The Relation to Alcohol to Arteriosclerosis.

Most standard text-books1assert unconditionally the importance of the excessive use of alcoholic liquors in the production of arteriosclerosis. Standard treatises on the heart and blood vessels2are equally emphatic. In Nothnagel's magnificent "Specielle Pathologie und Therapie," Schrötter says, after reviewing the literature: "Alcohol is considered by practically all writers on arteriosclerosis as the chief cause or at least one of the most important causes of the condition." Yet Schrötter himself seems to be somewhat dubious regarding the evidence on which the belief is founded, and there are others, such as Duclos3and Ribberts,4who are yet more outspoken in their skepticism. CLINICAL RESEARCH. 1. I investigated first the question: How many cases of arteriosclerosis not referable to syphilis or to advancing age are to be found among alcoholics? At the Bridgewater State Farm and the Foxboro Asylum for Dipsomaniacs, I investigated 283 cases of the