Mercier: His topic was' "Drunkenness and the Physio-' logical Effect of Alcohol." " Mr. Christopher Martin presided, and 'many medical men from all over the Midlands attended. Dr.;: Mercier's address was marked by his usual force and lucidity, and was enlivened throughout with witty phrases and humorous applications, which convulsed his auclience.' .Without ignoring in the least the evil effects of alcohol, lie contended with great emphasis that England to-day was a sober nation, and that the

more »

... ti-alcohol agitators were intemperate in language and blind to facts. He pointed out that -the proper scientific attitude towards the disease of alcoholism was not one of mere denunciation but of patient inquiry into causes.. The task they should set themselves, if they wished to diminish the small remnant of drunkards that still remained amongst them, was not to cry Bogey 1 " nor yet to bid the drunkards observe how vastly superior to the rest of mankind were the people who did not take beer with their meals, but to search out the reasons for drinking. '