Abstract
IN a paper on Auguste Forel and his campaign against alcoholism, read before the Society for the Study of Inebriety and Drug Addiction on July 12, Dr. J. D. Rolleston, after a short sketch of Forel's life, stated that though an active campaign against alcoholism had previously been carried out for many years in Great Britain and the United States, Forel was a pioneer in the scientific anti-alcoholic movement not only in Switzerland, his fatherland, but also on the continent of Europe. The lack of recognition of his work in Great Britain was attributed by Dr. Rolleston to two reasons. In the first place, Forel was strongly opposed to making the campaign against alcoholism inseparable from religion and Christianity in particular, as it is in this country and the United States. The second reason was the severe blow to Anglo-Saxon prudery and obscurantism caused by his classical work on the sexual question. On the other hand, the high appreciation of his work in foreign countries was shown by quotation of the opinions of eminent neurologists, psychiatrists and others in Germany, Hungary, Switzerland and the United States. Forel's contributions to the study of the alcohol problem were then considered under the headings of blastophthoria, alcoholism and the sexual question, exposure of popular errors concerning alcohol, such as the view that beer and wine do not cause alcoholism and the value of alcohol as a food, drug, and indispensable agent in sociability, alcohol and sport, and the treatment of alcoholism.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Auguste Forel and Alcoholism. Nature 142, 107 (1938). https://doi.org/10.1038/142107b0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/142107b0