the stimulating dose of Dr. Anstie, below even the physiological maximum of Sir A. Clark. Yet there is irrefragible proof that a true narcosis of the nervous system was produced. The results obtained by Dr. Ridge, I have in a few instances verified, not indeed with the same scientific care and accuracy, but in a general way. In addition I have found that the sense of hearing, as roughly tested by the distance from the ear at which the ticking of a watch can be heard, shows distinct signs of impairment after doses of from 1 to 2 drachms of absolute alcohol. Ample proofs have been adduced, I think, in support of the statement that even in doses smaller than what is commonly called a stimulating dose, alcohol is still a true narcotic poison.

What then is the conclusion of the whole? We have tried to prove that the theory of the stimulating effects of alcohol and its food action in small doses rests on evidence of a very meagre nature, while there is much scientific and general evidence to show that alcohol produces results not such as, but rather contrary to, what we would expect were it a true stimulant and food. Further, we have brought evidence, strong and positive, to prove that even in minute doses alcohol exerts a depressant influence, and has a true narcotic poisonous effect on life generally and on the human system. If the proofs are sound and well-grounded, as I venture to think they are, clearly alcohol has no right to be called a "stimulant," and to give it that title is an abuse of

language. From first to last it is a true narcotic, and its seemingly stimu lating effect only a secondary and transient result of its true narcotic action. It produces no new force on the body, gives no new energy or life; it only induces an expenditure of force within the body at the body's own expense, and so causes depression and exhaustion. Dr. S. Wilks writes as follows, in the "Popular Science Monthly" for 1879: — " If most people will analyse their sensa. tions after the imbibition of any alcoholic drink, they will soon discover that to describe the effect produced upon them by it as a stimulant is a misnomer; and that, consequently, the employment of the word almost begs the whole question.

In

a word, alcohol for all intents and purposes may be regarded as a sedative or narcotic rather than a stimu. lant." This is I believe the true theory of the action of alcohol-that it is at all times and in all stages narcotic, not stimulating. And deeming it of vast importance that this belief should spread and usurp the place now held by former and erroneous ideas if temperance is to advance on the solid and steadfast ground of intellectual assent, I have prepared this paper, imperfect though it be, in the hope that perhaps some of my hearers may be convinced and converted, while others perchance will find new and substantial grounds for the principles and practice of abstinence they have already adopted. If such be the result of this small effort, I shall indeed feel that my labour has not been in vain.

would secure that amount more assured. In addition to the offices named by you (the Briton and the Temperance and General Provident Institution) you will find that the Whittington, London, Edinburgh and Glasgow, and Sceptre give advantages, and I think there are others.-(Signed) EBENEZER CLARKE."

The

following is the passage in the report referred to by Mr. E. Clarke :--"The directors having had repeated applications from active and influential members of temperance societies in England and Scotland to insure the lives of total abstainers at reduced premiums, thereby securing them an immediate bonus, have resolved to do so, the more readily that many years since the directors deemed it proper to secure for total abstainers from in. toxicating liquors the benefits resulting from their assumed longevity, and established a section in which they are kept apart, and receive their additional profits. The wisdom of this step is daily becoming apparent, the experiment having proved greatly in favour of abstainers, and the public press is awakening to the fact that abstaining assurers are better lives than non-abstainers."

The Commercial World, a London financial paper, in commenting upon the report of an assurance company taking temperance lives as a distinct branch of their business, remarks:"We may add that if these statistics are reliable as guides, the lesson they teach appears to be, that more life, at least greater length of days, is to be got out of abstinence from alcoholic stimulants (other things being equal, which is here assumed) than out of their moderate use. For it must be borne in mind that the comparison is between the results of abstinence, on the one hand, and the moderate use on the other. The excessive use is not in question. Life, in the objective sense, consists of a bundle or aggregate of habits; and these statistics, as it seems to us, prove, as nearly as may be to demonstration, that the non-use of alcoholics (and the mode of life commonly associated therewith) is in an aggregate of cases, or,

in other words, as a rule, most favourable to longevity."

66

1883.

Mr. Alfred Bowser writes from the Whittington Life Assurance Company: London, June 26, Dear Sir, I beg to inform you that this company makes no difference in rate of premium between abstainers and non-abstainers. The only difference is that, by keeping a separate account, the teetotalers get a larger bonus than the other section. I send herewith copy of a journal issued by the company, and may refer you to some remarks of mine on page 25." The remarks on page 25 are headed Special," and treat of increasing assurance with addition to the sum assured in lieu of bonus. A person insuring under this table will have (says Mr. Alfred Bowser) a policy upon which the company will beliable to pay the sums assured whenever death may happen; and with this important provision, that after the policy has been five years in force, the premiums paid to the company in the following years will be added to the sum assured. This form is evidently made for persons like ab. stainers, for in page 10 of the journal it is said:"The mortality among those who abstain from the use of alcoholic liquors being less than among ordinary lives, total abstainers are insured in a separate section; the valuation of which for profits is made apart from that of the general department, and determines the amount of the bonus in that section, The rates of premium are the same as in the general section."

Mr. John Phillips, secretary of the Sceptre Life Insurance Association (Limited), 40, Finsbury Pavement, writes: June 24, 1883. Dear Sir, -I enclose particulars of the mortality experience in our te.r.perance section. We charge abstainers the same premium as others, but they get increased profits, as explained in prospectus." On page 8 of the pamphlet issued by the company, is a paragraph, headed "Temperance Section," which reads thus:-" The experience of the past thirty years having proved that the mortality among those who

abstain from the use of alcoholic beverages is less than among ordinary lives, and such persons being entitled to the benefits arising therefrom, total abstainers are assured in a separate section, the profits of which are kept entirely distinct, and may confidently be expected to average considerably more than those in the general department. For the six years ending December 31, 1881, the expected claims in the general section were 373, and the actual claims 287, or 77 per cent. of the expectancy. In the temperance section the expected claims were 130 and the actual claims 64, or only 46 per cent. of the expectancy."

In a leaflet issued by the Sceptre Life Association, we find that " Atten tion is invited to the remarkably low rate of mortality experienced by the Sceptre, both in the general and temperance sections, but especially in the latter. For the seven years ending December 31, 1883, the expected claims in the general section were 438, and the actual claims 335, or 76 per cent. of the expectancy. In the temperance section the expected claims were 165, and the actual claims 73, or only 44 per cent. of the expectancy. It will be observed that while the general section does not show a high rate of mortality, as is usual with the offices having the two divisions, on the contrary, through the special connections of the Association, by far the largest portion of the business is obtained from persons who are members of some Christian Church, and, if not total abstainers, are very abstemious and regular in their habits." And it adds a most important remark:

tion, they had tried now for a year the effect of giving total abstainers' insurances a small premium, with the result that so far the system had worked exceedingly well. There was not the least fear, commercially, in this direction. Every day those who were observing the question, quite free from prejudice or any fanaticism with regard to total abstinence, but standing purely on the ground of observation, natural phenomena, and facts, had fresh proofs that the duration of life was materially increased by total abstinence; and he would even go the length of saying that this consideration was worth more than 10 per cent. the limit to which as yet they were permitted to go."

Facts like the preceding have been so well studied by those interested in life assurance, and the profits to be secured by that important form of thrift, that we have seen this very year, 1883, the prospectus of a new company launched with the name of the Blue Ribbon Life, Accident, Mutual and Industrial Insurance Company, Limited, one of the directors of which I see is Mr. H. Lankester, of Leicester, a well-known total abstainer. Whilst assigning reasons for the formation of this new venture, the prospectus says that it is a well-ascertained fact, as demonstrated by institutions which have especially dealt with insurance of the lives of total abstainers, in connection with life assurance, that total abstainers are entitled to special benefits in consideration of their greater longevity. Hitherto the advantages offered to total abstainers by institu tions dealing with this branch of business have been prospective, taking the shape of larger bonuses than those received by non-abstainers. This com. pany proposes to make these advantages both immediate and prospective -immediate, by granting policies at premiums based on the actual data available as to the actual mortality of total abstainers, which will therefore be less than those actually charged; prospective by granting bonuses out of the profits earned at each actuarial investigation.

Actuaries and total abstainers have

Put in another form, the results are stated to be as follows:-In the general section during the sixteen years the widows and other legatees were expected to put in claims for £833,792, whilst the actual claims amounted to £862,058, being an excess of £35,266 over what might have been expected to be laid aside for them. In the temperance section the widows and other legatees were expected to put in claims amounting to £481,000, whereas the actual claims made reached only £321,840, thus leaving in the hands of the company £159,160 of the sum which might have been expected to be required to meet them.

In the "Handbook of Temperance History," published in 1882 by the National Temperance League, it is further mentioned that the United

Kingdom Temperance and General Institution insures about 20,000 in its general section and about 10,000 in its temperance section, and that the quinquennial bonuses in the temperance section have been 17 per cent. greater than those in the general section.

Attention has lately been called to these facts in America, and the insurance press, commenting on the statements which have been made, says that if they are correct, "those who abstain from the use of liquor ought to gain the advantages of it in lower rate of insurance. It is not fair to load them with the burden assumed by those who indulge in alcohol."

Dr. Norman Kerr, in a paper read at Worcester in 1882, at the meeting of the British Medical Association (Medical Temperance Journal, 1882,

Per cent.

in General Sec

Excess per cent.

tion.