The Republican., 1899-04-13
CURSE OF ALCOHOLISM.
Belgian Scientist Says 1t POisOna
Body and Mind, and Detes.orates
the Human Race.

control of international law; neither
is it disease that can make us tremble,
for epidemics are forseen, overcome and
eradicated from the start, and certain
ly famine is no longer redoubtable
No, these cataclysms belong to the past.
But we have no cause to boast, for we
also have apublic calamity in our midst,
and to our shame it has arisen with our
knowledge and spread its roots, thanks
to our lack of energy. This curse Of
modern society which strikes deep into
every class is alcoholism.
Alcoholism must not be confounded
with drunkenness. Drunkenness all
ways existed, but alcoholism, that pas
sion of the masses fer alcohol and it's
sad consequences for the individual, the
family and society at large, was almost
unknown hundred years ago.
How did this deadly passion take its
rise? The dominant cause resides in
the simple fact that formerly wine was
dear and spirits anything but plentiful,
whereas within the present century
enormous quantities of alcohol have
been dispensed everywhere. The result
has been a perfect flood of distilled
liquors all the world over within reach
of the poorest.
Very cheap at first, alcohol rose in
price owing to the heavy duties placed
upon it. Yet the consumption did not
diminish. The laborer, however poor,
still intoXicates himself at the cost of
bitterest privation to those dependent
upon him.
Man seeks in the use of spirituous
liquors that happy dream state which
brings oblivion to worry and casts
roseate hue over every ything-not that
condition of complete inebriety which
sinks man lower than the beast, but the
agreeable sensation experienced after
partaking of even small quantity of
alcohol, and which gives the illusion of
unwOnted strength and energy.
That is why the laborer, exhausted by
his work and saddened by his present
lot and gloomy future, has recourse to
alcohol as to a wizard who, by stroke
of his magic wand, transports him be-
yond the borders of sordid reality. lie
does not stop to think, poor wretch,
that the awakening will find him worse
off than before.
Nor is the working class alone
affected by alcoholism; intelligent and
well-educated people, who ought to set
good example, are also among its vic-
tins. The gin bottle accompanies the
laborer, and the bottle of Burgundy,
/ Bordeaux, rum or cognac is to be found
on many table. 1t is present at many
a ceremony many a discussion and
numberless insipid conversations. This
friend which gradually steals away
health, reason, and conscience is made
the confidant of projects, hopes, de-
spair joy and sorrow. 'Who cannot
cite among the friends at the bar, in the
army, in the civil service, and even, in
the medical profession" asks DR.. Bien-
fait, of Brussels (from whom I have
taken the materials for this article),
''such and such a person whose health
is visibly undermined by abuse of
Hquor?" In DR.. Bienfait's opinion alco-
hol is physical, moral intellectual and
social poison.
v
has heard speak of acute alcoholism,
chronic alcoholism, delirium tremens,
and all the long list of diseases induced
by the absorption of liquor. And that
is not all. Many people in the best of
health are stricken by alcoholic intox-
icatiOn, and many patients succumb,
not to the disease from which they are
fforipr h11t n fhn mt q blo
exhaustion produced by the use of spir-
its. They have so far diminished vital
resistance that they cannot attain con-
valescence.
Alcohol is an intellectual poison. Nor
could it be otherwise. for the brain,
whichis the seat of memory of thought,
and of all the intellectual faculties, is
affected by alcohol, and by reason of the
extreme sensitiveness of its tissue is
even particularly sensitive thereto.
Henceit soon becomes subject to change
under the influence of liquor, and quick
ly deteriorates. The power of think
ing is affected the intellectual facul
ties are obscured, judgment disappears
and the final result is that many alco-
holic subjects develop madness.
What misfortune, what ruin, what
disgrace and dishonor have been due,
says DR.. Bienfait, to the weakness of
father, a son, or Is husband, who could
not stop in time in the downward path
The fact is that spirituous liquor be-
gins by weakening and undermining
the will, and at the same time obscures
the moral faculties. Where is the nee
essary strength of purpose to be sought,
then. for conforming to the moral
code?
Well-to-do alcoholics ruin their
health and their families; as for the
hapless working men who give them
selves up to drink, their lot is even
worse; they become vagabonds, Grip
pies and criminals, thus becoming a
weight on the community by filling the
prisons and asylums.
DR.. Bienfait points out in his remark
able study of alcoholism that the alco-
holic subject is doubly dangerous, for
he not only harms himself, but also
what is worse-harms his descendants.
And should the liquor drinkers re-