Arctic
explorers have to discard it entirely. The old idea of helping to cure
snake bite, hydrophobia, etc, by whiskey was sheer mistake; the patient
has actually much less of a chance if so drugged. Only for an immediate
and transitory need, such as faintness or shock, is the quickly passing
stimulating power of alcohol useful; and even for such purposes other
stimulants are more valuable. Reputable physicians have almost wholly
ceased to use it. [Footnote: See H. S. Williams, op. cit, p. 4,
124-127; H. S. Warner, op. cit, pp. 87]
(4) The one real value of alcohol to man has been the boon of
stimulating his emotional and impulsive life, bringing him an elevation
of spirits, drowning his sorrows, helping him to forget, helping to
free his mind from the burden of care, anxiety, and regret. As William
James, with his unerring discernment, wrote twenty-five years ago:
"The reason for craving alcohol is that it is an unaesthetic, even
in moderate quantities. It obliterates a part of the field of
consciousness and abolishes collateral trains of thought." [Footnote:
Tolstoy also hit the nail on the head in his little essay, Why do Men
Stupefy Themselves?] This use, in relieving brain-tension, in bringing
a transient cheer and comfort to poor, overworked, worried, remorseful
men, is not to be despised. Dull lives are vivified by it, a fleeting
anesthesia of unhappy memories and longings is effected, and for the
moment life seems worth living.
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