The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-04-15 00:00:00

DIPSOMANIACS.

Lunatics in all but name, utterly incapable of con-
trolling their own vicious impulses, lost to all sense of
decency, full of low cunning, alternating between
moments of excessive elation and fits of intense de-
pression—at one instant repentant, at the next defiant,
they go slouching through life, mutely calling upon
society to help them against themselves. So far,
society has declined the mission. According to our
present laws, no authority exists to prevent a dipso-
maniac from giving way to his madness. Even when
the besotted creature executes a document surrender-
ing his liberty for a given period into the hands of a
medical man, the law of England refuses to take cog-
nisance of such a deed. Should the dipsomaniaewish
to set it aside as soon as his short-livei fit of repent-
ance terminates, any doctor who attempted to put, its
provisions in force would be liable to heavy pains and
penalties. Of this fact the cunning madman is well
aware, and he alwost invariably makes use of the
knowledge to'free 111):nself from restraint the moment
it grows obnoxious. Then after his miserable
nerves have again been shattered to pieces by an
outrageous debauch, peniterce returns, and he is
ready to adopt any means that promise to save
him from his famila.r demon. Thus matters go on,
cure becoming more difficult after each outbreak,
until the day arrives when the victim of society's
almost criminal leniency either commits suicide or
surrenders his smirched soul amid the unutterable
horrors of delirium tremens. Every day witnesses
deaths of this sort; every family in the land speaks
with bated breath of some such calamities. Yet pre-
judice still operates to prevent the adoption of those
measures which, in a majority of instances, would cer-
tainly work a cure if applied in time. The one chance
of saving a dipsomaniac consists in placing him under
close and incessant supervision. This can only be done
.by legalising his incarceration in some asylum espe-
cially devoted to such cases, under the same safeguards
as other lunatics. In the beginning it might be ex-
pedient to forbid compulsory seclusion unless with
the sufferer's previous consent in writing. But
after such a document was duly executed before
a magistrate, the signer would be legally bound
by its • provisions during a specified term. This
seems about the mildest arrangement likely to pro-
duce any permanently beneficial effect. If the ex-
periment were found to answer, prejudice could
scarcely bar the way to farther legislation. For a cure,
certain remedies are absolutely necessary: Banish-
ment of evil influences, elimination of vicious asso-
ciations, a gradual infusion of new and wholesome
interests into life, friendly monitions given with the
voice of authority, and absolute conviction of the
powerlessness of evasion or resistance. By such means
the disease, especially in its earlier developments, can
be certainly stamped out, and with society therefore
rests the blame if mawkish sentimentality about free-
dom is allowed to prevent their application.—St..
James's Magazine.