Women, in Berkshire Medical College, given in a little volume prepared by Dr. Albert Day, Superintendent of the Washingtonian Home in this city, who also was before the Committee. Dr. Storer says:

"Reference has been made by the doctor, (Dr. Day,) to the dire effects so often seen by medical men în the persons of the children of those addicted to habits of intoxication-epilepsy, idiocy and insanity, congenital or subsequently developing themselves, with or without any apparent exciting cause. He has not, however, I think, sufficiently held up to the victims of this baleful thirst the terrible curse they thus deliberately entail, or may entail, upon their descendants. It is not merely the man or woman inflamed by alcohol, in any of its crude or dainty preparations, at or near the time of sexual intercourse, that implants the fatal thorn in the child at the very moment of its conception. They are equally guilty, perhaps more so, who-their blood diseased from long saturation with this poison, their nervous system shattered, the very foundations of their being tainted— proceed, whether deliberately or inconsiderately, to engender offspring. Woe unto the children of drunkenness,""&c..

I have various other testimonies, gentlemen, of men who wrote in years long gone by, as well as of modern writers, to the same effect, which I have not time to read; but I should be doing injustice if I should fail to quote from one of our State documents-the Report of the Board of State Charities for the year 1866-a document prepared by

seven gentlemen, three of them physicians, who had this subject under examination. They were appointed to office, I believe, by the leading counsel for the petitioners, and their authority, therefore, he may feel bound to respect. The report was drawn, I think, by Dr. Nathan Allen, of Lowell, who was before you as a witness. These gentlemen speak of alcohol as a cause of the vitiation of human stock, as follows:

"It is not proposed to consider here the various remote causes of this vitiation of stock; but one prolific cause may be mentioned, because it is sometimes affected by legislation.

"That prolific cause is the common habit of taking alcohol into the system, usually as the basis of spirits, wine or beer. The effects of alcohol upon the senses, and even upon the bodily functions, vary according to the medium in which it is conveyed; but the basis being the same in all, the constitutional effects are about the same.

"The use of alcohol modifies materially a man's bodily condition; and so far as that affects him individually, it is his own affair; but if it affects also the number and condition of his offspring, that affects society.

"If its general use does materially influence the number and condition of the dependent and criminal classes, it is the duty of all who have thought and care about social improvement, to consider the matter carefully; and it is the special duty of those having official relations with those classes, to furnish facts and materials for public consideration.

"It is well known that alcohol acts unequally upon man's

nature; that it stimulates the lower propensities, and weakens the higher faculties. Everybody knows that a certain dose acts upon certain faculties, and makes a man jolly; while a greater one acts upon others, and makes him quarrelsome and angry. But some physiologists go further into the matter, and explain that alcohol, taken into the stomach or absorbed through the skin, must mingle, undigested, with the blood; and that alcoholized blood stimulates the brain in a peculiar manner. In a large dose, it stimulates those organs or those functions which manifest themselves in what we call propensities, or animal passions, and represses those which manifest themselves in the higher or human sentiments which result in will. If the blood, highly alcoholized, goes to the brain, its functions become subverted; the man does not know, and does not care, what he says or does.

"If this process is often repeated, the lower propensities are strengthened by exercise, until, by and by, they come to act automatically, while the restraining powers, or the will, weakened by disuse, are practically nullified. The man is no longer under control of his voluntary power, but has come under the dominion of automatic functions, which are almost as much beyond his control as the beating of his heart.

"But the habitual stimulus of the brain by alcoholized blood, in ever so small doses, must produce the same kind of results, only in a lesser degree. Habit, it is true, counteracts its sensible effects, and the man contrives to keep a sort of mental balance, as a sailor learns to walk on a rocking deck; but the blood is alcoholized, and must have the peculiar alcoholic effect on the brain, namely, exciting and intensifying the lower propensities, and lessening the voluntary and restraining powers.

Again, every thoughtful man admits the existence of a strong tendency to hereditary descent of certain conditions and peculiarities of body, and also that many of these conditions are purely the result of habit.

"Any morbid condition of body, frequently repeated, becomes established by habit. Once established, it affects the man in various ways, and makes him more liable to certain diseases, as gout, scrofula, insanity, and the like. This liability, or tendency, he transmits to his children, just as surely as he transmits likeness in form or feature. Now, the use of alcohol certainly does induce a morbid condition of body. A given dose excites the animal nature to powerful and ungovernable activity, and utterly paralyzes reason, conscience, and the will. But a smaller dose does the same thing, only in a lesser degree. It is morally certain, that the frequent or the habitual overthrow of the conscience and will, or the habitual weakening of them, soon establishes a morbid condition, with morbid appetites and tendencies, and that these appetites and tendencies are surely transmitted to the offspring.

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Again, it is admitted that an intemperate mother nurses her babe with alcoholized milk; but it is not enough considered that a father gives to his offspring certain tendencies which lead surely to craving for stimulants. These cravings, once indulged, grow to a passion, the vehemence of which passes the comprehension of common men."

I must now turn, gentlemen, to the influence of alcoholic beverages as a cause of disease and death. On this subject I have the testimony of Dr. Harris, in his report of 1867 to the Metropolitan Board of Health, New York, which I must detain you to

quote. He says: The diseases of intemperance, and they are both numerous and fatal, have at last come to be studied with reference to their prevention. It still remains for the medical profession and for society to check the evil we now mention. We place alcoholism in our list of the causes of death, and shall preserve such records as may be furnished by medical attendants and friends of the killed by this enemy."

The distinguished statist, Dr. Edward Jarvis, in the few minutes allowed for his testimony, offered an analysis of the evidence concerning the positive influence of intemperance upon probabilities of life at any age, from the researches of Mr. Neison, actuary of the Medical, Invalid and General Life Insurance Company of London.

Comparative rate of Deaths in equal Numbers of Intemperate and Temperate persons of all ages, the same year,