The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1901-01-12
WEATHER AND DRINKING.
Men Drink in All Weather for AL
Reasons-Results Of Scientific
investigations

| Investigation.
There are time-honored traditions of
men taking drinks to keep out the
cold in winter and also to relieve them
| of the heat in summer. Men have like
| wise been known to imbbe on one day
| to "break up q drouth" and on the next
| to keep out the damp. There are, more
over cases on record in which the
vagaries of the weather, or of the
weather bureaus prophecies and re-
ports of record breaking, presumptively
drove men to drink" 1t has been re-
served until these days, however, for
the relation between drunkenness and
the weather to be made the subject of
systematic and scientific study. The
task has been undertaken by DR.. Il. G.
Dexter Of the university of Illinois,
with some interesting and illuminative
results.
The field chosen for observation was
that portion of New York city situate
upon Manhattan Island region alike
noted for the promiscuous diversity of
It's weather and the diverse promiscuity
of it's drinks From careful scrutiny
during period of three years it was
found that as a rule there is most
drunkenness in cold weather and less
in hot, the maximum month being De-
cember and the minimum July. In
passing it may be noted that January,
though cold month, shows fewer cases
Of I,,r1,, lyon 10 al
October to April, inclusive-a circum-
stance which Dr. Dexter does not ex-
plain, but which seems to point to the
efficacy of swearing off" at New
Years! Classified according to tenn
perature, drunkenness is by far most
prevalent when the mercury is between
10 degrees and 20 degrees Fahrenheit
Between 20 degrees and 30 degrees it
runs pretty uniformly, being still in ex-
cess of the average. Between So de-
grees and so degrees it is at the aver
age, and thence on to the maximum
temperature it steadily and rapidly de-
clines AT the same time an exactly
opposite tendency is observed in brawI-
ing and fighting, such offenses being
fewest in midwinter and most numer-
Gus in midsummer
Barometric conditions do not seem to
be as significant as thermometric, and
no general rule Is to be deduced from
them. With the barometer at 1880 to
$3.50 and at 1890 to 30 inches drum
kenness is at the average Between
those pressures 1t is below the average.
Below $3.50 it Is slightly above the av-
erage, and above 80 1t rises markedly
above the average. The latter circuna-
stance suggests the practice of "spic-
ing the main brace" Immediately after
a storm, when there is a rise of the
barometer! AS for old Gen Humidity.
his influence upon bibuousness varies:
but on the whole 1t may be said that
the more he prevails the more men take
to drink. probably upon the principle
of like within curing like without
Finally, the thermometer shows an al
most perfect correspondence with the
''intoxicometer." Atmospheric tram |
guilty conduces to sobriety, while the |
harder the wind blows the more men
take to drink.
And the moral of it all? Well. we |
may say that men drink more f1erv |
spirits in cold weather and more cold |
beer and sherry cobblers in hot wealth
ar; wherefore there is more drunken
ness in winter than in summer. As to
he contrary rule of quarrelsomeness If
1as long been automatic that a beer
trunk is the most truculent of all.
md doubtless bad temper is largely
'esult of high tempera ture, entirely
apart from bibulosity Excess Of hui
nidity in the air causes intense discom-
ort in summer, and men drink to
drown their sorrow" while in the
lamp weather of winter they drink to
Keep out the damp and to prevent
'atching cold. AS to the wind, its eff
ect is evident. In winter It makes the
old more perceptible and in summer
t induces evaporation from the surface
IT the body; and both these circum-
tances nrompt men to drink Into the |
Electrical and other conditions we may
lot at present carry the discussion.
Dr.. Dexter's researches do not more
han hint at them. But we may formu-
ate a pretty general and practical rule, |
0 the effect that the drinking habits
f men may be much modified by tneir
ousing, clothing and food. A ton of
GAL or a warm overcoat may often
ave man from becoming a drunkard