Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1871-04-15
Is IntOxicatiOn n Diseasef

| Is SIntOX1cattOm DlSeaSer
From the Philadelphia Record 'fef
No subject has engrossed more of the
attention Of moral reformers than the
use and abuse of alcoholic stimulants.
Scarcely any two of these reformers
agree upon the policy that should be
adopted to control it. Total abstinence
men, local optionists, prohibitionists," |"
moral suasionists, and even the mod
crate drinkers" have each in turn found
sturdy advocates and followers.
All admit that alcohol is q poison
useful, like all other poisons, as medi-
cine. Nearly all admit too, that its
habitual use as beverage creates dis
eased appetite and morbid craving
1t penetrates the system and affects all
the functions, organs and tissues. 1t
affects the mental faculties through the
brain, and takes away the strength Of
the viii and the power Of selfcontrol.
1t reaches the vital organs, the heart,
the liver, the stomach, kidneys and
bowels The longer man INDUCES in
its excessive or immoderate use, the less
restraint is he capable of exercising
over himself until, at last, the quantity
which he drinks is only limited by his
physical endurance and the capacity of
his stomach. Yet this class of drinkers,
who have lost their force of will and
self-control, are not beyond redemption.
In most cases they are entirely con-
scious of their state, and would reform
if they could, but lack the moral
strength to push away the poison. If
they could be surrounded by restraining
inhuences--fresh air, wholesome and
varied diet, and careful medical help;
if they could be placed under the ju-
dicious control Of those who would sup
ply to them the Judgment and will
which they have impaired, they could
be cured What the habitual drunkard
needs is the moral power to stop drink
ing. He knows his condition, and sees
the damage he is doing to himself every
day. l ol
Habitual drunkenness was formerly
considered an affair quite beyond the
reach of cure, and entirely out Of the
sphere of the doctor of medicine. A
victim ON whom Incorporate habits had
taken firm hold was looked upon as
beyond reclamation. The man who had
wallowed once in the gutter was held to
be irrevocably lost The regular, ha-
bitual drunkard was looked upon as
only fit 70 be given over to the jibes of
bad boys, and ruled out, as an outcast
beyond the pale of consideration, by So
ciety. Thirty years ago none but scien-
tifc professors of the most advanced
school of medicine looked upon drunk
enness as q disease, and even twenty
years ago the applauders and admirers
of Coughs eloquence would have been
shocked if told that inebriety was dis
ease for which the habitual drunkard
has in one sense ceased to be respon-
sible.
Happily all this has changed, and the
wisest opinion is that drunkenness is a
disease like most of the other ills that
p flesh is heir to, and should be treated
as they are, by the most accurate and
scientific knowledge. Inebriate asylums
have demonstrated the value of the treat
ment of this great curse as disease,
and experience in this country has shown
that it is as futile TO endeavor to extirpate
the disease of intemperance by legisla-
tive prohibition against its contraction,
as it would be to make similar legislative
prohibition against other diseases.
In those asylums for inebriates that
have been established for years in this
country the most beneficent results have
been manifest, Thousands of victims to
the vice have been entirely reclaimed,
and are now valuable members to society,
and are the most enthusiastic advocates
of treating drunkenness as a disease. In
these establishments the patient first un-
dergoes, as do the insane, proper com
pulsory restraint, until he becomes aware
of the disease that has possessed him.
Then he will persist in the abstinence of
which he knows is his only salvation.
He is supplied with good Diet and, as
far as possible, his mind is put at ease
He has occupation suited to his tastes
and past life, society and recreation,
books, music, walks, drives and every
other wholesome amusement. His appe-
tite for alcoholic stimulants gradually |
subsidies, while the strength of his will is
fortified and increased. Healthy blood |
takes the place of the poisoned, natural
tastes the place of the depraved. The
whole physique assumes its original elias
ticity and strength. The wildness of
is replaced by cogent thought
and normal sentiments. The disease is
commonly cured in few months, and
the diseased patient returns to the walks
of usefulness and honor.
These are the results of the treatment
Of this disease in skillful and scientific
manner by the best regulated asylums
in the country. Is there not a great
field afforded in the proper understand
ing Of this matter, in broad and catho-
lie spirit, for the exercise of private as
well as public benefcence2