The Palatka news and advertiser. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1908-19??, 1916-08-04

| MAUI VI tlIS ldLlOuS DSIIlllOH system
of measurement-ha given as his
opinion that alcohol may we'll be call.
ed the principal contributing cause Of
tuberculosis. Supporting this conten.
ton, he cites the mortality statistics
Of one hundred thousand men of all
ages, which show the death-rate
among abstainers to be less than hall
that Of alcohol-users-21.8 per cent
among alcoholic patients, as against
go per cent. among abstainers.
IN two large cities in the East,
studies Of death from pneumonia
educed the significant fact that in pa
tients under fifty years of age from
Is to TO per cent of those mortally
stricken had an alcoholic history. 4
Furthermore, Professor Krapelin
insists that not only is alcohol the
immediate cause of approximately a
third Of all his cases of mental dis
ease in Munich, but that in large
series Of pathological conditions-in-
Guiding paralysis, epilepsy, and arte-
rioscIcrosis-it is the chief factor,
and one Of the most important causes
Of degeneracy.
Beer, the kind that made Munich
famous, played the heavy villain in
the tragedy of these wrecked lives,
although 40 per cent. of the victims
drank schnapps as well.
in this country the ratio is slight
ly lower, but high enough, in all con-
science. For it is definitely estab-
lished that fully 30 per cent. of the
men and 10 per cent. of all women
admitted to State hospitals in the
United States are suffering from con-
ditlons brought about, directly or in
directly, through alcohol.
The fact that our prisons are fill
ed with drink-victims graduated into
criminality is getting to be generally
known. 1t is given striking first
hand confederation, however, by a re-
cent act Of prisoners in the Eastern
Pennsylvania Penitentiary. In a pc
tition signed by 1908 of their 1,478
total, praying the legislature to abol-
ish the manufacture and sale of H.
quors they ascribed 70 per cent. of
all crime to its use. This was based
on 4 personal canvass of the inmates.
Now we reach the piece of calculs-
ton that tries to reckon the exact
number Of minutes sheared off each
human existence by each potation.
1t was figured out in Denmark:
"The Danes, who have passion for
and statistics second only
to the Germans, have proved the very
and significant fact that
every pint Of brandy steady drinker
takes shortens his life by eleven
hours, and the average drink he con-
sumes curtails his earthly sojourn by
an average Of twenty-five minutes.
The method of arriving at these
astonishing results is simplicity itself.
The Governmental commission sent |
to all Danish physicians request for
information concerning deaths among
adults occurring in their practise for
one year, with especial reference as
to whether or not the cause of these
Ieaths could be traced to drink. On
y such cases were credited to alco-
mol as were admittedly drink-engen-
Tered.
ANSWERS were received concerning
1909 dead men and 1890 women-a
rifle over one-third of the mortality
n Denmark for that particular wear.
1.-The tabulation of these reports
shows that there was, as Hamlet OBJ
erved, something rotten in the State
II Denmark. For % per cent. of
male deaths and 3 per cent. of NOR
atty among the females were shown
o have been caused by the misuse
II alcohol. SO the Danish statisti-
ians got sheet of paper and a
tubby pencil and did some figuring.
This was the problem: If all
hese alcohol deaths were eliminated
rom the total, the average longevity
t a man of twenty would rise from
orty-tive and four-tenths to forty
me and three-tenths years; and of a
oman from At and fve-tenths
torty-elght and OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
Veiy three and nine-tenths and six
enths and siX-tenths years-which.
Y the way, is slightly less than our !
merlcan insurance experts have
'und IN their recent Investigations
'ncerning this matter.
Give these figures, and using the
er capita consumption of alcohol in f
enm9rk as a divisor, the results s
'oved, as we have seen, that every :
mt OF brandy consumed steals eleven -
ours out of mans normal expecta- !.
on of life, and every pint of beer |
Junk cheats him out Of approximate. $
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