EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL OX CHARACTER. 381 



It is not in women alone that the hopeless nature of drinking habits in 

 certain susceptible organisms is manifested ; it is equally seen in men 

 where the nervous system lacks stability. 



The deceptiveness, the utter untrustworthiness, the subtle craft, the 

 falsehood, which women of culture even will develop under the influ- 

 ence of alcoholic cravings, have shocked many persons. The habitual 

 drunkard, however produced, always exhibits these characteristic signs 

 of moral degradation. The deterioration of character produced by pro- 

 tracted drunkenness is notorious. While the intellect becomes en- 

 feebled by excess, the moral character becomes profoundly modified ; 

 the forces which ordinarily restrain others are in abeyance — jDcrhaps 

 too often their influence has gone forever; the indifference toward the 

 interests of others progresses alongside a waxing selfishness, a complete 

 absorption in self. So long as they can procure what they themselves 

 crave for, confirmed drunkards are indifierent as to how others may 

 suffer for, or be injured by, their selfishness. The ordinary feelings of 

 parent or husband are too often overruled by the consuming passion ; 

 the wonted consideration for those who used to be dear to them has 

 given way to an inordinate egotism. Not uncommonly, indeed, there 

 is developed a vein of devilish mischievousuess which delights in injur- 

 ing those whom they ought to protect — a sort of malice, closely resem- 

 bling the viciousness of certain animals. Of course, all drunkards are 

 not exactly alike ; the ruin still preserves the general outline of the 

 primitive structure. 



These statements may seem to some to be unnecessary as being 

 already too well known, and too notorious to need any reference to 

 them. But it is just because they are so well known and so indispu- 

 table that they are adduced here. Having thus laid firmly down the 

 •well-marked consequences of persistent alcoholic excess, it is possible 

 to proceed to consider the less pronounced conditions, and to trace the 

 course of the downward progress. It is evident that there must be 

 many intermediate stages betwixt the commencement and the end of 

 such a course — that some of the deteriorating effects of alcohol must 

 be experienced long before the final stage is reached. 



It may be well to speak in general terms of the indication of this 

 direction, of this retrograding and degenerative process. The best 

 subjects for the study of the social effects of alcoholic excess are fur- 

 nished by the humbler classes: firstly, because the effects are more 

 palpable among them with their limited resources, where excess in one 

 direction means deprivation in another ; and, secondly, because they 

 present fewer complications, fewer elements of error to be encountered, 

 than is the case in the more complex condition of affluence. It must 

 not, however, for one moment be assumed that the evil consequences 

 of alcoholic excess are confined to the humbler classes. No position in 

 life will secure the individual against the unpleasant consequences of 

 such self-indulgence, or prevent his reaping as he has sown. 



