on a Russian as the success of the fight with
drunkenness--the temperance movement--and the successful
development, in all classes of society, of morality and the
strict application of practical morals.

He did not confine himself to this brief, general statement. He wrote in
praise of temperance, of prohibition, for learned Russian societies.
Then he wrote a book entitled "Concerning Drunkenness." The Censor's
permit to publish is dated March 29, (April 10,) 1887. It was published
by the management of the magazine, Russkaya Mysl, (Russian Thought,)
which may indicate that it had first appeared in that monthly as a
series of articles, though I have not been able to verify the fact. The
book may have been published promptly, or at least the article from the
medical magazine may have been published in the cheap form (costing two
or three cents) used by the semi-commercial, semi-philanthropic firm
"Posrednik," which may be rendered "Middleman" or "Mediator," designed
for the dissemination of good and useful reading among the masses.

At any rate, "Concerning Drunkenness" appeared at the price of one ruble
(about fifty cents) in 1891, prefaced by a dissertation by Count
Tolstoy, "Why Do People Stupefy Themselves?" specially written for this
occasion, as Dr. Alexyeeff told me. (It has been translated under the
title of "Alcohol and Tobacco," London, and published without any
indication that Dr. Alexyeeff inspired it.)

In 1896 a second edition, revised and enlarged, was published, also in
Moscow; and to this the author added a list of helpful publications and
a summary bibliography, which included books issued in various foreign
countries, ranging in number from 705 for Great Britain and Colonies,
142 for the United States, 247 for Germany, 124 for ten other countries
combined, (up to 1885 in all these cases,) to ten for Russia. Of these
ten, four are in Latin, four in German, one is in Swedish and one in
Russian--the latter, evidently, an article republished from The Medical
News. On the whole, a list practically non-existent, so far as Russia
was concerned!

Dr. Alexyeeff had discovered a field of endeavor as virgin as the
unplowed steppe. Only scientists desperately hard up for an unusual
topic for a strictly academic discussion and recklessly willing to risk
incurring universal unpopularity would have dreamed of unearthing those
volumes. He promptly aroused Count Tolstoy's interest in the subject of
te