Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-12-10
VIEWS OF DR.. |. D. MASON
Addresses American Society fol
Study Of Alcohol.
BEGINS 4 Tw0-DAY SESSION
Scientific Men Assembled From
Throughout United States and
Foreign Lands.

Delirium tremens, plain and fancy
'.jags," the morning after feeling and
other symptoms. ailments and diseases
growing out Of the use Of alcohol Or
drugs, came up for serious discussion to-
day when scientific men and physicians
from throughout the United States and
foreign lands gathered at the forty-second
annual meeting of the American Society
for the Study Of Alcohol and Other Mar
cotics.
The convention will be in session two
days. The sessions are being held in the
Raleigh Hotel. DR.. Lewis d. Mason OF
Brooklyn, N. Y, president Of the society.
spoke this afternoon on 1.-THE Present
Status OF the Results Of the Study Of AL
cohol, in Relation to Medicine in Amer
ica"
Alcohol a Poison.
Not only man. declares DR.. Mason. but
all forms Of organic life, animal and
vegetable, find alcohol Cby which is meant
all intoxicating drink) a demoralizing
poison. Less than 2 per cent in the
blood will alcoholics it to an extent
harmful to the tissues, so that it is i'm
possible to say how little may be Inn
bibed without imperiling health and we'll
being.
Alcohol may not be a producer of dis
ease, DIR. Mason said, but it lowers the
ability Of the body to resist the invasion
of disease. So that the ills that man Is
heir to, and which an efficient fighting
tally might put to rout. find INADEQUATE
protection against their invasions of dis
ease soil' in the human body.
No normal person. he declared. desires
a narcotic. The habit is acquired through
conditions resulting from social use of
drink or voluntary drifting into 1t. or be-
cause Of the potentialities Of hereditary
faint in the blood. Pain and sorrow, which
come at some time to ali men, bring upon
them desire for forgetfulness. Alcohol,
in it's narcotic qualities, perhaps explains
its extensive use under such conditions.
Calls Substitutes a Menace.
Light wines or beer, as a substitute for
stronger liquors, are q menace to the in
dividual. inasmuch as they start a crav-
ing that they are ineffective to satisfy.
with the result that the stronger bev-
erages sooner or later are likely to be-
come necessary He pointed to the fact
that all inebrtates, at some time In their
progress, had been light drinkers, with
rare exceptions.
A plea for government aid in the sup
preston Oh Itlc udDI WdS iI<1AS W
DR.. Mason AS the greatest evil that can
afflict a. nation, he considered that the
practical aspects should appeal to the
government. The pure food law he re-
garded as a move in the right direction.
Other Papers.
Other papers at the opening formal ses-
sion are by Prof. J. Freidenwald and DR..
T. F. Leitz of Baltimore, whose expert
ments on rabbits with alcohol have
created interest in the 4cientific world:
Sir Thomas Clouston. late superintendent
Of the Royal Edinburgh Asylum of Scot
land: Prof. Eugene 8. Talbot, Chicago;
DIR. G. H. Head. Washington: DR.. c. H.
Hughes. st. Louis: DR.. ]. q. 9earcy. Tus-
caloosa. Ala, and DIR. d. III. Kress, Iona
Linda. Cal.
There will be an evening session. at
which a number of scientific papers will
be delivered. The opening address will
be made by DR.. Henry o. Marcy OF Bos-
ton, honorary president Of the society.