178 HEREDITY AND CHRISTIAN PROBLEMS 



win, in his "Botanical Garden" (1781), says : "It 

 is remarkable that all the diseases from drinking 

 spirituous or fermented liquors are liable to be- 

 come hereditary, even to the third generation, 

 gradually increasing, if the cause be continued, 

 till the family becomes extinct." ^ 



Intemperance is both a vice and a disease. 

 As a disease, it results from many causes, chief 

 among which is heredity, though environment 

 also plays its part. Dr. Crothers accounts for by 

 far the largest part — at least three-fourths — of 

 all inebriety either by direct or indirect heredity. 



As a vice, the chief agent in promoting it is 

 environment. The wonder is that so few are 

 intemperate rather than so many. The perni- 

 cious environment is very complex and difficult 

 of analysis. Example does much ; discontent 

 and wretchedness do more. 



Many are miserable as a consequence of drink, 

 more drink because they are miserable. Misery 

 as a cause of inebriety is a department of inquiry 

 that the professional reformer seldom touches. 

 Unhappy marriages are responsible for much 

 intemperance, 



" I myself must mix with action 

 Lest I wither by despair," 



1 Fou7idation of Death, Gustafson, p. 174. 



