Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-11-26

| ener, always guilty of lulling the vic
TINS perception, and thereby giving
him false notion of his condition.
Our friend acknowledged that he had
of scientific experiments; we prom
Used to publish some of them ocea-
sionally for his benefit. And in this
mornings mail comes the same clip
| ping from the Boston American of
Sunday, Nov. %, from five different in
dividuals who ask that it be given
publicity. Here it is; read it and
then, if you don't want to believe il,
why simply say, Il know blamed
sight better" and go on exercising
your personal liberty:
The common theory that small
quantity of alcohol at the right time
and place and in moderation is really
helpful and serves to bring out some
latent power of the body is not sus-
tanned by the following experiments:
The late DR.. Ridge made some ex-
periments at hospital on a group of
ten. people, comprising medical stu
dents, porters and nurses. He put up
at the end of a corridor row of let
tiers, and got each member of the
group to walk slowly from the other
end until the letters could be read, of
course changing the order of the let
tiers in each case. mark was made
on the floor to show the spot where the
reading was done, and the PERSONS
initials placed beside it. Then he
supplied them with beer In quantities
ranging from half-apint to as little
as one sixteenth of a pint. On re-
peating the test, not one of the group
could now read the letters at the spot
where they formerly stood; all had to
go nearer. In no case was there an
| Improvement.
Professor Kraepelin, of Heidelberg
| University, in the course of his ia
nous experiments discovered that on
Ian average a man who had taken a
| fluid ounce of alcohol (equaI to one
pint of beer)had half an hour after
ward to go to distance of 90 feet TO
read letters that he had previously
Tread at 80 feet. He also records that
| the effect on the nerves of quarter
tpint or half pint of beer lasted from
I four to five hours after drinking.
1 Professor Kraepelin made his long
series of experiments with the idea of
proving that a moderate dose of alco-
lhol helped man TO do better work,
so his testimony is all the more. re-
markable when he records the fact
tina the proved just the opposite. One
OF his experiments was as follows he
slput man at some distance from a
screen from behind which colored
flag was suddenly erected The raising
of the flag started "A stop watch, and
1.-THE man had to press button which,
by means of electricity, stopped the
watch, and so recorded how long he
took TO perceive the flag, decide its
color. and press the right button fol
that color. He then was allowed 9
glass of vine, which might be con-
sidered equal to half-pint of beer
and short time afterward the ex'
Iperiment was repeated, with the re
suit that in every one of the many
cases tested the man was slower aftel
taking alcohol than before it.
Professor Kraepelin set dozei
| clerks to work number of com
pound addition sums. Each man hat
stop watch. which he started whel
he began work and stopped when h
had finished, thus recording the tim
t taken. Then he was given glass o
, wine. and sarted to work an equa
number of similar sums. Out of tn
first dozen tried, eleven were siowe
than before. and the other mar
though slightly faster, got all his sum
, lMrong. The experiment was re
peated again and again, with differen
sets of clerks, but the results were in
e variably against the use of aicoho
s The remarkable feature of it all wa
= that every clerk was certain he wa
working faster after the wine tina
Ibefore, and was astounded TO find tina
the watch was against him. SO i'm
a pressed was the professor that h
+. tried the experiment on himself an