64 A STUDY IN HEREDITY 



It is impossible to tabulate the death-rate caused 

 by this potent agent of elimination. The Registrar- 

 General's returns furnish no clue. Alcoholism is 

 a frequent cause of fatal disease, but death from 

 alcoholism, as from venereal disease, is held to be 

 very disgraceful ; the imputation of it is highly 

 offensive to surviving relatives. De mortuis ml 

 nisi bonum. Practising physicians, as much from 

 motives of kindness as of self-interest, pay heed to 

 the charitable precept. They seldom allege alco- 

 holism as a cause of death. They allege instead 

 the immediate case of death, cirrhosis of the liver 

 or kidneys, or disease of the arteries, or other 

 complaint, which resulted from excessive drinking. 

 Did they do otherwise, they would cease to be 

 practising physicians. They would have no further 

 opportunities to sign death certificates. Accord- 

 ingly, the Registrar- General reports the percentage 

 of deaths due to alcoholism as exceedingly low,^ 

 and as occurring in undue proportion among the 

 inmates of work-houses and other public establish- 

 ments. 



A more reliable source of information is furnished 

 in statistics compiled by Friendly and Insurance 

 Societies. These — the Insurance Companies at 

 any rate — are mere business corporations, having 

 purely financial ends in view. They are, therefore, 



^ About I in 20,000. 



