The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1914-09-10
Your Vote will Answer the lad

VITALITY.
1t is used as promoter Of con-
II is used as food
In addition, the pure alcohol itself
has many applications in the sciences
and the arts. 1t is zone of the most
useful chemicals at the disposal OF
the scientific worker.
From time immemnrial, men have
been using alcohol as the essential
constituent Of various beverages. Wine
dates from prehistoric ages The
Norsemen and the Germanic tribes OF
the north of Europe had their mead,
the asSsestor Of modern beer. In the
East, the yellow races brewed fiery
liquor from starch bearing grains
wheat and rice and barley. In the
South, the sugar cane yielded rhum;
the palm tree. the deliciou palm wine;
the grape, generous wines whose
aromas were like the colors of the
rainbow in their variety, Man every
where, from the Scotch highlander,
with is I'suuebaugh, TO the japanese
with his sake, had their drinks in
which alcohol was the essential in
gredient. Civilization may almost be
said to float upon a sea OF alcohol. 1t
has inspired poets since the days or
Anachreon. II has fired the heart OF
q
priest. cheered the weary and heart
sick. lulled to the terrors Of the fearful
and strengthened the COURAGE of the
timid. In many ways civilization ls IN
debt to wine for many beautiful
things.
Yet Il rs a poison. It Kills as surely
as it cheers. Wine-horn pleasure al
ways hides death's-head beneath its
many-hued garments, 1t destroys
MI ma and civilization.
ton.
What Is the truth about alcohol?
Simply this: It's value, IN any Of the
three uses TO which ii Is put as a
drink Is ten times counterbalanced by
the harm it does to the human organ
ism.
Civilization. in some of its aspects
is indebted to wine for much good
as has been said: hut civilization, in
many more of its aspects. has been
warped and retarded and deformed
by wine.
In this examination OF alcohol and
it's effects, the effect 81 its use upon
morals and organized society will be
left aside. Only the physiological eff
fects-the effects on the human ma
chine-will he considered. These
known, 1t Is easy enough to under
stand what the use of alcohol does to
For good morals denend upon a souno
mind, and a moral community owes It's
righteousness to the healthily func-
t.onns brains of its citizens.
I.
1t is undeniahle that alcohol pro-
notes convivialitr, IT warns and
elevates the faculties. expands the
heart and gives qnickness to the soul"
as the old expression has It. Until
Sria1tjfir bR-
believed that alcohol did this by slim
ulating. by giving force and vigor to
the various elements of emotion and
thought. II famed the Are. It made
steam in the mental boilers. it fed
power into the engines Of Thought
was the belief.
1s this true? It IS not.
The human mind, In the state CT
civilization, is made np Of various
elements which may he Imagined as
occupying various levels. At the bot
tom lie the so-called vital seplexes,
purely automatic and unconscious.
which control the fundamental oper-
atoms of the human machinery, such
as circulation. respiration and SO on.
Above these, and exerting some con-
troll over them, lie what may be CALI
ed the vital Instincts: these are
rartv conscious and slightly under the
control Of the will Some of these IN
stinc.a are the familiar closing of the
eve when something gets into ii. the
withdrawal Of member when 1t is
iriurca. the instinct of self-preserva-
ten. tho reproductive instinct, and
the like, Above. and controlling the
vital Instincts he the social
fahsts" that is certain seEi-auto-
matte functiens which are acquired
after birth. Most Of these are In