New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1871-04-20

| sI;nnnla onis y Y - B " =
| and Is - lyool ~ beel
lroueht psomint heeSss - pub1ioby
several u The lsaddiing jsu1nals there.
In England the 6atsryhy RsUiee and TIE
London Lancet hsve taken up the matter
| With startling power and exposure. The
former, in an article entitled drawing
Room Adjudication. !" reveals the alarm
| ing increase Of this social evil in English
society, especially among the higher
classes Of females. Other journals took
up the subject, producing widespread
comment and discussion among them.
The London Lancet admits tho prevalence
Of intemperance among the educated
English women to an alarming extent,
and asserts that medical men fail to see
and act up to their duty in this respect.
Il saws: "A careful practitioner should
remember the peculiar sensitveness Of
women, during certain portions OF their
life. to the influence Of narcotics; hence,
If he prescribes alcohol for them at all, it
should not be for trivial ailments, which
are liable to recur frequently, and for
which the patient will only be too ready
to pply the agreeable remedy which was
found SO efficacious before"
The same journal also condemns the
practice of allowing young girls between
the ages of twelve and fifteen the use of
alcoholic stimulants of any kind on ac-
count Of any real or imaginary delicacy.
It further remarks, s'the practice is ut
terly unjustifed by any physiological need
lin the absence of positive disease) and
the results are most disastrous. From
the extensive notice which this subject re-
ceived at the hands ofthe London press it
was supposed TO be sensation nther than
existing reality. It is asserted by the
medical MEN there that the statements
made in the London Lancet especially are
true in substance. The same charge may
also be made in regard to this social evil
in all thellarge cities of the Northern and
Western States. From the reports re-
ceived from many of the insane asylums
Of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and
Illinois it appears that the largest pro-
portion Of inmates consists of female pa
tients who have become 90 from the use
of alcoholic beverages, and these.
too, come from the high ranks of
society. The tide Of prosperity,
the sudden acquisition of fortune to
a large proportion of the Northern
and Western people, especially in the
cities, has led the female portion into
habits of high living which necessarily
carried with it the use of wine and other
alcoholic stimulants. Especially has this
been the case with free and frequent in
diligence among what is called the fast
or fashionable woman, who often at her
own table drinks of wines of strength
which her European sister would not dare
to touch. Referring to this matter it has
been said the American fashionable
woman mixes her liquors, too; in her
teens is a connoisseur Of champagne, deli
cately sips sherry cobblers and Roman
punches, and all this with her indoor
life, her limp constitution, her bilious
habit and under climatic influences which
to the strongest man make alcohol
poison. There are certain quiet ''ladies
restaurants" in all seaboard cities, so
quiet and modest in appearance that gen
lemen are not tempted into them,
where respectable women resort for the
stimulant which is probably inaccessible
at home. Deaths from mania-a-potu have
occurred this winter, and that not in the
debased lower classes, but among cul-
tured, delicately-raised women, some Of
them young, generous, lovable girls.
This is an ugly and almost incredible
story. So it is, and we fear that the
frequenting of fashionable watering places,
the rush and whirl Of excitement neces-
sary for the rapid consumption of time in
these resorts of people of wealth, has
done much to bring about this demon
alization among the weaker sex. In some
of our Northern cities, especially New
York, Boston, Philadelphia and Wash
ington the prevalence of this habit has
been increased by the custom Of New
Years calls, from which thousands of
both men and women could date their
downfall. Whatever may be said in re-
gard to this terrible practice among the
English women as proclaimed by their
medical faculty and laymen, it is a sad
thing to say that among our own fair
and beautiful home circle this evil is
alarmingly on the increase. The over
work, the haste to be rich, and the inces-
SAINT effort to urge their husbands, their
children or themselves up to higher
plane of social life, together with that
lack of bodily stamina, and the high
nervous organization of American women,
all drive them to the. use of artificial
All kinds of syrups, drops,
tonics e1ixirs, and hittera all warranted