256 TEE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



issue in excessive use and so lead to many unhappy and disagreeable 

 consequences, such as drunkenness, disability for work, domestic trouble, 

 poverty, crime and degeneracy of offspring. 



We are thus brought finally face to face with the question, "Why 

 do men desire alcohol ? The theories hitherto advanced in explanation 

 of the alcohol motive have failed to take into account certain essential 

 facts in regard to the problem and have therefore been incomplete. 

 Among these facts are the following : The desire for alcohol is common 

 both to civilized and uncivilized man. It tends to increase rather than 

 to decrease with the advance of civilization in spite of vigorous and to 

 some extent successful efforts to restrain it. It has reached an unpar- 

 alleled degree of intensity at the present time in prosperous communi- 

 ties relatively rich in comforts and luxuries. It is strong, again, in 

 industrial and manufacturing centers among plodding and underpaid 

 laborers. It is somewhat stronger in northern progressive races than 

 among the less progressive southern people. It is particularly charac- 

 teristic of the adult male individual, the desire being decidedly less 

 strong in women and children. It is not an appetite in the ordinary 

 sense of the word, as it answers to no inner need of the body so far as 

 is known. To these facts should be added those specially noted above, 

 namely, that alcohol apparently adds nothing to either physical or 

 mental efficiency, that it contributes nothing to health or longevity, and 

 does not enhance social well-being. 



Is it possible to explain the desire for alcohol on the ground of its 

 immediate pleasurable mental effects ? It deadens pain to some extent 

 and drives away care. It produces a feeling of euphoria, of well-being, 

 comfort, contentment, ease and inner harmony. Under the influence 

 of alcohol many of the unpleasant feelings accompanying the daily 

 drudgery of life temporarily disappear or are at least alleviated, such, 

 for instance, as fatigue, apprehension, fear, worry, anxiety and to some 

 extent physical pain. Selecting one from any number of illustrations 

 which might be drawn from literature, we read in Gosta Berling : 



The year had dragged itself out in heavy gloom. Peasant and master had 

 passed their days with thoughts on the soil, but at even their spirits cast off 

 their yoke, freed by brandy. Inspiration came, the heart grew warm, life became 

 glowing, the song rang out, roses shed their perfume. The public house bar-room 

 seemed to him a tropical garden, grapes and olives hung down over his head, 

 marble statues shone among dark leaves, songsters and poets wandered under the 

 palms and plane trees. 



Another author, picturing the hopeless grinding toil of the coal 

 miner, his monotonous and unillumined life, his long work day, his 

 hasty and insufficient supper and his hard bed, says that at the end of 

 the week when a little respite comes, the " demand for joy " drives this 

 coal miner to the saloon. 



But this explanation, at first sight partially adequate, when more 



