IMMUNITY TO ALCOHOL 457 



which prevents infection, nor the acquired immunity which results 

 from infection and recovery. It resembles more closely that ex- 

 ternal sanitation by means of which we endeavour to prevent the 

 infection of susceptible people. 



745. Susceptibility to the charm of alcohol, like that to infection 

 by a disease, is an 'innate' character. It may be extended or 

 decreased by acquirement, by circumstances affecting the mental 

 state of the individual (e.g. misery or happiness), just as suscepti- 

 bility to microbic infection may be altered by circumstances 

 affecting his bodily state. But it may be, and often is, present in 

 people whose circumstances are otherwise of the happiest. As we 

 have seen, it is much more pronounced in some individuals and 

 races than in others. On the other hand, the actual craving for 

 alcohol is purely an acquirement, a mental growth, which occurs 

 only in susceptible persons who have had previous experience of the 

 poison. Within limits, which vary with the individual, the craving 

 tends to increase with added experience. Herein the disease of 

 alcoholism differs sharply from such a malady as measles, experience 

 of which gives origin to acquired immunity. 1 It follows that internal 

 sanitation, the procurement of immunity through experience of the 

 poison, is impossible in the case of alcohol. Therefore, if we wish to 

 benefit the race, our choice of action is limited to the banishment of 

 alcohol or the elimination by selection of the susceptible individual. 



746. Alcohol, a waste product of the yeast fungus, is derived 

 from sugar. Speaking practically, both sugar and yeast are pre- 

 sent in every part of the habitable globe. Their area of distribution 

 is much more nearly universal than that of any disease. Obviously, 

 it is impossible to eliminate either the one or the other. Alcoholic 

 fermentation occurs constantly in nature, but human art is neces- 

 sary to produce the narcotic in intoxicating quantities. The art 

 was discovered by savages at some period enormously remote in 

 human history, and has been preserved and improved ever since. 

 At the present day, in addition to its consumption as a beverage, 

 alcohol is useful as a fuel, a solvent, a preservative, and the like, 

 in many of our industries. Obviously again, it is practically 

 impossible to suppress the manufacture of intoxicating solutions. 

 The question then arises whether it is possible by legal means to 



1 It will be noticed that I compare actual alcoholism, not the susceptibility 

 to it, to a disease. The term disease is often applied to the susceptibility. It 

 would be as reasonable to describe a person who had never been infected by measles 

 as suffering from that malady. Questions of nomenclature are not trivial when 

 a wrong use of words indicates confusion of thought in the speaker, and is a cause 

 of confusion in his audience. 



