EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL ON CHARACTER. 379 



"While dealing with the forces of Nature from an atomic standpoint, 

 we are treading upon the border-land of science, beyond which all sen- 

 sible phenomena have their origin. 



Science may, by spectrum analysis, determine the constitution of 

 the irresolvable nebulae ; it may tell us of the millions upon millions 

 of ethereal waves necessary to impinge upon the retina to produce a 

 given chromatic effect ; it may measure the waves of air that roll as 

 music down upon the tympanum of the ear : but how undulations upon 

 the retina or vibrations of the auditory nerve are converted into con- 

 sciousness of sight or sound, is a question which, like the causation 

 and mystery of life, belongs to that realm outside of the domain of 

 science — a realm the infinite mystery of which transcends all analysis ! 



In conclusion, let us not be led into a rigid belief that the present 

 views of molecular physics are competent to explain all the phenomena 

 that may be presented for solution for all time to come. It is enough 

 to say that it answers our purpose in giving a satisfactory explanation 

 of a large class of natural phenomena as they are exhibited to us in 

 daily life. But, as we know the favored ideas of scientists and scholars 

 in generations preceding ours have given way to newer and better ones, 

 so, in turn, the popular conceptions of to-day may serve as stepping- 

 stones to coming ideas, each destined to take its place as the predeces- 

 sor of a higher and better intelligence. 



■♦«♦• 



EFFECTS OF ALCOHOLIC EXCESS OX CHARACTER.' 



By J. MILNEE FOTHEEGILL, M. D. 



A GREAT deal of attention has of late years been bestowed upon 

 the subject of alcoholic indulgence. The importance of the 

 subject warrants this, and even calls for still further attention. There 

 are differences of opinion as to the use of alcohol ; there are compara- 

 tively none as to the abuse of it. Leaving then, for the present, the 

 question of the use of alcohol in disease, its effect upon the body tem- 

 perature, and its position as a food, we may profitably engage ourselves 

 for a little time with its social effects, alike upon the individual and the 

 masses, especially in reference to its influence upon the mental mani- 

 festations of brain-activity. It is now universally acknowledged that 

 mental alterations follow physical modifications of the brain, as seen 

 in the various forms of insanity. We well know how profound is the 

 influence exerted by alcoholic excess upon the brain, and through it 

 upon the character. Unfortunately, the effects of continued alcoholic 

 excess are but too frequently forced upon our attention. 



1 Read before the Social Science Congress at Liverpool. 



