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88
Drinking Habits.— That drinking alcoholic beverages
is a fertile source of disease there can be no
doubt. The evidence on this head is abundant and
conclusive. I have elsewhere* shewn, that an
excessive use of alcohol produces the same results
on the blood and tissues as aro produced by overcrowding,
and gas poisoning. It is unfortunately
the case that the very class of persons who are
liable to diseaso from living in overcrowded or gaspoisoned
apartments, are these who have recourse
to the stimulus of alcohol, to relieve them of the
depressing effects of an impure atmosphere. They
thus add fuel to the fire that is consuming them.
It is impossible to investigate each case of death
from this point of view, but the well-established fact
that the working classes of the community consume
habitually large quantities of alcoholic beverages, is
sufficient to account for the predisposition to these
forms of chest diseases which we have seen carrying
oft' so large numbers of our community. Alcoholic
beverages are especially destructive of the health of
these engaged in sedentary pursuits, and as it is
that class of persons who have suffered most in our
community, and as I have in vain sought for every
proof that the consumption of alcoholic beverages is
less in our population than others, I believe I am
right in coming to the conclusion that the consumption
of alcoholic beverages is one of the great
* "Lectures on Food." Hardwicke, Piccadilly.