The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1922-09-01
MODERATE USE OF
ALCOHOL BENEFITS
American Doctor Says so to
British Medical As
ISOLATION
IS CRUTCH TO AID
MANS DISABILITIES

@NDt btitHFfdR 40 Observation-Disclosures
Man Thinks High Cost of Drink
Causes Social Unrest-Restrictio
Saves Danish People
LONDON, Sept All American doc
tors are regarded by foreign medical
men as more or less expert concerning al
cohol, both as regards the consequence
OF going without it altogether; oyer-in-
dulgence, and the various stages of in
ebriety betwiNt and between.
Therefore, the assembled doctors at
the meeting of the British Medical as
ISOLATION at Glasgow listened with great
interest TO what DIR. John T. MacCmdy.
of Cornell Medical college, had to say
about alcohol in its relation to human
economy"
Each one Of Us in varying degrees, he
SAID, has the same difficulty in meeting
the world as the unfortunates who
demonstrate their incapaeity dramatic
ally. The "normals" drugged themselves
with cheap fiction, theaters, and moving
pictures; above all they forgot them
selves ia social intercourse.
When, however. man j. tired or op-
pressed with care" IL. -dacLur went
on, how can he forget ms obsesslng
an&ietles sufficiently to become social
II he be normal small amount OF alco-
mol VIII give the necessary relaxation.
touFIyIaItY is more important for the
maintenance OF our mental ability and
effectiveness than we realize. Inuumer-
able people aIe happier and therefore
healthier because they indulge m0der-
ateIY in alcohol.
we live in an imperfect world-im-
ggf lar
gained the capacity to govern our own
Instincts. Alcohol is a crutch that man
has discovered to help him with this
disability"
Dr. NIacCurdy dealt with what he
called the ''paranoiac group" In them
he said, a drink or two brought out
quarreisome and dangerous tendencies.
They were apt TO imagine sights and in
suits frequently they were women hat
ers, and affected the company of men al
most exclusively.
These men are not well-adapted peo-
pie, and rebel at dicipline or authority.
Drink brings these anti-social tendencies
TO the surface. As marriage makes the
most persistent demand for social adap-
tatIon that we know of, many of these
men begin to drink only after marriage.
The inmate rebellion at the bondage
Ct marriage appears when alcohol has
liberated their inhibfti0nS. They be-
come querulous. and beat or abuse their
wives every Saturday night Later. de-
lusions and infdelty may appear, and
eventually become fixed. Then the vic
tim becomes ceTtifiable, and is confined"
Sir James Barr. of Liverpool. continu-
ing the discussion, said that the main
value of alcohol was social
People ike myself" said Sir James,
take it because they like it, A great
deal of social unrest is due to the high
cost of alcohol. / notice that cutthroats
in Ireland and Russia are largely tee
totalers"
Dr. c, Sullivan, medical superintendent
of BroadmOor asylum. said that alcohol.
as regards insanity. is a negligible fac
tor" DIR. NJ Hindhede. of Copenhagen,
discussed the effect of the severely re-
strieted supply of alcohol on mortality
in Denmark. The surprising result of
the war-rationing system, he said, which
included the restriction of alcohol. was
not the reduction Of the mortality rate
but the rapidity Of the reduction The
most natural exclamation of this seemed
to be that the effects of alcohol were not
limited to Grunkards only The death
rate Of the whole country dropped from
l2.5 to 1914 nar 1000, which was the
lowest mortality figure that had ever
been registered in any European country
at any time.