cxxx Journal of Comparative Neurology. 



seen families beginning with wine and going on to brandy, the chil- 

 dren from 2 years of age receiving it from their parents. The father, 

 mother, and children dip their bread in brandy, and absorb in this 

 fashion notable quantities of the poison. By imitation the young 

 tread in the foot.steps of their progenitors. The offspring of inebri- 

 ates ought to be taken from them. In the case of such children, who 

 are the subjects of the inebriate inheritance, there should be firm in- 

 culcation of the dangers of drinking, with hygienic training and de- 

 velopment. Hydrotherapy is strongly recommended as a prophy- 

 lactic. 



By the withdrawal of iht privilege des bouilleiirs de cru the French 

 government hope to restrict drunkenness. In Sweden, after a similar 

 step, the distilleries decreased from 170,001 to 300, with a diminu- 

 tion in the consumption of liquor. Formerly drunkenness in 

 France^ existed principally in cities and large factory and commer- 

 cial towns, the rural population being comparatively temperate. Now 

 there is an alarming increase of intemperance in country towns and 

 villages. From the Atlas by M. Tarquau, drawn up under the direc- 

 tion of M. Claude, reporter on the Commission of Enquiry of Con- 

 sumption of Alcohol in France, ^ the average consumption of alcohol 

 in 1850 was i litre 60 centilitres for each person, which increased in 

 1870 to 2 litres 81 centilitres, and in 1885 to 3 litres 85 centilitres. 

 The varieties as well as the quantities of strong liquors have increased. 

 Less alcohol has been distilled from fruits, more from beet-root, 

 molasses, and seeds, these latter being dangerously toxic. The Com- 

 mission procured samples of alcoholic drinks from the most luxurious 

 and most squalid wine-shops and restaurants in Paris. All the sam- 

 ples analyzed were labeled "bad," " dangerous," and were reported 

 to have been imperfectly rectified.'^ The liquors supplied in dining- 

 rooms frequented by workmen were declared to be three-sixths im- 

 pure, and containing aurylic acid. In haunts of ill-fame, among the 

 noxious adulterants was methylene, though these beverages were not 

 more so chemically than certain brandies sold at 7^d and lod the 

 glass in several first-class restaurants. Legislative measures have 

 been urged to check the falsification of fermented drinks. 



T. D. Crothers, of Hartford,^ computes that there are 1,600,000 



^ British Medical Journal, February 4, 1893. 



^La normandie raedicale, Rouen, March 15, 1893. 



^British Medical Journal, February 25, 193. 



'^Journal of the American Medical Association, October 8, 1892. 



