The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1903-02-25
THE GREAT DESTROYER
SOME STARTLING FACTS ABOUT
THE VICE OF INTEMPERANcE.

Facts ON Inebristy-Aiarminz statisiies
Compiled By De. Charles J.. Dana
Indoor Workers 0reatsss Alcoholie
victims-Habit Acquired In Youth.
In view of the perennial and wor.d'wids
interest in the subject OF intemperance
and ali that pertains to it the facts and
figures presented in a paper on the causes,
duration and management OF ine5riety.
contributed to the Medical Record by DIR.
Charles L. Dana, of New York, are WOE.
thy of review in these columns for the ben.
eft Of non-profesioual readers. DR.. Dana
has been q visiting physician at Bei!evoe
Hospital for many years, and has bad W.
RED experience in the treatment Of alec.
holic cases. In a single year he studied
$50 such cases, and his average Of lafr
years was even larger.
His evidence ON the subject Of heredity
and alcoholism Is startling: Among 5co
patients whom he questioned on this topic
he found that drink habits existed n one
or both parents in all but ten H.5 pee
cent?. The father was usually the drlnker.
Among thirty periodical inebriates two
thirds had the hereditary factor counting
against them; in fourteen cases the iather
drank; in eight both parents drank. Not
w~ithstanding these facts Dr. Dana ex-
presses the opinion that drinking is large.
~ q matter OF habit and environment"
Classified as TO occupation, DIR. Dana
found that it was rot the day laborers, tho
mechanics, artisans and small tradesnen
that furnished the largest proportion OF
alcoholic victims, indoor workers generally
leading all others. In q total OF lo60 cases
studied the .tradesmen numbered SHs
clerks and sa.esmen 30 n professional
men only 81.
The impression given out by some writ
ers that drunkenness has increased to an
alarming extent among American N
is not borne out by Dr. Dana's investiga-
tons. In the total Of admissions at Belle.
vue in the years 1881, 1881. 1850 and 1885
there were l0.479 men and 500 women,
giving q proportion Of 81 per cent, or .
little over one.third. women. In 1887 the
percentage Of women wa -, and in 1875,
eight years later, it was "a, an increase OF
only two points.
At TO the age at which the drinking
kabit il generally formed DE-. Dana has
some suggestive figures 70 oter. Among
thirty periodical inebriates two-thirds be-
gan drinking before twenty, and oil began
before thirty. The greater number OF
cases and Of deaths from alcoholism were
found between forty and fifty in men and
between twenty and thirty in women.
More interesting and remarkable per-
maps tudu any tHcx uioCtUSufco mu1S W
DR.. Dana are those relating TO the capacity
OF men for drink and the duration Of hfo
among habitual inebriates. On the latter
point the conclusions reached are that IN
serious cases the duration Of life in about
fifteen years, the maximum being over
forty years. In general II - said that hard
drinking can rarely be carried on for more
than twenty years, and il generally brings
the victim to grief ut about the age ct
forty.
Referring to persons who drink. most
heavily and frequently Il IL said that il
takes ten or fifteen years TO bring on de-
may be estimated that each inebriate con-
sumes about 1000 gallons of intoxicants. A
mar ffty.6ve years old confessed to DR..
Dana that he had been drunk twice . day
for three years, making about 1000 intoxi-
cations. Another man of forty had been
drunk weekly for twenty years, and .
third, aged forty-three, had been drunk q
thousand times in fifteen years. Two thou
sand ''drunks" are set down a. the maxi
mum limit in any ordinary inebriatc cxpe-
rience.
The favorite combination for hard drink
ers was found to be beer and whisky, and
Other beverages used by inebriatcs in
cluded cocoa winc,. Jamaica, ginger, tine.
ture of soap and a well-kncwn proprietary
"bitters." A remarkable absence of alco.
holism was found in wine drinkers.
In the conclusion of his article DR.. Dana
would teach, he says, that alcohol In al
ways and absolutely a poison and q surely
degenerating agent when used in enscss,
and that even when used in moderation It
is equally pernicious to q rather large class
Of human beings"