THE OTHER SIDE OF THE QUESTION.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1947, 18 September 1888, Page 4

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE QUESTION.

The British Medici) Aesoolatlon have reoently made some vary laborious en« qdlrles regarding the question of whether total abstinence is favorable to longevity, •rd -generally as to the results of habhs with refsrenca to alcohol, extendtDg over Urge numbers ( f people. Tre "British Medical Journal" of the 23rd if Jnne eontalns the report of the •Collective Investigation Committed appointed for tHs purpose ; and it will, we are saro t be a surprise to the general public, and a ■hock to extreme Temporanco advoca'e?, to learn that the report la by no meaos favorable to Ihe theory fiat t-;»al ab- j •Ulners live longer than o.her people. The enquiry wbb condao'ed m this manner. No fewer than 187 numbara of the Brl'ish Medioal Association obtained particular! regarding the h kbits of 4,234 persons acoi 27 years and upward*, recently dcciattd. Those *vr s divided Into 5 cli'B 8, nsmil}-, toUl abatainars, habl'uslly tempera'?, "oarelesa dri ker§, free drinkers, sn > d c Udly intemperate. The age at death of those In each cUes i wm registered t gi her with the o.tuse of J death, and the aver»g9 a^e at death fof eftoh class was fouid tn as follows: — Glats. V»ars. a 51 22 6 6 i 13 c 59 67 d 67-69 c 52.?3 Acfljrdiag to this, tho total abstniaers died •t an earlier age than any c ther class, not excepting habitual drankards. It was Quickly seen, however, that this was an error, arising from the fact that total abstainers are on an average much younger than persons who nse stimulants ; which meanP) Id other words, that few people carry the habit of total abstinence through life, by far the greater number of persons above the middle age coming under clast b, nimely, habitually temperate. In order to correct this error, therefore, the Committee set to work to prepare a second table, consisting of two columns, from one of which all persons who died under 30 were omitted and from the other all who died under 40. This gave the following results: —

. The effect of this is to show that as the yennger lives are eliminated, the difference between the abstainers and the moderate drinkers becomes less marked, bat that throughout, the moderate drinkers have the advantage. It will be seen from the third column, that even when all lives nnder 40 are eliminated,— th»t Is to say, ■batting oat of the calculation the gret,t number of yonng people who died before the age when on the average the habit of □■Ing alcohol ia contracted,— the moderate drinkers were still found to live five jeare longer than the total abatainers and the careless drinkers two ye»rs longer. The British Medical Association seem to have adopted these figures as conclusive ; and the " Fost Magezlne " and the "Insurance Monitor," the recognised Insurance organ, m an able artfole on the subject, endorses that view. The Investigation Committee famish an important additional foundation for their conclusions m a table of the causes of death. From this it appears that, contrary to the generally r- calved opinion, consumption Is commoner emong total Abstainers than among those who nee alcohol, and is comparatively rare among free drinkers. The enquiry also shows that cancer has less tendency to develop m those who consume stimulants than m thosa who eschew them. The ' Insurance Monitor" rightly points out, however, *"~ that this must not be taken as a jasilfioition for Indulgence, because the intemperate man subjects himself to other scourges sot less fatal than consumption or cancer

Class. Yews. Years a 57.31 62 74 b 64 48 67 71 c 61 52 64 65 d 58 87 61 98 c 43.42 57.47