HEREDITY. 131 



of stimulants can abstain from indulgence while he is 

 well and in control of his appetites, but the toper is 

 a diseased man, and feeble of intellect; he is not 

 wholly responsible for his acts while his brain is crazed 

 with drink. But there was a time when the sot real- 

 ized that he should govern his appetite for drink, 

 even if he inherited a love for alcoholic stimulants ; 

 he is therefore responsible for his acts, and to hold 

 otherwise is to grant license to crime. If a man 

 knows that alcohol crazes his brain, he certainly 

 knows that he should not risk taking the intoxicating 

 stuff. 



The disease of inebriety is not inherited, but ac- 

 quired. The morbid condition is felt in the brain, in 

 the fauces, and in the stomach ; and grows worse by 

 indulgence in alcoholic beverages. The bad sensa- 

 tions are relieved temporarily, yet to return with ag- 

 gravation. Bright ideas awakened by the accustomed 

 stimulant pass away like a disappointing mirage. 



As a general thing, drunkards do not spring 

 from drunken parents. Quite often they come from 

 most exemplary parentage. The children of a besot- 

 ted father or mother are often ashamed of the family 

 disgrace, and in the intensity of their grief resolve to 

 steer clear of the distinctive stain. The vice of ine- 

 briety is like other crimes it must be hated to be 

 avoided ; and to be detested it must be contemplated 

 and understood. In the beginning of a drinking ca- 

 reer, the craving for tipple is never so strong that it 

 can not be resisted; but indulgence leads to irresolu- 

 tion ; therefore it is a sin and a crime to continue. 

 The law punishes the criminal for the crime under 

 investigation ; but the moral lapse reaches back to a 

 time when the incentive to criminality should have 



