SECRETS OF ALCOHOL REVEALED BY SCIENTISTS.

White Ribbon, Volume 25, Issue 292, 19 October 1919, Page 3

SECRETS OF ALCOHOL REVEALED BY SCIENTISTS.

By Nurse Ada E. Chappell.)

Scientists of the highest repute have proved that alcohol is not a food, but a very dangerous drug. When taken into the body of man or !>ea>t its character is not changed; it still remains alcohol, and as such l*passed into the blood, and thus carried to all the cells of the body, there to do its destructive work . • When starchy foodstuffs arc taken into the human body, though they <annot be utilised in the physical economy as starch, yet there are secretions in the digestive track which convert them into sugar, and thus their utility is secured for the needs and uses of the body. (These secretions acting on starchy substances are not manufactured in the human body until about the ninth month, heme the wisdom of withholding starchy foods front the infant until this time, when thev can be converted into

sugar.) But there is absolutely no provision in t lie body of either human beings or the beast creation to convert alcohol into another substance which could be utilised in the physical economy, or to < hangc its character and neutralise its injurious effect, I here are many simple experiments which could be tried in any household to see the effect on the tissues of the body. l ake any pet animal and try it upon it, and see the changes which would take place in it. In the summer of i ()<*) an international confei elite on alcoholism was held in Lon don, to which most of the great na lion* sent scientific men or delegates. Comparing the results of investigations made in all parts of the world, finding these results agreed, representative medical leaders of the Confei

< nee drew up a report in the form of a statement defining the nature of alcohol, as follows: —

THE NATURE OF ALCOHOL

“Exact laboratory, clinical, and pathological research has demonstrated that alcohol is a dehydrating, pro toplasniic poison, and its use as a beverage is destructive ard degrading to the human organism. Its effects upon the cells and tissues of the body •m> depressive, narcotic, and anaesthetic. Therefore, therapeutically, its use should be limited and restricted it'

the same wav as the use of other i>oisonous drugs.”

In the Principles of Eugenics, by B Eames, it says: “Nearly all authori ties are now agreed as to the dele terious effects of alcohol upon ihjs terity.”

Dr. Saleeb) (one ot the greatest liv ing authorities <>n Eugenics) main tains that alcohol is a race poison

that it acts as a poison to the germ cell. Experiments upon animals have proven it true. It was shown by Cambermale that pups begotten of a healthy female by an alcoholized dog were congenitally weak, and showed marked asymetry of the brain. Kriedenwald found that when preg nant rabbits were given alcohol they delivered their young mem.timely. In one experiment, when twenty rabbits were so fed, seventeen aborted, and eight of them died soon after of septicaemia (blood poisoning). Nearlv all of the young which were born at full term died a few days after birth.

I)r. T. Alexander MacNicholl, a renowned authority on the subject of alcohol and degeneracy, who was sent to Europe by T heodore Roosevelt during his administration as President of the United States to make further study and research, has cited some cases which show the difference in heredity between the* < hildren of the drinker and the* children of the abstainer. lie* made a study of two groups of families living under the same* conditions and in the same environment. Sixty-five children were born in the te*n families of regular drinkers during the period of investigation, thirty of whom died in infancy, one was insane*, one epileptic, four anaemic, three had very poor teeth, one was diabetic, three had he art disease, two were imbeciles, live were neurotic, three bad adenoids, eight were tubercular, and only four were normal. In their studies at school two of tlu* children were excellent, six fair, and seventeen deficient. In the ten families of the total abstainers, 'here were seventy children, of whom only two died in infancy, one was anaemic, one tubercular, one neurotic, one rheumatic, and sixty-four were normal. In their studies at school sixty-five were excellent, ten fair, and two deficient. In the children of the total abstainers, <>o per cent, were normal in mind and body, as against 7 per cent, of the drinkers children.

Dr Axel flustafson, one of the world's greatest authorities concerning the effects of alcohol upon the hunuin sy st *m, says that it is pre-eminently a brain poison. The brain essentially is composed of oxygen, fats, and water, and alcohol has a marked affinity for these substances. It takes the loose oxygen from the red blood corpuscles, thus retarding normal oxidation, and inducing accumulation of waste matcri. «il; it dissolves fats tending to paralysis ef cell function: and it abstracts water from the protopasm, producing shrinking of the cells. These conditions existing any length of time will cause the cells to degenerate, connective tissue to form and normal function- to be permanently impaiied. The following is an extract from tlu* speech of the lh>n. R. P. Hobson, who had received a thorough scientific training and brought that capacity to be ar upon the question of alcohol and its bearing on human degeneracy. This speech was delivered in the House of Representatives, February jnd, h)i 1 :

ALCOHOL \ CAUSE OF DISEASE. The results can be illustrated by taking tin* effect of alcohol on the white blood corpuscles, tlu* wonderful standing army of the system, whose organised hosts, millions strong, .attack and destroy the hordes of disease of all kinds that ;ir<* constantly enter ing the system through the air we breathe, the* food and <1 rink, and through abrasions of tlu* -.kin. 'These disease genus, seeking a lodgment, germs of tuberculosis usually in the lungs, germs of typhoid in the intestines, each kind in its favourite organs or tissues, are constantly under assault from the armies of the cor pusclcs. If tlu* latter win from the* outset the germs arc* thrown off. 11 the germs win at hist they get a lodgment and multiply, and the person contracts the diseases. If by re peated assaults the corpuscles finally win, the patient recovers. If the multiplying hordes of germs win tlu* patient dies. Under the microscope it was found that even a moderate drink of alcoholic beverage passing quickly into the* blood paralyses the* white blood corpus ties. They behave like drunken men. In pursuit they cannot catch tlu* di sea**e germs. In conflict they cannot hold the disease germ* from devouring, and they cannot operate in great phalanxes, as they do when sober,

against such powerful germs as those of i onsuuiption. F.vcry time a man takes a drink of alcoholic beverage lie lavs himself open for a time to contracting diseas os. Every time a man takes a dnnk he puts his life in peril. No wondei the mortality statistics show as they do, that a total abstainer has nearly twice the security and hold on life that the average drinker has, and alxmt three times the hold of heavy drinkers and those engaged in the liquor traffic. If the drinks are repeated, the microscope shows tha. the lighting powers of the white blood corpuscles are permanently impaired, even when they arc not actually drunk. TKis accounts for the lowered vitality of regular drinkers, even though temperate. After long continued drinking, even though temperate, the microscope shows that the white blood corpuscles, with the serum which contains then vegetable food continually sucked up by the dehydrating toxin, become nil nivorous, and begin to feed upon the do. tissues and organs like disease germs The favourite tissue food of the degenerate corpuscle- are the cells of latest development. In the human being the latest development is the brain. The microscope shows the degenerate corpuscles with the goods upon them, down in their bodies the grey matter of the brain. This accounts for the tremendous mortality among heavy cfnnkers and for the de generacy. The Army \\ ar College at \\ ashinglon made an investigation of the dcstiiu tivencss of war. Taking all the wars of the world, from the Russo-Japanese wai back to 500 years before Chtisf. the war college found that the total number of killed and wounded in bat tie amounts to about 2,800,000 of which it is estimated that abqut 7uo,*kx> were killed, and something over J,000,000 wounded. The comparative figures show the appalling fact that alcohol is killing oft as many Americans every year as all the wars of the world have killed in battle in 2 ;oo years. With su( h an array, we do not wonder that Shakes peare should -ay, “() (iod, that men should put an enemy in their mouth to steal away their brains.” I don’t suppose that had been scientifically proved in those days. Shakes|>care was judging by their actions in all probability, but to-day the microscope actually shows the gray matter of the brain down in the body of the degen-

eiale white blood corpuscle when its character is changed from friend to enemy by the vicious effects of alcohol. My the science before us no man or woman who loves the race, and arc truly patriotic, can either take alcohol themselves or can influence others to do so. When one realises that alcohol is more destructive to life in one country alone (America) in one year than all the wars of the world were in 2 ;,(x» years, it is time for people who say they love their country to prove it by putting out this life-destroyei from our midst.