Year: 1876

ana Length of L1fes

 Dr. Elisha Harris, in lecture before the National Temperance Society of the

 United States, on the "infuence of alcohol ebriety upon the value ard length of human ives," said he should not strain single point to suit the preconceived notions which the most prejudiced may hold on the subject of alcoholic drinks. Even medical men do not always appreciate the full value of facts falling under their notice. The old and bold assertion that ."the drunk ard shall not live out half his days" re- mains true after 2, ,000years of quotation. There are two ways of estimating the value of a human life, two standards of measurement. First, the daily life and ability, the health from day to day, and the power that possession of health gives to work and, secondly, the duration of life, or longevity. Any excessive wear and tear is sure to work preiudicially to both these standards, and great mis- take is made and great damage incur red by mistaking alcoholic stimulation for healthy vigor. The proof of this subject rests no longer on mere opinion. The actual physical effect of alcohol as stimulant can be registered as the pulsations of the heart are recorded. Dr. Parks has spent much time on this problem, and in perfectly healthy sol dier he found the labor per diem of the human heart as equal to the lifting of 122 tons one foot high. To this man two ounces of alcohol were given the

 first day, and the increased work thrown on the heart was fifteen and half tons, and the last day of the eight through which the experimentran the extra effort was twenty-four tons, and this increased action was followed by reaction, de- precision. Should the system have this stimulus? Dr. s. G. Howe after care full investigation concludes that two- thirds of all the imbeciles in the Massa- chusetts asylums are so by reason of the inebriety of the parents. Medical men are beginning to find that this inebriety is beginning to entail miseries that ali the resources of social science and medi- cine cannot fully overcome. In Great Britain statistics show that between the ages of twenty and thirty the chance of living for the whole population is forty four years, while for the incorporate the expectation is fifteen and one-half years. Between thirty and forty years the general expectation is thirty-six years, while for the incorporate it is thirteen years. Between forty and fifty years the average expectation is twenty eight years, while the drinkers expecta- tion is eleven and a half years, and so on. The application of these figures in American life is to our disadvantage. Our whisky is quicker than the English beer. The best medical talent to-day is laboring to have alcohol placed on proper basis and to check it's indiscrim- mate use. The old topers are special class. They live because they do noth- ing else but make a speciality of their old toperism. Take figures. Say 1000 young men twenty years old, and drink CTS, but not drunkards, and then take another 1000 men of equal age abstain CTS. The complement of hfe given them to spare or spend, waste or save, will in the end make difference of 28,O0O years. The statistical difference from 8 long series of observation makes this figure for single life twenty eight years eight months. What is the worth in money of this loss to the world 3 In Europe and England especially, in the upper classes the drinking habits have changed. Medical men are taking the matter where it properly belongs, into their own hands.