PARTICULAR CASES 273 



arity. The black letters indicate the affected subjects or 

 " bleeders." 



Alcoholism. — There is practical unanimity among physicians 

 that the abuse of alcohol is prejudicial to the race as well as 

 to the individual, but there is considerable difference of opinion 

 as to the theoretical interpretation of the observed facts. As the 

 subject has been very frequently discussed, we shall restrict 

 ourselves to a brief survey. 



(1) It is certain that the habit of using large quantities of 

 alcohol is prejudicial to health, " poisons the system," and 

 becomes a pathogenic factor. What constitutes abuse varies, 

 of course, with the individual and his conditions of life. There 

 seems to be little utility in labelling alcohol a " poison," though 

 it is a poison in large doses. Arsenic is a poison to man, yet 

 Gautier seems to prove that the presence of minute quantities 

 of arsenic in various organs of the body is a condition of health, 

 Both as regards arsenic and alcohol, it is the amount and the 

 frequency of the doses that tell. 



(2) It is not to be expected that the particular modifications 

 which the parent acquired through abuse of alcohol will be 

 transmitted as such to his offspring. There is no secure evidence 

 of this. The father may acquire cirrhosis of the liver, the child 

 may be epileptic. There seems to be no authentic instance 

 of anything like transmission of cirrhosis of the liver from a 

 drunken father to his son. That a drunken son may also acquire 

 cirrhosis proves nothing. 



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