constantly some kind of alcoholic beverage, by which the alcohol might
have impregnated the milk in her breasts and thereby made its early
impression on the tastes and longings of the child.

"2d. We must know whether the intemperate parents were in the habit of
frequently giving alcoholic preparations to the children, either to
relieve temporary ailments, or for the same reason that they drank it
themselves. I am constrained to say, that from my own observation,
extending over a period of forty years, and a field by no means limited,
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,
anaesthetic 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
temperate belt of the world, including Spain, Italy, Southern France,
Syria and Persia, the habitual use of wine rarely leads to drunkenness,
and never, or almost never, to inebriety; but in the intemperate belt,
where we live, and which includes Northern Europe and