Alcoholism and the Wastage of Child Life

Abstract

Late Honorary Surgeon to Bolton Infirmary ; Author of "Wastage of Child Life," etc. AMONG the causes which contribute to the deplorable wastage of child life, so demonstrably evident in this country, that of alcoholism must be assigned a high place. At two stages of the child's existence may alcohol be introduced into its circulationviz. (1) pre-natal, and (2) post-natal, the former indirectly via the mother's blood, the latter by direct ingestion. PRE-NATAL ALCOHOLISM. In order to realize something of the gravity of this, it is only necessary to review our knowledge of the action of alcohol upon the adult human body. It is provedly a poison to protoplasm and to all cell-life-including even the germ-cells-checking the vitality and the activity not only of the life-protecting, but also of the tissue-producing, cells, thus interfering with the vital processes at their very beginning-poisoning the life-stream at its sourceand stunting tissue development at its start and at everysubsequent stage. In confirmation of this, the classic experiments of the late Dr. J. J. Ridge upon plants may be cited, as also those of Rauber upon animal forms, some of the latter showing that hens' eggs, when incubated in alcohol-impregnated air, hatched out slowl~, the chicks afterwards developing abnormally, other experiments showing that many of the puppies born of mothers to whom a small amount of alcohol had been given daily died within a few days, others becoming epileptic and few attaining to healthy maturity. These conclusions have since been confirmed by the experiments upon pregnant animals by Hodge, Mariet, and Combemale. Further, it has been proved that not only the VOL. VI.