Alcohol and public health / by J. James Ridge.

  • Ridge, J. J. (John James), 1847-1908
Date:
1893
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Alcohol and public health / by J. James Ridge. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    taken in ancient times. The art of distilling spirits was not known here until about the time of William the Conqueror, and it was centuries after that before the use of spirits as beverages became at all common. The ancient wines were of various kinds, some being the pure and unfermented juice of the grape, preserved either by sulphuring or inspissa- tion ; others sour, in which some or all of the alcohol had undergone acetous fermentation. But even the most alcoholic wine did not contain more than 15 per cent, of alcohol, and many con¬ tained much less. There was no such practice as “ fortification,” at all events not with alcohol, though there is evidence that some other drugs were some¬ times added to increase the intoxicating quality All, or almost all, the intoxication of which we read in classical and Biblical history was pro¬ duced by what we now call “ natural wine,” or by a kind of beer made from malted grain, or by a few other alcoholic drinks (such as mead from honey, etc.), which are of minor importance. 6. A nation such as ours is necessarily so com¬ plex, the conditions of life in our present state of civilisation are so manifold, that it becomes more difficult to ascertain the precise results of the alcohol consumed. In some respects it is im¬ possible to determine these with strict accuracy. We are not, however, bound to give up the con¬ sideration of the question because we cannot guage the effect of alcohol on the population by the balance or the yard measure. We may determine the direction or tendency of its in¬ fluence, and we may come to some very definite
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