How to Live Part 20

SCEPTRE LIFE a.s.sOCIATION OF LONDON WHOLE LIFE POLICIES 1884-1911

[Ill.u.s.tration: graph]

EXPECTED MORTALITY________________________________________100%

NON ABSTAINERS, RATIO ACTUAL TO EXPECTED MORTALITY........ 80%

ABSTAINERS, RATIO ACTUAL TO EXPECTED MORTALITY--.--.--.--. 52%

MORTALITY AMONG NON-ABSTAINERS--STANDARD RISKS--51.8% HIGHER THAN AMONG ABSTAINERS

THE LIFE EXTENSION INSt.i.tUTE, INC.

THE SCOTTISH TEMPERANCE LIFE a.s.sURANCE CO. OF GLASGOW HEALTHY MALES--WHOLE LIFE POLICIES 1883-1912

[Ill.u.s.tration: graph]

EXPECTED MORTALITY________________________________________100%

NON-ABSTAINERS, RATIO ACTUAL TO EXPECTED MORTALITY........ 66%

ABSTAINERS, RATIO ACTUAL TO EXPECTED MORTALITY--.--.--.--. 48%

MORTALITY AMONG NON-ABSTAINERS--STANDARD RISKS--43.5% HIGHER THAN AMONG ABSTAINERS

COMPARATIVE MORTALITY AMONG USES OF ALCOHOL 43 AMERICAN LIFE INSURANCE COMPANIES 1885-1908

DEATH RATE AMONG INSURED LIVES GENERALLY--MEDICO ACTUARIAL TABLE 100

DEATH RATE AMONG POLICYHOLDERS USING 2 GLa.s.sES OF BEER OR 1 GLa.s.s OF WHISKEY DAILY 118

DEATH RATE AMONG POLICYHOLDERS GIVING HISTORY OF PAST INTEMPERANCE, BUT APPARENTLY CURED 150

DEATH RATE AMONG POLICYHOLDERS USING MORE THAN 2 GLa.s.sES OF BEER OR 1 GLa.s.s OF WHISKEY DAILY, BUT, REGARDED AS TEMPERATE & STANDARD RISKS 186

Now that accurate laboratory evidence is available regarding the physiological effect of alcohol in so-called moderate doses the insurance experience seems consistent, and the higher mortality among so-called moderate drinkers is only what we would naturally expect to find in the light of the most recent knowledge regarding its effects upon the human organism, not only in the direct causation of disease, but in lowering the defense to disease and increasing the liability to accident, and the tendency to careless living.

[Sidenote: Medico-Actuarial Mortality Investigation]

In the recent medico-actuarial investigation[8], including forty-three American life insurance companies, the combined experience on users of alcohol has been compiled, with very interesting results. It may be subdivided as follows:

First: Those who were accepted as standard risks but who gave a history of occasional alcoholic excess in the past. The mortality in this group was 50 per cent. in excess of the mortality of insured lives in general, equivalent to a reduction of over four years in the average lifetime of the group.

Second: Individuals who took two gla.s.ses of beer, or a gla.s.s of whisky, or their alcoholic equivalent, each day. In this group the mortality was 18 per cent. in excess of the average.

Third: Men who indulge more freely than the preceding group, but who were considered acceptable as standard insurance risks. In this group the mortality was _86 per cent._ in excess of the average. In short, we find the following increase of mortality over the average death rate among insured risks generally:

Steady moderate drinkers but accepted as standard risks 86 per cent.

Having past excesses 50 " "

Very moderate drinkers 18 " "

This means that steady drinkers who exceed two gla.s.ses of beer or one gla.s.s of whisky daily are not, on the evidence, ent.i.tled to standard insurance, but should be charged a heavy extra premium.

In these groups, the death rates from Bright's disease, pneumonia and suicide were higher than the normal.

[Sidenote: Consumption of Alcohol]

The per capita consumption of alcohol has greatly increased in the United States in recent years, while in the United Kingdom it has materially decreased, as shown in the following table. This factor must be considered in a.s.signing a cause for the increasing mortality from degenerative diseases in this country as compared to a decreasing mortality from these maladies in Great Britain.

ANNUAL PER CAPITA CONSUMPTION (IMPERIAL GALS.) OF ALCOHOL IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES[9] 1896-1912

--------+------------------------------+-------------------------------- 1896-1900. 1908-1912.

+------+------+--------+-------+------+------+--------+--------- Beer. Wine. Spirits. Total. Beer. Wine. Spirits. Total.

--------+------+------+--------+-------+------+------+--------+--------- Germany 25.4 1.37 1.66 28.43 22.4 1.09 1.29 24.78 U. K. 31.6 .39 1.05 33.04 26.65 .26 .71 27.62 France 5.5 19.9 1.7 27.1 8.6 24.7 1.42 34.72 U. S. 13.01 .30 .81 14.12 16.62 .52 1.02 18.16 --------+------+------+--------+-------+------+------+--------+---------

#Laboratory and Clinical Evidence Relating to the Physiological Effects of Alcohol#

To interpret correctly the mortality statistics relating to moderate drinkers and total abstainers, one must have some knowledge of the physiological effects of alcohol in so-called moderate doses, a knowledge which is often lacking in those who a.s.sume to interpret such statistics.

For example: If it could be shown that small doses of alcohol produce no ascertainable ill effects upon the human organism, the higher mortality among the moderate drinkers as compared to total abstainers might have to be explained as due to some as yet unrecognized cause or causes other than alcohol. But if laboratory and clinical evidence shows that alcohol in so-called moderate quant.i.ties (social moderation) produces definite ill effects, such as lowering the resistance to disease, increasing the liability to accident and interfering with the efficiency of mind and body and thus lessening the chances for success in life, to say nothing of any toxic degenerative effect upon liver, kidneys, brain and other organs, the excess mortality that unquestionably obtains among moderate drinkers as compared to total abstainers must be ascribed chiefly to alcohol.

It is not possible here to give all the evidence, but the following items will serve to clarify these questions.

[Sidenote: Effect on Brain and Nervous System]

Kraepelin[10] and his pupils have contributed most extensively to our knowledge on this subject. According to such authorities, a half to a whole liter of beer is sufficient to lower intellectual power, to impair memory, and to r.e.t.a.r.d simple mental processes, such as the addition of simple figures. Habitual a.s.sociation of ideas, and free a.s.sociation of ideas are interfered with.

As far back as 1895, Smith demonstrated the influence of small doses of alcohol in impairing memory, and these results have been confirmed by Kraepelin and quite recently by Vogt[11] in experiments on his own person--15 cc. (about 4 teaspoonfuls) of whisky on an empty stomach, or 25 cc. with food, being sufficient to distinctly impair the power to memorize.

Careful and exact experiments have shown the influence of moderate doses of alcohol in lessening the amount of work performed by printing compositors. There has also been shown a disturbance in the sequence of ideas. The time that elapses between an irritation and the beginning of a responsive movement can be measured within one one-thousandth of a second. According to Aschaffenburg,[12] under the influence of even very small doses of alcohol this reaction period is disturbed and shortened.

It is below the normal, the acceleration being attained at the expense of precision and reliability. Indeed, the reaction is often premature, and const.i.tutes a false reaction--"the judgment of the reason comes limping along after the hasty action."

It is now conceded that alcohol is not a real brain stimulant, but acts by narrowing the field of consciousness. By gradually overcoming the higher brain elements the activities of the lower ones are released, hence the so-called stimulation and the lack of judgment and common sense often shown by those even slightly under the influence of alcohol.

The man who wakes up under alcohol is really going to sleep, as far as his judgment and reason are concerned. Complete abolition of consciousness is brought about by sufficient doses as when ether or chloroform is taken.

Under moderate doses, muscular efficiency is at first increased a little and then lowered, the total effect being a loss in working power, as shown by the experiments of Dubois, Schnyder,[13] h.e.l.lsten,[14] and others.

[Sidenote: Influence on Bodily Resistance to Disease]

Muller, Wirgin and others[15] have shown that alcohol restricts the formation of antibodies (the function of which is to resist infection in the blood) in rabbits, and Laitinen[16] has shown that the prolonged administration of small doses in men (15 cc.) is sufficient to lower vital resistance, especially to typhoid fever.

Rubin[17] has demonstrated that alcohol, ether and chloroform, injected under the skin, render rabbits more vulnerable to streptococcus (blood poison) and pneumnococcus infection (pneumonia); Stewart,[18] that small amounts lower the resistance to tuberculosis and streptococcus infection; Craig and Nichols,[19] that moderate doses of whisky were sufficient to cause a negative Wa.s.sermann reaction in syphilitic subjects; Fillinger[20] found the resistance of red blood cells much reduced after the administration of champagne to healthy human subjects.