LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
THE EFFECT OF ALCOHOL.
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
Sur,—VVho shall decide whether the civilized world is the better or the worse for alcohol ? Not the legislator, nor the doctor. Its ultimate fate must be slowly evolved from the mass of human experience. That it contributes to the sum of happiness and the joy of life is a fairly general experience. That it contributes to the sum of misery and degradation is, alas ! equally obvious. If those who by the controlled use of it enjoy its benefits were to make sacrifice it is open to doubt whether those who abuse it would really benefit.
The victim of alcoholism is unstable and of unsound mind. He is harmful to the community by reason of his instability, and would be equally so without alcohol. The improvident individual who wastes his substance on alcohol will waste it on other things if he cannot get it. Criminal tendencies are enhanced by alcohol, but the individual only brings himself under legal restraint a little sooner than he otherwise would. Alcohol is a weapon in the armoury of evolutionary forces— it enhances inborn tendencies, whether they be towards the exercise or the lack of self-control. When, if ever, civilized humanity arrives, in the slow march of evolution, at a con- dition of perfect nerve stability the evil of alcoholic abuse will have ceased to exist—the millennium will have arrived.
Meanwhile, no artificial interference with the natural course of events will serve any useful purpose. We should, as we do in the practice of medicine and surgery if we are to do any good, assist nature in the elimination of the diseased part. That is to say, we should segregate or sterilize, as the ease may be, all individuals who, because they abuse alcohol are harmful to the well-being of others. Misery caused by alcohol is not visited on the offender, but on the innocent. The taking of alcohol and of other lethal drugs in 'excess should be notifiable, and if proven, be dealt with by the law under the guidance of the doctor for the protection of the community.
There is nothing to be gained by depriving a very large number of healthy, sensible and well-balanced people of what is on occasion a real comfort, generally an aid to merriment,' and sometimes an invaluable aid to health.—I am, Sir, &c., S. HENNING BELFRAGE. 77 Gloucester Place, Portman Square, W.
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