192 THE PRINCIPLES OF HEREDITY 



an ounce or two of chocolate, tends, also, to cloy the palate 

 of the connoisseur. In effect, the drunkard is always one 

 to whom the mental effects of alcohol acting directly on the 

 brain is delightful. Our concern is with him alone. 



319. This mental effect varies in quantity and quality 

 with the amount of alcohol drunk, and with the individual 

 who drinks it. A given amount of alcohol, which produces 

 deep intoxication in one individual, may leave another com- 

 paratively unaffected, or it may render one person morose, a 

 second genial, a third merely stupid and sleepy, and so forth. 

 Probably most people are capable of enjoying some quantity 

 of alcohol ; that is, some quantity of alcohol, when circulating 

 in the blood, awakens pleasant sensations in the minds of 

 most people. But, just as people vary as regards every 

 other physical and mental character, so they vary as regards 

 the quantity of alcohol they enjoy most, and in the degree 

 of their enjoyment of it. A very little alcohol easily satisfies 

 some people, and their craving for even that small quantity 

 may be very weak. Others desire a large quantity, and their 

 longing for it may be the strongest emotion of which they 

 are capable. 



320. It is necessary to insist on this distinction. In 

 most writings on the subject it is assumed that drunkards 

 and temperate men differ mainly as regards their powers of 

 self-control. The assumption is very flattering to the self- 

 esteem of those who make it, but it is certainly erroneous, as 

 any moderate drinker may ascertain at the cost of a little 

 observation and introspection. What is it that keeps him 

 temperate ? Self-control ! But self-control implies some- 

 thing controlled in the self the craving for drunkenness. 

 All drunkards have the craving very strongly developed. 

 If, then, the mental difference between the drunkard and the 

 moderate man lies mainly in their powers of self-control, 

 we must assume that all moderate men pass through life 

 vehemently longing for intoxication, but strenuously resist- 

 ing the craving for it. The assumption is a monstrous one. 

 Let the reader, if he be a moderate drinker, judge from his 

 own case. Is he the victim of this tremendous craving? 

 Do the majority of his intimates manifest it? 



321. Many drunkards are men of strong wills, and many 

 of them have a strong desire to be sober. They fail because 

 their craving for intoxication is yet stronger. On the other 

 hand, many sober men are of weak will-power. They are 

 temperate because their desire for excessive indulgence is 

 yet weaker. Many men " men of pleasure " for instance 



