344 THE PRINCIPLES OF HEREDITY 



week, and invite his neighbours to come in, and they would 

 be sure to do so, and all would get drunk together, and the 

 following week his neighbour would begin." 1 The great 

 intemperance which existed (and still exists) in Scandinavia 

 demonstrates the marked contrast between a race which has 

 undergone much evolution and one which has undergone 

 comparatively little. Facilities for drunkenness, as great or 

 greater than those which formerly existed in Scandinavia, 

 have long been present in the south of Europe, the inhabit- 

 ants of which are comparatively temperate. 



532. About the middle of the century domestic stills were 

 abolished, a higher excise duty was imposed, and eventually 

 the sale of spirits was taken over by a company which 

 proposed not to, and doubtless did not, sell for the sake of 

 profit. The consumption of spirits fell five-fold and drunken- 

 ness greatly diminished. The consumption of beer and other 

 intoxicants, however, rose in about the same proportion, and 

 of late years drunkenness has increased ; for example, the 

 number of arrests for drunkenness rose from 39 per 1,000 in 

 1875-1879 to 58 per 1,000 in 1898. 2 The low density of 

 population in Scandinavia less than one-twentieth of that 

 in England and Wales made the enforcement of repressive 

 legislation particularly easy. 



533. Total prohibition, therefore, from the nature of the 

 case, is an ideal impossible of realization in all civilized 

 communities when the population is at all dense. Partial 

 repression may do temporary good under favourable circum- 

 stances i. e. when there is much intemperance and public 

 opinion is strongly roused, when the population is sparse, the 

 police service effective, and the profits of illicit drink-selling 

 not very great. But the evidence of all history indicates 

 that the real solution of the problem must come from the 

 elimination, not of drink, but of the drunkard. The problem 

 is plainly one of heredity, and is very similar to that of 

 consumption. It cannot be successfully approached by a 

 community ignorant of the laws of heredity and the facts of 

 racial adaptation. It is essentially a question for the man 

 of science, not for mere enthusiasts, however well-meaning. 3 



1 The Temperance Problem and Social Reform, pp. 435-6. 



2 Op. cit., p. 461. 



3 Mr. H. G. Wells in his admirable and most suggestive work, 

 Mankind in the Making, has discussed this question. " Those who have 

 read Mr. Archdall Reid's Alcoholism, for example, will know that he 

 deals constantly with what is called the drink craving as if it were a 

 simple specific inheritance. He makes a very strong case for this belief ; 

 but strong as it is, I do not think it is going to stand the pressure of a 



