The Columbian fountain., 1845-11-15

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munication from Professor Harrison, on the
question:" Is drunkenness a form OF Insant-
y" have thought that synopsis OF his
very lucid views, would be acceptable to
your numerous readers.
He characteristics insanity by four attri-
butes. First, sudden departure from natu-
raj or ordinary modes of thinking, speak
ing, and acting. Second, a want Of se!f-con-
troll. Third, settled chronic state as con-
trasted with transient or accidental condi-
ton Of thinking, speaking, and acting. Fourth,
it bars legal liability.
The above characteristics belong to it in
all its recognized varieties. A man to devi-
ate, without some very ostensible cause, from
his ordinary modes of thinking, speaking,
and acting, imports some disturbance of his
nationality. This alteration may show it
self in many ways. A taciturn individual
may become loquacious, or "a pleasant, com
municative person may become silent and
moody, discreet man is converted into an
| extravagant one; modest female throws
off her reserve, and exchanges her modesty
for forwardness. A want of self govern
ment exists. Thoughts fit across the mind
in no order, and the ideas mingle confusedly
together
In drunkenness he characteristics six attri-
butes. First, an artificial origin Second,
it is transient Third, it affects the muscu-
lar system, as well as the intellectual pow
ers. Fourth, it induces pleasurable excite
ment till it terminates in insensibility Fifth,
Its repetition leads to insanity. And Sixth, 1t
does not bar legal responsibility.
No man can be inebriatsd without the use
Of intoxicating liquors. A man may, how
ever, become insane from moral or physical
causes, without ever touching an intoxicating
article, in the form Of beverage. Drunk
enness, unlike mental arrangement, is tram
sent. 1t passes off with the fumes of
the liquor--it rarely exists beyond a few
hours, unless kept up by renewed potations.
In madness, the patient has mastery over his
muscular system he talks and walks with
vehemence, or assumes rigid standing po-
sition. Not so in intoxication, the drunk
ard faulters in his speech, reels in his gait,
and is unable to maintain an erect or fixedpos-
ture. The insane are rarely visited by gay
visions and pleasurable sensations; the ine-
briate in the incipient stages Of ebriety, al
ways realises delirium of JOY. The ner-
vous system under repeated acts Of undue
excitement from intoxicating liquors, falls in
to morbid irritability, often ending in ma
| MIA.
These states, mania and intoxication, are
not mutually convertible. Mania will not
create intoxication, though drunkenness will
produce insanity. n..
The legal Liability of drunkenness has
always been recognized. The reasons are
that it is voluntary act in its first stages
its effect does not SO obscure the intellect as
TO unfit it for correct perceptions; the act Of
ebriety being voluntarily induced, might be
reproduced at pleasure, whenever wicked
man desired to perpetrate evil, and at the
same time plead exoneration from culpa-
bility.
The habit of drinking inebriating liquors
creates a peculiar state of misery in the
stomach, mappeasable, except by the fur
ther use of the stimulus. By persevering
abstinence, this morbid demand for strong
drink will wear itself out. The repetition
of the potations adds to its opportunities.
A protracted use of intoxicating liquors,
often brings on veritable seizure of insan-
ity, or mania potu, or delirium tremens. A
more subdued and protracted form of de-
mentation may arise from the abuse Of such
exciting beverages.
The desire Of strong drink is not insan-
ity-it can be successfully resisted, and Of
ten has been vanquished by resolute will.
The act of ebriety is not insanity, though it
may lead to it, for it differs from real in
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