individuals who crave for it. The sexual craving is not stronger than the craving for alcohol is in races that have not undergone Alcoholic Evolution, nor stronger presumably than the craving for alcohol would be among races that had undergone Alcoholic Retrogression; but never yet has even the fiercest fanaticism, in the presence of opportunities for indulgence, been able to do more than counteract the sexual craving to a very limited extent; to do more, that is, than forbid its indulgence except under certain regulations (i.e. among the married only), and even in this it has been but partially successful. The early Christians, for example, considered sexual indulgence abominable, and believed that abstinence from it was conducive to eternal bliss; yet their strong enthusiasm withheld but a limited section of the community, those with the strongest enthusiasm, the members of the male and female religious orders, from indulgence in it, and even among the latter immorality was not unknown.
Seeing then that it is practically impossible to banish alcohol from our midst, if only for the reason that the world grows more cosmopolitan every day, and races that have undergone great Alcoholic Evolution, and are therefore now little injured by the poison, would not consent to abandon its use; seeing also that, without absolute banishment, alcoholic indulgence would certainly ensue in spite of moral influences, we cannot rationally hope that moral influences will ever bring about total abstinence; and, à fortiori, since the craving for alcohol increases with indulgence, since the traits acquired through the use of alcohol form an extension, not a limitation, of the inborn craving for it, we cannot rationally hope that moral influence will ever result in temperance—i.e. in a moderate use of alcohol.
The above conclusion will, I fear, be very unpalatable
