in whom a definite basic and further to be diagnosed illness could be traced. Thus the chronic alcoholism in these cases is to be regarded in the first instance as a symptom of a definite mental ailment. And to have proved this I consider the essential result of my work.' (P. 293.) "He goes steadily through his eighty-nine individual cases of extreme alcoholism, inquiring into the previous history of the individual and the history of his family. He finds as foundations for chronic alcoholism (i) Epilepsy (34), (ii) Melancholia mania (27), (iii) Dementia præcox (14), (iv) Other Psychoses and Psychopathies (9), and a remainder of five unclear cases. In other words, in more than 38 per cent of cases he gives epilepsy as a source of the chronic alcoholism. Stocker gives strong reasons for the antecedence of the physical defect, and he throws out the hint that in many cases where the drinking of a patient's parents has been given as the hereditary moment in cases of epilepsy and melancholia mania, we are really concerned with parents affected in the same manner, and only alcoholic in a secondary degree. In the absence of these special physical conditions-in the case of chronic alcoholists, whose fundamental disorder is pure 'chronic mania'-Stocker finds that, in general, long years of marked drinking, including spirit drinking, do not in the least affect their mental capacity, power of work and energy; there is no question of imbecility. "Much the same view has been expressed by Chroters, who holds that the abuse of alcohol is a sign of degeneracy. Not opportunity to drink, not moral influences, are the causative motives in alcoholism; the ground must have been prepared by the presence of degenerative factors. "It will, I think, be clear to my readers that it is not the statisticians of the Eugenics Laboratory alone whom Sir Victor Horsley-in the first place a surgeon-has to meet. There is a growing and really scientific medical school of alienists, whom he may much more usefully spend his time in opposing; and the only way in which he will be able to do this is to place observation against observation, and show in statistically significant numbers that sound stocks which take to drinking de novo will de novo produce defective children. "For the Eugenist the question is a vital one; he belongs to a body growing in numbers and weight in the state. Is he, admitting as he must do that alcoholism is a great national problem, to talk vaguely of alcohol as a racial poison and throw his influence into the existing temperance movement? Or, shall he on the other hand. attempt to study it for himself, with no initial basis? Here in a nutshell is the fundamental division between the two attitudes: “(i) All use of alcohol will lead pro tanto to defective children. Its abuse is due to opportunity and to defect of moral influ ence. "(ii) The abuse of alcohol is one of the stigmata of degeneracy. It is not the cause of degeneracy but its product. As the production of degeneracy-whether in the form of mental defect, epilepsy or insanity-is checked, to that extent the abuse of alcohol will be checked. "The acceptance of one attitude involves the demand for the cessation of all import, manufacture or sale of alcoholic drinks. The acceptance of the other demands the cessation of parentage on the part of the epileptic, the insane and the mentally defective. "It is for the Eugenist to consider the evidence for either policy, uninfluenced by rhetoric and by invective, and then to act in accordance with his decision. The two policies are not, in my opinion, compatible for the evidence upon which (ii) is based shows that the practical sequence to the acceptance of (i), i. e., absolute prohibition, would not produce any permanent racial effect." By Major Leonard Darwin, President of the Eugenics Education Society (Excerpts made from the "British Journal of Inebriety," October, 1915.) If the truth is to be discovered and made known concerning any proposed course of action, we must state all the disadvantages, as well as the advantages, which are likely to ensue. We are bound, therefore, to point out any harm which may be expected to result from temperance reform; though we should obviously do so in such a manner as to put no unnecessary impediment in the way of progress. And the reason why we must speak openly on both sides of the argument is that, if we were to be silent concerning any anticipated evil consequences, we could not advocate as part of the reform those precautionary measures which seem to us most likely to ward off the anticipated harm. The fear of telling the whole truth may, in fact, do lasting and irreparable damage. Yet, if we do point out any harmful consequences of temperance reform, we may find ourselves labelled, to our surprise, as the friends of drunkenness. But as progress will, in the long run, be most certainly secured by each person fearlessly stating what he believes to be true, this risk of unmerited misinterpretation must be faced. THE RACIAL EFFECTS OF ALCOHOLISM If we look beyond the immediate evils of drink, and if we consider the effects of the alcoholism of today on the generations of the future, we enter a region full of doubts. * A paper introductory to a discussion before the Society for the Study of Inebriety at its summer meeting, Tuesday, July 13, 1915, held in the rooms of the Medical Society of London, 11 Chandos Street, Cavendish Square, W. |