292 ALCOHOL 



exercised self-restraint, and so have never acquired through ex- 

 perience the desires which increased indulgence creates in the latter. 

 But we all know men and women whose whole lives are abandoned 

 to an unrestrained search for pleasure, and who are nevertheless 

 temperate in their drinking. Is it believable that these people con- 

 stantly resist urgent temptation which they continually feed with 

 inadequate indulgence? Abstainers form a class by themselves. 

 They are not exposed in the same way to temptation. But pro- 

 bably the reader is a moderate drinker. Let him inquire of his 

 own sensations. 



486. Just as a limited experience enables the smoker to 

 ascertain the amount of tobacco and the periods and methods of 

 indulgence which are most agreeable to one of his type, so a 

 certain experience endows the drinker with a similar knowledge. 

 As we see, some men, influenced mainly by thirst or taste, are 

 satisfied with a glass at meals. Others are satisfied with nothing 

 short of complete insensibility. Some, desiring only the drowsiness 

 which alcohol creates in them, take a " night-cap " ; others must be 

 sipping the whole day. In the latter case the drinker may not, 

 and usually does not become intoxicated in the ordinary accept- 

 ance of the word ; but a mental condition which borders on 

 intoxication is so pleasant to him that he seeks to maintain it 

 constantly during his waking hours, and in this way may imbibe a 

 quantity of alcohol which may exceed the average amount taken 

 by one who drinks when opportunity offers to the point of coma. 



487. We must, however, always bear in mind that the drinking 

 habits of men are not solely determined by the pleasure conferred 

 by alcohol. Many men are unable to afford or are otherwise pre- 

 vented from obtaining as much as they desire. Some are so 

 trained that they regard all drinking with moral abhorrence, and 

 from birth to death never indulge in it. Others, seeing the misery 

 of their loved ones, or having the fear of physical, material, or 

 social ruin in sight, become abstainers later in life. All normally 

 constituted men are greatly influenced by fashion, that is, by the 

 tone of the society in which they live. It is probable that our 

 great-grandfathers encouraged one another to drink more, on the 

 average, than they really craved. It is certain that under the 

 present fashion many men voluntarily drink less than they would 

 enjoy. But when all this is granted, it still remains true that a 



given experience of drink awakens stronger desires in some men 

 than in others, that under any given conditions men on the average 

 drink in proportion to their desires, that the men most tempted 



