Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1912-10-19
SCIENTIST SAYS
- mUNN .z-# z=-
DRINK IS CAI|SE
OF CONSUMPTION
Arrangement Of Liquor Evil at
Gathering of Noted Experts
in Washington

long continued and careful inyestiga-
ton in three great countries of Europe
Is that the use of alcohol as bever-
age is, if not the chief cause. Of tuber-
cGlosis, DR.. Jacques Bertillion, chief
of the bureau of municipal statistics
Paris, startled the scientists at the
International Congress of Hygiene yes
terday afternoon with series OF state
ments and statistics showing the init
mate relation existing between alco-
kclism and various fatal diseases.
Other speakers at the session were
Edward Bunnell Phelps, editor of the
American Underwriters, of New York.
and DIR. William f. Boos, pharmacolog-
ist and biochemist at the Massachu.
sttts General Hospital, Boston each
Of whom presented figures showing
the ravages wrought in all classes OF
society by alcoholic drinks.
DR.. Bertillin's subject was "The Elk
listing Relation Between Phthisis
Consumption and Alcoholism" but
the noted French savant did not coz
fine his attention strictly to that phase
Of the topic concerning tuberculosis.
He showed that in England users Of
alcohol are more than twice as likely
to die of dozen other ailments than
are those who do not drink intoxi-
Ecants. Liver diseases, Brights's dis
ease, paresis, locomotoF etaxia, insan-
ity and even concer, he declared. find
twice or three times as many victims
arong drinkers as non-drinkers.
Death Rate Twice As Large.
In France, he said, the River Loire
divides the country into north and
south. North of the Loire, where the
grapevine does not flourish, beer, gin
and highly alcoholic drinks are freely
used, and in that section the death
rate from tuberculosis as well as prac-
tieally all other diseases is proven by
national statistics to he twice as
great among drinkers as non-drinkers
South of the river, where the grape is
grown to perfection, light claret is
the popular beverage. This elaret con-
tains very little alcohol. and in this
section the death rate from the dis
eases specified is lowered to such an
extent that the statistics of the nation
are divided, the death rate in the re-
gion north of the river being so much
higher that it Is treated as seperate
and distinct section of the statistical
reports.
Mr.. Phelps paper dealt with the re-
suits obtained in recent investiga.
ton conducted by the medical direct
ors of three great American life In
surance companies. This investiga-
ton, Mr.. Phelps stated. showed con-,
clusiyely that the use of alcohol was
indirectly responsible for nearly per
cent of all the deaths above the age
OF twenty years.
Cause $4,000 Deaths.
I'm the United States" said Mr..
Phelps, lin 1908, alcohol was the con-
tributing cause, more or less direct
ly, of nearly $4,000 deaths. the actual
cause being reported as something
else. The figures obtained In this
Investigation have since been con-
ffrmed in striking matter by Dr.
4 ressy l.. Wilbur, chief statistician
of the division Of vital statistics of
the United States census, his figures
running trifle higher than those
shown in the investigations made by
the insurance companies"
. Alcohol as Prelisposing Cause
of Accidents and Occupational Dis
eases was the subject discussed oy
DIR. Boss, who stated that statistics
prove that workmen of all classes,
between the ages of twenty-five and
forty-fiye years, who are drinkers,
suffer more than three times as
many accidents of all kinds as do
men of the same classes who do not
use LIQUOR
The periodical drinker," said DIR.
Boss, figures prominently in the &C
cidents that occur on Monday or on
days following holidays. These ac-
c1dents result from the paralyzing eff
fects of the indulgence of the pre-
Vious day-the Saturday night or
Sunday debauch, the hangover from
which lasts twenty-four hours or
longer 4
The quantities of alcohol the habi-
tual drinker takes each day." the
speaker continued, ARE not usually
sufficient to produce intoxication,
but they considerably reduce his al
ertness. He suffers a loss of acute
ness of hearing and of vision, and in
every case his mental processes are
retarded, in many cases to the point
of deafness, color blindness and a
condition approaching idiocy."
Use by Railroad Men.
referring to the use of alcohol by
railroad employees DIR. Boss said that
THE seriousness of the railroad ac-
cident at Corning July last does not
lie so much in the loss of thirty-nine
lives because the engineer was drunk
as in the fact that it was possible for
the engineer to enter his cab in a
drunken condition. We need thorough
control Of all employees who have to
do with work such as railroading,
street car operation or any labor in
to which mental alertness and a clear
brain enters as a controlling factot
of safety or efficiency"
The Turks. won a victory over the
Montenegro forces which assailed
KalaVa. .....