The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1914-06-04
ALCOHOL NO STIMULANT.
Science Proves that TeetOtaler is
Stronger Than Drinker

play. That is the conclusion of Ger
manys men of science. Touch it, by
all means, if you want to slow up
YOUR muscles and put brake on
your overactive brain. Germany's
best psychologists and psychologists
declare that alcohol as a stimulant is
a fraud; that it does not help either
physical or mental operations, but
as a mere narcotic slows down and
deranges the vital functions. The
feeling of muscle workers and brain
workers that a drink has refreshed
them is, say the physiologists and
psychologists, a subjective delusion,
the result of the fact that foolish
people have been spreading such no
tions for hundreds of years. All this
is proved by the experiments Of Prof.
DR.. Emil Kraepelin, of Munich uni
versity. Professor kraepelin is an
unrivaled authority on the new
science of ergonomy; that is, the
science of the human organism as a
work-producer. His experiments
are made with the aid of the ero-
graph. This is a machine for meas
uring the body's labor output. 1t
was invented by Prof. Angelo Mosso,
of Turin, and has been improved. In
essentials, it consists of metal glove
which holds rigidly fixed all the hand
except the middle finger, to which is
tied cord passing over pulley and
holding a weight. The free middle
finger is made to pull at the cord and
lift the weight in time with a mes
tronome, and the exact amount of
energy produced and of work done
is recorded by stylo on revolving.
drum.
Professor Kraepelin has been max
ing hundreds of tests with single in
dividuals and with groups, giving
them first no alcohol and afterward
alcohol in various forms and different
sized doses. He first took total
abstainer and measured with the ero-
graph his muscular efficiency ten
times a day for periods of weeks at
a time. From the records was work
ed out the average index of muscu-
lar strength.
Then, keeping the man to the same
food and rules of living, Kraepelin
began to administer alcohol After
every meal a glass of Bordeaux wine
was given, this being alcohol in
supposed harmless state. The man i'm
mediately began to lose strength. The
decline amounted in different indivi-
duals to between 7.6 and 8 per cent.
Every man tested showed such a de-
cline.
The fact that the figure of decline
was almost Identical in all cases
shows that the bad effects of alcohol
are not accidental or individual. 1t
shows that they come from invariable
laws. When Kraepelin finished his
experiments with Germans, he tried
men of other races living in other
climatic conditions. Theresults were
much the same.
Kraepelin was at first in doubt
whether alcohol effects the brain as
injuriously as it effects the muscles.
He has now proved that this is so.
He tested the arithmetical capacity
and speed Of individuals with and
without alcohol. He engaged a num-
Der of accountants of different ages
st:."o> of education and made
them add up long rows of single
figures. At first the accountants
worked without alcohol. Afterward
they were given daily about four
cupfuls of claret, the claret to be
drunk in small quantities spread
over the whole day. The re-
suit was steady decline in the speed
of adding.
On the first day on which alcohol
was given, the accountants did 81
per cent less work than on the for
mer day. At the end of two weeks
the amount of daily work had fallen
by 1873 per cent. Here Kraepelin
cut off the claret supply. The &C
countants began to recover their old
ability, and after four days COM
plete abstention they could add at
the same speed as when the test was
begun.
Kraepelin's next experiments for
mental work were made with print
ers' compositors. This experiment
was reliable, because the compositors
were bidden set the type from al
ready printed pages, and perfect uni
formity was secured. At the end of
week, during which they were CIV
en- alcohol, the speed in setting type
had declined by 9.6 per cent. The