122 A STUDY IN HEREDITY 



hundred years ago. In either case the change 

 was too rapid to be wholly attributable to evolu- 

 tion. But under the Tudors and Georges ex- 

 cessive drinking was more or less a fashion. 

 Probably many men drank more than they really 

 enjoyed. Religious fanaticism helped the Puritans. 

 It helps us to nothing like the same extent, but 

 at any rate we are free from the trammels of the 

 fashion. Each of us of the better classes follows 

 his own inclinations, and in most of us the in- 

 clination to insobriety is non-existent, or so weak, 

 that we are temperate in spite of every opportunity 

 for indulgence. Whole nations, Jews, Spaniards, 

 etc., are constituted as we are. But amongst us 

 are exceptional individuals who, under identical 

 conditions of life, quickly develop a deep craving 

 for alcohol. Whole nations, Red Indians, and 

 others, are constituted like the exceptional persons. 

 No doubt most men, if they were forced to drink 

 a bottle of spirits every day, would end by relishing 

 the indulgence. At any rate, they would miss de- 

 privation of it. But the important point is that 

 some men would develop this frame of mind much 

 more quickly, easily, and thoroughly than other 

 men. Almost from the beginning the experience 

 would be delightful to them. In others this 

 enjoyment would follow only after a more or less 

 prolonged and disagreeable probation. From the 



