TOLERANCE TO ALCOHOL

TO THE EDITOR:— Dr. Bernard P. Cronan's report (J. A. M. A.143:1040 [July 15] 1950) on reactions to small amounts of alcohol recalls the experience of Marion Sims, as related in his autobiography, "The Story of My Life" (pages 83-85). At an Independence Day celebration, when he was about nine years old, he drank "not more than two tablespoonfuls of Madeira wine" and "had to be carried to the house, in the course of half an hour, and put to bed, dead drunk." He drank no more wine until he went to South Carolina College, when he went with some friends to an oyster saloon and "indulged in a small glass of Madeira. The others drank freely; none of them seemed to feel it." When they started back to the college, he had to be held up by a man on either side. He made a conscientious effort