New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-01-30

eDilepsy, abnormal passions; to the men' lhuC
cordition of brain. stomach and liver which
;rsures an unnatural craving for liquor. These
men NAV dislike the taste of spirits; may have
M Genial habits which would lead them to
drink. NAV look, in short, from social and re-
ligious heights of confidence down upon the
drunkard with lOathng and horror, yet, pres
emily, the temptation comes, and they go Vile
same road to death. The usual course win sucn
men, with all men who drink, indeed, Is ~
make passionate appeals to their cOmnioh-
sense their pride. their love for wife or Chilli
rem or their religion. Does not the drunkaru
in his sober moments know all these things
better than the man who breaches to him. III
ia re who is degraded into beast, and he
knows it il is he who is tortured more than
mother or wife or child; it Is he who is lost IN
body. in reputation and. rs he believes, IN
scn But one of the consequences OF his dis
ease is rs certainly arrangement OF the func-
tonal condition of the brain az is a turred
tongue or swollen skin, and while the Draih Is
thus diseased the arguments of others or his
own resolves are of no more value than they
would he with lunatic Now. 60 to lad be-
longing 10 such n family as this with denuncla-
tions of intemperance as q crime; and ten 10
one YOU do not convince him; tell him how
many thousands have fallen before this moral
termination. and he is in hurry to show yOn
how strong he is Il; he is the one who cannot be
OycrthrOwD. lie at least can stop precisely
when he plcasrs. But give him the PLAIN TACT;
show him the physical effect of alcohol upon
tine brain, the digestion, and the tissues, let him
know the hereditary fatality OF this disease IN
his race and you give him the strongest prac-
tcal reason for complete abstinence ; you save
him. With regard to the mass of other men,
LET ia have all the moral force we can to keep
them from intemperance,-p preaching womans
influence, passionate appeals, societies. God
forbid we should deny the effect of all these
things in withholding a man from the use of
lianur. But when he has used it. let him have
skilful medical aid to combat the disease which
is killing him. 1t is medicine he wants now,
and hygieric treatment, more than preaching or
prayers or tears.
Dr. CrOthers, in the paper to which we have
referred, Justly ccnSures his profession i'll so
long delaying tho recognition Of clinical study
of iucbrirty as disease which, as DIR. Parrish
states, is governed by laws and modified by
race, temperament, and climate i'll lis origin.
continuation, and decline" The natural ten
dency of the disease, according to DR.. Crothcrs,
is toward chroncity, compllcatory diSensc, and
death but with Mauderley, Elan. Morcl, and
Ilut,hi,on. he adv0rates the close clinical
study of individual cases and symptoms by
physicians. IL this were done the poor dunk
ara would he spaicd the cost and shame Oi an
incbriatc asylum; Il nearest doctor would he
able to treat his disease rs intcliiGrnty and
successfully rs # it were typhoid or pneumonia.
1t is time that this more rational view Of
Alcoholism WIS accepted by Americans.
Whether disease OF c:npc, it Is m"lc fatal
among ns, for climatic rt3sons, than III any
other nation. 1t is filing our iailS, orr aims
hou>cs, and our graNcyalds The pulpit and
tcmpcIa urc eorcics have not suiii;,d To check
It. Let the doctors take It up; convince the
drlnkard, SILK from his last nights drb1uch
and mad for another glass. that it Is not "A crim-
ihal puIposc which makes him crave i; but
diseased stomach and nerves, and you send him
without false shame to the physlcian who can
urIhaus cue him.