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Show fleilay on Alcohol and llrala tVoik. The following letter, dated April t. 1139, lo Mr. U T Collins of Ilolton. Is published In ths Ufa and letters of I Huxley by his son I "I understand tbat you ask me what I think about 'alcohol as a stlinalant to the brain In mental work "Speaking for myself (and perhsps I may add for persons of my temperament), tempera-ment), I can say without heeltstlon that I would Juat aa soon taks a dose of araenlc as I would of alcohol, under such circumstances Indeed, on the whole, I should think the arsenic safar, leas likely to lead to physical and moral degradation. It would be better bet-ter to dls outright than to be alcoholized alcohol-ized before death. "If a man cannot do brain work without stimulants of any kind, he hnd better turn to hard work It Is an Indication In-dication on nature's part that she did not mean him to be a head worker. "The circumstances of my life hare led me to all sorts of conditions In regard to alcohol, from total abitlnenco to nearly the other end of the acale, and my clear conviction Is the less the better, though I by no means feel called upon to forego tho comforting and cheering effect of a little. "llut for no conceivable consideration considera-tion would I use It to whip up a tired or sluggish brain; Indeed, for mo there Is no working tlmo so good as between be-tween breakfast and lunch, when there Is not a trace of alcohol In my composition," com-position," I'rom the above we havo tho following follow-ing clear conclusion arrived at by one of the cleverest and deepest thinkers of our day: That "as a stimulant to ths brain in mental work," It would be better to take a dose of arsenic than a dose of alcohol. After the widest experience experi-ence of various quantities of alcohol he thinks "tho less the better." These opinions should be sufficient to Induce any one to adopt the practice of total abstinence, but, alas, for the frailty of human nature, even Huxley did not feel himself' called upon to do so. Medical Temperance Ilevlew. |