The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1872-03-22
Correspondence New York Times.l
AN INEBRIATE ASYLUM.
Visit 90 the InStitnfion at Bing-
hamton, New York.


With the exception of a few OF tn
eomers, there is nothing whatever il
the appearance OF the eighty-fiye gen
tlemen who are at present resident
IN the Asylum, which, at cursor,
glance would distinguish them from tn,
boarders or transient guests of New
: York hotel. They are well and neat
ly dressed, quiet and gentlemanly il
their department, and apparently
soclable with one another. In facl
there is a decided resemblance to a
hotel throughout. The paIlors, halls
reception rooms, billiard and smoking
rooms, corridors and bed rooms are
all arranged exactly like those of q
modern hotel; and when the inmates
are seated at tire long rows OF tables
In the dining rooms at their table
d'hote dinner, and go out one by one
as they please, to stroll with cigar
through the halls and corridors, the
Illusion is complete. g..
THE term of residence in the asy-
iuh varies ho.~ three. six. nine. nm Ia
Twelve months, according 20 The
needs OF the PATIENTS case and the
time he can afford to spend on his
cure They may, of course, leave at
any time unless they are s'committed'
patients. The latter always leave as
soon as their term IL Nm. and hurry
away to their old haunts, to make np
for their enforced abstinence by a
long extended jollifcation. Dr..
Dodge is of the opinion that much
good, often a permanent cure, may
be effected in three months; but in
all cases, he recommends patients to
remain six months, term which he
considers ample. In case of elderh
men, however, where the disease is of
ten, fifteen or twenty years growth,
he thinks 1t advisable that they
should remain in the institution for
nine months or year, or even for a
longer time. = .---
L asked the doctor what he thought
was a fair estimate of the proportion
Of permanent cures among those who
had left the Asylum. He says it is
difficult to form a trustworthy esti-
mate, but from all the data they can
collect ON the subject, they think l
rom sixty to sixty-five per cent, is I
)y no means in excess of the reality. |
One word about the exact capa-
DIlity of the Asylum as a reform
tory SO far as | understand it from '
Dr. Dodge. 1t does not assume the i
Iower OF so curing man OF the love G
Il 'tliquor that relapse is improbable. /
IS soon as a man puts his foot into 8
be Asylum he is regarded as a pa i
lent seeking a hospital treatment for +
durable physical disease, brought {
n by constant Introduction into the q
ystem of alcoholic poison. The first i
hing is to eliminate The poison, and 8
hen to gradually work away the n
ernicious Influence ON the brain and t
lternal organization. So soon as l
lis is objected the patient is restored I
, the mental and bodily condition i
/ which he was before he betrayed
is love for alcohol. But no treat @
ent can eradicate the tendency, and c
is precisely that which the reformed T
runkard has to fight against. One b
rink of whisky may at any time 6
waken that slumbering tendency, I
lst as some trifing incident will re- 5
lscitate q long forgotten love, if {
srtsin circumstances do otinteyene g
Iany man has lett it strong in the g
that he Is now possessed y
sufficient strength of will to drink Il
} moderation, has found himself un, Is
sr Dr. Doige's care within three X
onths Those who have been f
and have reformed, must d
sar in mind that they have become "
'uDkards because they had in their 81
what their fellow-men A
I'VE not-inherent tendency to love ii
alcohol. - d