Indulgence In Alcohol Research Articles

Blood Iron and Copper in Hemochromatosis

Hemochromatosis is a rare disease of disturbed iron metabolism usually associated with diabetes and accompanied by cirrhosis of the liver, bronzed pigmentation of the skin, and by the presence of an iron-containing pigment, hemosiderin, and a non iron-reacting pigment, hemofuscin, in the skin, liver, pancreas and various other organs.Copper has been proposed as an etiological factor in hemochromatosis by Mallory and his coworkers. Mallory, Parker and Nye1 announced that it was possible to produce pigmentation and cirrhosis of the liver in rabbits and sheep by the administration of copper salts or metallic copper in powdered form. Mallory2 made a careful study of a series of cases of hemochromatosis among human beings. He pointed out 2 definite factors which he believed had a bearing on the production of the disease, one, the excessive indulgence in alcohol, and the other, occupational contact with copper. In some cases both factors operated. Mallory pointed out that samples of alcohol used in the prohibit...

HAS PROHIBITION PROMOTED THE PUBLIC HEALTH?

THE BEST statement of the effect of alcohol upon the human organisms is in my opinion that of the distinguished advisory committee of physicians in its report to the Central Liquor Control Board of England in 1918. With their conclusions I am in entire agreement and it might be better for us to resolve ourselves into groups for studying the subject rather than to engage as we are asked to do to-day in a repetition of the obvious fact that the knowledge existing in the realms of economics, sociology and themedical sciences upon the individual and collective results of the use of alcoholic beverages is scanty and imperfect. As the committee states in its preface, Apart from the economic aslect (liquor bill 8 times the interest on the national debt) it is admitted by all parties that the misuse of alcohol exercises a considerable influence on health and longevity and it is contended by one large section of opinion that it is a main cause of crime and poverty. The ill effect on individual and national efficiency of excessive indulgence in alcohol is not disputed. It is remarkable, therefore, that throughout the world lack of knowledge still prevails and there is no authoritative scientific work which gives or seeks to give the required information. The principal conclusions of the committee are few and brief:

STUDY OF INSTITUTIONAL ESCAPES

A formal summary of a subject of this character is impossible but from the above analysis it would seem clear that the average eloper is not the bad of popular fancy. Certainly, there is no justification for the terrifying picture so often painted by the press of the dangerous moron rushing madly from the asylum for the sole purpose of gratifying his perverted desires at the expense of the innocent and unprotected. Our rcords fail to disclose any grave anti-social behavior upon the part of any of the patients in either group. If, then, the popular concept of these patients is so mistaken, what is the correct one? From the above study a composite description might run something as follows: A man in the third or fourth decade; very possibly a foreigner; most probably a single man or one free from compelling family ties and rather given to alcoholic indulgence. The chances are he would be a subsided case of dementia praaecox, a recovered or improved alcoholic, a rebellious paretic, or an improved case o...

Vicious Circles in Sociology and their Treatment

THIS little book, planned on the lines of the author's “Vicious Circles in Disease,” is intended to emphasise that, just as in disease, so in social life, various pernicious factors are at work which act and react upon one another, constituting a “circle.” Thus crime leads to loss of employment, which leads to loss of means of subsistence, which again begets crime, and tuberculosis leads to poverty, and poverty is a potent factor in the causation of tuberculosis. The author recognises ten such circles met with in sociology, and while they may act separately, several of them may be in simultaneous operation, e.g. poverty, uncleanliness, overcrowding, alcoholic indulgence, and disease. The remedy is to break the circle, and according to the author “the first task of the sociologist is to extricate from the symptom-complex those dominant factors that constitute the circle, to discover the weakest link in the unending chain, and to effect a breach at the point of least resistance.” The book should be of service to the social worker in assisting him to analyse social problems into their constituent factors, and the references to standard authorities which have been freely introduced will likewise be helpful.

THE ROLE OF ALCOHOL IN THE CAUSATION OF INSANITY.

That alcohol is not without utility will not be denied by any unprejudiced mind, but that it is likewise a powerful influence for evil can not be disclaimed even by those who advocate most earnestly its legitimate and intelligent employment. Apart from the effects of acute intoxication the deleterious influence of long-continued indulgence in alcohol is witnessed in chronic visceral changes principally of a degenerative character. In speaking of the increase in the number of cases admitted during the year 1900, to the Royal Edinburgh Asylum, the physician-superintendent, Dr. Clouston, in his annual report was unable to avoid the conclusion that this was due to a large extent to the excessive use of alcoholic stimulants during times of prosperity, attended with brisk trade and high wages. The number of alcoholic insane admitted to the Asylum has increased from an average of 15.5 per cent. in the period between 1874 and

An Antilunatic Remedy

The following epitaph will perhaps be interesting to those who hold the doctrine that alcoholic indulgence has its compensating uses in the prevention of insanity. It is given by M. Lejoncourt, in his “Galerie des Centenaires:”—