TEE ALCOHOL MOTIVE 259 



And if the desire for alcohol were due to a longing for excitement, life, 

 tension, movement, this longing would seem to be well satisfied by the 

 conditions in modern American cities without recourse to 2,000 million 

 gallons of alcoholic liquors yearly. 



Any satisfactory theory of the alcohol impulse must not only take 

 account of the facts to be explained, some of which we have mentioned 

 above, but it must also be grounded on an accurate knowledge of the 

 whole life history of man, particularly his mental development and 

 the corresponding development of the brain. It would be necessary, 

 furthermore, for such a theory that we should have an accurate knowl- 

 edge of the action of alcohol on the human brain. Neither psychology 

 nor physiology is able as yet to furnish this knowledge completely, 

 so that any theory of the alcohol motive must be tentative, awaiting 

 further scientific advance. The following observations, therefore, 

 although for brevity's sake put in somewhat dogmatic form, may be 

 considered as suggestions toward such a theory. 



Human progress seems to be in a certain definite direction and to 

 involve the development of certain definite mental powers and of the 

 corresponding higher cerebral centers. The chief of these powers is 

 that of voluntary, sustained attention, which differentiates man sharply 

 from the lower animals and likewise distinguishes civilized man from 

 the savage. Progress has been possible because man has been able to 

 narrow the field of attention, to concentrate or focus his powers, to live 

 under mental stress, strain and effort and to hold his attention on a 

 definite object. The word "tension" may perhaps express both psy- 

 chologically and physiologically the subjective correlate of progress. 

 It is characteristic of the savage as compared with the lower animals, 

 of civilized man as compared with the savage, of northern races as 

 compared with southern, and of the male as compared with the female. 

 As concentration, sustained attention and abstraction, it issues among 

 civilized man in science and invention. "Whether the product be New- 

 ton's Principia or Edison's talking machine, or even the long-sustained 

 working-day of the common laborer, it presupposes the above-mentioned 

 powers and involves the constant enlargement of the higher cortical 

 centers of the brain. There is something, whether it be the " will to 

 live," or a " vital impulse," or the cosmic consciousness, or only natural 

 selection, that is eternally driving us on in this direction. 



Now the higher and newer the brain centers, the more subject they 

 are to fatigue and the greater is their need of rest. During sleep these 

 centers enjoy almost perfect rest, our dream activity taking the form 

 of passive revery. But eight hours of sleep are not sufficient for this 

 part of the brain. Sixteen hours of sustained attention would probably 

 result in immediate insanity, if such an act were possible. Nature 

 seems to demand some form of activity which shall allow the higher 

 brain centers to rest while providing employment for the lower ones. 

 To such a condition of mind and body we apply the name relaxation 



