Wonderful find, Austin!  This article is rich with tantalizing hints at the
early impressions of the still-fledgling RCPA.  The first sentence's mention
that RCPA scientists "would rather drink cocktails than tea" is a offers a
nice indication that even middle-of-the-road TIME saw the organization as
pretty damp if not outrightly wet.  As to the first number of the QJSA, it's
pretty clear that the combination of (a) Henderson's case for dilution - the
first and flagship article in the new journal, (b) Yale's
alcohol's-effects-on-the-human-organism focus (with its roots in the newly
adopted Carnegie-funded study), and (c) psychiatric speculations about
alcoholism - all left TIME wondering as to what the RCPA's message and
purpose actually was.  The climate of opinion in 1940 was of course still
very much split between dry and wet dispositions.  This new player, TIME's
account is reflecting, was hard to place.



Ron



  _____

From: Alcohol and Drugs History Society [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of K. Austin Kerr
Sent: Monday, February 14, 2005 5:43 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: founding Quarterly Journal



Time magazine now makes available to subscribers its articles going back to
its start in 1923.  You might be interested in this 1940 report:

Medicine
Doctors on Alcohol


Time, Jul. 15, 1940
Last year a group of eminent scientists, most of whom would rather drink
cocktails than tea, banded together to wrest the U. S. Drunkard from the
hands of the temperance movement. Bolstered by grants from several learned
societies, the Research Council on Problems of Alcohol, under the leadership
of Dr. Winfred Overholser of Washington's St. Elizabeth's Hospital, set
projects stirring in a half-dozen U. S. universities. Members tackled such
problems as the Drunkard's liver, stomach, love for his mother.
Last week the Council issued Volume I, No. 1 of the Quarterly Journal of
Studies on Alcohol. A compendium of scientific fact and fancy, the Journal
offered no clear-cut conclusions on the cause & cure of alcoholism, left the
lay reader with the sobering impression that a man staggering down the
street is a dark scientific mystery.

High Proof. Yale's Physiologist Yandell Henderson has his own ideas about
alcoholism. Because drunkards thrive on hard liquor, always drink it
straight, Dr. Henderson wants to dilute their liquor for them. He proposed
high federal taxes on high-proof whiskey,* low taxes on low-proof. He even
advocated that watered-down, 60 proof liquor be legalized. "Consumers of
spirits," said Dr. Henderson, would probably "support the experiment" by
drinking such cheap liquor. Result: fewer drunkards. Such "as would be still
produced would be addicted to 60 to 70 proof instead of 80 to 100 proof. And
this would be a step distinctly in the right direction."

Liver, Stomach, Kidneys. No one has ever proved the old contention that
alcohol causes cirrhosis (hardening) of the liver. It is merely known to be
very bad for those who already have cirrhosis. Although years of toping may
cause chronic gastritis (inflammation of the stomach lining) and lead to
cancer, most doctors still believe that small amounts of alcohol, like the
old "stomachic bitters," are fine for the digestion.

As for the kidneys, Dr. Maurice Bruger of Columbia claims that, contrary to
popular opinion, alcohol does not cause Bright's disease and
arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries). In fact, since a "negligible
amount" of alcohol is excreted by the kidneys, "experimental studies fail to
reveal that the consumption of alcohol in moderate doses is harmful to the
normal, or even to the diseased kidney."

Flight v. Fun. Present medical fashion regards all alcoholics as neurotics
and psychotics who drink to flee from harsh reality, overcome a feeling of
inadequacy, or express homosexual tendencies kept under during sober
periods. Doctors' great problem, says Director Nolan Dan Carpentier Lewis of
New York State Psychiatric Institute, is to uncover the mental disorders
which drive men to drink.

To this view Psychiatrist Abraham Myerson of Harvard entered a strong
demurrer. "It is not true, in my opinion," wrote he, "that excessive
drinking springs mainly from neurosis, psychosis or conflict." As proof, Dr.
Myerson pointed to the fact that women and Jews, two groups which have
"their full share" of mental disorders, have a very small percentage of
alcoholism. Their temperance rests on "social tradition and social
pressure." There would be "universal horror and social condemnation," said
Dr. Myerson, if Radcliffe girls went out on wholesale benders like "lusty,
gusty Harvard men." The Jews, he continued, "have always lived in a state of
constant siege in which the alcoholism of any member was dangerous to the
group."

Best way to rid society of alcoholism, concluded Dr. Myerson, is to
advertise the glowing virtues of moderate drinking -"exuberance, good
fellowship and friendliness."

*In the late 18th Century, when U. S. whiskey taxes came into effect,
distillers began the custom of watering liquor. To test alcoholic content,
buyers would sprinkle the whiskey over gunpowder, try to light it. If the
alcohol content was high enough, the water low enough, the powder would
burn. That was "proof." In the U. S. today, proof is double the alcohol
content.