INFLUENCE OF ALCOHOL.

Taranaki Daily News, 31 July 1922, Page 5

INFLUENCE OF ALCOHOL.

IN'DERESTING EXPERIMENTS. VARYING MOODS EXPLAINED. By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. London, July 28. The British Medical Association discussed the relation of alcohol to the human body. Professor Mellanby detailed experiments with guinea pigs in order to test the effects of alcohol on heredity. Abnormal progeny resulted. Some were born without eyes, others without brains. After a good carouse it would take ten to eighteen hours for the alcohol to be cleared out of the circulation of men. The apparent stimulating effects of alcohol were now known to be due to the compression and partial paralysis of the cerebral cortex, thus feelings of joy, misery and anger were more easily called forth and caree and worries forgotten. Dr. MacCurdy, of Cornell University, dealing with prohibition in America, said that evolution in drinking was still in progress. The domestic manufacture of mild alcoholic drinks might develop into a recognised household art, be legalised and produce a nation of moderate drinkers.

Discussing the effects of alcohol on the man whom alcohol makes quarrelsome, Dr. MacCurdy said he belonged to the paranoid group. After a drink or two a paranoid imagines he is being slighted and insulted. Such men have strong anti-social tendencies, and, as marriage makes a most persistent demand for social adaptation, these men begin to drink after marriage.