76 A STUDY IN HEREDITY 



may be argued that, since pure alcohol,. diluted only 

 with water, can gratify no man's palate, and since 

 the smallest amount of alcohol circulating in the 

 blood must produce some effect on the brain, 

 therefore every man who drinks alcohol is to some 

 extent a drunkard. The argument is not difficult 

 to meet. A thing unpleasant in itself may be 

 pleasant as a flavouring agent, for example, cayenne 

 pepper. Moreover, in the common acceptance of 

 the term, the drunkard is one who imbibes alcohol 

 till he is mentally weakened to a degree more or 

 less perceptible. It is with this mentally weakened 

 person that we have to deal. Without him, the 

 temperance problem would not exist, in spite of 

 thirsty souls and connoisseurs. In the future, 

 therefore, when I speak of the effects produced by 

 alcohol, for example, of the enjoyment produced by 

 it, it must be understood that I am not alluding to 

 thirst or taste, but solely to the direct effect of 

 alcohol on the brain. In other words, to its effects 

 as an intoxicant. 



Not only do men differ in kind as regards their 

 motives for drinking alcohol, but those who use 

 alcohol as an intoxicant differ immensely in degree 

 also. The full and clear recognition of this fact 

 is so very important that it is necessary to dwell 

 on it at length. Men differ in all their mental and 

 physical parts, in size, in strength, in shape, in 



