340 THE PRINCIPLES OF HEREDITY 



undergone such considerable evolution that alcohol as an 

 intoxicant has no longer much charm for them. They still 

 enjoy it greatly as a beverage, however, and could hardly be 

 persuaded to pass a self-denying and perhaps self-destructive 

 ordinance abolishing its use. Travellers of less fortunate 

 races would acquire the taste amongst them, and return with 

 it to their own countries. 



527. But apart from these purely theoretical considerations, 

 effective prohibitive legislation, especially amongst civilized 

 nations, has already been proved impracticable. It has been 

 tried by scores of Governments on hundreds of occasions 

 during thousands of years, and has invariably failed, 1 except 

 in the case of some Mahomedans, amongst whom it has been 

 partially successful, but at a terrible cost. The same influence, 

 religious fanaticism, which has rendered them temperate, has, 

 by limiting intercourse with more enlightened if more 

 drunken peoples, rendered them barbarous also. It cannot 

 endure for ever. Moreover, the Mahomedans, like the 

 Buddhists, have substituted opium for alcohol. Amongst all 

 modern peoples, dwelling under the ordinary conditions 

 of civilized life, repressive measures, at any rate severely 

 repressive measures, not only fail, but worse than fail. 2 Vast 

 numbers of people combine to break the law by all sorts of 

 devices. Modern civilized society is so complex, means of 

 intercommunication are so perfect, the manufacture and 

 secret sale of alcohol are so easy and profitable, the desire to 

 obtain it so fierce, the freedom of the individual so great, 

 that an illegal traffic is organized at once, which swiftly grows 

 beyond the control of the authorities. Secret debauchery 

 is substituted for open drinking. The actual amount of 

 drunkenness is increased. The successful evasion of one law 

 has for its concomitant a contempt for all law, which in turn 

 is followed by a long train of attendant evils. If the society 

 be at all highly organized, if the population be dense, the 

 means of communication good, and the government demo- 

 cratic, the law is soon repealed. 



528. These statements are very sweeping, but there is 



night and Monday morning. A penalty is provided for preparing 

 methylated spirits for use as a beverage or with any beverage." The 

 Daily Telegraph, February 11, 1905. 



1 See, for example, Samuelson's History of Drink, also Alcoholism, 

 pp. 97-112. 



2 See, for example, The Temperance Problem and Social Reform, pp. 

 115-508, by Messrs. Rowntree and Sherwell (Hodder and Stoughton) ; 

 also Alcoholism, pp. 144-157. 



