The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-09-20

life and look upon unjust conditions here as means of grace. In follow ing this doctrine we find the church to- day shrinking from contact with ev- ery-day life. while poverty increases, crime multipiies and intemperanee stalks through the land. That she falls to accept the affinity of the body and the soul and acts upon the old dogma, appears In the very way she attacks the symptoms and results of social dissase and not the cause. To her. in- temperance Is a sin and Is to De solveo by abolishing the saloons. regaroiess of the fact that incompetence Is also disease. the result of underlying SO cial conditions. The saloons should De abolished, but unless the cause or tne disease be cured. no permanent gain has been registered.
 Social Problem.
 "Intemperance Is social proDiem. :. Along with suicide. insanity, rape and vagabondage, 1t is phenomena or civilization. We are m an age or | scramble and those who are unable to | scramble go to the bottom. Man dif- fers from other animals in his nervous system--the sect of the feelings. intel ligence and will. In the struggle for existence. the brute depends on his | muscles. teeth and claws--inan on hts nerves and brain. HIS nervous system
 makes him a social animal and with his brain and nerves he adjusts him. | self to his surroundings Whenever adjustment with society falls. the strain falls on the nervous system. | which is deiicately balanced and easily upset. When society IS In state Of convulsion. maladjustment Is to some extent inevitable.
 This maiadjustment during the past fifty years is fearful to contemplate
 crime has increased in proportion to population, five-fold; insanity. three, fold; suicide and pauperism have null tipiied. Rape Is a new thing under the sun. the tramp is a fixture and intem. perance is now recognized as disease
 The consumption of liquors has more than doubled in twenty-five years. The | number of total absta!ners have in- creased and prohibition has gained ground with wondrous rapidtty: but more people drink than ever before and | they drink more excessively. Let us inquire what intemperance is, from the standpoint of the nervous system. U is the excessive use of some anesthet ic. An unbalanced nervous system gives rise to feelings of unrest, and n nagging sensation. It Is a demand, \ craving of the nervous system akin to insanity on the one side and hay fever on the other. Such feeling lays hold with irresistible force upon & man, and if possible the anesthetic is procured The anesthetic Is an historic fact; the | diseased condition of the nervous sys- tenn is the essential fact With the | Teutonic races the anesthetic is alco- hol; with the Astatics. opium; 1t may be something else.
 Tt Is needless for me to go into minute details In regard to the nature of the structural degeneration of the nerve cells and walls which lead to the feeling of nervous agony. Suffice 1t to say that in one ease 1t may be due to an excessive growth of the nerves: Tn another. defective nutrition, in another. an enlarged development of the brain at the expense of the ner~ vous system. In all cases a structural defect in the substance of the nerves or brain and such Is the case in insan- ity. The inebriate Is insane while he is sober There are three classes of inebriates, commonly known as the hab;tuaI drunkard, the moderate drink CT and the periodical drunKard. In the last named you will find a perfect type to study from the standpoint of the nervous system.
 An Opinion.
 '"The causes of inte .nperance are pre- disposing-those which make the body susceptible to disease and exciting. those which excite an outbreak of dis, ease in bodies previously disposed 10 1t.
 The patent cause in America Is al- cohol. It is poison whose use pr0- duees an abnormal growth and harden- ing of the connecting tissues and cell walls throughout the body. especially the kidneys, liver and brain. The in- ner substance of the organs become compressed and strangled. The nerve matter is disturbed m action and de- generates daily. The balance Is upset and the moderate drinker becomes the outrageous drunkard.
 The use of intoxicants is one of the minor cases of inebriety.
 "The greater proportion are found in chose who inherit, from epilepsy. in- sanity. vice, misfortune and the physi- cal injuries of world long since dead" Alcohol. as the exciting agent. must De present else there can be no intoxication. The serious thing fs the time when one who Is predisposed. takes the first drink and in this lies the strongest argument for prohibition. Twenty per cent of the cases of in- ebrietv are caused by physical and mental shocks. By the former, Is meant blows on the head, sunstroke railroad accidents, injuries producing stupor and uneonsciousness and vast ing diseases. By the latter, domestic business or financial trouble, religious hysteria. disappointed affections fright. etc. Other causes are diseases affect ing the vital organs and blood, such as tuberculosis. dyspepsia rheumatism, syphilis gout and licentiousness. Such things result in abnormal nutrition or degeneration of nerves and brain and call for narcotic Diet sanitary conditions. occupation and heredity are the most far-reaching of predisposing causes.
 "Too much nutrition in the case of the rich. and not enough in the case of the poor, alike destroys the nervous system. Iil-ventilated and over crowded homes have their effect. Oc- cupation. in a large measure, deter- mines diet and home. In the profes- sfondl and business world Is most fre- quently found a sensitive nervous sys- tenn. where brain Is developed at the expense of the body. This coupled with high pressure competition. gives rise to nervous irritabIlity and a nar- cotic is sought. But these men enjoy a variety. 1t is where we find high pres sure coupled with monotony that the greatest havoc Is wrought. In the insane asylums. farmers wives are in the majority. It Is the same In the case of intemperance-man today Is a machine, working long hours in ill., ventilated buildings. where the sanita- ton is not good. There Is no variety. The nervous system degenerates, the craving arises and narcotic Is sought.
 Heredity to Blame.
 "Heredity or causes that are wholly predisposing. account for 60 per cent oF TVf