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25
I share the views of the Public Health Committee that little if any
good results from postering the district with information such as this.
The object-lessons of the effects of over-indulgence in alcohol are
sufficiently numerous and impressive, and they are to be observed
almost daily in our midst. In the very nature of things these must
serve to impress those who are capable of being so impressed, of the
curse of over-indulgence, far more effectually than any printed matter
set out in a handbill. As in so many other matters affecting the
Public Health, the real remedy for the evil consists in the better
education of the masses, and in an effort to make this education instil
higher ideals of life.
The Report of the Departmental Committee brought out the
following facts :—
1. That the abuse of alcoholic stimulants, whether in the
form of spirits, wine or beer, is largely responsible for physical
deterioration, and that it leads to disease in most tissues and organs
of the body.
2. That alcoholic excess reduces the natural power of resistance
to disease possessed by healthy individuals, rendering them
especially liable to many inflammatory disorders, causing them to
suffer much more severely from any illness they may contract, and
making their recovery slow.
3. That intemperance predisposes to consumption.
4. That children of intemperate parents are seriously affected;
they frequently suffer from paralysis, epilepsy, and idiocy, which
lead, if not to death, to their permanent disablement. from
statistics obtained it was found that the mortality among children
of intemperate parents was many times greater than among
children of sober parents of the same class.
5. That the increase in lunacy is largely due to intemperance,
and that there is also an increase in the number of cases of general
paralysis from the same cause.