, 1884-07-02

CCIlIOlI' 4uIN Ii NC1N lIuCs uC II an CNCCD-
ton in so far that it is not given to every
man to walk 5000 English miles in the
course Of 100 days without receiving any
injury from it. But so far as alcohol is
concerned he is no exception. He achieves
what his pOwer will admit of without
alcohol, and that every healthy man can
do Nnder the same conditions. And the CON
diti0n was that he got suitable and Sufi-
cient food. IT a soldier OH Il long march.
performing, that is, unusual labour which
he is not required to do every day, GOT q
good nOurisling, and at the same time
light meal, and on tile whole got sufficient
and suitable daily food, then / have not
the least doubt not only that he could do
without the alcohol, but also that he
would feel more recruited and better able
to continue the march after a suitable
meal without alcohol than after alcohol
without food or after alcohol plus unSuita.
bic and insufficient food. In other words
alcohol is only a substitute for something
better, to Il certain extent its use is econO.
mical, since it reduces the rate at which
the materials OF the body are being used
up, and IT is in this way, and not rs a
Stimulant or source Of%Strength for renewed
PXrrtiOn, that it acts. We here see
clearly a Quid FRO gao. But Just as it is
better and more agreeable to procure one
self a new coat than to economist by
patching the old one, even if this latter
alternative should prove the cheaper, so
also is it better, and in the long run moro
agreeable for the system to be supplied
with good, sound, and sufficient food
than to have patches substituted for it in
the form Of alcohol.
In a mental regard there seems to be
another aid pro qu0. 4 friend of mine
n oiftaI D4ioiul Who hoe Inr loft ~, -.
a Jealous defender of the thaumaturgical
properties of alcohol, although he did not
use exactly that word. Thus he insisted
very strongly that if Bismarck had not
drunk so much porter and champagne
and also brandy. as according to report he
has done, then he would not have been
able to accomplish such great things as he
has accomplished. Now putting aside the
question whether really any harm would
have been done ifBiSmaICk had drunk less.
whether much injustice might not have
been left undone, [ Will by no means deny
that alcohol mag have been a faCtOr in the
matter, yes perhaps even a factor Of the
first importance, which however it does
not lie with me, but with my before men
toned friend to prove, which he has over.
looked, but which | in this connection will
start out from as granted. Then the true
state of the case is this, that from the first
off (and | must, referring to what | have
already said on this point, here urge that
Ispeak Of the sound organisation, and not
of BiSmarck'S organisation as it is patholo
gically altered by alcohol, which possibly
Graves alcohol just as the morphiniSt Graves
mOrphine) that from the first, then, alcohol
by no means enabled Bismarck to think
better or longer or more clearly, than if he
had not taken it; indeed the probability
most decidedly is that from the first off he
would have worked better without than
with alcohol. But what alcohol accom-
plished was that it changed his thinking,
the alcohol worked OH his brain cells and
brought them into a new and abnormal
condition, under which they actrd-nOt
better or stronger-bu t otheraiSe than they
would have done without alcohol. 1t is
we'll known that Bismarck heSitatpd long
before entering upon the war with Austria
i'll 1866 and it is known that he dreaded
much the possible result of this war. Now
y 1t must be kept in mind that I am
all along referring to a healthy condition
of the body, and not to the use of alcohol
for the sick, or as a remedy in cases of
weakness, even should the weakness arise
from the abuse of alcohol itself.