and it will be seen that they represent the highest kno ledge on the subject, alike theoretical and practic They constitute a jury of experts of unquestiona authority; and their verdict is delivered in a Rep which was published last spring. It must be accept by reasonable people as the decision of thorough competent judges, based upon a review of all the avɛ able evidence.

Lord D'Abernon contributes an interesting prefa in which he lays emphasis on the entire impartiality the Committee's work and on its purely scienti character. It was felt, he says, by the Central Contr Board, that no impartial statement of the case w likely to be made unless it was drawn up by some pub body. We therefore felt it incumbent upon us to ent upon the task, however invidious it might be.' Th book is the outcome; and it is surprising that it has n received more public attention. Its object is 'to separa what is knowledge from what is surmise, conjecture, popular belief, and by this preliminary clarifying of th question to prepare the way for a further research.'

'It may be claimed for the book that it is impartial, not on in the sense that the authors did not knowingly or of s purpose take sides with any existing body of opinion, but als in the 'further sense, that the writers have frankly admitte doubt, when the evidence appeared insufficient to establis a definite conclusion, and have further indicated with absolut sincerity the many points, some of them of great importanc regarding which no precise and scientific knowledge is avai able Complete sincerity is the only sure guide to th confidence of readers, and the present condition of knowledg does not justify any more positive note' (p. viii).

Control Board (Liquor Traffic); Prof. A. R. Cushny, M.D., F.R.S., Pro fessor of Pharmacology at University College, London; H. H. Dale, M.D. F.R.S., Head of the Department of Bio-chemistry and Pharmacology unde the Medical Research Committee, National Health Insurance; M. Green wood, M.R.C.S., Statistician to the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine and Reader in Medical Statistics in the University of London; W. McDougall M.B., F.R.S., Reader in Mental Philosophy in the University of Oxford and Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford; F. W. Mott, M.D., F.R.S., Pathologist to the London County Asylums, and Consulting Physician to Charing Cross Hospital; Prof. C. S. Sherrington, M.D., F.R.S., Waynflete Professor of Physiology in the University of Oxford, and Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford; W. C. Sullivan, M.D., Medical Superintendent of the Rampton State Asylum for Criminal Lunatics.

It ought to be recognised that the report of such a Committee, conceived in this spirit, and written in complete accordance with it, affords the most valuable contribution which has yet been made to the practical treatment of this momentous subject. We need no longer be distracted by the clamorous assertions of partisans, but may rest securely on the conclusions to which this really judicial Committee have been led provisionally.'

The first of these conclusions is perhaps the most important of all. It is that,

apart from the results of its continued excessive use, the main effects of Alcohol that have any real significance are due to its action on the nervous system. The result of scientific research concerning the action of alcohol on the respiration, the circulation, the digestion, the muscular system, is to show that, so far as direct action is concerned, Alcohol, when administered in moderate doses, in dilute form, and at sufficient intervals, has no effect of any serious and practical account' (p. 125).

Now the first consequence of this scientific decision is to set aside, as irrelevant, the endless discussions which have been maintained, and are sometimes still continued, respecting the benefit or injuriousness of alcoholic drinks as an ordinary article of diet. The much-debated and ambiguous question, indeed, whether alcohol has any food value or not, is decided in its favour. 'It can,' says this authority, within limits, replace an equivalent amount of carbohydrate or fat in a diet, and has a similar effect on economising proteins' (p. 28). In other words, be used by the body as a fuel, and can to some extent replace other fuels. But, except in special circumstances such as illness, there is no advantage in this use of it. For purely fuel purposes just as much nutrition may be obtained from starch or fat as from a given dose of alcohol. Its characteristic action, its benefit or its mischief, lies in an entirely different direction-that of the nervous system.

may

But, before considering the precise nature of its action in this sphere, it is important to observe that its value is dependent on considerations of a vastly more subtle nature than those of ordinary nutrition. The Vol. 281.-No. 458.

F

nervous system is the highest part of the hum organism. It is concerned with its highest functio while it is indispensable to its lowest; and the nature its operations is so intricate, that it is only within 1 last two generations that we have attained in any deg a scientific and detailed knowledge of them. But, thou we are, even now, far from any such adequate knowled it is manifest that the habits of human beings are to enormous degree dependent on alcohol or other dru There is not a civilised people in the world that is 1 addicted to the habitual use of some agency or ot which operates mainly on the nervous system. Toba is perhaps the most conspicuous illustration of this fe Its use is spread over the whole world, and has beco indispensable to some nations, and to some classes people, under certain conditions of life. It is the indispensable luxury of the soldier and the sailor, of t labourer in the fields, and of the poor man in his old ɛ and retirement. But it affords no nutrition whateve and its undue use is recognised as being injurious digestion. The one source of its fascination lies in influence on the nervous system. Millions of peo cherish it for its soothing influence in fatigue, pain a anxiety; and many attribute to it a gentle stimulati of thought when brooding over problems and perplexiti Some of these sensations may be fanciful, like some those attributed to alcohol. But there can be no dou that, though it contributes no nutrition to the syste it has become to a large part of the human race indispensable luxury.

This illustration shows the injustice and folly of t crusade which is still maintained against the use alcohol. Granted that it does not assist digestion strengthen the muscles or improve the circulation promote respiration, and that the ordinary requiremen of physical life could all be supplied without it, the fa remains that it gives a certain satisfaction to the nervo system, and that the satisfaction of the nervous syste is at least as indispensable to happiness and vigour that of any other part of the organism. A strong mov ment for Prohibition prevails in the United States a Canada. But what would Americans do without the cigars and pipes? They solace their nervous system t

tobacco, and it is for precisely the same reason that other people solace it by alcohol.

The same consideration which promotes and justifies the one custom, promotes and justifies the other. The danger of abuse may be greater in the case of alcohol; that is a good reason for controlling and limiting it, but no reason at all for refusing its use to those who feel their need of it. Among the interesting points about which, in Lord D'Abernon's preface, we are told that no adequate data or scientific knowledge exist, one is whether 'alcohol is less injurious in moist climates than in dry climates.' A Bishop of the United States, whom I met in Switzerland, told me that in America he could take no alcohol, but that in his annual holiday in Europe he could not dispense with it. For all that is now known, as Lord D'Abernon confesses, the aversion from alcohol in the United States may be due, not to superior moral virtue, but to the dryness of the climate; and alcohol may be craved for in Ireland and Great Britain for precisely the same reason that the American craves for tobacco smoke. It is the agent best suited to influence his nervous system. If it be once recognised that the great mass of mankind are subject to a craving for this sort of influence on the nervous element of their organism, the greater part of the popular arguments for and against the use of alcoholic liquors may be set aside as irrelevant. Large numbers of people can dispense with alcohol; large numbers of people can also dispense with tobacco. But one or the other, or something like them, almost all people will insist on having; and the only practical problem is to consider in what manner and degree, and under what conditions, they can best use it. Now for this purpose the scientific decisions arrived at in this volume are of the highest value.

'A further conclusion of capital importance,' says the Report, 'which emerges with equal clearness, is that the action of alcohol on the nervous system is essentially sedative, andwith the possible exception of its direct influence on the respiratory centre-it is not truly stimulant' (p. 125).

This conclusion needs some illustration, but will be found to afford a decisive guide to the proper and beneficial employment of alcohol. The authors say (p. 125) that

'the popular belief in the stimulating properties alcohol as regards nervous and other functions see to be of purely subjective origin and illusory.' would perhaps be more exact to say that the popu view as to the nature of the stimulation is illuso When a dose of alcohol, in spirits, wine or beer, followed by an apparent excitement of some functic of the mind or body, the popular conclusion is that the functions have been directly stimulated by the admintration. But what has really happened is that the cotrolling influence exerted by the higher centres of t nervous system has been in some degree suspended, a that the subordinate functions have thus been allow freer action. If wine loosens a man's tongue, it is no because the tongue is stimulated, but because the che which was exerted over it by the higher intern faculties is partially removed. The symptoms of gradual increasing intoxication, vividly described in the Repor are those of the gradual relaxation of controlling fur tions, beginning with the highest of all-that of se criticism and self-judgment-through the stage weakened control of the emotions, down to that which even the functions of the senses themselves a impaired, and the drinker sinks into a heavy sleep. Bu at each downward stage, some function of the brain body which has been partly released from control becom abnormally active, and exhibits an illusory stimulation

The most curious and surprising illustration of th process is, perhaps, the apparent stimulation of the hea and the pulse by the administration of spirits. TI evidence of careful experiments appears to prove th alcohol has no direct effect in quickening the circulatio A similar increase in the pulse-rate is observed, at lea for a time, when alcohol of sufficient concentration simply taken into the mouth without being swallowe and a part of the effect when it is swallowed is thu probably due simply to the irritating influence of alcoh on the mucous membranes. But the effect seems mainl due to its narcotic action. Though the heart-beat automatic, it is under the constant controlling influenc of the nervous system; and under normal condition 'the heart is held in check by the impulses from an "in hibitory" centre, so that the rate is less than that a