Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1854-03-22
MARCH 90, 1854.

=
mendIng curative, protective, and ameliora-
ting means of treatment as in other diseas-
es. Lastly, if decision and action in these
matters be right, should they be left to
philanthropists alone, or is it our duty, as
professional medical men, the especial guar
dians as it were of mans physical and
mental health, to consider, decide and act?
These are all question, it appears to me, of
the grayest import. Yet it is not my in
tention to detain you by thorough inves-
tigation of any of them, but to examine
briefly few, with the desire and expecta-
tion simply of fixing professional attention
upon them. As regards the first inquiry,
whether habitual intemperance be direct
consequence Of diseased action of the hu-'
man system or not, it would almost seem
folly to dwell upon it for a moment; and
yet how little is it thought of as such by
any of us-how seldom do we allow the re-
Election that the habitual drinker is as much
and as certainly the victim of disease as one
with a phthisis pulmonalis, another ascites,
or another with .gangrene. Yet is it not
so +! There is no mistaking the fact at par
ticular stages of the affection. When pro-
fessionally called to aid the miserable suf-
terer from delirum tremens, we have un-
mistakable proof of disease there,-or when
called to the struggling form Of one tortur-
ed and writhing with the strong convul-
sions of the drunkard, we see it there,-or
when at Coroner's inquest we gaze upon
the mangled, butchered corpse of the wife
or the child, or it might be, as it has been,
the entire family of him who in the wild
delirium of his drunken insanity, with ma
niacal savage ferocity had thrust them into
eternity, is it not there? But why need
we multiply examples of this sort :? You
are all familiar with host of them. They
are termed and spoken of simply as conse-
quences Of habits of intemperance, but in
truth they exhibit the advanced stage of
disease which for long time has been cor
roding and ulcerating within, habitual
drinking being only the symptom or evi-
dence of its existence.
know not why we should thus delay
our ideas of the existence of bodily aliment
in this, any more than in other affections,
until the closing scenes or secondary stages
are developed. It is not thus in scrofula,
in phthisis, syphilis, cholera, or any other
disease. In their contemplation we go back
to the remotest period when the slightest
manifest and why not in this If we do,
willWe not finally arrive at that point where,
from the occasional use of Intoxicating bev.
erages, thirst for more is produced, con.
slant longingg fQEt the 4Eenetitiap q. its iRaH
ges to occur in the functions Of health, the
first inception of a diseased action that de-
mands its tribute at increasing rates, more
and more imperiously, until it is at lastsat
isfed only with the unconditional surren
der of It's victim. do not propose to en-
ter into an examination of the question il
what that may consist-what is its true
pathology. The fact that it has patholo
gical character at all, is that which l an
most desirous of establishing AS it is il
other affections, so it might be impossible
in this, in its earliest stages, to max
plain to our vision the physical change
occurring in the system; but as it pro
crosses, those changes become distinctl
manifest in the infamed stomach, the dis
diseased liver, the turgid brain, and
thousand other plain conditions of struC
tural disorganization. Thus it is render
ed probable if not certain, that the ord
nary opinion upon this subject as to caus
and effect should be reversed that habi
ual drinking is an involuntary consequent
of diseased action, that may have been sta
tied by occasional, voluntary ibations, it
true, but that the habit is true and legi
innate consequence and evidence of diseas
The question as to the durability of tn
diseased condition, becomes one of gre
Importance. This may at once be met
recalling to mind the innumerable insta
ces in which complete recovery has take
place in the knowledge of us all, and
instances those recoveries have been fro
the very last stages of the affection, esta
: fishing at once as matter of course
/ complete durability under appropriate trei
ment. It is rare, too, that any attem
at efecting cure is made, except in
: advanced stages. From this we might
:, fer that vastly many more cures might
= effected, if early as we'll Inappropriate tire
r ment were adopted for we have no reas
r to doubt that the rule will hold good W
e regard to this, as we'll as to other diseas
IS that in direct proportion as the means
relief are early applied, will they be croV
,r ed with success.
l. Is it not remarkable, however, that
le little has been said and done upon the s
$ iect of treatment, incidentally at least
lr Where will we find this subject of trt
Is ment fully elaborated by any writer VI
c. this subject? Nowhere to my knowled
s. What writer or what lecturer will be fol
O. to have dwelt upon its pathology, its syI
al toms, its diagnosis, its treatment and
II sequences? Is it not Of sufficient inn
i? tance to demand more attention than th
n We spend many hours and many word
D. the discussion of questions that in reg
lal to the health and happiness of man, ar
he trihing as baseless visions in comparl
IT, There must be something radically VIZ
ra- in the popular prejudices and popular
res ings upon this subject matter and it
i'd tainly belongs to the medical professio
place it in its true light.
lat A candid and accurate examination
: is the nature of this disease, will disclose
It? very near relationships which exist bet
hat it and insanity, and must of necessity
the to the suggestion of similar cours
on management, that is, happy combin
anc of medical and moral treatment. Al
dis other inquiries, the most of which |
are passed unnoticed, was one as to VIII
not the medical profession had not grossly