Doctors as chroniclers of alcoholism, mortality, and crime (1870-1910)

Abstract

This study on the medical knowledge regarding alcoholism in Mexico between 1870 and 1910 was carried out due to the fact that, between the second half of the 19th Century and the beginning of the 20th Century, alcoholism was considered to be a serious social and general health problem, especially by doctors. The problem appeared to affect the Mexican population more and more in terms of diseases and mortality, until it became -especially during the period we studiednot only one of the main concerns regarding medicine in Mexico, but also among the dominant society, given the connection that was established between alcoholism and a whole range of suffering, as well as a series of social and moral disorders, and notably regarding criminality.