THE DRINK PROBLEM.*
" THE essential facts," says Dr. Kelynack in his preface to this collection of expert opinions on the drink problem, " regarding alcohol and alcoholism and associated morbid states have for long been presented with scientific precision, but the majority of the community have paid but scant heed." Now, however, the war has forced the nation, or at any rate that portion of the nation which gives thought to its well- being, to face the " seriousness of the menace existing from the widespread prevalence of alcoholism within our own dominions." In studying the problem—which " is essentially a medico-sociological one "—he continues, care must be taken not to neglect the fundamental facts and governing principles which should direct rational action, and it is with a view to obviating this danger that the present volume, giving various aspects of the question as considered from the scientific standpoint, has been prepared. It is in part a reprint of The Drink Problem, issued in 1907, but, as the title indicates, the facts have been brought as far as possible up to date and fresh articles added, and it is therefore in the main a new book.
To read such a book is to realize the tremendous difficulties that confront those who are trying to find a satisfactory solution of the drink problem. The very antiquity of the evil shows how deeply rooted it is in human nature. Some authorities, indeed, maintain that the liking for intoxicants and narcotics is instinctive, while Dr. Harry Campbell in " Tho Biology of Alcoholism" speaks of it as " innate " and " inborn." Ho quotes Dr. Archdall Reid as holding that this natural craving is a by-product of evolution. Dr. Campbell himself puts forward the explanation, or at any rate suggestion, that the blood normally contains mildly intoxicating substances which affect the brain much in the same way as strychnine and alcohol do, and that therefore man readily takes to an artificial substance which tends to increase the sense of exuberant happiness. This same article gives a summary of the history of alcoholism, dating its beginnings from the period of fixed agriculture.
But whatever its origin or history or Its nature, whether instinct or an acquired habit, all the writers are agreed that indulgence in alcohol, even in moderation, is deleterious, and when carried to excess exceedingly harmful to the race, physically, mentally, and spiritually. Dr. Sims Woodhead from the pathological standpoint, Dr. Clays Shaw from the psychological point of view, and Dr. Sullivan in his study of the relation of alcoholism to crime may be said to arrive at the conclusion .expressed by Dr. Woodhead in his summing-up " Alcohol lowers vitality, impairs judgment, sterilizes initiative, absorbs wealth, vitiates morality, and in raising the morbidity-rate, increases the death-rate." The various writers are agreed, also, in refuting the popular belief that alcohol is capable of supplying energy. Dr. Armstrong-Jones in " Alcohol and National Efficiency " says that " the sense of greater vitality and of exhilaration resulting from the action of alcohol is a false elation. It is a strength which is not maintained and a vigour which is not preserved, for a subsequent slackness and carelessness are • The Drink Problem of To-Day. Edited by T. N. Kelynack, M.D. London: biethuen arid Co. [7s. a net.)
as evident in individuals as in groups of people" ; and Sir Thomas Oliver in "Alcohol and Work " argues that "in all instances where muscular work is concerned any increase of work obtained through the use of alcohol is temporary, and is followed shortly afterwards by a decline." Strong advocates as we are of prohibition during the war for the sake of national efficiency, we are naturally particularly interested to find our views confirmed, if not in actual words, in substance, by the various writers. In his excellent paper on " Alcohol and War " Sir Alfred Pearce Gould speaks in no measured terms :— " To sum it all up, we assert that the use of alcohol in a time of war is bad for the soldiers because it lessens their power of physical endur- ance and recovery from fatigue, it diminishes the accuracy of all senses impressions and the rapidity and assurance of reflex and voluntary response, it interferes with the soundness of their judgment and the control of their emotions, and it lowers their power of resistance to extremes of heat or cold, and to all infections whether primary or secondary to wounds. To a nation at war alcohol is a traitor . . . it lessens the physical fitness and power of effective work of the civil community, it blurs their judgment, lets loose their emotions, exposes them to greater risk from epidemic diseases, and it undermines their power to make good the most serious ravages of war—the serious loss of the young adult male population."
Further, Dr. Kelynack, in the concluding chapter of the book, quotes Sir Frederick Treves's testimony :- " As a work producer alcohol is exceedingly extravagant, and, like all other extravagant measures, leads to a physical bankruptcy. It is also curious that troops cannot work or march on alcohol. I was . . . with the relief column that moved on to Ladysmith, and, of course, it was an extremely trying time by reason of the hot weather. In that enormous column of 30,000 the first who dropped out were not the tall men, or the short men, or the big men, or the little men—they were the drinkers, and they dropped out as clearly as if they had been labelled with a big letter on their backs."
It is not the purpose of the writers to suggest specific remedies for this evil, but there are one or two suggestions made, the chief of which, we are glad to note, is that advocated so often in these columns—namely, as Sir Thomas Whittaker _puts it in his article on " Alcoholism and Legislation," " taking the trade out of the hands of those who now conduct it and placing it under the control of persons whose only object would be to promote the public well-being, and who would have no interest in pushing the sale or conniving at breaches of the law ; that is to say, by placing it under disinterested management." Dr. Kelynaok in "The Arrest of Alcoholism " says that, so long as the public sale of alcoholic intoxicants is demanded by the people and allowed by the will of the State, such sale should be under the control of those whose monetary interest has been removed as far as is possible." Several writers advocate increased powers of local veto, and the creation of some counter-attraction is also discussed. In regard to the latter, Dr. Kelynack pays a much-deserved tribute to the work of the Y.DLC.A. with the Army, and says very truly that their huts " have afforded remarkable examples of how effective and popular public-houses may be made without the sale of intoxicanta."
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