The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1909-02-03
STORY 0FALC0HOLISM
A VERY big PROB
LEM.
The Relation Of The Use Of Whiskey To
Society And Effect.
A BRIEF ON BOOZE.
In Series Of Articles in MecIure's Mag
azine DR.. Henry Smith Williams Shows
That Tissues Of Vital Organs Of the
Body Are Diseased Evil C~onsequen-
ces Also Passed on to His Decend-
ants by the Drinker.

Body Are Diseased-Evi c~onsequen
ces Also Passed on to His Deeend
ants by the Drinker.
That alcohol has an affinity for p%rotaplasm
the "physical basis OF life' Itself, and thai
this is the reason for the widely varied ipju-
ries that 1t may inficl on the body is asserted
by Dr.. Henry Smith Williams, In a series o.
New York } In the first. entitled "Alcoho]
and the Individual" Dr.. Williams shows
that the tissues Of The brain, the nerves, the
heart and blood vessels. The stomach and In
t~estinal tract, The j. mpathic syatem, the kid
neys, and the liver, may each and all become
diseased by the habitusl drinking OF even
amHll quantities Of alcohol. He notes also
that these consequences are not confined TO
ants OF successive generations. All this, Doc.
tor Willie ms tells ua, may be compared to
the erodiDg effect Of flowing stream, which
banks, that Is least resistant. So alcohol,
circulation In the blood, tends to attack
whatever organ or tissue may be weakest and
most susceptible. Doctor Williams agree.
poison, and discards 1.-The pernicious theory"
that II gives any persistent increase OF mus.
cular power. He goes on:
at Is even questionable whether the ener-
gy derived from the oxidation OF alcohol In
The body can be directly used at all as 8
source Of N uscular energy. Such competent
observers az Schumberg and Scheffer indie
pendeptly reached the conclusion that 1t can
not Doctor Able inclines TO the same opinion.
He suggests that alcohol Is not q food IN the
sense II VIII ch fats and carbohydrates are
food, IL should be defined as an easily exiuisi-
able drug numerous uDtoward effects which
inevitably appear when q certain minimum
does Is exceeded. BE thinks that alcohoi
should be classed with the more or less dan
"a rousi stimulants and norcotics, such az
hssheesh, tobacco, etc., rather b With
trr1v anatQInlnp fO0d9tufp
In lis sctlon on the brain, he goes on TO
say, alcohol is an inbibitor and disturber OF
mental activity: not q promoter Of It,. This
iments Of the chief German inveatigaiors
It's effect Is cumulative. 80 that the drinker
OF q single bottle OF wine Dolly "ls In reality
at least 10 per cent working efficiency. 1t IL
not only Itself a poison. but aids the action OF
other poisons, such as those Of contagion.
In the second article (December) Doctor
the communily y. Alcohol, as noted above, at.
lacks the weak est point. Says the writer:
But note now an important application.
1t Ia q fact familiar to every student OF evolu.
stable tissues OF an organization are the ones
most recently evolved; that 1s to say, the
most highly developed and complex tissues.
Being interrupted, this means that the most
are the complex central nerve.cells Of the
grey cortex OF the brain-the cells directly as
ISOLATED with the exhibition OF mental pro
cesses. These are the most delicately poised,
organic tlssue'. 1t follows that these are the
tissues that come earliest and most persistent.
ly under the influence OF the alcoholic pol
SOD. A given individual may have a highly
susceptible liver or kidneys or heart, through
hereditary Influences or through some pecn.
liarity OF bis environments; but. In general,
the brain-the organ OF mind-is the organ
whose tissues are most susceptible. 60 when
tho hioapofln0 kntfo rayapIQ- n0pf mnrfnpn q
%hob-uailed liver or an alcoholic kidney.
stomach, or heart, II will almost invariably
reveal also q %shrunbena and 'watery' alcoholic
brain. And In numberless cases in which all
the other organs have seemed TO present o
granite,llke resistance 10 the poison, the
brain alone gives evidence OF having yielded
TO the strain"
Alienists both here and In Europe, Doctor
Williams says, agrees that alcohol Is q most
potent cause OF insanity. Statistics show also
that 1t Ia q chief cause OF crime and Of pauper.
These disastrous effects on the COM
munity he sums up thut: i
"At least one-third Of all tho recognized
pauperism In the most highly civilized COM
munlties Of Christendom results from bodily
and mental ineficiency due to alcoholic In.
A similar correspondence Of testi-
mony shows. as we have seen, that the same |
cause IL responsible for the mental overthrow
OF fully one fourth OF all the. unf%ortunates
the misfortunes Of two flths OF neglected OF
abandoned children; ard for the moral de
linquences of at least half of the con Y in |
our prisons and OF not less than four-ffths OF
have previously seen how alcohol adds to the
through alliance with all manner
Of physical maladies. Did space permit. II
might be shown how largely the esme COM
sudden deaths by accident IN many lands, for
the universal prevalence of venereal diseases
with all that they Imply, and for a large pro-
OF such cases Of marital infelioity as
I'D ranorA In the htunrna oN1rfo p1t tko,o
after all, are only minor details within the
larger scheme OF human suffering already
The insane, the criminals OF vari-
GUS types, and the recipients OF charity make
the bodily-politio whose unfitness receives
recognition. Let IL be particularly
borne In mind that the conclusions just pre-
to the production OF each OF these at
normal element 70 OF society are as far removed
as possible from mere sentimental estimates
or pessipistic guesses. They are inductions
based or careful surveys Of evidence.
For every individual that dies premature
are scores OF IL dividuals that suffer TO q lesser
degree from maladies which are wholly or In
part Of the came origin, but which are not d.
rectly fatal.
mental collapse as the result Of alcoholism,
there are scores OF patients that are the VIC
OF e~pilepsies, neurasthenias, neuralgias,
choreas, and palsies OF alcoholic origin.
" ONOly SoI ~ ~
prison, there are scores OF persons who
moral delinquencies. induced or emphasized
by alcohol, are not of the indictabie order,
yet are q course OF suffering TO their friends,
and q detriment TO humanity.
For every incapable who. weakeued by al
cohol, ack nowledges defeat In the life battle
and openly seeks aims, there are scores Of
individuals that feel the pressure OF want In
greater or less degree because the money that
might have supplied necessa-les and luxurie,
has gone for drink; yet that strive TO hide
their Indulgence.
But the members OF all these vast COM
panies of sufferers lie without the field Of the
ststistican. They have no share In the esti.
mates that have just been presented.
GAS we view this joyless pageant, the vast
majority OF lis members impelled by q power |
they loathe yet must obey, q realizing senst |
comes to us OF the Tyranny exercised over |
humanity, generation. after generation, by |
this arch enemy OF progress"