Licence: In copyright
Credit: On means for the prolongation of life. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.
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![proving that alcohol even in small quantities interferes with the highest functions of the brain, that it abrogates the controlling power of the brain and cerebellum. The increased action of the brain which is produced in some persons by alcohol is only of very short duration, and is rapidly followed by impaired and deranged action. Another fallacy is that alcohol enables man to undertake a larger amount of physical work. I have repeatedly asked a number of men engaged in physical labour, and from an overwhelming majority of intelligent labourers I have received the answer that they can do more and better work without than with alcohol. I have received a similar answer from great wrestlers, quite in accordance with Dr. Mehler's researches on this subject [74], and in my long continued intercourse with Alpine climbers, the experience, with scarcely any exception was, that alcohol did not increase, but impaired their power of climbing ; and almost all my companions in the Alps gave up the use of wine and stimulants altogether, excepting in the smallest quantities, and this only after the day's work. I have stated above the quantity which may be considered as moderate, and which has a beneficial action on some old people in certain](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2398465x_0133.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
