The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1903-02-12
THE GREAT DESTROYER
SOME STARTLING FACTS ABOUT
THE VICE OF INTEMPERANcE.
Facts on NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. Statistics
Compiled by DR.. Charles l.. Dana
Indoor Workers Greatest Alcoholic
victiips-Habit Acquired In Youth.

In view of the perennial and worldwide
interest in the subject of intemperance
and all that pertains to it the facts and
figures med in a paper on the causes.
duration and management OF inebriety
contributed to the Medical Record by DR..
| Charles l.. Dana, OF New York. are wor.
thy Of review in these columns for the ben
| etit Of non-profesonal readers. DR.. Dana
has been a visiting physician at Bellevue
| Hospital for many years, and has had va.
ried experience in the treatment OF alco.
holic cases. Ir a single year he studied
| $50 such cases, and his average OF later
| years was even larger.
His evidence on the subject of heredity
and alcoholism is startling. Among $50
patients whom he questioned on this topic
he found that drink habits existed in one
or both parents in all but ten (97.5 per
cent?. The father was usually the drinker.
Among thirty periodical inebriates two.
thirds had the hereditary factor counting
against them; in fourteen cases the father
drank in eight both parents drank. Not.
withstanding these facts DIR. Dana ex.
presses the opinion that drinking is large.
" a matter OF habit and environment"
Classified as to occupation, DIR. Dana
found that it was not the day laborers. the
mechanics artisans and small tradesmen
that furnished the largest proportion OF
alcoholic victims, indoor workers generally
leading all others. In a total OF 1860 caseE
studied the tradesmen numbered 3S7
clerks and statesmen 230 and professional
men only 81.
The impression given out by some writ.
ers that drunkenness has increased to an
alarming extent among American women
is not borne out by DIR. Dana's investiga.
tions. In the total OF admissions at Belle
yue in the years 1887, 1883, 1889 and 1895
there were l0,479 men and 1909 women.
giving a proportion of 81 per cent. or a
trl Ia, ha
percentage of women was 81, and in 1895,
eight years later, ii was "a, an increase OF
only two points.
At to the age at which the drinking
habit is generally formed DR. Dana has
some suggestive figures TO offer. Among
thirty periodical incbrates two-thirds be-
gan drinking before twenty, and all 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.
haps than any other disclosures made by
Dr. Dana are those relating to the capacity
of men for drink and the duration OF life
among habitual inebriates. On the latter
point the conclusions reached are that in
serious cases the duration of life is about
fifteen years. the maximum being over
forty years. In general it is said that hard
drinking can rarely be carried on for more
than twenty years, and it generally brings
the victim to grief at about the age OF
forty.
Referring to persons who drink most
heavily and frequently it is said that it
takes ten or fifteen years to bring on de.
mentia or insanity. during which time it
may be estimated that each inebriate con.
sumes about 1000 gallons of intoxicants. 4
man fifty-fve years old confessed to DR.
Dana that he had been drunk twice day
for three years. making about 20O0 intoxi.
cations. Another man of forty had been
drunk weekly for twenty years, and
third, aged forty-three, had been drunk
thousand times in fifteen years Two thou.
sand "drunks" are set down as the maxi.
mum limit in any ordinary inebriate expe'
rience.
The favorite combination for hard drink.
ers was found to be beer and whisky, and
beer alone came we'll up in the scale
Other beverages used by inebriates in
cluded cocoa wine, Jamaica ginger. tine
ture OF soap and a wellinown 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 is al.
ways and absolutely poison and surely
degenerating agent when used in excess,
and that even when used in moderation it
is equally pernicous to rather large class
| OF human beings