts, when broadencd to include sufficient
data, resulted in giving about forty thOuS-
and as the number Of deaths. This esti-
mate did not include the mortality in
public Institutions. If that were added,
and the deaths indirectly caused by in
ebrety We're also included, The figures
would be larger even than nr. kerr'S esti-
mate. The society before which these
essays were read concluded that an rsli-
mate Of one hundred and twenty thou3-
and deaths annually in Great Britain from
alcoholism was nearer the minimum than
the maximum figure. As matter Of
fact pneumonia, Brights disease and
heart troubles are catalogued accurately
as immediate causes Of death, but back
OF the acute attack lies the cause of over
stimulating; and if the close analysis ot
cases were published, and tie history Of
each detailed, there would hp less heard
about the remarkable prevalence Of the
diseases mentioned, which are simply, lll
many Instances, the climax Of a long re-
cord OF excessive consumption Of liquor.
If we take the number Of one hundred
and twenty thousand as fair statement
of the deaths annually caused by alcohol
in the United Kingdom, we tind that it is
almost exactly one death of every siX
| Even if allowance he made for the fact
that III perhaps a majority Of the cases
death is only slightly hastcned by drink
the tale is still sad enough. 1t needs no
long study Of the figures to reach the con
clusion that alcohol is fearful enemy
when it has taken possession Of a man
and it iustifies the State in adopting
measures which will minimize a traffic
that cannot, as long experience shows, be
suppressed altogether. The proportion oI
deaths from this general cause in the
United States is certainly far less than il
the British Isles, but even here the evil is
great. Boston Advel tiscr.
The TOMB OF WEBSTER. The toml
of Daniel Webster at Marshfield is in q
lot that IS now we'll filled with the tablets
that record the name of the departed
members of the family. The tomb Itself
is surmounted by plain marble Slab Will
"Danie Webster cut upon it in simple
letters. Two willow trees overshadow it
the slips from which they grew having
been brought from those which Wept 0vel
Napoleon's grave at st, Helena, and it is
worthy of note that the blood of the two
families has met and mingled through the
marriage of Caroline Leroy Appleton, d
grand daughter of Daniel Webster, te
jerome Bonaparte. Near by. in the bury
ing ground is the Winslow tomb, bearing
the escutcheon of Josiah Wmsl0W, Coy
ernor of New Plymouth, and Just outside
the railing of this lot is the grave Of 'yt
reverend, learned and pious Mr.. Edward
Thompson, minister Of the Marshheld
church." whose headsto; c bears this curl
GUS epitaph:
Here in a tyrant's hand doth captive lie
A rare synopsis Of divinity.
Old patriarchS. prophets gospel bishop> meet