ALCOHOLOGY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 267, 21 March 1911, Page 7

ALCOHOLOGY.

WHAT NATURE TEACHES. (Published by Arrangement). Wc learn everything from Nature. Those we call scientists are just those who'set themselves to question Nature, and then to observe attentively her replies.' When people would brush science 'aside and tell us to go to Nature and "learri, th'ey really mean that the ordinary ..casual "and 1 partial hearer of Nature's lessons' should regard his own partial and c'afuift, observations (if they can be so called) | rather than the results of questionings. This is certainly "not? ; ami though many would fain flo'ttlis"nowadays in regard to alcohol 'and.jits mixtures they would not do it ■ in matters of surgery or of '.. he buildi»g of. war.sliips. Let us ask Nature what she has to teach about, say, AND LENGTH OF LIFE. In this matter the Registrar-General in 'a-'popuTo'iis'cduntry, such as Britain, or "the' liotllaty of a large and long-standing insurance association, such as the United ■Kingdoni -Temperance and General Pro:VvMcnt should be heard. N&wythe latter says that the life of the 'total al>s'tasher is a better life for the to insure than the life of a moderate drinker—drunkards are drop'pen"'by'all. "To put it another way: At 'any iHyJen. l age''the abstainer has prospect of a fonder fife than the moderate drinker."'The. institution we arc taking as an 6.t'Nature's lessons on length of ; ljfe Sas liad large.experience, upwards of Bf) •mrs l j J and lliis' hud under observation ''lSo^Otlfr'lives, covering in the aggregate _'te',<)&'paki bf" insured life. To take 1 j'il'st.{jnV of'"Uieir tables, that showing tne rates' of mortality per cent, per annum for'abstainers and non-abstainers ' and jfrottt 20 years of age upwards, exempt'in 't'he period 75 to 79, the deathrate of ..iion-abstainers is higher than iliat qF abstainers; in the keen business ''pc'rW'oMiie, 40 to 50, the abstainer's ' death'rate is'.G4B'and the non-abstainer's is 1.1%.' Other insurance companies, whether they distinguish between these two classes, show the same result: abstainers'live longer. Hence Nature's reply is that, the use of alcohol shortens life. Ixst us next make enquiries of the Registrar-General as to deaths among persons of various callings in life, and where.we may judge how far they are given to the use of alcoholic drinks. The comparison may be made between ', those the liquor trade —brcw..ers.and retailers and their employees. [ The sixty-fifth report shows ( ( tlia). wjheije, there are 100 deaths among ' ~'fiH.,maJcsj" pere are 180 deaths among an equal, number of liquor dealers. When we note,.the,,deaths from alcoholism and liver diseases where 100 ordinary "all males" (tie, ,(170 of these liquor-dealers , die.,,. li,.;ho,we,y,cr, \ve got a step further and, ask compare in the Registrar's returns, we find that in terms of standard population where 1000 ordinary adult males die, that 1042 publicans die, and that only 500 Rechabites die. (These Rechabites are teetotallers). Now we will ask Dame Nature another question: What effect has '•ALCOHOL ON GROWTH ? For a very long time we have always j heard- thajj to give puppies spirits will stop their growth, though only a very few amongst iis have made the experiment., Here, however, is a question we I can easily, put to Nature: How does alI cbhol'affect the growth of seeds? Take , two pots,of dry earth and in each sow a little seed—say cress seed—and then put the pots",side,,by side in the house; water onOj'pot'.with rain water only, the other with water to which alcohol has been added to the extent of a half or one per cent. It will soon be seen that the seeds watered with simple rain water are growing vigorously and that the seeds watered with the addition of alcohol are scarcely growing at all. Had we put one per cent, of alcohol not a seed wo»ld grow. ],t may be noted that one per cent, mixture would be equivalent to four pints of water being added to one pint of mild beer. This is a simple test that anyone can make; other tests require more attention and skill, but where our scientists have tried it they have always found that alcohol acts as a. poison to cell life, even in the .simplest forms of life, and with very small additions of alcohol. Professor I lodge, of Clark University, America, found that so small a quantity of alcohol as one part in 100,000 had a marked effect in retarding growth. It may be said that it is different with human beings than it is with these lower forms of life, but Professor Hodge says: ''By studying the influence of alcohol upon these simpler organisms, evidence may be gained by which more clearly to interpret the human experiment." The late Sir Wilfrid Lawson did not call himself a scientist, yet his interpretation of what Nature taught about alcohol was that—lt killed tlie living am! preserved the dead.