The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1902-07-30
THE GREAT DESTROYER
SOME STARTLING FACTS ABOUT
THE VICE OF INTEMPERANcE.

A Scottish Expsrt Says That the Excss.
sivs Csc Of Alcoholic srimulsnts Causes
an Undue Amount Of Mental Disssss-
Manufacturing Social Burdens.
William P. Spratlipg, II. D.. Superinten.
dent Of the Craig Colony for Epileptics,
writes Is follows: In the eighty-eighth an
nual report OF the Roya! Morninsside Asy.
lum at Edinburgh, DR.. T. 8. Clouston, the
very distinguished and able Superintendent
OF the institution. says about alcohol as
cause OF insanity:
Il cannot myself get over the conclusion
that the excessive use OF alcoholic stimu.
lants during times OF brisk trade and high
wages has to q large exteat been the cause
of the undue amount Of mental disease
which we have been called on to treat this
year. We had, as a matter OF fact, lis
cases, or about quarter OF our whole
number Of admissions. in whom drink was
assigned as either the sole or as a contribu.
tory cause Of the disease. Il the admission
Of men alone are looked at, eiShty-one. or
about onc-third Of them. were alcoholic
cases. have never had experience OF any;
thing approaching this before. and | should
fail in my duty il. seeing more Of the terri.
bic effects of excessive alcoholic drinking
in destroying honor and reason and self.
control than almost anything else in Scot
land, did not strongly draw attention to
a fact 90 disgraceful to US as community.
The mental doctor sees the very worst that
alcohol can do.
mo bodily disease, no family ruin. no
social catastrophe is 50 bad as the destruc.
ton Of mind. 1t is certain that for every
man in whom excessive drinking causes ab.
solute insanity there are twenty in whom
it Injuries the brain, blunts the moral sense
and lessons the capacity for work in lesser
degrees. The brain generally. and espe::
cially its mental functions, suffer first. and
ance OF this fact. thoughtlessness. present
enjoyment of its effects, the temptations OF
the possession OF money, bad environments.
dangerous social customs and hereditary
brain instability are the chief determining
factors why men drink to such excess that
they become insane. When in any commu'
nifty there is large class to whom pros
perity always means excessive indulgence
in drink and defiance OF natural and moral
law. it means that a higher sort OF educa.
tioa is needed or that degeneration has set
in. Mental inhibition is the very highest
and most important brain quality. the salt
without which social decay Is inevitable:
Without an average natural endowment Of
this quality q man thereby exhibits moral
imbecility. Excessive use OF alcoholic or
other brain stimulants such a man is espe.
cially prone to, and it soon finishes of his
usefulness. so that he becomes a criihi cal.
a loafer or q lunatic. Henceforth he IS q
burden or 4 curse to the community.
Or il we take the man who originally
mad an average inhibitory power. but who
has deliberately thrown it away by the ex.
cessive use OF alcohol, he too soon becomes
a social burden and nuisance. Has society
no remedy in the way of prevention OF
such causes OF insanity? can imagine a
politician or lawyer Of the doctrinaire sort
saying that true conception OF liberty
necessarily implies the liberty for man
to drink himself to death II he can afford
to do so at his own expense. But 1t looks
to even a plain man an irrational ap2iica.
ton OF the doctrine of liberty to say that
every man has the inalienab!e right to rem;
der himself burden on other people, and
community by any means whatever. Many
people state very confidently that no iegis.
lative or State means can possibly dimin.
ish the injurious drinking OF alcohol. Such
persons cannot have seriously looked at the
effects of the recent laws in regard to drink
in Norway and Sweden, and other facts
set out in that mine OF facts on the sub.
ject - Messrs. Rowntree and Sherwelrs .
book. Our recent .Iaebriates Act Is al.
most q dead letter, and Lord Peel's report
remains as yet an interesting subject OF
academic discussion. The two authors
mentioned have flooded US with authenti.
Gated statistics. yet nothing is seriously
tried legislatively to stop the hundreds OF
thousands OF people who thus poison their
brains. Convictions for being drunk and
incapable steadily increase in Scotland;
my alcoholic lunatics have risen from an
average Of fifteen and a half per cent. in
the years lS7i-SS to twenty-one and half
per cent. in lss9.9s. to twenty-five and q
half per cent. in 1899. and now to twenty.
four and a half in 1890, all this apparently
resulting from the prosperity OF the coun-
try, and yet the politician cries, non pos
sumus.
Our profession OF medicine is unani.
nous in demanding some effective ieS,sla'
ton on the matter"
Drink and Crime.
Air. Eugene Smith, an authority on
criminal statistics, in q paper recently
read before the National Prisons Asiocia..
ton at Cleveland, presented an array OF
figures that should certainly arrest the at
tention of every sincere patriot.
He declared the first cost OF crime IN
taxes upon city, town and county for mere
policing criminals is about 500 ,OOO,0OO an
nually in this country. Add to this the