THE EFFECT OF ALCOHOL.
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
Sm.,—When I read the article with this heading in your issue of October 11th I fairly gasped ! Had it appeared in some miscellaneous weekly as an anonymous article by a journalist I could have understood it, but as a brief treatise by an eminent medical man it is astounding. It contradicts a mass of scientific and considered opinion without offering any evidence worth naming. There is no discrimination between the kinds of alcohol, simply an approval of its moderate use without any attempted definition of moderation. No warning against the drinking of spirits and liqueurs. So alcohol is "a food "—surely precious little food value is contained in alcoholic beverages. We certainly don't need to drink it as "a food." At the same time he classes alcohol with drugs. He deplores its use in excess, and suggests in the vast majority of cases excess is from drab surroundings. What about that great number who, in spite of happy circumstances and enviable environment, are "slain by strong drink " ?
And the cure for "the only enemy which England has ta fear" is, what do you think ? Education! Will that alter the nature of alcohol, or its effect upon the human body ? Who has not known well-educated men and women, profes- sional men and even clergymen overcome by drinking habits ? It is often the finest who go down. Sir Arbuthnot Lane was deeply impressed by the dullness of a suburban medical dinner which he had attended and addressed ; there was no alcohol. His speech should have been stimulus enough. Alas ! for the, felloWslrip which needs such aid to gaiety of heart. As a. life-abstainer, and one who has numberless teetotal friends in all walks of life, from gardeners to ex-Cabinet ministers, this illustration is deeply humorous. Why, we find life rich and free and joyous without this adventitious aid. Real merri- ment without the influence of alcohol. One of the jolliest holidays I ever spent was a trip to Norway with a shipload of people nearly all teetotallers ; the bar wasn't needed. The crew found us the merriest party they ever carried. Put that against the depressed medical diners.
This drug or narcotic may be valuable in saving the lives of infants after operations, and in other cases cited, but what has this to do with taking it as a beverage ? In a variety of ways it has been clearly demonstrated that, other things being equal, the abstainer is healthier and longer-lived, while for athletic feats and Arctic explorations such beverages have been largely barred.
if Sir Arbuthnot Lane has any fresh evidence to offer let him display it, but until then we will continue to believe those proved results which are available for all who wish to study them. The diminution in the use of alcohol in medical and
hospital practice during the present generation has been simply amazing. Abstainers do not judge what is right for others, but know that the life free from alcohol is healthier, carries less temptation, and does not lead others to the use of something which may prove a curse. Those who go without what to them might be a harmless pleasure for the sake of others find no measure of regret or real loss in such an attitude. Such superficial articles as the one under criticism do much harm, are apt to lead unthinking people into believing the use of alcohol is necessary, and greatly enhearten all who manu- facture and purvey the manifold variety of ardent liquors.— I am, Sir, &c., -
Previous page
