Evening star., 1938-10-16
John Barleycorn Faces Trial
Before an Impartial Court
Alcohol Hailed by Some and Assailed by Others
to Start With Clean Slate as Scientists
Study Case.
By Thomas X. Henry.

DJ NO"u
John Barleycorn is about to be tried be-
fore an impartial court-chemists, biolo-
gists, psychologists and physicians who are
entirely unconcerned about his morals or
his reputation.
For half century or more large body
Of American public opinion held, as a self
obvious truth, that he was an utterly de-
PRAYED, unregenerate creature who was re-
sponsible for about everything THAI was
wrong with the world. There was a moral
stigma about associating with him. Any
one with the faintest aroma Of alcohol on
the breath was looked on by many right
eous folk as in the same class with the viii
lage bum or the latest murderer Whisky
was accused Of bringing about wars and
depressions, kidnapings. murders, starving
children. ingrowing toenails.
The accusations were Of course. more or
less true. The fact remains that there was
little reliable evidence to support any of
them. Some of them likely had no basis
whatsoever. No evidence was required TO
convict Everything was taken for granted.
John Barleycorn was exiled-supposedly
Now he is back again, apparently to stay
A good deal of the old hue and cry agains.
him has died down. He went into exile
in the horse-and-buggy age. He has come
back in the gasoline age when, there Is
some reason to believe, his potentialities
for doing damage are greater than ever
before. The problem is to live with him,
find out what his bad points actually are,
and guard against them. He may even have
good points.
Surprisingly Little Known.
So the study has been undertaken by q
committee Of the American Association for
the Advancement Of Science, which will
make preliminary reports at the annual
meeting in December This study OF alco-
hol Is starting out with q clean slate, dis
regarding entirely all the improved accu-
sations. Actually, surprisingly little is
known, members Of the committee are
finding.
Alcohol Is depressant of the central
nervous system. At first thought this
may seem a pAradoxical statement. The
overt effects are quite obviously stimulat-
ing, for q time at least, to the ma jority
of drinkers. Tongues are looeened. A
gloomy gathering is enlivened. The timid
become bold Fights start and black eyes
bloom freely. Moreover even a moderate
swig on a cold day seems to speed up the
circulation and bring a pleasing sense OF
bodily warmth.
And vet all sorts Of physiological tests
have demonstrated that the actual effect
is directly the contrary to enlivening. Why
an undoubted depressant should act as an
scure, but there are number Of mech
anisms which might account for it. For
one thing the first effect Of alcohol is on
the highest nervous centers. Earliest to be
depressed are the frontal areas Of the
brain. Into these areas, 1t appears, have
been built the inhibitions on mans con-
duct conditioned by experience dog
has few inhibitions. When it is happy, it
wags its tail. When it is sad. it howls
When 1t is mad, it bites. A man doesn't
always-or even As 4 general rule-bite
when he Is mad. His experience. racially
and individually. has built up in his brain
certain mechanisms which restrain him
from giving direct, instructive expression
to his emotions.
Way Opened to Response.
1t is the part Of the central nervous
system that dictates these restraints which
is first affected by alcohol The brain be-
comes nearer to q dogs brain, or to the
brain OF little child The way Is opened
to instructive response to emotional de-
mands. Thus alcohol acts at first rs a
stimulant by inhibiting the inhibitor As
more and more Of 1t gets into the blood
stream more and more primitive areas of
the central nervous system are attacked
As the depressing effects work backward
from the pre-frontal lobe centers OF move
ment are affected and the gait becomes
unsteady and inco-ordinated If enough
is consumed, the effects are very depress-
ing, indeed-the ultimate of all depres-
sions from which man never revives on
this side Of the grave. This comes when
the drug has attacked the vital centers
lower in the brain.
It is. Of course, in this depression of
depressors that alcohol has its great value
and also its great danger Civilization BE-
comes more and more complex. Life is
overloaded with do nots"
The greater the experience and the
higher the intelligence the more the pre-
frontal lobe Of the brain piles these eau
tions and prohibitions on the individual.
The result Is = paralyhng effect, a fear to
do anything because Of realization Of the
possible consequences Of any possible ac-
ton. One fears to say what one thinks
because Of what somebody else, whose
opinion one regards, will think about it.
One fears to avenge an insult for fear he
will get the worst of the argument. One
fears to kiss ones neighbor's wife because
Of the forbidden proximity Of ones neigh
Dor, or fear Of displeasing the Lord, or fear
of being mixed up in a scandal, or fear Of
any number of things. according to the
temperament Of the individual
This is, perhaps, the great and. in the
end. fatal disease Of civilization. Every
thing u too evenly balanced. Tho eonse-