The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1912-07-11
Ie1llpeIa al Z
DECREASE IN ALCOHOLIC USE
Sir Victor Horsiey Says Impossible
to State Any Given Minimum
Amount of Drug Harmless.

OF the effects of alcohol on the human
body in health or disease, is that al
cohol Is poison in any form. in any
quantity. at any time, under any con-
dluon, In health or disease, either as
beverage or as a medicine. This
view practically eliminates alcohol in
any relation to the human economy,
writes L. D. Mason, NJ. D., in the
Temperance. Sir Victor Horsley, F.
r. c. s., the celebrated neurologist
AND surgeon of London. England, sums
up the whole situation in few words:
f'One conclusion energies from the re-
cent investigation of the whole alcohol
question, namely that It is quite i'm
possible to state that any given mini
mum amount of the drug is harmless
to our tissues" and we may add, this
statement holds good either in health
or disease.
Alcohol is a protoplasmic poison.
The organism is not an individual
but a social mechanism, always bring
ing us at last to cells. "-Virchow.
The most remarkable evidence of
ease is found in the records of sup
plies" IN the London Metropolitan
Hospitals. In the comparative con-
sumption OF spirits, wines and malt
liquors in a period of fifty years the
liquor bill is three times less and the
milk bill three times more. There
has been a steady decrease and in
crease in these particulars and it is
more marked every year along the
lines of economy and medical prac-
tice In Europe and this country
there are special hospitals known as
Temperance hospitals" in which alco-
hol is not used at all In the London
County Asylum the comparative con-
sumption and decrease in. the use Of
spirits, wine and beer is remarkable
In period dating from 1880 to 1905
and 1906. In 1889 the amount of spir-
its and wine consumed was .902 gal
Ions; in 1905 and 1906 POS gallons
Beer consumed in 1899 255. 1854 gal
Ions; in 1905 and 1906, 1.281b gal
Ions. From these facts there can be
no doubt as a universal, worldwide
fact that the hospitals Of the world
(for the fact applies in measure to
all civilized countries) are eliminating
alcohol as a remedy in medical prac-
tice; and hospital practice regulates
as rule, and determines general med
ical practice
The effects OF alcohol on the intel
lectual faculties and higher brain are
best shown in the words Of Dr. Clous-
ton, the celebrated neurOlogist and
mental specialist OF London. England:
From the medical and scientific point
OF view we have this great physiolog-
ical fact before us-that the first thing
that alcohol does in 90 cases out of
100 IS to effect the mental working Of
the brain of the man who imbibes"
The lunacy statistics of England
and Wales as shown in the sixty-third
report of the commissioners contains
among other interesting and import
ant facts the following statement:
Taking a survey OF the last fifty
years it is seen that lunacy has in
creased from 36762 cases in 1859 to
l2S.7S7 cases on January l. 1909. an in
crease Of 92O25 This is not merely
an actual increase keeping pace with
the increase OF population II is a
vast proportionate increase. for whilst
population has increased by SIS per
cent lunacy has increased $50 per
cent" DR. Clouston in the report of
Morningside Asylum as early as 1903
says: alcoholic insanity steadily
goes up and now II has doubled" All
neurologists in this country and in
Europe agree that all nervous dis
eases and insanity are at the present
time largely on the increase and the
use of alcohol IS a prominent basic
factor in this increase. to say nothing
Of other forms OF disease not specific
ally affecting the nervous system.
Whether We consider alcohol as a
drug to be used in medicine or as a
beverage in daily life, we can only say
of Il after a consideration of the high
est scientific and medical expert test
mony in all centers of civilization.
that IL has no place in the human
economy as a drug or beverage in
ulSedSS Vi lSdiNAts N-4dl IT'S dNllOl Is
evil and only evil and that continu-
ally" One has only to read the pro-
ceedings Of the American Society for
the Study Of Alcohol and Other Mar
cotics, the American Journal of In
ebriety and the numerous articles in
the American medical press as we'll
as the papers read in the various medi-
cal societies and the active interest
taken by many prominent American
practitioners, to know the attitude of
medicine in America towards alcohol
as a drug. The same holds true OF
special journalism in Great Britain
and on the Continent, as represented
in the British Journal of Inebriety and
the large influential society of medical
men it represents. and the general at
titude of the influential medical pub
lie to the cause, and practice of medi-
cal or scientific Temperance, so-called.
and a growing conservatism In the
use of alcohol in disease and its grad
ual elimination from medical prac-
tee.