Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1893-11-17
THE CITIZEN
DR.. Keeley on Alcohol.
(Harpers W eekly.)

(Harpers Weekly.)
1t was held by sundry learned physicians
who attended the Anti-Alcohol Congress
that was recently held at The Hague that
the moderate habitual use of alcohol is
better than total abstinence. number OF
of accomplished doctors agreed that as
much as an ounce and half of alcohol
taken daily with food did the body no phys
ical harm. and enabled the consumer to do
work with less fatigue than he could with
out it. Nobody drinks alcohol and scarce
" any one drinks anything else by ounces,
but whisky is about one half alcohol, and
an ounce and a half of alcohol reduced to
terms suited to the popular understand
ing means about four fingers of American
whisky, or two or three glasses OF ciaret,
or maybe a couple Of pints of beer. So
much these learned gentlemen say man
can drink, day in and day out, and live on
unimpaired.
DR.. Kelley, the sagacious inventor OF
the Keelev cure, comments in the New
York sun upon these conclusions OF
his European brethren. His animadver-
sions are interesting. He does not deny
| that an ounce and half of alcohol can be
| emptied daily into an average man at his
meals without doing him physical damage.
| 1t is true, he says, that the temperate
! use of alcohol has not been proved to be
| hurtful to the nations of Europe, but that,
he says, is because no European nation has
ever used alcohol temperately. There is
no such thing, he says as habitual temper
ate drinking, except by small class, in
any of the enlightened nations. The tenn
perate class he finds to be made up not of
people who habitually drink in moderation,
but ''of those who very occasionally take
a drink"
Yet lie agrees with the doctors of the con-
gress that the enlightened nations are the
liquor drinking nations, and that enlight-
emmett and inebriety seem to 60 hand in
hand. He accounts for it by the curious
theory that alcohol has developed man,
not as his friend but as his enemy, Man,
| he thinks, grows strong by fighting rum,
| just as he does by fighting cold, hunger,
wild beasts, and enemies who wait to kill
! him. There is little or no development
unless there is L stroug stimulus to ac-
| tivity. As socn as . nation gets advanced
enough 10 use alcohol tne fight with it be-
gins, and nations with really good stuff in
! them thrive ON the combat.
So they thrive ON VARS; but war is a
costly remedy for sluggishness, and after
nations have reached forward state of ad-
| vancenent The necessity Tor providing
them with the stimulus OF battles grows
less. So presently IL should require less
| alcohol ~ krep their powers ofresistance in
an active state; and for prescribing
daily alcohol in moderation for healthy
people, DIR. Keely thinks that is as unnec-
essary as to perscribe an occasional duel
because wars are part of civilized history.
Such, he says, is the effect of alcohol on
the viii that general prescription of an
ounce and a half day would make drunk
ards of six people out of every eight who
took it. And thereupon he says curious
thing. There, are he admits, moderate
drinkers, and even moderate drinkers who
drink habitually; and there is method in
making them. For by the operation Of the
laws of natural selection the descendant OF
generations of inebriates may come to have
inbred in his system such a tolerance OF
alcoholic poison as to be able to drink alco-
hol moderately without getting drunk and
without acquiring craving. Thus after
many years of the general consumption OF
alcohol every nation can furnish class
who can drink alcohol moderately, and
perhaps even continuously, without much
personal inconvenience.
1t does not behove the laity to pass
Judgment upon DR.. KeeleY's statements,
or to declare in what degree they are sound,
but at least they are suggestive, and even
edifying, and even a layman can say whether
or not their conclusions accord with the
results of his personal observation. 1t
will generally be admitted, for example,
that the practical acceptance by miscella-
neous lot of experimenters ofthe conclusion
that it good thing to drink four fingers OF
whiskey daily with ones meals would
result comparatively soon in an extremely
promising crop of drunkards, and that in
spite of the fact that there are people who
can and do drink that amount year in and
year out without appreciable detriment.
There is solace too as well as edihcation,
to be derived from what DR.. Keeley says:
A - - Ia . bar "a
no more useless and detrimental person
that the man whose only really congenial
occupation consists in emptying alcohol
into himself and his associates. But in
possible to see that even such persons
have their part to perform in facilitating
human progress, and that the necessity OF
repelling their overtures and avoiding their
example makes for the development of san
ity and fortitude in their fellows.
But one perplexity at least is aggravated
by DR.. Keeley's suggestions. He seems to
hold that the descendants of incorporate
persons are better fortified against rum
| than the offshOots of sober ancestry.
What, then, is young mans duty towards
his possible grandchildren If he abstains,
| does he abstain at their future costR Would
it be grandfatherly conduct on his part to
drink deep in order that their potations
may be comparatively harmlessf Perhaps
so; but ore could wish that this point
might be further elucidated, and in particu-
lar that it might be acertained whether the
copper fasteLed descendants of inebriates
are as good at other things as at absorbing
| rum. To wreck ones viscera and blight
| ones promise for the sake of grandchildren
whom liquor could not hurt might be like
running good ship ashore for convenience
in landing its rats The most prudent way,
| no doubt, would be TO wait until ones de-
scendants are actually in sight, and then if
ever, to be reckless. But then it would be
too late for them to inherit any benefits.
The old way is the most practcal-for the
grandfather to accumulate the money and
the grandsons to drink the alcohol, and the
results to take care of themselves.
LiLnkenness, he Liquor Habl Pos
Ively Cured by administering DR..
Haines &c olde SI,tft.'
1t is manufactured as a powder, which
| can be given in d glass of beer, a cup of
| onfIep ar tea ar in fond withouf the knnw-