Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1874-05-27
STRANGE BUT ERUE.
o past that is !.
BY WILLIAM GILBERT.

Among the terrible phenomena con-
nected with the vice of intemperance,
the one most to be dreaded is that least
spoken of by temperance advocates I
alIude to the delusion the unhappy vic
tim of this vice is very frequently un-
der-that he is haunted by a phantom
whose mission it is to prevent his re-
turn to the paths of sobriety. And this
omission on the part of the temperance
advocates is the more remarkable as
the delusion is very common among
habitvlal drunkards. In fact, there is
scarcely physician of alunatic asylum
in England who has not had one or
more cases of the kind under his notice.
This delusion has also a feature of in
terest about it distinct from its psyche
logical phenomena. Tt frequently so
much resembles the medieval tales of
individuals who had sold themselves to
the fend, and afterwards, repenting of
their bargain, had endeavored ineffectu-
ally to break it, that one is almost
tempted to believe that dipsomania,
imagined by our forefathers to be de-
moniacal possession, was very COM
mon mistake in the Middle Ages.
Admitting this to be the case, it
would be singular study to trace out
how many poor wretches have suffered
at the stake for imaginary crimes con-
nected with sorcery, which, after all,
were merely the effects of hab1tual
drunkenness bringing on this peculiar
phase of insanity.
The particular phenomenon l allude
to as common in the Middle Ages, as
we'll as in thepresent day, is that the vic
tim Of drunkenness imagines phantom
appears to him whenever he attempts
to recede from his bargain with the evil
to return to the paths of sobriety, and,
pertinaciously following him, drives the
unhappy wretch to continue his habit
till it forces him into the grave. So
close did the affinity between the me-
diaval tales and the present drunkard' s
phantom appear to me, that [ deter
mined to make a collection of the latter
cases, in order, at some convenient sea-
son to bring them under the notice of
the public, so as to add one more effort
and, perhaps, as frJuitless as the many
that have already been made-to stem
the increasing misery occasioned by the
vice of drunkenness. Circumstances,
however, occurred which obliged me to
delay the publication of the whole col
lection. One among the number, which
may be taken as a sample of the rest, [
now bring under the notice of the reader
Some thirty years since, there resided
at u, fourishing city in the north
of Italy, an English gentleman, whom
I will designate by the name of Smith,
admitting that, for obvious reasons, it
is an assumed one. At the time of my
making his acquaintance he was be-
tween twenty-five and thirty years of
age, of middle height, and, although
not decidedly handsome, had
a very Intelligent cast of counte-
nance. He was well educated, had
naturally courteous manners, and was
generous and charitable. With all
Smiths good qualities he had one be-
setting fault, which went far to neu-
tralize his many virtues or, to tell the
strict truth, he was confirmed drunk
ard. He had acquired the habit III
England, and in Italy, where he was
under little subsection to his family, it
increased In intensity.
One of the results of this failing was,
that it shut him out from the better
class of Italian society, by whom intern
perance is justly considered as filthy
and degrading vice; while many of the
worst portions of the italian young
men in the city collected round him,
tempted by his great iberality and I'M
bounded hospitality toignore his faults,
or rather, they encouraged him in them,
they profiting to a great extent by his
failing. It is only justice to Smith,
however, to state that his senses were
not entirely deadened to the degrading
course OF life he was leading. Natural
Iy gentlemanly and high-spirited, he
felt keenly the tacit refusal of the bet
ter class of Italians to associate with
him. So keenly, indeed, did he feel
this aversion, that he made several at
tempts to break himself of the habit,
and at last SO far succeeded that he
would frequently keep sober for fort
night or three weeks together. And
then again would come over him the ir-
resistable temptation to return to his
old habit, and in it ne would indulge
for nearly the same space OF time he
had remained sober.
90 swE sd