A century of alcoholism conferences: unchanging themes.

Modern conferences on alcoholism receive research papers and stimulate multidisciplinary discussion, but this is not new, similar events took place 100 years ago. The published proceedings of Chester's conference of 1895 are reviewed and compared with recent conferences. Subjects then included alcohol's effect on the foetus, particular facets of women's drinking and increased availability in grocer's shops, the young and evaluation of educational programmes, alcohol in the workplace, long term control studies on alcoholics, laboratory studies on reaction time, attitude of the popular press, effects of restrictions in outlets and hours and lessons to be learnt from such in Scotland, and political and legislative remedies including evidence from Scandinavia. A full knowledge of earlier research and experience may modify current thinking and prevent simple repetition of previous endeavour.