Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-06-08
nEEoRMAToBy MEASURES.
Tenuossce Homo for Incbrialcs.

A charter has been granted by the Legls-
lature to establish the Tennessee Home for
Inebriates, and right earnestly has the
work been commenced to carry out the OBJ
iect of the charter. There will be general
meeting upon this subject at Masonic Hall
at o'clock to night The atten dance it is
hoped will be large, and addresses will be
delivered by Rev. E. II. Osborne General
Agent, A 5. Colyar President of the AS
ISOLATION, Hon. J. Motif and Others. The
work we are assured will be earnestly pro-
secuted until first class institution of the
kind contemplated shall have been estab-
lished In this connection, as bearing
upon the utility of such an institution, we
introduce the remarks of one of vast ex-
perience and one who has seen their prac-
teal workings and investigated their good
results
DR.. Albert Day, Superintendent of Bing
hamton Inebriate Asylum, in one of his
regular Wednesday evening lectures be-
fore the inmates, referred to the ''co- oper-
alton of the human and the divine" in all
matters of reform, and among other things
said:
The position l am anxious to establish Is,
that in exercising our natural powers and
HnCCJlOuS Oh l10 LuOttL1h hAOANO0 Al
this asylum for the recovery, we shall be in
fallibly successful.
Intemperance is disease, frequently an
entailment-a hereditary disease, as scro-
fula or consumption, but more frequently
| it is acquired, and is the direct result of the
moderate drinking usages which prevail in
so-called reputable society.
1t is disease complex Units character and
| in its manifestations. The faculties OF the
mind and the affections of the heart are as
| often the seat Of the disease as the bodily
powers. These reciprocally act upon and
influence each other. A man constantly
| living under the law of stimulation has no
proper balancing of his powers, whether
| physical, intellectual, or moral.
| Harmonious action is destroyed. To
effect a cure the equilibrium must be re-
stored by methods which shall secure the
active cooperation of the patient himself.
He is not to be saved physically and indie
pendently of his own efforts, but by the
cooperative energies of his own spirit.
| Gentlemen, our first principle in the
work of reform must be to bring you to act
upon yourselves. We know and feel that
we cannot reform you, but we know and
feel that you can and must ''work out youl
own salvation" that the vigilance against
the recurrence of hurtful excuses must be
your own vigilance; the self-denil in op.
posing vicious inclinations must be youl
own self-denial; the abstinence from strong
drink, to which we exhort and entreat
must be your own abstinence.
| You all possess the attribute of response.
bility We throw you upon that RESPONSE
bility; at the same time we may, and We
do, benevolently tender the aid of God anG
man.
There is vast amount of error and mis-
conception still resting on the public mind
in reference to the sanitary treatment pecu
liar to this and similar institutions.
The impression is, that disease is here
individualized, as at an eye or ear infirmary
or as at retreat for the insane; that as
we have singled out the Goliath that tow
ers above all the rest, so we have marked
the part most vulnerable; administer {
specific, PROSTATE the giant, and a rout
ensues.
am interrogated every day, by lip o.
pen, on the nature of the remedy en-
ployed to destroy the drunkard's appetitet
And newly arrived patients often inquire
of those who have been longer residents
in the institution, what medicine is given,
and when the process of administering il
commences. Judge of the surprise of sucf
when told that the only specific we know
of for intemperance is abstinence from
everything that will intoXicaie. Thai
simple, pure water, without any addition,
is the best drink for all persons of oil
ages and temperaments, and comes near.
est to universal remedy of any thing
yet discovered; that it aids digestion and
strengthens the stomach, subdues the
force of appetite and removes the infiIm,
ity of the will.
To apply this remedy effectively to men
who have an acute CONSCIOUSNESS of then
lost condition, and yet arc unable to re.
sist the insane impulse to drink, an asy.
lum becomes necessary, where, by whole
some restraints and proper dietetic and
| hygienic treatment, and without the loss
Of selfrespcct, such changes may be eff.
fected in the patients mental and physi-
cal state as shall hold his appetite in
check, and prompt to cooperative meas
ures in practical conformity with the re-
medal agencies employed in his behalf.
| From this overlooking scourge there is
a remedy, but Ouly one; that one, if
adopted, is sufficient, namely, entire alb
stinence. This strikes at the root, dries
up the source, annihilates it.