Salt Lake Tribune | 1919-05-27 | Page 14 | The Story of Alcohol

1 THE STORY OF ALCOHOL, WHAT IT XS-HOW IT HAS SPRELAD THROUGH THE WORLD-HOY IT HAS BEEN CONQUERED : : . J ' " " r ' ' ' Xo. 1 W1XV, DEI5KISQ I" EGTPT 0TER 8,000 TEA.BS AGO. In a good many ways tho approach of tho day when prohibition is to be enforced throughout the United States is one of the epochal events of history. Other things than alcohol hayo been put under the ban of law gambling, slavery and numerous others that have seemed harmful to the progress of mankind. But none of these have been so universal as alcohol nor has any one of them been traced so far back into the dimmest periods of human history. So it seems now the timeliest of timely subjects for illustration in this space. Everyono is familiar with the war that has been waged against alcohol in this country and with the details of the victory' that, has been won over It. Now that so few weeks remain during which intoxicating liquors can be sold, it will be worth while to glance at its history and, as we come nearer our own time to notice the gathering strength of the prohibition movement and its most notable manifestations. First of all, what Is alcohol? It is a colorless liquid that can be manufactured manufac-tured by fermentation and distillation from practically any starchy or sugar-containing sugar-containing material. Although the possible materials ' are practically numberless, only a few are of great Importance to the liquor traffic of today. to-day. These are cereals and potatoes among the starchy plants, and grapes, sugar-cane and cano molasses among those rich in sugar. When was alcohol first used as a drink? That Is one of the questions that, can never be answered. The picture pic-ture reproduced above Is one of the earliest that we possess of a drinking scene. It shows an ancient Egyptian of more than 3,000 years ago, with his wife, child and servants. The child is holding up a lotus flower for his father fa-ther to snioll and an attendant is inviting in-viting him to drink from a bowl of wine. The little linos projecting from the bowl and topped with circles represent rep-resent flowers which the Egyptians were fond of using in their wine bowls because of their fragrance and decorative decora-tive effect. This picture of more than 30 centuries cen-turies ago seems far enough removed from us in time but authorities upon the curious life of that earliest period of a high civilization suy that the Egyptians hl at least four kinds of wino 6,000 years ago. But the ancient Egyptians were not restricted to wine. They knew how to make beer over 6,000 years ago. This was brewed from red barly ana there were two kinds. One was rery strong in alcohol and tho other was apparently only slightly alcoholic, perhaps a forecast of the beer that come of the brewers of today are talking talk-ing about making after July 1. Although tho Egyptian ciriliiation is the oldest of which we have knowledge knowl-edge It la not certain tht they were the first to experiment with intoxicating intoxicat-ing liquors. In Egypt, Greece and Rome alcohol has been known for ao long a period that tho people ascribed ascrib-ed the invention of it to tholr gods. And It has ben inferred that the prehistoric pre-historic people who had reached a partially par-tially clvlliaed development in Switzerland Switz-erland perhaps 7.000 years ago may have known the taste of wine, for grape seeds have been found in the remains re-mains of their mined houses.