318 THE PRESENT EVOLUTION OF MAN — MENTAL 



Of these, 7505 Avere certified by private medical men; 

 1183 occurred in workhouses, infirmaries, and kmatic 

 asylums ; 64?6 in hospitals ; and G66 were certified by a 

 coroner. These 1402 deaths constituted almost exactly 

 14 per cent, of the total deaths. If this proportion still 

 continues (and, as we have seen, there is reason to 

 believe it has increased), the total deaths in the United 

 Kingdom for 1889, altogether or partly caused by alco- 

 hol, were 94,416, of which 20,736 would be directly 

 due to alcohol, and 67,680 accelerated or partly caused 

 by it. 



" 79. Even this appalling estimate, made after the 

 closest scrutiny by a critical committee of medical men, 

 does not tell all the tale. It does not include many 

 cases in which the constitution, having been damaged 

 by alcohol in years gone by, succumbs earlier than it 

 otherwise would to the inroad of disease. It does not 

 include all cases in which the body has been starved or 

 injured by the neglect or cruelty of drunken parents, 

 and has been handicapped in the race of life. In these 

 and many other roundabout methods alcohol destroys 

 life, so that it appears extremely probable that 120,000 

 is the lowest number which can be estimated as the 

 annual loss of life due to the presence of alcohol in our 

 midst, and its use as a beverage. This is between one- 

 fifth and one-sixth of the total deaths. 



" 80. I have before referred to the report of the 

 Collective Investigation Committee of the British 

 Medical Association. In that inquiry, conducted over 

 totally different ground, the deaths of intemperate 

 males over twenty-five were 80 per cent, of the whole, 

 while 25 per cent, more were careless drinkers, some- 

 times taking excess. This being the proportion among 

 adult males, we find no difficulty in believing that 

 about one death in seven is partly or wholly caused by 

 alcohol, omitting for the moment those caused indirectly. 

 All these results, arrived at in different ways, strongly 

 confirm one another, and point to the irresistible con- 

 clusion that alcohol causes more deaths in the United 

 Kingdom than any single disease, and justify all who 

 are interested in the public health in devoting the 

 most strenuous efforts to getting rid of it. 



