ALCOHOL AND THE HUMAN BODY.
Alcohol and the Human Body. By Sir Victor Horsley and Mary D. Sturge, M.D. (Macmillan and Co. ds. net.)—No one can question the formidable character of the indictment brought against the use of alcohol by Drs. Sir Victor Horsley and Mary Stuege. Its ill effects on body and mind, on health and strength, on moral action and intellectual activity, are set forth by argu- ment, by facts, by figures, by representations, gruesome in outline and hue, of the morbid conditions which it induces in the chief organs of the human frame. We must own that we are not wholly convinced, though we concede, as every reader would have to concede, that we are much impressed. Our readers will be interested to see the nearest approach to tolerance of alcoholic liquids which the two doctors have been able to make. "As the bouquet of a good vintage provides a pleasant momentary stimulus to the palate, it may reflexly cause secretory activity." Though on the
main issue we do not feel competent to give judgment—the con- flict of evidence is too great—we are bound to record the opinion that a book like that under notice is sure to do a great deal of good, and can hardly do any harm even if it is mistaken in fact. The evils of alcohol are so terrible that anything which tends to limit its use must prove beneficial to mankind.
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