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.