A dictionary of hygiene and public health : comprising sanitary chemistry, engineering, and legislation, the dietetic value of foods, and the detection of adulterations, on the plan of the 'Dictionnaire d'hygiene publique' of Professor Ambroise Tardieu / by Alexander Wynter Blyth.

  • Blyth, Alexander Wynter, 1844-1921.
Date:
1876
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A dictionary of hygiene and public health : comprising sanitary chemistry, engineering, and legislation, the dietetic value of foods, and the detection of adulterations, on the plan of the 'Dictionnaire d'hygiene publique' of Professor Ambroise Tardieu / by Alexander Wynter Blyth. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

    54/700 (page 38)
    Being also firmly convinced that the great amount of drinking of alcoholic liquors among the working classes of this country is one of tho greatest evils of the day, destroying more than anything else tlio health, happiness, and welfare of those classes, and neutralising to a large extent the great indus- trial prosperity which Providence has placed within the reach of this nation, tho undersigned would gladly support any wise legislation which would tend to restrict within proper limits the use of alcoholic beverages, and gradually Introduce habits of tem- perance. It is still a matter of dispute as to liow alco- hol is eliminated from the body, and whether auy of it is destroyed, notwithstanding the researches of Percy, Strauch, Masing, Lalle- inand, Duroy, Parkes, Dupre, Anstie, Thu- diclium, and others. Among the most recent are those of Subbotur on rabbits. The general result is contradictory. Some affirm that it is eliminated as aldehyd, others as carbonic acid; but the former supposition is almost disproved, and the experiments of Dr. E. Smith show that the carbonic acid is decreased by brandy and gin, and increased by rum. The only probable supposition which facts support tends to show that the alcohol is turned into acetic acid in the body, some of which unites with potash and other bases and some is destroyed. All pretty well agree that in the form of spirits alcohol is of no value whatever as a food; but in the form of beer and wine it has slight dietetic powers, natu- rally varying with the amount and nature of the different substances held in solution in these beverages. See Alcoholic Beverages. Drunkenness and the consumption of spirits would appear to be on the increase by the dif- ferent returns in our own country and abroad. The imports of spirits in the seven years from 1850 to 1857 amounted to 70,740,980 galls., whilst the imports in the seven years follow- ing—viz., from 1857 to 1864—amounted to 78,016,071 galls., showing an increase of 7,305,091 galls. The population has, however, increased in the time, and a deduction on that account, and a correction in one or two other heads, are required; still, that there is increase is indisputable. In Prance, the following figures by M. Hus- son show a remarkable increase: — The Mean Consumption of Spirits for each Inhabitant. Litres. Litres. From 1825 to 1830 8 90 yearly „ 1831 „ 1835 8-74 „ „ 1836 „ 1*40 1015 „ , 1841 „ 1815 1114 „ „ 1846 „ 1850 11-03 „ „ 1851 „ 1854 14-25 „ .024 daily. •023 •027 •031 030 If •0.39 ,, In the United States, the consumption dur- ing the period from 1807-1828 averaged 27 litres for every inhabitant, which is even greater than the highest of the above figures. The demoralisation also of the French army in tho late Franco-Prussian war is almost unanimously ascribed to the excessive use of spirituous liquors. Drunkenness, us modified by Dace.—The Mas- sachusetts Board of Health in 1870 under- took an elaborate inquiry into drunkenness as it existed in different parts of the world, and issued a report on it which has been analysed and summarised by Dr. Druitt (Medical Times and Gazette, April 15, 1872). The answers they obtained as to the effects of drink from the 164 physicians in Massachusetts were extremely conflicting, but the information gained as to the comparative sobriety was in- structive. Dr. Druitt thus summarises the evidence:— We may arrange the various populations, con- cerning whom the correspondents of the Massachu- setts Board sent reports under four categories in descending scale, beginning with (1) those who ab- stain ; (2) those who drink, but in such moderation that drunkenness forms no feature of the place or people ; (3) populations amongst whom drunkenness is pretty common, but of an innocent, jolly, and not criminal character; and (4) populations disgraced by drunkenness, accompanied with brutality and crime. 1. Under the total abstinence head we may arrange the Mussulman populations of Constanti- nople, Alexandria, Zanzibar, and the people of Hayti. 2. The population is shown to drink, but without any features of excess, by the answers received from Ancona and Florence, Athens, Cadiz, Teneriffe, Funchal, Eayal, Malta, Beerut, Geneva, Vienna, Bremen, Leipsic, Nicaragua, Pernambuco, St Juan, Pare, Trinidad, Lima, and Honolulu. 3. People are shown to drink too freely, but inno- cently and without violence, by the answers from Trieste, Basel, Berne, Zurich, Frankfort, Copen- hagen, Elsinore, Yokohama, Hiojo, and Santa Cruz. 4. In the lowest category rank the answers from Liverpool, Manchester, Dublin, Edinburgh, Rot- terdam, Utrecht, Odessa, Toronto, Cologne, Co- lombo. So that highest in the scale of temperance come the Turks and Arabs; next the Iberians, Levan- tines, Greeks, and Latin races; lower down, the Japanese, Scandinavians, Belgians, and the Irish Celt; lowest of all, the so-called Anglo-Saxon of either continent. It would seem from tbis that a great deal depends upon the nature of the liquid im- bibed, whether wine, beer, or spirits. See Alcoholic Beverages. It therefore appears unhappily too true that there is really an increase in the con- sumption of spirituous liquors in most coun- tries, and as a natural, though not inevitable, sequence, an increase of drunkenness. Pro-