ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES 285 



really abstruse problems in heredity and psychology. No state- 

 ment has been too obviously absurd for acceptance or too obviously 

 true for rejection by the one side or the other. Nevertheless, in 

 dealing with alcohol we possess one great advantage : most people 

 are able to appeal not only to the observations of others, but to 

 their own sensations. If the reader has anything like an average 

 knowledge of life, he will possess ample materials drawn from his 

 personal experience on which to found a judgment. In science 

 independent thought, founded if possible on first-hand knowledge, 

 is not only a right but a duty. Applying the broad principles of 

 heredity already laid down, I shall set forth conclusions which 

 conflict with popular beliefs, but which, I think, the reader will find 

 not altogether unreasonable. 



474. The essential constituents of every alcoholic beverage in 

 common use are alcohol, certain flavouring agents, and water. 

 These three constituents attract three separate classes of drinkers ; 

 or, at any rate, they supply separate and unlike motives for drink- 

 ing, one or other of which predominates in every drinker. Water 

 is an essential part of our bodies. When the quantity within us 

 becomes deficient, we crave to renew it, and this instinctive crav- 

 ing we term thirst. Many men drink alcohol only when they are 

 thirsty. The thing primarily desired by them is water. Alcohol 

 is added, as lime-juice might be, merely as a flavouring agent, as 

 something which renders the necessary draught of water more pleas- 

 ing. Drinkers of this sort usually prefer the lighter beverages, 



'such as beer and wines, which contain a considerable proportion of 

 water. Other men drink alcohol mainly to gratify the sense of 

 taste to produce pleasant sensations by stimulating certain nerve- 

 endings in the mouth. The average connoisseur is a typical 

 example. He drinks for precisely the same reason as a child 

 consumes sweets, and he always chooses the beverages most 

 palatable to him. The third class of drinkers comprises people 

 who desire to experience the various sensations which result from 

 alcohol circulating in the blood and acting directly on the central 

 nervous system, the brain sensations of well-being, of exhilaration, 

 of confidence, of general happiness, of comfort, of cheerfulness, of 

 restfulness, of somnolence, and so forth, which in different drinkers 

 mark different stages of intoxication. A drinker of this sort, 

 especially if his desires are very strong and he is unable to procure 

 anything more palatable, may drink thirst-creating and nauseous 

 compounds such as methylated spirits. 



475. Of course the three primary constituents of alcoholic 



