(South Carolina and some counties of North Carolina, Alabama, and Georgia) makes it impossible to draw any general conclusions as to the vitality of the system.

Conclusions. Now that the time has come to give a résumé of the many impressions which crowd on one in the course of an inquiry into the antialcoholic battle in the United States, it seems that the idea which dominates all the others is that of the diversity and the prodigious activity of the army of temperance. All the moral forces of that country give it assistance. In the first rank are the churches and the schools. Innumerable associations adapted to all beliefs, all tastes, all races, and both sexes have been formed to assist and save the people. Under the pressure of opinion the law has stepped in to consecrate and facilitate the work. After some dangerous oscillations it seems to have found a stable equilibrium by making liquor selling a local question.

Left to themselves the rural communities have to a great extent adopted the absolute prohibition of the traffic, while the urban centers have rallied around the system of regulation and high license as being more adapted to their moral possibilities and fiscal necessities. Raising the license has resulted in a very considerable reduction in the number of saloons. It has resulted in a sort of monopoly created by the law to the profit of a small number, which was afterwards to be revoked on the first misbehavior of the beneficiaries, to the greater profit of law and order. Where the police have sometimes failed in their duty societies of citizens have been organized with a private police for the purpose of taking the execution of the law into their own hands.

There are finally to be noted the attempts at creating here and there a legal monopoly, either through a high-priced system or by a system of reserving the wholesale trade to the State. The future will show whether from a moral or financial standpoint these experiments have proved successful.

The results of so vigorous a campaign have not been long deferred, for while men have fought social forces have prepared the victory for them. The progress of agriculture, industry, and trade emphasizes with its demands the exhortations of the apostles of temperance, reserving its benefits for those who listen and destroying those who rebel.

The era of uninterrupted prosperity which began ten years ago in that country, raising salaries, improving conditions, and ennobling the aspirations of life, as well as giving birth to innumerable institutions for the public benefit, must not be forgotten among the principal factors of temperance. If it be true that prosperity is a result of temperance it also gives rise to it. The comforts of life dissipate the social attractions of the saloon, while better food renders the use of alcohol as a stimulant unnecessary. The future will see this work still better organized and more widely extended.

Through one of those providential dispensations which are the recompense of excessive efforts for good, the battle for total abstinence has resulted in the triumph of a true moderation. The Federal statistics of the Internal Revenue Office show that since 1840 hygienic drinks and particularly beer have been substituted for alcohol.a

Is this to say that the antialcoholic war is no longer an object in the United States? To assert this would be to misunderstand the character of intemperance, which always rises again after a defeat; it would be particularly false in a country where hundreds of thousands of immigrants land each year. Moreover, statistics show that since 1896 there has been a slight recrudescence in

In 1848 there were consumed 21 gallons of whisky per capita, in 1901 only 1.33, while the consumption of beer in the same time increased from 1.36 to 16.20, the quantity of pure alcohol consumed being below its former level.

the consumption of spirituous liquors, which seems to concur with a certain slackening of the zeal of the apostles of temperance after their first period of success.a The work is not finished, but the method appears good and the example is worth following. It is encouraging to other countries. Sixty years ago America was in a worse condition than we are in to-day; with her climate, her race, and her political corruption, she has yet to triumph over many more obstacles; by persevering energy she has been able to reach her goal. With the moral and social forces at the disposal of our country, the victory would only depend on the union of good and willing spirits.

TEMPERANCE INSTRUCTION IN PRUSSIA.

[The minister of worship, education, and medical affairs of Prussia, Dr. Conrad von Studt, published in the September number of the official organ of his department of education a brief guide in temperance instruction for teachers of elementary and.secondary schools. This guide is not a course of study, but merely gives the main points which the minister desires to see impressed upon the pupils and students. Two months later he published a German translation of a detailed American course of study in physiology and hygiene, a course which bears the superscription, "Approved by the department of scientific temperance instruction of the World's and National Woman's Christian Temperance Union." Of this specialized course the minister says that it is not to be taken as a type for courses in Prussia, but that it contains many hints for practical lessons. With reference to the dangers arising from the use of intoxicants, he points to his own order, which, he says, contains all that should be taught in the schools of Prussia on the subject. Since it is of interest to note how the Prussian authorities limit the instruction in temperance physiology, an English translation of his order is here given.]

THE INJURIOUS EFFECTS OF IMMODERATE INDULGENCE IN SPIRITUOUS BEVERAGES.

BRIEF GUIDE FOR INSTRUCTION IN THE ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS OF

PRUSSIA.

Alcohol, in German also called spirits (Spiritus) and wine spirits (Weingeist), is made by means of fermentation directly from cane or fruit sugar, or indirectly from potato starch, from all kinds of grain, and from leguminous plants.

All drinks produced through fermentation contain alcohol. To these belong all kinds of beer, from the simplest home brew to porter and ale; all pure fruit wines, brandies, and cordials; also eau de cologne, and mint or Carmelite spirits, which consist of a mixture of alcohol and other ingredients.

Beverages made by fermentation directly from natural products (such as common brandies, wines, beers, and home-made fruit wines), or by mixing alco

From 1896 to 1901 the consumption of distilled liquors per capita shows an uninterrupted advance.

Zentralblatt fuer die gesamte Unterrichts-Verwaltung, 1903.

ED 1904 M -40

1.33

hol with water and other fluids, contain alcohol in different proportions. Among the mixtures are found many so-called fruit wines and artificial wines, especially also the cider used in the eastern provinces of Prussia, which is a mixture of, freshly pressed apple juice with water, sugar, and about 16 per cent of alcohol (by volume). In the eastern provinces people also drink ether and ether mixed with alcohol (so-called Hoffmann's drops).

The lightest beers contain less than 2 per cent, the heaviest (porter and ale) up to 6 per cent of alcohol; wine of grapes and home-made fruit wines produced by fermentation contain from 6 to 20 per cent; brandies and cordials, eau de cologne, mint spirits, and Carmelite spirits from 30 to 70 per cent of alcohol, while artificial fruit wines, such as apple, currant, gooseberry, and pear wines, and especially cider, contain from 4 to 16 per cent of alcohol, according as sugar is added or alcohol directly mixed in.

Alcohol is a compound of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, and appears, according to the natural product from which it is derived, in different combinations as ethyl alcohol, amyl alcohol, propyl alcohol, etc. With the exception of ethyl alcohol, all alcohols are commonly called fusel oil.

The alcohol in a beverage gives to it an animating and, under certain conditions, a desirable beneficial effect, but if present to excess its effects are injurious.

Taken to excess or habitually, alcohol injures (1) the health, (2) ethical conduct, (3) family life, (4) the economy of the family, and (5) the economy of the state.

1. Injuries to health.

Taken in small doses alcohol acts at first as a stimulant and puts the user into a pleasant mood. During the condition of exhilaration it often dispels his worries and sorrows and enables him momentarily to increase his labor power; but it would be an error to believe that mental or physical powers, as well as the ability to work and perform duties, could be increased definitely by habitual use of alcohol.

After every excitation of the nervous system by means of alcoholic drinks follows a condition of relaxation and exhaustion, just as it follows every other nervous excitation. The normal human being can without using stimulants work mentally and physically without interruption to a much higher limit than the one who resorts to stimulants. This has been demonstrated by the soldiers in the American and English armies, who abstain from stimulants entirely. It has further been proved by the example of athletes (bicyclists, oarsmen, gymnasts, and swimmers), and finally by Nansen upon his north pole expedition. Everyone can test the foregoing statement by careful observation of himself.

Taken in small doses, and not taken habitually, alcohol will, as a rule, not injure the health of adults. A dose which will not, as a rule, be injurious may be considered to be 30 cubic centimeters a day; that is, about as much as is contained in one liter of Bavarian beer, or in half a bottle of light wine, or in a wineglass of brandy.

Owing to the great differences in individual conditions of human life such a measure can not be considered absolutely valid for all. Young people, or those whose nervous system is not quite normally developed, and especially all who have been weakened by disease or injuries, may endanger their health severely by taking the quantity suggested in the foregoing paragraph. If, on the other hand, persons ean stand for a limited period of time larger quantities of alcoholic beverages apparently without special injury, it must not be presumed that they can do so in the long run without injurious effect.

Only total abstinence in children and strict temperance and avoidance of excesses in adults and youths will prevent injuries to health.

He who neglects these precautions will experience, sooner or later, the exhaustion following upon excitation of the nervous system by the use of alcohol. The perceptive powers decrease, mental elasticity relaxes, physical and mental fatigue takes place after only a moderate indulgence in alcoholic drink. Habitual use of alcohol leads to dyspepsia, which manifests itself in want of appetite and in insufficient digestion of the food taken; frequently in irregularities of the bowels, constipation, or diarrhea. These disturbances are the more noticeable the less the drinker takes wholesome, solid food.

The desire to take food is diminished through the use of brandy and strong liquors sooner than through the use of other alcoholic beverages. Strong alcoholic liquors have been held to be economical, owing to their effect upon the quantity of food taken. But this is quite as erroneous as the assumption that alcoholic drinks promote digestion. They are not foods [Nahrungsmittel], as was formerly assumed, but almost exclusively means of stimulation and excitation.

This is true, also, of wine of grapes if taken habitually, even though it be perfectly pure, and all the more so the greater the quantity of alcohol it contains.

The so-called “Bavarian beer," it is true, has a small nutritive value, but it will nevertheless injure the health not only through the alcohol it contains, but also through the large quantities in which it is drunk. The great quantity of fluid taken overfills the vascular system of the body; the heart, in order to overcome this superabundance, is obliged to work harder; a consequence of this is, that the muscles of the heart, like all hard-working muscles, increase in bulk. But side by side with muscular substance fat is generated, and thus we see developed the so-called “beer heart.” It is a heart which, despite its enlargement, is degenerated and weakened, not capable of performing the increased work demanded of it by the beer drinker, nor equal to other efforts for any protracted period; it fails to do its work, and the man dies of paralysis of the heart or heart failure. In Germany, especially in Bavaria, a large number of men die in consequence of this immoderate senseless beer drinking. The superfluous fluids must be secreted from the vascular system through the kidneys; this overburdens the kidneys and affects them also; in addition to the beer heart, an enlargement of the kidneys takes place at first, which, in the course of time, turns into shriveling and causes a decrease of the kidneys, which diminishes the capacity of the organ to perform its functions, and leads to further severe effects and long-protracted sickness, and even to death.

The formation of fat is essentially favored by beer drinking; corpulence appears, and a growth of fatty substance in the body takes place. In persons addicted to liquor and beer drinking, also in wine drinkers, a disease of the liver is developed, the so-called “cirrhosis,” which beginning with an enlargement of the liver later turns into shriveling through the growth of fibrous tissues.

The injurious effects of excessive or long-continued use of alcohol upon the health take very different forms in different individuals.

Healthy strong adults can apparently withstand the effects of alcoholic drinks over and above the permissible quantity for a certain time without injury to their health; but in most cases, even with vigorous constitutions, immoderation has its revenge by abbreviating the usual duration of life.

Habitual drinkers, according to experience, are an easy prey to contagious diseases (cholera, typhoid fever, etc.), also to pneumonia. Chronic diseases, especially tuberculosis, are aided in their destructive effects upon the body. All

persons afflicted with such ailments should abstain wholly from the use of alcoholic drinks, unless their physicians, in exceptional cases, prescribe them. For children under 14 years, and for enfeebled persons, alcoholic drinks are very dangerous; they act like poison, and should therefore not be taken by them under any circumstances.

Since alcohol affects above all the nervous system, it is obvious that the development of nervous diseases, hypochondria, neurasthenia, is favored by longcontinued or immoderate use of alcoholic drinks, and that a special predisposition to these diseases is induced; also that mental derangements, caused by immoderate use of alcohol, are not rare. According to reliable observations, one-fourth of the inmates of Prussian insane asylums in 1899 were notorious drinkers.

Only a few figures may be given here:

In 1899 alcoholism was proved (a) in public hospitals in 13,610 male patients and 776 female patients, or in a total of 14,386 patients; (b) in insane asylums in 6,259 males and 716 females, or in a total of 6,975 inmates.

Taking the two kinds of institutions together there were 19,869 males and 1,492 females, or a total of 21,361 persons suffering from the effects of alcohol. In 6,104 males and 410 females (total 6,514) alcoholism was assigned as the exclusive cause of the disorders.

Among the 6,975 inmates of insane asylums suffering from the consequences of alcoholism (9.6 per cent of all the inmates of such asylums) 5,388, or 77.3 per cent, were afflicted with strongly pronounced mental derangements. Of 1,987 drinkers admitted to these asylums 28.5 per cent had come into conflict with the law.

According to the same sources of information diseases caused by alcoholic indulgence have increased materially since 1886. There were admitted to asylums for the insane and to public hospitals, at the dates given, the following number of persons suffering from alcoholism (Alkoholisten):

While in the one year 1899, in Prussia alone, 21,361 alcoholists" were consigned to institutions of both kinds.

Not only drinkers themselves are in danger of becoming mentally diseased, but also their children, for as many as 20 per cent of the children of drinkers are weak-minded, idiotic, or epileptic.

2. Moral deterioration.

Upon immoderate use of alcoholic drinks follows intoxication. Intoxication, by befogging the senses and injuring judgment, reasoning, and observation, leads to imprudence, and through this to all kinds of follies, misdemeanors, transgressions, and crimes. Wanton tricks of young people degenerate into roughness, and not infrequently lead to regrettable destruction of property (as tearing down business signs, pulling out doorbell ropes, etc.).

Experience shows that persons in a state of intoxication may do violence to public officials as well as to private persons, that their sense of shame is blunted, and that they may commit immoral assaults upon women and children. Many a student has made, while intoxicated, his first false step in sexual matters, from the consequences of which he suffers all through life, and often infects even his wife and children.