The Lake Charles echo. [volume] (Lake Charles, Parish of Calcasieu, La.) 1876-1898, 1876-11-09
TyEBRIETY IN AMERICA.
4 Disease-Ca,soes of TIE Nervousness of
Av,ericGms-A Problem that is
SOEUed ITSELF

Dise0se-CHWoes of TIE Nervousness OF
AmericGms-A Problem that Is
SoEved Itself:
New York Tribune.
The American association for the cure
of inebriates held its seventh annual
meeting at the hall OF the college Of
physicians to-day. DR.. George M. Beard,
of New York, read paper on 1.-The
Causes of the Increase of Inebriety in
America" which is given in abstract
below:
The habit of drinking to intOxicatiOn
was defined as partly a vice and partly a
disease. The inebriate is one who drinks
to excess against his will, and in spite of
resolutions to the contrary, and when
there is no external temptations to do
50. Inebriety resembles other nervous
diseases in its hereditary character and
it's periodicity. 1t runs in families, and
in many cases the attacks come on like
attacks of neuralgia, at automatically
regular intervals. During these intervals
the inebriate is perfectly self-controlled,
and may not be tempted by the presence
of stimulants. The inebriate desires to
recover as much as the neuralgia
sufferer. The commonly accepted cause
of the increase of inebriety in America
is the increase of intemperance but
this is a great error. For fifty years the
better classes have been growing more
ana more temperate. There never was a
time in the history of civilization when
there was so little excessive drinking
in proportion to the population as now.
The fundamental proposition of the
speaker was that inebriety was in
creasing, because the higher classes
the brain-working classes-were be-
coming more sensitive and nervous
We cannot bear alcohol as our
father could. That functional ner-
vous disease and nervous sensitive
ness on which inebriety depends has
been on the increase for many years in
all the great centers of civilization, but
especially in America This is proved
by four methods of investigation. First
BY comparing the higher and lower
classes of the present day. The major
ity Of the cases of drunkenness (Which
is a vice and may be cured) are among
the lower orders-the abjectly poor and
ignorant. The majority of cases of in
ebriety are among those men and women
who are more or less cultivated. In both
classes, however the vice may lead to
the disease 1t is found by observation
that not only inebriety, but allied ner-
vous states, are comparatively less fire.
quent among the literary, professional
and business classes than among those
who live by manual labor. Hay fever,
for example, is unknown in the tene-
meRt.house population OF New York.
Secondly a comparison of the pres
ent time with a quarter or half century
ago. there ia pretty general agreement
among good observers, that our fathers
did not suffer as we do from variety of
nervous symptoms. We are more sus-
ceptible 10 drugs, to tea and coffee and
tobacco, as we'll as TO alcohol when un-
adulterated. Thirdly a comparison
Of the middle ages and the few centuries
preceding the nineteenth century, the
medieval epidemics of Mysteries and st.
Vitus dance were phychical not physi-
cal, the result of superstitious and un-
trained minds acting on strong bodies,
and not Of nervous exhaustion. That
form Of trouble yet survives in the So
called "servant girl hysteria." Insanity
as we'll as inebrioty has certainly increased
since that time, making all 'l' vance
! for deficient observation Of those ages,