ALCOHOL AND LONGEVITY 205 
relatives, and in order not to hurt their feelings, doctors 
are only too prone to certify some contributory causes 
of death as the real cause, instead of ‘ alcoholism.” 
This falsification is probably more frequent amongst 
well-to-do patients than in the poorer classes, and 
hence the mortality figures published by the Registrar- 
General, so far as they relate to alcoholism, are increas- 
ingly erroneous the higher the social status of the groups 
of men classified. 
Evidence relating to these unattested deaths from 
alcoholism, and to other deaths due indirectly to exces- 
sive indulgence in alcohol, can be obtained by com- 
paring the causes of death in typical groups of indivi- 
duals liable to excessive indulgence in alcohol with 
other groups who are not so liable.* In order to 
render the comparison valid, it is essential that the 
groups should be men of similar social class, living 
under similar conditions as regards housing and general 
character of work (indoor or outdoor, light or heavy). 
The most suitable group provided by the Registrar- 
General is that of “inn, hotel-keepers, publicans, 
spirit, wine, beer-dealers,” and for comparison pur- 
poses the group of ““ All shopkeepers.” This includes 
men such as drapers, grocers, butchers, greengrocers, 
stationers, ironmongers, tobacconists, and chemists. 
On the left side of the Table are recorded the standard- 
ised mortalities of the two groups from diseases of the 
respiratory, circulatory, digestive, nervous, and urinary 
systems, and it will be seen that in every instance the 
mortality of the publicans was 1-6 to 2-0 times greater 
than that of the shopkeepers. From alcoholism and 
liver cirrhosis it was 7-8 and 6-3 times greater, whilst 
* Cf. H. M. Vernon, Brit. Journ. Inebriety, 1924, p. 1 33.