Neither the wonders of wild nature in the Rocky Mountains nor the menacing might and grandeur of Niagara produce such an impression on a Russian as the success of the fight with drunkenness—­the temperance movement—­and the successful development, in all classes of society, of morality and the strict application of practical morals.

He did not confine himself to this brief, general statement.  He wrote in praise of temperance, of prohibition, for learned Russian societies.  Then he wrote a book entitled “Concerning Drunkenness.”  The Censor’s permit to publish is dated March 29, (April 10,) 1887.  It was published by the management of the magazine, Russkaya Mysl, (Russian Thought,) which may indicate that it had first appeared in that monthly as a series of articles, though I have not been able to verify the fact.  The book may have been published promptly, or at least the article from the medical magazine may have been published in the cheap form (costing two or three cents) used by the semi-commercial, semi-philanthropic firm “Posrednik,” which may be rendered “Middleman” or “Mediator,” designed for the dissemination of good and useful reading among the masses.

At any rate, “Concerning Drunkenness” appeared at the price of one ruble (about fifty cents) in 1891, prefaced by a dissertation by Count Tolstoy, “Why Do People Stupefy Themselves?” specially written for this occasion, as Dr. Alexyeeff told me. (It has been translated under the title of “Alcohol and Tobacco,” London, and published without any indication that Dr. Alexyeeff inspired it.)

In 1896 a second edition, revised and enlarged, was published, also in Moscow; and to this the author added a list of helpful publications and a summary bibliography, which included books issued in various foreign countries, ranging in number from 705 for Great Britain and Colonies, 142 for the United States, 247 for Germany, 124 for ten other countries combined, (up to 1885 in all these cases,) to ten for Russia.  Of these ten, four are in Latin, four in German, one is in Swedish and one in Russian—­the latter, evidently, an article republished from The Medical News.  On the whole, a list practically non-existent, so far as Russia was concerned!

Dr. Alexyeeff had discovered a field of endeavor as virgin as the unplowed steppe.  Only scientists desperately hard up for an unusual topic for a strictly academic discussion and recklessly willing to risk incurring universal unpopularity would have dreamed of unearthing those volumes.  He promptly aroused Count Tolstoy’s interest in the subject of temperance, which in this case signified prohibition, since the Count in his preface to Dr. Alexyeeff’s book (dated July 10-22, 1890,) treated liquor on the same basis as tobacco, which he had totally abjured at least two years previously.  With Tolstoy, to become convinced that a reform was desirable was, as all the world knows, to become an ardent propagandist of that reform.  Thanks to the efforts of Dr. Alexyeeff, seconded by those of Tolstoy, temperance began to attract attention in Russia, temperance societies were formed, and have been steadily increasing ever since in numbers and activity.