The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1879-01-10
TREATMENT OF INEBRIATES.
SOME ACCOUNT OF THE OLDEST INSTITUTION IN
THIS coUNTRy-THE INEBRIATEs' HOME AT

SOME ACCOUNT OF THE OLDEST lNslAAcAA -"
THIS CoUNrRy-THE INEBRIATEs' HOME AT
FORT HAMILTON, L. l., AND ITS WORK.
People who pass up and down our beautiful har-
Dor fail to observe the Long Island shore.
mile above the Narrows, stately building,
evidently of public character 1t is the lnebrates
Home of Kings county. chartered by the Legislature
in 1866 The immediate cause of the establishment Of
this Home was the work of the Rev. J. willett
Baptist minister. reared in England and familiar
with her laws regarding the poor and unfortunate.
Mr.. willett engaged by the Washington Avenue
(Brooklyn Baptist Church, and devoted himself
especially the victims Of drink, his theory being
that they might In most cases. be easily cured The
members of this and other churches became inter-
ested and the press took the subject in earnest
large meeting of the first citizens of Brooklyn was
held. Judge Dyckman presiding. when steps were
taken to establish the Home An act of incorporation
was granted in 1856. grants secured from the
State and county. and in time. the Home came to be
a fixed fact.
1t is claimed that it is the best constructed and
furnished establishment for the purpose yet known.
The situation is admirable and the surroundings
delightful. The present officers are-Theodore L.
Mason. NJ. D.. president; George G. Herman. vice
presidents Rev. s. Wilett. secretary and superntend
emit; William NJ Thomas. chairman of the Executive
Committee, and Lewis D. Mason, NJ. D., attending
physician.
In management and treatment of inmates this Home
differs materially from other places for similar pur-
poses Iii the only institution where patients
be and properly classified. Boarder patients
classed and charged according to the accommodations
they select There separate dining rooms lodging
rooms, parlors. billiard. smoking and bath rooms
There is for all. large lecture room for religious
services. lectures concerts &c. For the treatment
Of 10
floor. handsomely furnished. inaccessible to the
other sex. with competent staff of women officers
and nurses. 1t is pleasant department and made
as homelike as possible.
popularity of the Homo is its ample provisions
for the sick and for the treatment of delirium
tremens The for delirious patients are
made sound proof and the methods of restraint and
management of the gentlest and most humane
character, No srat-jackets other instruments of
torture used or allowed Instead there is almost
invariably successful exertion Of moral restraint,
with physical control where unavoidable The pa
tients permitted in certain cases, visit
neighboring villages, but confidence was SO often
betrayed that they are now restricted to the Home
and its grounds. The system of restraint is very
mild and is compatible with the fullest liberty for
the patient to avail himself of all the recreation,
grounds. billiard room, readings, concerts, lectures
and other entertainments, as well as the
ssns Tho rasa r fellow
order yet without the offensive appearance Of ali-
thority. All rule is intended to inspire self-cop-
dence in patients and lead selfreliance and the
restoration Of their own natural powers. Yet it
place for vicious and refractory inmates. There
must be complete submission or immediate expul-
sion.
The superintendent. contends that Imprisonment
for drunkenness begets vagrancy, and vagrancy is
the natural result of erroneous laws and malad-
ministration. He claims that can go down to the
vilest depths and rescue the victims Of drink; that
= can close prison doors and gather in incbriate
asylums our young men who are drifting into habit
ual drunkenness. save the best brains of the COM
munty and stay half the incpent insanity that Turks
among the people.
Erroneous management is the cause of the failure
Of many efforts to rescue drunkards. "No sooner"
says Mr. Willett. lis some new retormatory move
ment set on foot than the promoters are beset by
hosts Of bankrupt merchants brefess lawyers. ply
sicians without practice and clergymen without pull
pits, who are urgent for positions i'll works concern
ing which they possess neither knowledge nor SYM
pathy; besides which they totally lack tie ability to
successfully achieve the objects aimed att
1t is eleven years since the Home began operations,
and there has been no change OF superintendent OF
thousand one hundred patients have been treated,
with average residence in the Home of seven
months each, aud yet there have been only eleven
Deaths three OF whom were nearly dead when brought
In OF the 800 patients tDeated in 1877 it is known
forty-four have been lost sight Of but must have
given up their drinking, or they would at least most
OF them, have come back to the Home; twenty-one
known to have relapsed. three have died. twelve
considerably improved and 122 remained in the Home
Much Of this gratifying result is owing to the skill.
full treatment OF DR.. Lewis ID. Mason, the regular
physician, who has been at his post since the
Home opened. 1t should also be noted that the
inmates of the Home do consist of the generality
of hard drinkers those arrested in the Streets but
almost entirely belong to the class who in the last
stages of alcoholism, where. in many instances,
covery seems hopeless.
The managers claim, and apparently upon solid
grounds that the sphere of usefulness of the Home
is daily extending; that It has already done much
more good than its founders anticpated that it is
known throughout this country and abroad as a
model institution of the kind; that it is daily arrest
ing the downward progress OF men and women before
they have reached the degradation OF the JAIL that it
steps in between the inebrate and the lunac asylum
and that is constantly sending its patients forth
into society chastened by wholesome experience,
with hearts brave enough and wills strong enough
to regain by sober and well regulated lives the posi-
tions they held, but lost through the want Of