The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1874-12-14

i IHN@NNt NAe@NAANN -NNAsel sA
cesSiVe use Of tobacco, etc, etc.
That constitutional tendency to in
sanity should be followed In many In
stances, with an outbreak oithis disorder
is not at all surprising, It IS u well
known fact that where there exists an in
herent or latent disposition 10 disease, II is
liable to be called into activity by an ex'
citing cause. The liability, however, in
many persons is never aroused, and might
have continued dormant in many others,
had they not become the victims Of their
own indiScretions.
II Is doubtless unknown to many that
tho abuse Of tobacco Is a prolific source
Of mental alteration. But that such Is q
fact requires for confirmation. simply a
scanning Of the statistics on the subject.
Avarice and reverse OF fortune play no
unimportant part. in the records Of insan'
ity, Judging from statistical Information.
OF all causes, there is perhaps,
no one that produces greater havoc
than that Of intempersnCe. All wri.
ters on insanity lay much stress .on it's
direlul influence. In the table prepared
by DR.. Wilkins, on the Comparative
view of the principal assigned causes Of
Insanity in several countries" it will be
iound.that in the United States, in Eng.
land, Scotland, ireland, France, Prussia,
Austria, Italy, Belgium and Holland, in
temperance occupies conspicuous posi-
ton.
Not many years since, Que Oft most
celebrated authorities on the specially oI
insanity, declared that in no country did
drunkenness contribute so largely to
mental diseases as in America. About
this time Prof. RU:H stated that of all
the cases admitted to the hospitals Of
Pennsylvania, not less than one.third
could DO traced to this cause alone.
That the parent is responaible in many
cases for the mental disturbance OF his
offspring, most writers agree. Like the
tubercular and equity dlGtheses trans
mitted from one generation TO another,
so also Is the enieebled nervous system
induced in the parent by excessive
stimulatioD) entsiled upon his children,
thereby disabling them, physiologically,
TO resist and encounter the trials and
reverses Of life.
In France, during the past year, the
iesrfully increased number oil suicides was
attributed to alcoholic .dcbauchery and
the immoderate use oil tobacco In this
connection, the question may properly be
Is insanity on the increase :
From the most reliable resources consult
cd on the subject, we must accept, as an
undeniable fact, that there is gradually
progressive increase Of this disease. DR..
WILKINS shows, that in the United States
the proportion Of insanity and idiocy to
the population, in the year 1850, was one
in 73s; in 1860 one in 1885, in 1870 one in
G23. In England, in the year 1852, it was
one in 404; in 1865 one in 4jG; in 1868 one
in 424; and in 1871 one in 400. 1t is thus
proven that during the decade preceding
the year 1870 there was an increase sufll.
ciently large to answer the interrogatory
in the affirmative. From such figures we
are led to conclude that the incidents to
modern civilization areicOnduciyC to in
sanity.
Many years ago insanity was supposed
to arise from the Vaccinations OF Satan,
and those who fell victims to the malady
were treated in the most barbarous man.
ner. 1t is q matter for coDgratulation and
qualification that this superstition has
been supplanted by mode OF treatment
highly creditsb!e 10 humanity. To
PINRL and connolly we are indebted for
the inCipient blows that wrought the rad.
ical change and improvement in the treat
ment Of the insane. It was through the
indeIatigable efforts Of these noble men, in
the face of much opposition, that the
chains OF the mansclCd insane were
broken asunder, and the nonrestraint
system introduced, and the treatment ol
the dethroned mind placed upen a basis
truly philsnthropic.