ALCOHOL AND HEALTH.

White Ribbon, Volume 25, Issue 295, 19 January 1920, Page 4

ALCOHOL AND HEALTH.

< hxlr.Kt from "Lyttelton I 'inn’s,” Dctrmbcr lOth.)

1 hr effect of alcohol on health was thr subject of .• uin ii kablt* Probibi turn rail) in the king's I'heat re 1 <>t i in! I, at which man> «•( the leading »i > dot lots ;«m*k the jil.itfoim on In half of the Prohibition cause. Dr. Lest r i>resided, and on the platform were Dis. Orchard, Ac I and, Fenwick. Peuison, I laml. Newton, Simpson, Sand>ton, Wallis, Sla:er, Ifrownlee, Currie, Oossctt, ant’ Irving There was a c rowded audience, including many ladies. DR. I.KSI Kk’S IN I ROOK I lON Dr. Lester said that he had received a number of apologies for absence from medical men who, although whole hoartedly in favour of the cause* of Prohibition, had been prevented bx various duties from attending. Di. Stank*) Poster regretted his absence on ..(count of an unavoidable print engagement, but Mated that he was with them in the cause. Dr. Mackmore*. one of ihe busiest men in the* cit>, also regretted his absence*; Dr. I'. L. Cronhe a pole gised on account of another s|M*eial meeting, hut was in full ;ymparh) wi h the cause. Dr. Mctiihlxm also expressed full sym patln with the meeting. Dr. A. I'empr was absent through illness, but the cause* had hi" whole hearted sup put. Dr. Blown was kept away by professional duties. Dr. Lester ad (led that it gave him great pleasure to appear on the platform in the cause of Prohibition. lb* would have keen on the platform a year a* r o bm for ill health. lie was glad now to he able to state his **ttled conviction t\ . t Prohibition was right and good, had been a prohibitionist for the last three >e*ars. and he* would he a prohibitionist until prohibition had been tried in all the civilised countries » tic* world and found wanting, but 1 regarded that as a verx remote eonli*’ genry. In introducing Dr. O’Brien the Chairman said that he was an

athlete and a doctor, and h \l shone* < insidcrably as both, and was also Catholic, and had many firm friend Dr. Lester went on to refer to the great strides that had been made in t’e Prohibition cat.se, espee i ill\ in the talking *of men i|iiitc outside the wild, pile faced, narrow chested en thusiast (moie- honour to him) wh

used to be so prominent. Nowada's the> got leal good beef) spoilsmen, who h.d shorn* in the fields of sport, and then* was haidl) one en the inedi cal men behind him who had not been more or less distinguished in the ad' letic field. Moi cover, on tlu* pr«*x mts evening there had been on t Piohibition platfoim leading men commerce, and the Church of I land, c <*mbig down from ti c* fence lot once, was represented by its le; b dignitarx, who was suipoitcd be all tlu* other elements which made up e ivir and national be. There had been i great broadening of the outlook. The appeal for Piohibition now was made to men as rational beings on a broad basis as a necessan thing for any nation that wanted to go ahead, and it was up to the nation to maxc the sacrific e. (Applause.) He wor d have bked to give a lecture or the red herrings that had been drawn across the* trail, and on the lxigevs * r the hcer barrel the bogeys about the liberty of the subject, and the mis< * ale gloom -sodden world Mr A Box le I rophesied if they gave up liquor. (Laughter.) DR. O BRIF.N. Dr. O'Brien, who was very enthusi astically received, said that it was easy to clax for anyone to speak on the Prohibition platform, for they knew, in the ordinary economy of life, that alcohol was no good. U was useful in commerce, as a pieservativc, and as a drug up to a certain e xtent, but a> a bever; gc it xxas totally and absolutely discredited by every reasonable scientific man. He regarded it as unique in tlu* historx of New Zealand that a bock of medical men should be the sole occupants of a platform in anx cause at all, and he thought that tlu* meeting would mark a new era, in which other men, who had been a little timid, would come out in various p..rts of the countr\ and join with the medical men of Christchurch in ex pressing .» similar view ( Applause*.) SO.MK M LI) ICAL AD VICK. \ year ago, Dr. O’Brien said, the epidemic began to gain ground, and the representative men called together Hu* doctors, and offered to do what tliex oideled. Similarly alcohol had to he met, and th< community must look to their medical men again. “We ;i" representative of the majority of (’.mterbuix doctors,’’ the* speaker con tinned, “tell you xxhat to do, and we look to xou to do it He added that

l at* oi deiing of a I coho' in the* epidemic w. s teally a frathei in the cap of iht piolession, foi it showed that while toiallx opposed to it as a beverage, they were reasonabie-minckd enough to order it when people needed it. It might be replied that alcohol must ! A s urn* good. He did not say that ii xx s no good, but as it was taken in New Zealand it wa*- no good, and even ii medicine tbetc* were bet lei n medics, but alcohol xxas i sed occasion all\ because it was h indy. But even undei Prohibition alcohol would be available when w. nted, but it xxas bx no means the* universal panacea it xxas represented to be. The slave trade, like* the* drink tiade, had been caiiu I on f*din time immemorial, and it had been supported in England by the upper classes, and even by the clergx. Thus the liquor trade was supported bx persons who, in sntug self-satiisf e lion, from then birth had not enquii ed into the* circumstances, and were in a position that enabled them not to be dragged in the mud when drunken ness arose in then families. With the spread of knowledge, however, U.e* people would triumph, and the slaver) of drink would be abolished. Just as they were thankful that t Jtve trade had gone*, so tlu*) would be glad wh**n the drink trade had gone. (Applause.) KIT Kl TS OF ALCOHOL. Alcohol had little food oi heating value, and destroyed health and ini paired efficiency, Dr. O’Brien added In health, the* man who swallowed al cohol had a feeling of warmth and well-being, and digestion xxas stimu fated, but if the process was repeated it had a contrary effect, and the en gorged stomach secreted mucus, and cM irrh of the stomach followed. I o put alcohol into an emptx stoma* h caused the * stomach to engorge itself to secrete when there was nothing t'» do, and it was like whipping a 'tied horse It had been found that man could live without a stomach, but lie could not live without a liver, and alcohol taken even once or twice* was stored in the liver, causing an engorging or enlarging, and there w s ;n overgrowth of the* fibrous tissue**, c -using ihe liver, normall) about till)., to become Sib. <»r tolb. in weight. Nature was inexorable in itleaction, and the overgrowth of fib rolls ‘issue shiinking eventuallv ch* sinned the lixiug cells of tlu* livci. bringing the hobnailed state. 1 he c

was onlj one hope in t i l lof the liver, and ’1i..1 was total übstineni e. Jaundice and dropsy of tlie stomach follow , d cirrhosis, and then a man's l*le was worth about three months, ..r.d death often came in violent d< la mm. In the use of alcohol the le. rt and kidneys were hampered, but .ihovc Jill, the (fleet was most marked in the brain. Ihe one thibg th • ; distinguished human beings was the abilitx to judge- and reason, but if a man habituated himself to alcohol he impaired the higher senses of tlu* !» tin. Stimulation came first, and then came reaction, and judgment and reasoning powers were depressed, but die lower centres became excited. \ m n •*) even other respect rational would take a drink of alcohol and act like a sillv goat. liis lower brute p ssions were also stimulated, and hr vent borne and knocked his wife and children about. The constant plea when an accident, or very often a rr‘*r d« r happened, wis “The man must have been drunk.'* \ Voice: Murders are committed bv sober men and wowsers. Or. O’Brien: Yes. that is so, and the sober man should be condemned the more: but the poor drunkard is to be pitied. *or he strike*; the person he loves when he d<'rs not know about it. Ido not condemn the drunkard, because he is past his own help, or vour help either. (Applause.) 1 h.ve vet to see a chronic alcoholic re formed; it is the moderate drinker that we have to look after. No man sprang into a drunkaid suddenly: it v s the moderate drinker of to d»v win will be the* drunkard of to-rnor. r »vv ; it is *hr drunkaici of t<> di\ wh< was the moderate dtinker of a war o two ago. Nobcxlv, he :1h d. like 1 to think themselves a drunkard, and if all drinkers were drunkards, dink would not be tolerated in the con; munitv two levs. There were :i fc*w people who pot through life as moder rue diinkers, and very often bemuse dev could not take much of it because 't did not agree with them In re lining drink for the man who o*d* took it once in a roupie of wool s the*' wore keeping the temptation before men who could not keep a wav from i: To give a tired man a drink of rdro ! <d did not make him less tiled; i: made him forget his tiredness. Tt was like giving drink to a nrn with 3 big overdraft; it made him feel a<* i f 'p owned the world

ALCOHOL IN 1)1 SLASH. The public ; * » emissaries <>l the uade, Dr. 1) n continued, won deied wh«.t 1 bv. community was going to do in disease. Ihe people who did not go to church and who would not much mind it every church was burned down were most terribly soli citous that there should be sacia mental wine. Alcohol was not indis pen sable in pneumonia, although d vocates t«»r any cause could be found always. It was a hopeless bogc\ to *ay that aloclud would not be* avail able in disease, and those on the plat form were there to say that Prohibi tionists were on sound lines. (Ap plause.) A MORAL ASPECT. There was one moral aspect in whic h alcohol did harm, even when taken in moderation, Dr. O’Brien < »»n tinned, and that was when young men saw respectable gentlemen taking a small cpiantiiN, and they were led, out of a spiiit of emulation, to take alco hoi also. The \oung fellow got a taste for it, and did not know where to stop. Alcohol had little effect s a food. An ounce and a half could be i bsoibed a day, and those who took weak alcohol consistently got corpt lent, while those who took it excessively got thin. If a man was cold a.id took a glass ot whisky, he felt wanner, but he was not leallv v aimer. It was not like hot milk, for it was cold, and could not add heat. A man shivered because he* had no heat to spare, and ahohol merely caused radiation, and the man became cooler. I his was well known among Arctic explorers, none of whom were allowed l»> t ike alcohol. \lco hoi was a foreign substance*, ar.d no child would tike ii willingly; and it was well known in society that a young man very often took a drink be* cause it was easier to take' it than to refuse it. Afterwards came the liking for it. Alcohol was not nee cs sarv to happiness. Ihc human being was not natural!) miserable. Take the* thirty boys who met at Rugby every veir from High School arc! ( ol lege. These boys, total abstainers, were full of th<* vim and vigour and joy of life. If there was no alcohol in the country, why should they ever become miserable killjoys Why not remain the happy, vigorous, Biitish boys thev were now 5 A Voice: What about the All Blacks?

Dr. O'Brien: You will find it was rhe men who did not take drink that caiihd through most of the games. A\e members of ihe medical profession, Dr. () Brit n added, ‘‘tome as citizens who live among you to |x»int out the medical point of view and leave it to your judgment. On this platform with me art* some of the most eminent men in Christchurch. If any of you were suddenly seized with acute appendicitis, you would be the* roughly glad to pl;c<* vour lives in the hands of some of these gentlemen here. Now, for the sake of the children who have not vet learned to drink, for the sake of those who have never been got down, put your judg ujent in ihc* hands of the* medical men of Chiistchurrh. and go to the* poll with the conviction that we are only doing this thing for your good and for the good of the oncoming generation. (Con’inued applause*.) DR ORCHARD. Dr. A. J. Orchard, who was warmlv apcl;aided, said that be felt intensely proud to find himself on the same platform as Dr. O'Brien, for whom the whole profession had the’greatest admiration. It was unprecedented in Christchurch to find a temperance meeting run absolutely by medical men, but it wr« the natuial seeiucl to the meeting of the Association at which the medic; I men present, b\ iS votes to ;, had declared that .alcohol was unsafe, and not justified at all. The great majority of doctors in Canterbury intended to strike out the two top lines, and he w,.s rcriain that ihc* were fairly representative of the* whole bodv of doctors i*i New Zealand. Those on the jiaibam were not .i body of fanatics. They all bad a Cnivcrsity education, ; nd were t* line I in m ientific methods. They classed the alcohol habit with other drug habits. It got its victims in just the -.ame way, because as it increased the craving it decreased the will power, and medical men scarcely ever s t w cases of recovery. 1 his was why the medical men realised that a cliastic re needy was needed. There could he no cure, and therefore there must be absolute prevention. With the present system, there were thousands of voting people doomed vcarlv to go down before drink. For year* it had been an ordinary every day thing to see drunkards, but the people had come to believe that it was worth a big

cllott io t Umi iii« thing away. 1 lie people today were the pionceis of the twenty millions that wmM soon popu lat< ihr country, and he was suic that with ilie amount of wastage ahead it was well worth while to trx the e\ periment of Prohibition. He knew quite well tliat some of his deserr I anis might be hioken hy alcohol the piesent licensed houses weie mu ( Insed. and this was absolutely sulfi uc nt for him. (Applause.) VOTES OF I HANKS. Dr. Sandsto.ii, in moving a vote nt thanks to l>is. M'Buen and Orihaid, said that ilicit addlesses had been bnlliant. Ihe doctors had .i good deal t«» lose 111 OflC X\a>, llom the.. presence there, bin a use il P.ohibilion w.is <ait ltd the gencial health .ind 50i1,.! life id the community must he so gicatlx improved that inoie than hall of the doctor's woik must tome to and end. (Applause.) To say that drink sliengthencd the power to irsixt temptation \va»* a spurious aig urnent. Dr. Hand Newton, in se< muling the motion, said that numerous remarks had been made about returned soldiers and rum. He had served with the Fours from the beginning to the end (applause) in Gallipoli, Sinai, Ihd rstine, and France. One would gather from interrupters that every man, l>efo r c he went over the top, had to have a nip of whisky. I hen* weie times in the desert when this would have been very nit e, but rum w * not issued to the mounted troops as routine. What was given was lime juice. The two most distin guished soldiers New Zealand had produced were General Russell and General Chaytor. and what was good enough for ihem should be good enough for anv other digger.