EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL OiV CHARACTER. 383 



dents arriving from the purely agricultural districts and those from 

 the iron- work and colliery districts. This he attributed partly to their 

 rougher ways and to the nature of their occupations, but still more to 

 the drinking habits of the latter. That these last formed the chief fac- 

 tor in the production of the result was rendered probable by the large 

 proportion of female subjects of general paralysis in that asylum. This 

 disease is comparatively rare among women ; and its prevalence among 

 females from these districts Dr. Mitchell attributed to the habits of the 

 women being allied to those of the men, especially as regards indul- 

 gence in drink. 



Such, then, are some of the grave social outcomes of systematic 

 indulgence in alcohol which arrest our attention. We have seen that 

 its effects upon the nervous system are such as to give the rein to the 

 lower centres, chiefly by lessening the control exercised by the higher 

 and restraining portions of the brain. Man escapes from his wonted 

 self-restraint when under the influence of alcohol, and stands before us 

 with his fundamental character revealed. The groundwork of his char- 

 acter is exposed by the removal of the demeanor which he has carefully 

 cultivated. The outside cover is withdrawn ; all, or nearly all, that self- 

 education or cultivation has given, is temporarily taken away. Through 

 the revelations so made by alcohol we not rarely find that even in staid 

 and proper men the tiger and the ape have not entirely died out. The 

 animal propensities are thus discovered to have been concealed rather 

 than subdued. For the time being the intoxicated individual is reft of 

 much that not only he but his ancestors for generations back have 

 studiously cultivated. For the time being he is a lower type of man. 

 About the truth of this statement there can be no doubt. 



The progress of physiological psychology, of the investigation of 

 the workings of the mind, has taught us, in unmistakable accents, the 

 strong tendency which exists for a habit to be formed by repetition of 

 anything. After a thing has been done several times it becomes ex- 

 ceedingly easy to do it again. There is, in fact, in the nervous system 

 a great readiness to take on an attitude which has been assumed before. 

 We all recognize how it becomes necessarj' for every one to rehearse a 

 part before acting it, and how quickly a species of habit or imitative 

 attitude is formed. It is widely recognized that practice makes per- 

 fect, and that what was once difficult becomes easy by repetition of it. 

 These are but illustrations of a law universally acknowledged. We 

 all know how important it is to avoid what may become a habit. Con- 

 sequently, we can see distinctly and with painful clearness that re- 

 peated indulgence in alcoholic stimulation, not necessarily extending to 

 visible intoxication, must tend, by virtue of this law, to modifj' and 

 mould the character. Under alcohol the individual becomes sanguine, 

 reckless, careless of consequences, boastful, and indisposed to sober cal- 

 culation ; he also becomes self-assertive, arrogant, and boisterous ; there 

 exist £#certain impulsiveness and impatience of control, and a distinct 



