The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1883-02-15

The Close Relations Betwecu Iucbrietv
and Madness.

and Madness.
he National Association for the Fro.
lection OF the Insane and the Prevention
ot Insanity met in Philadelphia last
week. The closing day of the session
was mainly devoted TO the reading of
papers howing the relation of inebrietv
To insanity. Probably the most striking
OF these was written by DIR. A. Baer, Of
btfiiii, physician Of high authority
throughout Europe, especially upon tho
treatment OF the insane. After an cx.
haustlre argument TO prove the connec.
ton between alcoholism and mental
alteration, the writer thus summarized
his conclusions:
lSEBRIETT AND INSANITY.
II cannot be doubted that in all civil.
ized countries insanity increases in a
manner which is out OF proportion to the
increase of population. Ofall the tribu.
tarirs to this startling fact, there is none
80 lasting in its effects, SO harmful to the
physical as well as the moral life, as the
abuse of intoxicating liquors. lntemper.
ance Is an inexhaustible source of the
development and increase Of INSANITY.
II demands an undivided attention, not
only on account Of its existing relation.
but particularly because intempcranco.
among all the factors which aid in the
increase OF insanity, cau t,sst be iimiu.
lShed and its influences reckoned. The
relation between intemperance and in.
sanity is 70 definite and clear that il ia
unnecessary TO adduce proofs. Lunier
has shown that III France, with the
increase of alcohol consumption, insanity
has also increased. In Italy a similar
result has been reached by Investigation.
In Prussia it was found that in sections
where the largest number Of drinking
saloons existed, j. c., where the consump-
ton OF alcohol was the greatest, the mum.
Der OF insane was also the greatest.
DISEASES CAUSED BY ALCOHOL.
Without doubt it is to alcohol that we
must look for and find tho most potent
cause oi the development and spread of
mental diseases. 1t is well known that
alcohol acts rs disturbing element
upon the nerve centres, even if it has
only once been used TO excess. In con.
sequence of the &C ute disturbance of cir.
culation and nutrition AL acute intoxica-
lion takes place which may range from q
slight sxcita.ion to complete loss of
consciousness. After habitual abuse of
alcohol, functional disturbances of the
brain and spinal cord become constant
aud disappear the less as the central
organic degenerative processes are moro
and more developed, processes which lead
to congestions and hemorrhagic etIusions
in the meningcS and in the brain itself.
These degenerations of the nervous sys-
tenn give rise To progressive decay of all
Intelligent and also more especially of
the ethical functions, n decay which
presents the phenomenon Of feeble mind.
edness complicated with large number
OF other disturbances and gradually ends
in complete decay. The number of these
mental disturbances which nre caused by
alcohol intoxication is a very considerable
one. From 20 to % per cent. of all men,
tai diseases stand in direct or indirect
relation to the cruel consequences Of
ntcmperance. An investigation among
the patients in the insane department Of
the Her!i:. Charity Hospital, in 1851,
showed that among Coz patients whc had
entered AZ crileptics, $50, or over 2l per
cent had been addicted to drink-i33
before and II after the disease had shown
itself. Further, that of 1872 patients
with delirium tremens, 243, or over Is
per cent. were epileptic, and that in 22l
lntcmpcrance was present before the out
break of the epilepsy. Finally, that
among 1873 patients who entered the
department in six and half years, 1893,
or is per cent, were incbrinte epileptics.
Among Us epilep,ics who l had occa-
sion to note, Il per cent. were drunkards
and ~ per cent. were offsprings of
intemperate parents. The baneful effects
which is produced indirectly by the
lntemperapce of parents upon the mental
constitution OF their progeny is surely
just rs great and disastrous as the list of
injuries which intcmperance deals
directly to the mental life of man. On
account OF The inheritance Of deprsyod
and pathological constitution, the chill
dren OF Incorporate parents frequently
suffer from an abnormal physical organi-
zation. AS in the progeny of insane
epileptics, suicides and criminals, so
also among the children of drunkards do
VIC see cases of congental idiocy and i'm
becility, and incbriety, or physical and
somatic degeneracy; also of degraded
morality, OF vagrancy and crime.
ANOTHER VIEW OF THE SUBJECT.
After a treatise OH "The Systematic
Education of the Insane as Means of
Cure" by DIR. James Lalor, of Dublin,
the matter Of "Intemperance and Insan
ity" was again referred TO this time in a
puper written by DIR. Norman X :, of
London. DR.. Kerr says:
The relations between intemperance
and insanity are so close that in watch
ing the various phases of the former the
expert is constantly reminded of the lat.
ter. The closeDess Of this connection
must have been observed by the ancients,
for ono Of the meanings of the Sanokrit
verb mad was ito get drunk" and the
Sanskrit noun "madd" denoted first,
intoxication second, insanity. Aris.
totle said that drunkenness is voluntary
madness" AT every stage of habitual
and even occasional inebriety sym ptoms
are developed, which seem more allied to
madness produced by physical cause
than to moral obliquity or badness OF
heart. Look at the periodical inebriate.
Though nearly as clear headed and as
well disposed az his abstainiHg brethren
in the intervals between his attacks, yet
during each outbreak he is guilty OF
freaks OF stupidity and violence which
may truly be said to be the acts of ma.
MAC. A woman was imprisoned one
hundred different times for drunkenness
aud theft. Each time she had stolen a
tub. She was washerwoman. Was
each of these acts of theft not the act OF
one temporarily insane? Is it not mon.
strous to punish such person as a GRIM
inal, without any hope of reformation,
when, if she we're treated as ono diseased
in an incbriate retreat, there would be a