I am satisfied that nineteen out of every twenty persons who have been
regarded as HEREDITARY inebriates have simply ACQUIRED the disposition
to drink by one or both of the methods just mentioned, after birth."

The views here presented in no way lessen but really heighten the perils
of moderate drinking. It is affirmed that some persons inherit a greater
degree of nervous and organic susceptibility than others, and are, in
consequence, more readily affected by a given quantity of narcotic,
anæsthetic or intoxicant; _and that such "will more readily become
drunkards if they commence to use intoxicating drinks."_

Be the cause of this


INHERITED NERVOUS SUSCEPTIBILITY

what it may, and it is far more general than is to be inferred from the
admission just quoted, the fact stands forth as a solemn warning of the
peril every man encounters in even the most moderate use of alcohol.
Speaking of this matter, Dr. George M. Beard, who is not as sound on the
liquor question as we could wish, says, in an article on the "Causes of
the Recent Increase of Inebriety in America:" "As a means of prevention,
abstinence from the _habit_ of drinking is to be enforced. Such
abstinence may not have been necessary for our fathers, but it is
rendered necessary for a large body of the American people on account of
our greater nervous susceptibility. It is possible to drink without
being an habitual drinker, as it is possible to take chloral or opium
without forming the habit of taking these substances. In certain
countries and climates where the nervous system is strong and the
temperature more equable than with us, in what I sometimes call the