Page:George Archdall Reid 1896 The present evolution of man.djvu/349

individuals of any race, when once that desire has been awakened in them by the use of alcohol, is exactly in inverse proportion to the past familiarity of the race with the poison; in other words, it is exactly in inverse proportion to the amount of elimination alcohol has caused in the ancestry. But however extended the racial experience of alcohol, the desire for intoxication is never entirely eradicated, for, since the smallest amount of alcohol must produce some mental change, however small, and since smaller or larger quantities of it are imbibed by all races with pleasure, it is clear that all races, from the South Europeans to the Red Indians, drink it with more or less conscious desire of producing some degree of intoxication. The difference between races lies in the degree of intoxication desired. The South Europeans, who have had a long and disastrous experience of the poison, on the average desire intoxication to such a degree only as practically speaking leaves them unaffected for the struggle for existence in its presence. The North Europeans, who have had a less extended and disastrous experience of it, on the average desire intoxication to such a degree that in the presence of it many of them are injuriously affected for the struggle. But savages, who have had little or no experience of it, on the average desire intoxication to such a degree that in the presence of an abundant supply of alcohol the whole of them, practically speaking, are rendered unfit. In all this alcohol very closely resembles such a disease as malaria, which is so prevalent in its areas of distribution, that, practically speaking, every individual within them is liable to infection, and which least affects individuals of races that have had long and disastrous experience of it, more individuals of races that have had less experience of it, and most individuals of races that have had little or no experience of it. In the presence of very virulent