CORRESPONDENCE

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 254, 6 March 1911, Page 6

CORRESPONDENCE

MR.. TAYLOR'S FACTS. To the Editor. Sir, —Tiie charges Mr. Enroth makes of "vituperation and falsehood," as well as other choice epithets with which he is familiar, are so wide of the mark that they carry their own refutation with them, and [ think are sufficiently answered by the proverb, "Phvisician, heal thyself." Allow me to rc-aflirm our position. We are not out against individuals, but out against the inroads of an almost world-wide appetite, which, has become a menace to everything that is noble and elevating in the human race. It is so strongly entrenched in social customs, Jioary with age, and fortified by a mistaken idea as to the effect of this insidious agent on the human constitution, that many are simply staggered by a plain statement of facts of the case. Hence every good citizen is bound to do what in him lies to spread a knowledge of these facts, whether as a "paid lecturer" or otherwise, hi every reform movement there are those who lag behind, conservatives. Therefore it is quite to be expected that we should find some who liave something to say in defence of alcohol, apart from its use as a drug. There were men who defended slavery, there were prominent men who defended the old corn-laws, but is their advocacy, and their methods of reasoning to outweigh the opinions and conclusion of the hosts of t'hose who thought otherwise? So in this present, controversy are the opinions of a few isolated men to outweigh the consensus of opinion of the medical world that alcohol is a poison? Mr. Enroth politely intimates that the statements I have quoted as emanating from medical authorities "'are probably non-existent," or, in plain language, I manufactured. Xow, Sir, that is a gross impertinence which Mr. Enroth should not be guilty of and should not impose on your readers. But to satisfy that implied doubt, allow me to rfuotc a few. Prof. Sims Woodhead says: "Alcohol in any form , . , is a poison to the human body." Prof. Toumans says: "Alcohol is universally ranked amongst poi- ( sons bv physiologists." Prof. A. Forel, Switzerland, savs: "Alcohol in all forms and doses is a poisonous substance," and that might be extended ad. infill, from every civilised country and from numberless scientists. Even Prof. Dixon says: ''Alcohol also is a poison in narcotic, but not in physiological dosage." The late Sir B. W. Richardson said: "I was asked by the British Association to study the action of alcohol along with a whole series of chemical bodies. And so I took alcohol from the shelf in my laboratory, ,as I might take,any other drug or chemical body there, aild I asked it in the of experiments, extending over a lengthy period,' What can you do?' . I'inally, I suih it all up. I find an agent that gives 110 strength, that reduces the tone of the blood vessels and heart, reduces the nervous power and builds 112 110 tissue, can be of 110 use to me or any other animal'as a substance for food. That this agent in the most moderate quantity is perfectly useless for any .of the conditions of life to which men are subjected, except under the most exceptional conditions, which none but skilled observers need declare. | It.begins by destroying; it ends "by destruction." Verb, sap.—l am, etc r „ tl T. MAUNDER. I.further correspondence on this matter can only be inserted subject to an arrangement with our advertising manager.—Ed.]