The 

 Human 



Harvest 



Alcohol- 

 ism in 

 race- 

 selection 



[66] 



The effect of alcoholic drink on race-prog- 

 ress should be considered in this connec- 

 tion. Authorities do not agree as to the final 

 result of alcohol in race-selection. Doubt- 

 less, in the long run, the drunkard will be 

 eliminated; and perhaps certain authors are 

 right in regarding this as a gain to the race. 

 On the other hand, there is great force in 

 Dr. Amos G. Warner's remark, that of all 

 caustics gangrene is the most expensive. 

 The people of southern Europe are rela- 

 tively temperate. They have used wine for 

 centuries, and it is thought by Dr. Archdall 

 Reid and others that the cause of temper- 

 ance is to be found in this long use of alco- 

 holic beverages. All those with vitiated or 

 uncontrollableappetiteshavebeendestroyed 

 in the long experience with wine, leaving 

 only those with normal tastes and normal 

 ability of resistance. The free use of wine 

 is, therefore, in this view, a cause of final 

 temperance, while intemperance rages only 

 among those races which nave not long 

 known alcohol, and have not become by 

 selection resistant to it. The savage races 

 which have never known alcohol are even 



