The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1888-10-10
The Testimony of Science.

In recent editorial in these columns, UNI
| der the heading "A Common Foe,' we dwelt
upon the fact that the liquor traffic has
brought itself into open and direct antagon-
ism with all the moral forces of modern
civilizations: that il is the declared enemy of
everything that tends to the uplifting and
ennohling Of the human race We cited it as
significant and encouraging fact that in
nearly all the great assemblies of the present
year, religious, educational, philanthropic
and political. the evils of intcmperanCe have
been a subject OF discussion, and that in
many of them firm and decided action has
been taken with respect to the suppression of
the sa of strong drink. To all this we may
add that the voice of modern science is
being raised in stronger and stronger pro-
test against the use of alcoholic liquors as
beverage. Scientific research is bringing
more and moro facts to the light which tend
to disprove many old ideas and theories in
regard to the effects Of stimulants upon the
human system and their general medicinal
value. From the same direction, also. comes
the most powerful and convincing testimony
as to the relations between the drink habit
and crime and disease. In their own calm
and dispassionate way, with irrefutable facts
and figures, the scientists are showing how the
liquor traffic is weakening and destroying
the race, how it is filling up the hospitals and
asylums and how it is entaing woe and
misery upon generations yet unborn. AS
Others are able to show that the traffic tends
to industrial paralysis, to the complete de-
generacy Of mind and morals so the scientist
can bring forward evidence to prove that
alcoholic beverages are the deadly foe of the
physical being, that they enfeeble its energies
and destroy its life.
Ii is evidence of this character which DIR.
f. s. Spltzka presents in his article on "The
Increase of the Alcohol Habit in the Sep
tember number of the Forum. Dr. Spitzka
is well known and universally respected
authority in the medical world, particularly
on diseases of the nervous system, and his
testimony in the case un Ter consideration is
worthy of serious attention. at is an in
controvertible proposition he says, THAT
the increase OF insanity in our large cities
and industrial communities Is due to two fac
tors: the increase of paretic dementia and
the increase of alcoholic insanity. Leaving
out Of consideration the fact that alcoholism
is an important cCntritutory factor of the
the increase of the latter are sut-
ficiently alarming DR.. Spitzka then
proceeds to quote from Lunier, distin-
guished German statistican, who shows that
where the consumption Of alcoholic beverages
has doubled per cdDt OF the population,
the alcoholic insane have increased in a SINH
lar ratio. A corresponding increase in the
suicide ratio is also observed. There were in
France, in 1873, ono hundred and forty-two
suicides attributable to the excessive use of
alcohol, and III 1865, without any great in
crease IN the general population, there were
four hundred and seventy-one The total
proportion of the insane in France who
owed their insanity TO alcohol in 1864 was
little over ten per hundred In Germany to-
day it is over twelve per hundred And yet
we have it constantly asserted as an argu-
ment in favor OF moderate drinking that the
use of wine and beer in the two countries
just named is not productive of serious re-
suits.
Most alarming are the statements which
DR.. SpitZka makes in regard to intemper-
Rnce and heredity. In introducing this
phase of the sub ect he raises the question
whether the State is not bound in self-pro-
lection to antagonize vice which blights
the offspring of mankind, and largely re-
cruits the weaker element in the community,
which includes the criminal and pauper
classes, and which, in part, fills our asylums
for the insane, the id otic and the deaf-nute.
That the drink habit produces the results
here ascribed to it is proven, Dr. Spitzka
adds, by abundant statistics and by obServa-
tions so numerous that the counter allegation
Of accidental coincidence will not stand.
OF seventeen children of drunken parents
observed by Noisin, three were idiots, two
confirmed epileptlcs, one suffered from
ronSenital spinal disease and the remainder
died in early life with convulsions An
analysis of the alcoholic habit in the depart
ment of Finisterre, where alcoholism is the
curse of both sexes, showed that it produced
weakmindedness, idocy, hydrocephalus, epi-
lepsy and criminailty to an almost incredible
extent. A French physician, Goyard, is
authority for the statement that the women
employed in the hospitals in that country in
variably recognize the children of alcoholic
parentage by their emaciated shrunken
faced appearance, and their continual crying.
He notes that they are the first to succum1
to epidemic and endemic diseases. Many
other facts of the same character are sub
mitted by Or. Spitzka, showing the fearful
results of iutemperance upon the young
The article closes with the following signih-
cant sentence: with the present rate of
increase of inebriety and resulting alcoholic
nsani ty and degeneracy, the races which are
the bearers of modern civilization will largely
owe their degradation and extinction to it
and its inseparable concomitants.n ~ Nelv
York Observer.