New Britain herald., 1915-05-20
Alcohol in European Armies.

The European War, subjecting mill | lions of men to the irregularities and l exposures of life in field and carr, | has naturally revived interest ;h and 1 furnished new material for the dis cussion of many old problems. Among l, these problems is that connected with the use of alcohol by the soldiers. The time has passed when alcoholic liquors are to be regarded as insepar- able from warfare and cssential tor
 military activities. Efficiency Is now
 the prime consideration. Since the
 last great War, scientific research has
 greatly increased our knowledge of
 the effects of alcohol on the human body. While the physiologist has not as yet spoken the last word on this subject, the overwhelming preponder- i ance of scientific evidence is in favor l of the proposition that the use of al- cohol, in any amounts, large or small, tends to impair muscular coordina- tion. to dull the special senses, to re- tard muscular and nervous, reactions and mental processes and to reduce efficiency in any work requiring rapid and accurate mental or physical effort The question still open to discussion is whether, in times of unusual ex- posture, strain and exertion, the tenn l porarily stimulating effects of alcohol ! are sufficiently valuable to eompen-
 sate for its undesirable results. Evi- dently the military authorities of Europe think so, or are still in- huenced by custom or tradition since in each army the regulation ration of
 alcohol is still provided. In the
 English army. ? 1-2 ounces of rum
 are issued to each man twice a week al ance is increased to , ounces twice
 u week under ordinary weather condi-
 tons and to 1-2 ounces daily in very
 bad weather, making minimum of
 ounces week and a maximum of
 17 1-2 ounces. The regular ration of
 l-2 ounces is estimated to contain
 25.5 grams of alcohol. The French
 soldier receives daily 50 grams of
 rum containing 20 grams of alcohol
 The German soldier is allowed 1,793 grams of beer and 20 grams of brandy day. The beer, which is of the ! ordinary lager variety, has low al- cohol content of only about 3.5 per
 cent, but this quantity would amount to total of 70.6 grams of actual 1 alcohol day. Austrian soldiers re-
 ceive each day 0.5 liter of wine, euui- Valent to 40 grams of alcohol.
 The physiologic effects of alcohol
 on military efficiency would proba bly,
 not be so clearly apparent in the army
 as Tn the navy. The modern battle
 ship cruiser and submarine have be- come marvels of mechanical com plexity and delicacy. The soldier in
 the trenches might take the maxi
 mum German ration of 70 grams of alcohoI day without impairing his ability to handle his rifle or manipu- late machine gun. Whether the l members of the aviation corps, the artillerymen charged with handling the heavy guns, or the signal men, on whose quickness and accuracy of ver- 1 sion much might depend, could main- tain the highest efficiency on a daily l allowance of alcohol remains to be proved. There is, in the opinion of The Journal of the American Medical association, abundant testimony on the l part of naval experts to show that al- | cohol diminishes the accuracy of the ! gun pointer on the battleship and
 so reduces the number off probable
 hits. Dutch courage" has heretofore
 been regarded as an indispensable l equipment of warfare, and alcohol has ! been looked on as the ally rather than l the enemy of the fighting man; but
 the present war will reverse the opin.
 Ions of the civilized world on n good
 many questions, and 1t is possible that l the 1ndispensability of alcohol in tba | army may be one of them.