232 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



conditions, which enter into the phenomena of life and living, are 

 the basal factors of drunkenness and inebriety. Remedies legis- 

 lative, social, and medical to be effectual must be founded on 

 some general knowledge of these causes. Such are some of the 

 general facts of the drink problem as seen to-day. Many of them 

 are very significant, and have a meaning which is unmistakable. 



Tlie great revolutions of theories concerning alcohol and its 

 physiological action on the body, together with the rapid accu- 

 mulation of evidence contradicting all previous conceptions of its 

 value as a nutrient, stimulant, and beverage, are conclusive that 

 the facts are not all known. Countries and cities where wine and 

 beer and other alcoholic drinks have been used freely, without 

 question, are invaded by temperance and total abstinence soci- 

 eties. Theories of the value of spirits that have come down 

 unquestioned are being challenged and proof of their truth 

 demanded. 



The French National Temperance Society, the Society against 

 the Abuses of Alcohol for the Rhine Provinces, the Belgian Total 

 Abstinence Society, the Netherland Society, the Swiss Society, the 

 Italian Society, the Austrian and Prussian Society, the Norwe- 

 gian, Russian, Danish, and numerous other societies, are urging 

 total abstinence theories, and denying the value of spirits in the 

 very centers of all spirit-drinking countries. Four international 

 congresses have been held in these countries during the past ten 

 years, in which eminent medical men have presented and defend- 

 ed the total abstinence side of the drink problem. 



The real facts, separated from all partisan sensationalism, 

 agree that alcohol is a poison, a paralyzant, and narcotic, and its 

 defenders admit this as true, but only in large and reckless quanti- 

 ties. The question then turns on what quantities are safe or dan- 

 gerous, and what is the possible amount that can be taken within 

 health limits. This is similar to drawing boundary lines between 

 twilight and darkness, and is obviously impossible with the pres- 

 ent limits of our knowledge. 



The evidence up to this time from the chemical laboratory, 

 from experiments, from hospital studies, from statistics, and other 

 sources, clearly proves that alcohol is a poison and is positively 

 dangerous to health in what way, in what conditions, and un- 

 der what circumstances is yet an open question, in which differ- 

 ence of opinion will exist until more exhaustive experimental 

 studies are made. Text-books for schools and colleges and parti- 

 san discussions often contain statements conveying the mislead- 

 ing impression that the facts about alcohol are known, when, in 

 reality, beyond a few general principles, we are profoundly igno- 

 rant of its physiological action. The facts concerning its ravages 

 and baneful influence are too common to be called in question, 



