In stating the causes of almost all the chronic, noninfectious diseases, it is a time-honored custom of the texts to include alcohol; and generally it is given a prominent place along with syphilis, followed at a respectful distance by gout and lead. Consequently the student comes to consider that not only is cirrhosis of the liver a usual result of alcoholism, but that nephritis, myocarditis, arteriosclerosis, and sundry disorders of the central nervous system also are commonly caused by it. The pathologist whose experience lies with the outcasts of great cities, however, knows well that the most alcoholic of his subjects are often free from nearly all, if not all, of these indurative processes, just as he observes that old prostitutes may show no evidences of inflammatory disturbances in the pelvis. On account of the common misconception of the anatomic changes produced by chronic alcoholism, it is worth while to