CHAPTER VII 



THE CAUSES OF DRUNKENNESS 



Men drink alcoholic solutions for three distinct reasons : To 

 satisfy thirst ; 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. 



Drinkers of alcohol may be divided roughly into 

 three classes. In the first place, many men drink 

 merely to satisfy thirst. They take alcohol, and 

 the other special constituents of intoxicating 

 beverages, as they might take lemon-juice, simply 

 to make the water they imbibe more palatable. 

 They drink for the same reason as they eat : a 

 necessary constituent of their bodies has become 

 deficient, and they seek to supply it. They add 

 alcohol to their water as they add sauces to their 

 meat. But they take the alcohol as they take the 

 sauce, not for the sake of the flavouring agent, but 

 for the sake of the thing it flavours. Such men, 



