136 DR. ARTHUR RANSOME ON THE 



already quoted from the Registrar-General as lia\ang im- 

 proved as the result of sanitary works ; and in each of the 

 remainder it will be found that similar works have for 

 some time been pursued. 



2. Intemperance has been assigned as an increasing cause 

 of mortality during the last thirty years. There is no 

 doubt as to the increased consumption of alcoholic drinks 

 of late years. " In the five years ending 1845 the average 

 expenditure of the United Kingdom upon these drinks 

 was about 77 millions sterling, whilst in the five years 

 ending 1875 it was 135 millions. ^^ — W. Hoyle. 



It is difficult to learn how much of this alcohol has been 

 taken in excessive quantities, and how much has been 

 added in small amounts to the diet of those who formerly 

 could not afibrd to take any. Many persons, doubtless, 

 would come under the last-named category. During the 

 last twenty years trade has, on the whole, improved. 

 There have been higher wages paid ; and a portion of these 

 will have been spent merely in dietetic drinking ; but it is 

 certain that there has been a large increase in the numbers 

 of those who drink to intoxication. " In i860 the appre- 

 hensions for drunkenness were only 88,000, in 1875 they 

 were 203,000." — W. Hoyle. 



This increased intemperance must have shortened many 

 lives. To repeat here Mr. Nelson's table, a temperate per- 

 son's chance of living as against that of an intemperate per- 

 son is, at the age of twenty years, 44*2 years to 15*6 years ; 

 at thirty, 36"5 years to 13-8 years; at forty, 28*8 years to 

 1 1 "6 years; at fifty, 21 "25 years to I0'8 years; at sixty, 

 14*28 years to 8 -9 years. Of intemperate persons the 

 mortality at twenty-one to thirty years of age is five times 

 that of the temperate ; from thirty to forty it is four 

 times as great. 



Since alcohol affects chiefly the liver, kidneys, and heart 



