The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1894-04-19
TEMPERANCE NOTES.
HEREDITY IN INEBRIETY.
The Appetite for Alcohol Born in the
Blood,

OF lneDrleUy. AS a rule mere assertions
and denials of facts are unworthy of
notice, unless supported by some evil
dence that has at least the appearance
of truth. Anyone can criticise and
deny the facts which have been ac-
knowledged as true, not because they
were asserted by any one man, but as
the conclusion of a large number of
competent observers.
The holiness and presumption of
anyone who asserts that inebriety is
not inherited, sounds like the shouts of
a belated traveller who has lost his way
and is bewildered and confused, or one
who declares there is no light in the
world because he can not see.
To say there is no evidence that in
ebriety is inherited, and there is no
such thing as hereditary appetite for
liquor, is to repeat Rev. Mr.. Jasper's
conclusions: THE sun he do move
the earth he do stand still" Fortu-
nately we live in an age when state
ments of this kind are judged, not by
the author, but on the evidence which
is put forward to sustain them.
The heredity of inebriety was OBJ
served by Greek philosophers and ply
sicians, and commented on in many
works of medicine and philosophy.
Roman laws and civilization embodied
this fact in the statutes of the time,
and from this period down, in almost
every age and country, the heredity Of
drunkenness was mentioned. The
medical testimony on this point, and
the laws and edicts concerning it,
would fill a volume.
In more recent times this fact has
been studied from statistical point
and every observer, including hun
dreds of physicians of hospitals, asy-
lums, and institutions for the insane
and inebriates. have all, with one con-
sent, recognized the heredity of drunk
enness The evidence of this can be
found in reports of asylums, volumes
on insanity, inebriety, and brochures
on hereditv.
While there are wide differences of
opinion as to the extent and nature of
heredity, the fact itself is not doubted
by any who have given the subject
careful attention. 1t is not possible to
understand how the degenera tions
and defects of one person are trans
mitted to the descendants, simply be-
cause the problem is so vast, and in
wolves knowledge of biology that is
not yet attained. No one can say
when and how the disease of inebriety
and the drink craving is carried
on to the next generations; or
when it will appear, or how it may
slumber along for one or tive genera
tions then break out from the slight
est exciting causes. But the facts of
such cases are within the observation
of everyone.
Take the common, everyday Stats
tics of the percentage of inebriates
and the fact appears that from thirty
to eighty in every one hundred cases
,have inebriate parents or grandpar-
ents These figures are the highest and
lowest of different observers in this
country and Europe. There is no fact
in drunkenness upon which there is
such a universal agreement. Many
persons have divergent theories and
methods of explanation. Some persons
think it a very large factor in the
usations, and others doubt this.
Much in the same way many persons
believe that alcohol is the sole and on
ly cause of drunkenness, while in real
ity the use of alcohol is, in many cases,
only symptom. and the signal flag
of distress pointing to a condition of
degeneration going on in the brain
centers.
The great difficulty in want of agree
ment is that the subject is far beyond
any individual theory of its nature and
causes. The dogmatism which asserts
''that prohibition increases drunken
ness, and that spirits and drugs given
to children, as medicines or otherwise,
cause more inebriety than the Saloons
and that some more empirical remedy
sis more effective in the eradication of
the drink habit than world of pro-
hibitory effort" requires no answer
1t describes the author and his knowl-
edge of inebriety more clearly than
can be done otherwise.
The question of heredity is open to
every reader of this paper, and can be
decided from facts within the observa-
ton of almost everyone. Like every
other fact in science it is open to cor
rection and change. If anyone has
evidence that shows that there is mo
such thing as a hereditary appetite for
liquor" it will be welcomed and ex-
amined by an ever-increasing army of
students of this subject. Its accept
ance or rejection will be decided above
the levels of theory and personal opin-
ions.
1t is a fact seen in all departments of
scientific and sociological studies that
those who are most learned are the
least dogmatfc and assertive. Such per-
sons state all conclusions with reserve.
and as the best knowledge of the
present time. This is an unmistakable
sign of probable correctness. While
emphatic, authoritative statements,
particularly on matters where exhaus-
tive and exact studies are essential to
even master TIE first principles of the
subject, are open to grave suspicion OF
error and deception.
In the meantime our readers need
not be disturbed with any extreme ar
ticles going through the press on hered'
ity or any other allied topics. The real
facts will be determined and stated in
different way by very different men.
L'on. that will not ANIMAL 70 faith