CONTENTS xiii 



results in degeneration— Difficult to observe in wild 

 animals — Easy to observe in tame animals and culti- 

 vated plants — Degeneration due to atavism — In the 

 absence of selection every species tends to revert to 

 ancestral type ei 



CHAPTER VI 



THE DEATH-RATE FROM ALCOHOL 



Alcohol highly esteemed anciently as a medicine — Less 

 esteemed to-day — The statistics of Insurance and 

 Friendly Societies — Estimates by medical men . . 62 



CHAPTER VII 



THE CAUSES OF DRUNKENNESS 



Men drink alcoholic solutions for three distinct reasons : 

 To satisfy thirst j to gratify taste ; to produce a direct 

 effect on the brain — Only the last is a cause of 

 drunkenness — Men differ in their predisposition to 

 inebriety — As a rule, men drink in proportion to their 

 individual predispositions — Self-control a subordinate 

 factor in the causation of sobriety — Lack of temptation 

 the principal factor . . . . . . . 72 



CHAPTER VIII 



ALCOHOLIC SELECTION 



Alcohol, a selective agency — Analysis of the craving for 

 drink — The three factors — The inborn factor is trans- 

 missible, the acquired factors are not — The confusion 

 oipost With. propter hoc — Application of the Lamarckian 

 and the Darwinian doctrines. . , , , . 85 



