JULY 2, 1897.] 
zymotic disease. It is shown that certain races 
are on the way to acquire such toleration, and 
in the presence of alcohol suffer much less than 
others. An obvious difficulty hereis to explain 
how, under the influence of natural selection, 
this highly pernicious craving for alcohol arose. 
Mr. Reid says: ‘‘It can have arisen only as a 
bye-product of mental evolution, a bye-product 
which, in the absence of narcotics, was harm- 
less, but which in the presence of them is harm- 
ful.’’ This surely is a very far-fetched suppo- 
sition, since it is implied that the craving for 
alcohol developed in the absence of that sub- 
stance! To the present writer it appears evi- 
dent that the human race has no natural cray- 
ing for alcohol at all, but it has a craving for 
excitement and other states of mind which may 
be induced artificially, and that when the 
natural exercise of highly valuable faculties is 
denied, as is so often the case in our present 
civilization, artificial means, often highly in- 
jurious, will be resorted to. It will apparently 
sometimes happen that when an artificial 
stimulus is persisted in for a long while, and is 
not in itself injurious, it will become a necessity, 
just as clothes have become necessary to a large 
portion of mankind. Asan instance of this, we 
may cite the use of hot flavoring substances (as 
pepper) by inhabitants of warm countries to 
promote digestion. It is conceivable also that 
a race might acquire considerable toleration of 
alcohol, and at the same time lose the power of 
acting efficiently except under its influence, so 
that a member of the race, separated from his 
bottle, would be powerless! But it is perhaps 
more likely that the process would be just that 
which Mr. Reid describes as inevitable, namely, 
that the desire for alcoholic stimulation would 
be lost, while at the same time the effects of 
drinking a given quantity of alcohol would 
become less. This is regarded by Mr. Reid as 
very desirable, but what if it means the de- 
struction of a valuable faculty, which, rightly 
exercised, might have been once more, as origi- 
nally, of great importance to the race? Put 
it in this way: The wretched laborer of a 
crowded city, overworked and underfed, desires 
to escape from his environment—desires, if only 
for a brief period, to be free. Alcohol gives 
him a temporary means of escape, but at a 
SCIENCE. 
30 
frightful cost. It is deplorable that he should 
seek it, but how much more deplorable it would 
be if he should cease to care—if he should be- 
come degraded to a mere machine, accepting 
without thought the suppression of three-fourths 
of. his natural activities? Surely the remedy is 
not, as Mr. Reid supposes, to eliminate those 
who wish to drink, but to find the means of 
living full and active lives, in the natural 
exercise of all our functions. 
T. D. A. COCKERELL. 
MESILLA, N. M., June 8, 1897. 
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 
MEETING OF THE NEW YORK SECTION OF THE 
AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY. 
THE New York Section of the American 
Chemical Society held its June meeting on the 
11th inst., preceded by a dinner, at which 
thirty members participated, including the 
President of the General Society, Dr. C. B. 
Dudley. The meeting was called to order in 
the chemical lecture room of the College of the 
City of New York, at 8:30, by the chairman, 
Dr. William McMurtrie, who then invited Dr. 
Dudley to preside. 
The death of Professor ©. R. Fresenius at 
Wiesbaden was announced, and the Secretary 
was authorized to cable the regrets and condo- 
lence of the Society to his sons. An obituary 
notice of Dr. Carl H. Schultz was read by Dr. 
A. P. Hallock, after which the papers of the 
evening were read as follows: 
F. S. Hyde, ‘Comparative Tests for Identifi- 
cation of Some Medicinal Carbon Compounds.’ 
K. G. Love, ‘Note on Analysis of Cheese.’ 
Benj. C. Greenbergh, ‘Determination of Dex- 
trine in Presence of Sugars.’ Gustav Volcken- 
ing, ‘Novel Mechanical Arrangement of Fat 
Extraction Apparatus.’ L. Reuter, ‘Demon- 
stration of Some Chloroform Compounds and 
of Some of EBaumann’s Thioaldehydes.’ W. 
E. Chamberlin, ‘ Calibration of Volumetric Ap- 
paratus.’ C. A. Doremus, ‘ Method of Collect- 
ing and Analyzing Gases contained in Canned 
Goods.’ 
It was stated by the chair that forty papers 
had been presented before the Section during 
the winter, a number considerably in excess of 
