Abstract
IT is very refreshing to read a lecture on alcohol without finding any bias or the influence of vested interest as is so often the case in articles of this kind. Prof. Smith, in “Alcohol and Behaviour”, the Henderson Trust Lecture for 1930, has presented as impartial a study of the subject as we could wish for. There are some most interesting, and at the same time most surprising, statements. We would scarcely expect to find that there is no relation between alcohol and the murder rate, that, despite the fact that drunkenness has diminished to such an extent, yet there is an increase in offences of a sexual nature up to twice the 1909 level, and that offences against property have considerably increased in the same period. It is also surprising to read that the expectation of life in those more than thirty years of age is not in any degree impaired by the moderate consumption of alcohol. The author concludes by reminding us that as a nation we are becoming year by year more sober, but at the same time more dishonest and less moral.
Alcohol and Behaviour.
By Prof. Sydney Smith. (The Henderson Trust Lectures, No. 10, delivered at the University of Edinburgh, 28th November 1930.) Pp. 37. (London and Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd, 1930.) 6d.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Psychology. Nature 128, 630 (1931). https://doi.org/10.1038/128630b0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/128630b0