ALCOHOL: A BLESSING OR A CURSE?

By Sir Lauder Brunton, Bart., M.D., F.R.S.

The article which appeared under this title in The Nineteenth Century and After, for July of this year, is by a man so well known in his home country and of such standing, that his statements must command attention. Further comment is unnecessary.

"The present awful War and the conduct of our Allies, France and Russia, in regard to alcohol have brought very prominently forward to the notice of this country two questions: (1) What does alcohol do to us? and (2) What are we to do with alcohol? Is alcohol good or evil? Is it a blessing or a curse? The same question may be asked regarding heat and cold, knowledge and strength, and, in fact, about any form of power whatever. The answer in each case must be the same. It is good if properly used; it is evil if abused.

"In order to understand how alcohol may be used and how its abuse may be avoided we must understand the nature of its action. Its action varies somewhat according to the form in which it is taken, but it may be shortly stated thus: In small quantities alcohol is a stimulant enabling a man to draw upon his reserves of energy; to live in the present at the expense of the future. In larger quantities it is a narcotic, gradually deadening a man's power of perception until it renders him completely insensible. A simple example of a stimulant is a whip in the hand of a jockey. By applying this just before reaching the winning-post the horse may be stimulated to greater exertions than he would otherwise make and may thus win the race. This extra exertion will be followed by greater exhaustion, but after the winning-post has been passed this is of no consequence, because the end has been attained, and there is ample time for rest and recuperation. But the case would be very different if the jockey began to use the whip immediately after starting. He might force his horse to the front for a short time, but the effect

of the whip would soon wear off, exhaustion would set in, each stroke would have less and less effect, and the race would be hopelessly lost. These conditions are exactly paralleled by the effect of rum served out to soldiers on the march. But it is not only on his reserves of physical strength that alcohol enables a man to draw. It may enable him to do the same with his mental reserves. When a tired journalist is suddenly called upon to write an important leading article he may be tempted to whip up his flagging brain by a glass of wine or a nip of brandy, and the same may be the case with almost any man who is called upon to take a sudden decision involving important issues and to which for the moment he feels himself unequal. The reserve power of the heart may be called up by alcohol, and fainting or collapse may sometimes be averted or removed by the employment of alcohol, which strengthens the circulation and removes the temporary depression. Alcohol enables a man also to call upon his reserve stock of warmth, and to remove for a short time the discomfort caused by exposure to cold.

"Another function in which the reserves may sometimes be called upon by alcohol, with advantage, is that of digestion. Moderate work, as a rule, increases appetite; but excessive work may destroy it, and after a very hard day a man may be too tired to eat, or to digest his food even if he does eat it. In such a condition as this some alcohol with the evening meal, by calling up his reserve strength, may enable him to eat with pleasure and to digest with comfort. A similar condition occurs when the want of appetite or of digestive power is due to old age, illness, weakness or exhaustion by anxiety and sleeplessness instead of by fatigue. The generally recognized utility of a mixture of rum and milk is due to the stimulant action of the rum calling up the reserve strength of the digestive organs, and causing the milk to be quickly digested and assimilated instead of lying like a weight in the stomach and causing discomfort instead of giving strength.

"The same thing may happen in regard to sleep. A man may be too tired to sleep, and alcohol may bring him up from the 'over-tired' to the simply 'tired' condition, and he will then sleep comfortably.

"The second action of alcohol is that of a narcotic, gradually

diminishing and finally abolishing all the functions of the brain, and reducing the man first to the condition of a beast and then below it, down to a creature as inert as a log of wood though still living as evidenced by his breathing and pulse. The brain is the organ of the mind, and without entering into all the mental faculties we may discuss generally the powers of action, perception, judgment, conscience, foresight, power of self-restraint and self-direction. The narcotic action of alcohol appears to come on almost simultaneously with its stimulant action but at first is masked by it, and only becomes evident when the stimulant action is passing off.

"This effect of alcohol in making a person feel better, cleverer, and stronger than he is in reality is one of the pleasures which alcohol affords and is an inducement to its use. It also lessens the weight of care due to external circumstances. This, I think, was very well put by a very able and admirable man whose professional work entailed a great deal of correspondence. One night, when dining with a friend after a long and exhausting day, he partook freely of champagne and at the same time lamented the piles of letters which were lying unanswered upon his table. His friend said to him, "This champagne will not help you to answer letters.' 'No,' said he, 'but it will make me feel that I do not care a damn whether they are answered or not.' When I began to write this ancedote I felt inclined to leave out the oath because it is quite unnecessary, but on second thoughts I decided to leave it because its employment shows that the narcotic action of the alcohol was already reaching the further stage when the subject of it was not only ceasing to regard the dictates of his own conscience, but was becoming careless of the opinion of those around him.

"The action of alcohol varies very much, not only according to the quantity that is drunk, but according to the form and to the times when it is taken in order to produce its effects. Its chief action is on the brain, and it can only produce its full effect when it is present in a certain proportion in the blood circulating through that organ. But the amount in the blood depends upon the difference between the rate at which alcohol enters the blood and passes out of it. When alcohol is taken in a very dilute form it can only be absorbed slowly from the digestive canal, and all the time that absorption is going on excretion is likewise occurring, so that there