ENGLISH DRINKING- HABITS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1091, 10 April 1883, Page 3

ENGLISH DRINKING- HABITS.

The Lane t has thought it worth while gravely to take into argumentative consideration a statement recently published " on medical authority " to the eff-jefc that the British young man, and in particular the metropolitan young man, is indulging to an unusual extent in the pernicious habit of imbibing " nips " of brandy and glasses of " Irish " at all times of the day. Tbo prastice of taking a glass on meeting a friend or acquaintance is, it u addoi, "but too common ; and in the city it often meau9 a half dozen or more visiti to the 'shades ' before luncheon." The Lancat express a hope that the case has been overstated; and our contemporary inclines to the belief that there has latterly been exhibited in the city a marked tendency among young men to take whilesome food, such as milk, coffeo, or saniwiches, in preference to " nips," and further that much more care is used in this regard in the City of London than in large provincial towns such as Liverpool or Manchester, or Newcastle-on-Tyne, where " casual or commercial " drinking, as it may be called, is carried on with far less regard to ooneequences. Our contemporary proceeds to point out t that medical authorise* are almoat unanimous

in opinion that " nips" of spirits and glasses of wine taken at otl timaa wthout food arc an unmixed evil which should ba discouraged by every aenuble person. There may be differences of opinioi as to the amount of diluted alcohol at meals whi-h is consists' with health and longevity ; but alcohol on the empty stomach of a city man, wilh but Utile fresh air and exercise to turn it off, is sheer harm—injuring a* it does the fine textures of the stomach and the neighbouring liver, and and demoralising every function of the body from that of the brain to thai of the kidney. " No mixture of bitters," it ia solemnly added, " will make this t'uth seem sweeter nor the habit less immoral. "

With respect to the "young men" who are accused of swallowing " nips " of brandy or glasses of " Irish " between morn and dewy evo, it is transparently obvious that an immense amount of carnal drinking gjes on in the city every working day in the week. There must be some thousands of •' odd" glasses of sherry, in particular, drunk not necessarily by young men, but also by middle aged and elderly gentlemen before luncheon and after it. A great number of cause* may exist to explain, if not to justify this untimely bibulousness, The old Baw enumerates among reasons for drinking, " Good wine, or wheD a friond is by, or lest there should be by and by ; or lest you should be dry, and die, or any other reason why." Now, a "party in the city " may toss off deleterious " ttim " in the shipe of sherry, for the ostensible reason that B ratariau bonds have gone up, or that Big Bonat'zi mining shares have come down, ho rr.ay take a "nip "to console himself under the intelligence that his ancle ia Li»bon has just failed for untold thousands of " milreis," or in order to give vent to his feelings of exultation at hearing that a bankrupt's estate of which he is a heavy creditor, is about to pay a dividend of. 16b in the £. Or he may hob-nob with a friend who is off to Australia, or take a glass with a relative who b*s just returned from Jopan. Te'egrams from the seat of war, or the fluctuations of the pork and grain markets of Chicago ; the price of jute at New York, or of tallow at St. Petersburgh ; good news, bad news, or finally, " any other reason why," may incite him to a course of sherry equally deleteaous to tha coats of his stomach and " unsanctioned," as the Lancet puts it, by science and religion.