There may be exceptions, however. The father-in-law of a Swedish lady patient of ours is at present 96½ years old. For a good many years the old gentleman has been drinking daily a large amount of cognac. That wine may be taken without harm, even to considerable old age, can be illustrated by a series of examples, of which we have mentioned some already, where persons have reached 100 years of age in spite of drinking wine every day. They might, perhaps, have lived longer had they taken no alcohol, for, as a rule, such persons come from long-lived families, and, as we have said previously, such people may permit for themselves greater license in this respect; but this must be distinctly regarded as the exception, for, as the statistics of the United Temperance Association in England show, total abstainers have a much greater chance for a long life than have others. According to Neisson’s investigation of 6111 persons from 16 to 90 years of age who were taking alcohol, the ratio of mortality among them was three times greater than for the whole population of England. Sir Isambard Owen shows, by a careful analysis of the results of the Collective Investigation Returns, comprising 4287 persons, that the average duration of life is greatest among total abstainers and very moderate drinkers, and that but few addicted to much alcohol were among the long lived; those in the latter condition can only expect a shortening of life, which proves conclusively that alcohol is very deleterious to the organism. As post-mortem examinations show, all the organs of the body suffer degeneration after coming in contact with large quantities of alcohol. It would be impossible to dilate here upon all these different changes. We will, therefore, only mention the effects of alcohol on the most important organs—for example, the heart and blood-vessels. As is well known, alcohol, if taken in large quantities, degenerates the heart muscles and also produces the condition of arteriosclerosis. Its effects on the brain are particularly deleterious. If taken once only, but in large measure, it is sufficient to cause intoxication, with changes in the mental faculty. Taken habitually, as by chronic alcoholics, these mental changes may develop into a permanent character, and thus insanity may follow. According to the official statistics of the Kingdom of Württemburg, about 60 per cent. of the inmates of lunatic asylums were alcoholics. Out of 579 lunatics of the Provincial Insane Asylum, in Vienna, in 1899, there were 40 per cent. alcoholics.