The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1895-01-15
ERROR VIRTUES IN PAIN.
Layman Advances Views on thu
Venerable TOPPER"

| 1dymdu AuVduCoS bIoHS VI IAS
Venerable Topper"
MR.. EDITOR An American pOet
has said:
"Truth crushed to earth shall rise
again;
The eternal years of God are hers;
But Error, wounded, writhes with
pain,
And dies among his worshippers."
Let me, Sir, make an appeal to your
sense of justice, asking admission to
the PACIFIC COMMERCIAL ADvER-
TIsER of certain matter that will tell
heavily against the article on "Ven-
cradle Topers" in your issue OF Nov.
18th last. The elder Disraeh once said
Gan opening quotation is symphony
preluding on the chords whose tones
We are about to harmonic" The
chords want to strike are those of
| truth, the most admirable music to
which any man can attune his instru-
/ ment or lend his ear.
Referring to q certain inquiry made
by the British Medical Association,
| you say, this remarkable investiga-
ton is already stirring. throughout
the Anglo-Saxon world the old ques-
ton of total abstinence and tenn
| peranoe.'"
NAV I ask, Mr.. Editor, what you
mean by sis already stirring up"
ETC.? Do you wish your readers to
| understand that the subject matter Of
| the article you publish contains some
new truth that will cause the light
| for temperance to be tfought on new
lines?" So it appears. But you do it
In ignorance, for am bound to be-.
lieve and do believe that you would
not Intentionally mislead your fell
standing of which must be fraught to
many with all the issues of happiness,
comfort and peace, both in their own
and in the lives of those about them.
Every Ineligible enunciation must
| be true or false. Any assertion pur-
porting to put before the world the
idea that the British Medical Associa-
| ton has either permitted or endorsed
q statement showing that total abb
stainers from alcoholic beverages are
shorter-lived than either temperate,
carless or free drinkers, Is false.
False as dicers' oaths." When
such assertions were first made in
England some six years ago,
DR.. Isambard Owen, secretary to the
collective investigation committee OF
the British Medical Association, fatty
denied them in the Lancet. He said:
"With your permission editors of
Lancet) will quote the conclusions
regarding longevity as they actually
stand.
"l. That habitual indulgence in
alcoholic stimulants beyond the most
moderate amount has distinct tend
ency to shorten life, the average
shortening being roughly proportioned
to the degree of Indulgence.
$50. That of men who have passed
the age of twenty five, the strictly
least ten years longer than the decid-
eddy incorporate. We have not in
these returns the means of coming to
any conclusion as to the relative dura-
ton of life of total abstainers and hab-
itually temperate drinkers Of alcoholic
liquors. DIR. Owen also said of a pas
sage purportipg to be a quotation from
the report, that it contained no less
than fourteen verbal inaccuracies in
the space Of fourteen lines"
For years past, certain men in Eng
land, exasperated at the vanity of try
ing to prove to the public that two
and two make five, have resorted to
means to establish their position
which the Lancet referred to as fol-
lows: ''Some spokesman of the liquor
selling interest have claimed to assure
the public on medical authority that
total abstinence has been proved to be
a practice detrimental to health, and
that abstainers are shorter-lived
body of men than even habitual drunk
ards. The doctrine thus badly pre-
sented is fortunately preposterOus
enough to defeat its own object; but
none the less is it well that its falsity
should be pointed out" With regard
TO the above, DR.. Owen, in still an
other letter, wrote: "Permit me to
say, Sir, that my report is not answer
able for any such absurdities."
You allude, Mr.. + iitor, to Sir Henry
Thompson's views upon diet and are
neither just nor very civil to women
holding views different from your
own. 1t is true that the celebrated
surgeon utters no uncertain voice
touching erroneous habits of eating,
but that certainly does not nullify all,
or anything, that he has uttered con-
corning "the prejudicial effects of ha-
6Itually using alcoholic beverages"
(Ihe words quoted are Sir Henry'S.)
Antagonism, it has been well said,
IS not the baneful thing many deem
IT. The attrition of mind against !
mind appears to be necessary tor the 3
development of truth. II, in my at /
tempts TO pierce the weak points in I
your armor, have had TO strike hard, |
IL Is not tnat L would hurt or annoy !
any, but that L would help all.
thanking you, sir, for the courtesy I
OF SO much space in your columns, / !
will conclude by al expression of re-
gret that the assertion of the truth,
anent what you spoke OF as a ere.
markable investigatIonn of the Brit
ish Medical Association, should have
been left to the impractical hands of
LAYNAN.