Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-11-08
LABORATORY TEMPERANCE.
Charge That Alcohol Is Poison Said
to Be Misleading.

From the Literary Digest.
That wholesale condemnation Of alco-
hol as a poison is often made on the
strength of mistaken inference from labo-
ratory experiment and not from the OBJ
servation of actual conditions. is charged
by the writer of a leading editorial in the
London Hospital who objects to what he
considers the extreme views aired at
recent conference of the American society
for the Study of Inebriety and Alcoholism.
The writer would not be considered as
holding a brief for alcohol; he objects
only. he says. to intemperance of state
ment. He writes:
I'VE are not ourselves dispOsed-human
nature being what 1t is-to defend the
use of alcohol as a beverage purely on
it's merits, and are ready to believe that
it's total elimination from the dietary OF
mankind would. upon balance, be an al
vantage to the race. But since such a
total elimination is outside the sphere OF
practical economics for many long year
to come. We must If we wish to arrive at
the truth, attempt at least to state the
position fairly. and separate as rigidly as
possible the evil conquenceS. if any, at
tending the use Of the drug from those
which bear such ample evidences to Its
abuse. This is an old theme and much
argued, but the need for clear thinking
upon 1t is still necessary. for there is
hardly a problem of all those that race
civilization around which bias and preJu-
dice grow so luxuriantly as this. Moth
ing is so fatal to the success of a cause
as overstatements in the mouths of its
propagandists.
ut is probable that the generic con-
demnation Of alcohol in all forms is based
upon laboratory observation. Thus one
Of the speakers at the meeting mentioned
above is reported to have said that labo-
ratory research work from every point OF
view confirmed the statement that alco-
hol was a paralysant, and its action on
the cells and tissues was corroding and
destructive. both chemically and physio-
logically This is no doubt true. sub
stance which is in common use for the
fixing of tissues-that is to say. for the
coagulation of the albumen In them. Is,
ex hypothesi. damaging to a living struc-
ture. Yet it does not follow that. because
alcohol in strong solution Is so damaging
to living things as to be a recognized pre-
sentative against putrefaction, therefore
in the diluted form in which 1t is EN-
ployed by moderate drinkers 1t Is still
noxious AS we'll might one say that be-
cause a strong mustard poultice will take
the skin off mans back. therefore the
mustard which he takes with his bacon
will destroy his gastric mucous MEM
brane.
Nor is it any more just to say that
because the administering of alcohol in
considerable doses to an animal totally
unaccustomed to it is capable of producing
degeneration of the liver, therefore a
glass of wine for dinner will exercise the
same effect upon a man well accustomed
to it. These fallacies of deduction, based
upon laboratory findings. when thus
stated in precise terms seem so platutidi-
their insertion in this place: yet they
form the often-repeated text of much
random sermonizing about alcohol and its
ill-doings."