286 ALCOHOL 



beverages, the three sets of sensations to which they give rise, may 

 all attract a given drinker at one and the same time ; or a man 

 may drink at first to satisfy his thirst or his palate, and later for 

 the sake of the feelings which accompany intoxication ; or in the 

 beginning of his career as a drinker he may be influenced mainly 

 by one or other of the former motives, but later in life mainly by 

 the last. Nevertheless, the fact remains that the three main con- 

 stituents are distinct, the desires they gratify are utterly distinct, 

 and that, while some drinkers are influenced solely by one of these 

 desires, all drinkers are influenced at any given moment more by 

 one of them than by the others. The heated cyclist or cricketer, 

 who gulps a quart of light beer and is satisfied, evidently seeks 

 sensations which are not the same as those desired by the con- 

 noisseur toying with his choice wine, smelling, sipping, rolling it in 

 his mouth so as to get all the enjoyment possible from its taste 

 and aroma ; nor the same as those sought by the man who desires 

 a 'stimulant' or 'night-cap/ or who with deeper longing craves 

 intoxication, and drinks perhaps with a shudder some strong and 

 it may be distasteful spirit which increases his thirst. 



476. Thirst and taste are not, by themselves, causes of excessive 

 indulgence. Both are satisfied by a very moderate degree of 

 indulgence ; and the experienced drinker, who knows what sensa- 

 tions to expect from various amounts of the beverage he is imbibing, 

 soon learns the quantity which will afford him the greatest gratifica- 

 tion. Both thirst and taste are incentives to instinctive actions. 

 The former impels to the drinking of dilute beverages, and ceases as 

 soon as sufficient water is imbibed ; while the palate is cloyed by 

 a few glasses even of the choicest wine, just as it would be by the 

 best of sweets. Excessive drinkers are drawn solely from the class 

 that seeks the sensations produced by alcohol when acting directly 

 on the brain. Of course, however, not every drinker who belongs 

 to this latter class takes alcohol in excess. Many, if not most, in 

 England at least, take no more than they would if impelled by 

 thirst or taste. 



477. It is a moot point whether alcohol in small quantities 

 the quantities that are drunk by the ' moderate ' people we meet in 

 society, who are able to go about the occupations of life apparently 

 unaffected mentally is injurious. Many people, including a 

 minority of medical men, declare that the smallest amounts 

 are harmful, and support their contention by an appeal to the 

 statistics of insurance companies, some of which place in different 

 classes total abstainers and moderate drinkers, and report that the 



