The Penn's Grove record., 1899-03-31

In an article on social abuses the Boston
Herald had recently an excellent appeal
for the reform of a custom that is unhap-
PLY too prevalent among people who have,
or at least are supposed to have the advan-
tages of culture and refinement that the
possession of wealth %confers. This bad
custom is the unlimited serving of intoxi-
Giants at entertainments given by what is
rather vaguely known as Society" and
our esteemed contemporary says;
Another reform which should be taken
up under similar conditions is the laying
down of a limit at these entertainments
upon the use of intoxicants. 1t Is a custom
at these young peoples dances to serve
champagne, and In quite a number of in
stances this has been lone with an unfor-
tunate absence of moderation. Opinions
may differ as to advisability of freely dis
pensing a stimulant of this kind at dances
whore the great majority of the guests are
under the age of t~wenty-one. But even
those hostesses who believe 1t desirable to
follow the existing custom must, II they
think of the matter at all, question the ad-
visibility of having it drunk to excess.
For the benefit of all concerned, it would
surely be better to limit the serving of
champagne to the supper hour, when those
who drank it would do so with the mini
mum Of resulting disturbance, rather than
have 1t served at various times or at ell
times until the hour of departure. thus CIV
ing hiItCL encouragement 10 SOuletllQR
which rightly goes by an exceedingly hard
name.
There are ladies prominent in the social
life OF Boston who, ifthey realized it, would
not on any account do q wrong to a young
man or young woman, or willingly be the
cause of leading not overstrong young per-
sons into temptation, and yet 1t is by no
means impossible that some Of these have,
by their thoughtlessness, done not a little
to undertake the moral resistance of those
who have been the recipients of their hos
pitality. All that is asked is that matters
should be brought within what every one
would personally agree were reasonable
bounds, but pounds now found somewhat
difficult OF establishment because there is
no social code laid down, and there is a dis
inclination on the part Of each hostess to
set up an arbitrary standard of her own.
1t would be easily possible for fifteen or
twenty social leaders in Bostonto lay down
n code of procedure in the matter we have
Indicated, and possible in others. which
practically all would observe"
Anatomical Effects of Drink.
Moved by the eyer-increasing amount OF
drunkenness in France, a Paris physician
Is preparing for the instruction of the pub
lie a series of lantern slides showing the
anatomical effects of the use of alcohol.
1t would appear that most OF the diseases
treated in the French hospitals arise from
the use OF alcohol. All alcoholic drinks are
more Injurious when taken on an empty
stomach or between meals. TIT man who
drinks every day alcohol in the form of
liquors, or too much wine, becomes slowly
poisoned. The effect of this poisoning is to
destroy, more or less quickly, but none the
less certainly, all the organs most neces-
sary to life-the stomach, the liver, the
kidneys, the blood vessels, the heart and
the brain. Habitual imbibers of alcohol to
sxcess are much more liable han temper
ate persons to Illness, and when Ill have
much less chance OF recovery. The inves-
legations of the Partisan medical faculty
confirm strongly the well-known fact that
Tree drinking is a frequent cause of con-
sumption from its tendency to weaken the
lungs,