ALCOHOLOGY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 379, 3 May 1910, Page 3

ALCOHOLOGY.

THE MODERATE DRIX.KEII. Of course it is not supposed that tlu' man who takes only a strictly moderate, regular quantity of alcohol wou.d show tile, glaring stupidities that are seeu in tlic drunkard; yet the question is, where does the evil effect first show itself? Can the effects of the moderate use be detected? Well, if the experiments of the most reliable, trained observers are worth anything it may be concluded that the evil effects may be seen iby careful tests, from the very first. Take the effect on writing; not composition. v Dr. M-iyi r, of Heidelberg University, in a work on psychology, gives the results of a series of experiments he made on himself. Lest it might be thought that he was inlluenced in these experiments by his preconceived notions about alcohol, lie carefully points out that, at the time, he had not studied the literature on the effects of alcohol; moreover, he savs, it would have been impossible to foresee what the effect might "ne on the process of writing. He made two sets of experiments. In September, 1 SOS, and again in October, taking four alternate days in each month. Each day the tests began at eight in the morning and were repeated several times with intervals of five minutes between each; the first test was made without alcohol, another with 30 grams of alcohol in the form of a drink of claret, was taken and the remaining tests were made. It is to be noted, however, that in the October series the quantity of alcohol was doubled. As a preparation for these experiments Dr. Haver took no alcohol in any form for a week. For the purpose of these trials a machine was constructed, called a "writing' balance," which registered the time consumed in writing a set of characters to within one tW!V hundredth of a second. With this machine properly connected with his hand, Dr. Mayer made the tests. They were in writing tU| figures 1 to 10 forward and then backwards, 10 to 1; and also in writing a set order of German letters. It should ibe added that between the September and October experiments the doctor took no alcohol. The results showed that: (1) an individual's great* est rapidity in writing remained the same as long as lie was personally normal. The difference between the September and the October tests without alcohol were about the same, within 1 per cent; (2) the slowing effect of alcohol varied with the quantity taken. In September with 30 grains of alcohol, the time lost was from 5.G to 7.3 per cent.: while in October, with a double do-'e of alcohol, the retardation was from 0.1 to 12.2 per cent. The conclusion is that moderate drinking retards the activities of life that are intermediate between the purely muscular and physical work—such as writing is. To put it shortly, with even a small quantity of wine or beer, it takes a man longer to think what ought to be done and ailother longer .to do it. This explains many accidents by sea and by land; the captain or the driver is not as ready for the emergency as he would have been but for the "nip" he took to '"brace him up." This is apart .from cases where intoxication is manifest. If we go further and enquire how this works in relation to purely mental process—such as the association of ideas, whether habitual or free—we find that iilcohol produces still more marked evil effects. Tests were made in adding up single place numbers for half an hour on 27 consecutive days with two persons—A: and E. we will call them. E. had no alcohol from urst to last; A. had no alcohol for seven days, then for 14 days he had alcohol each evening at bedtime, and the work began at 9 in the morning. Throughout the whole period &., without alcohol, steadily increased his speed, while A., with the help (?) of the wine, steadily lost ground until at the end of the 27 days he was 15 per cent, bejow his normal; and that, too, with moderate drinking, and only in the evening preceding the test. Experiments were also made with the free association of ideas in writing down the thoughts suggested by some objects given, ™hat might be called pure l^mental work, and the losses here, over a similar period and under similar conditions to 'the above, showed still more disastrously for alcohol, for the retardation amounted in the final to 27 per cent. Tests were also made in memory and in composites' work, all showing that alcohol always works in the direction of inefficiency. Any who wish to pursue this question further may do so by studying "Alcohol and the Human Body," by Horslev 'and Sturge; or by reading up McCJure's Magazine for March, 1909. Xo one can look into this subject with a judicial mind and fail to see that a man does his best in muscular or mental work without wine or beer.