cumb to mental disease under the influence of these exciting tent the result of any habit of the individual concerned Expression of Defectiveness. ance to the predisposing causes. Substantially every individ- and nervous organization, whether inherited or acquired, suc- defective to begin with, and his nervous unsoundness London Dr. Carlos F. MacDonald, a noted alienist of so-called exciting causes, or what I've characterized as the ual during the most active stage of his life, the stage at a fact that sanity is the rule and insanity is the exception of New York, was recently quoted as saying: which insanity is most frequent, is almost daily exposed to It is time publicly to recognize the fact well under- drink, drunkenness, alcoholism, is to a very small ex- of a Defective Nature, Not a Cause of it. life. Only those who are endowed with unstable mental stood by alienists that excess in the use of alcoholic importance to so-called exciting causes and greater import- Excess in the Use of Alcoholic Drink is a Symptom My experience and observations lead me to attach less may take many different forms. In an interview in of insanity, to my mind, is heredity. with a sweet smile : "Thank you, sir ; thank you !" causes, hence the great underlying cause of all these forms 116 in the use of alcoholic beverages. The drunkard is a four causes wine, women, worry and work and yet it is