The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1884-10-24
LIQUOR DRINKING.

Inebriates- Periodical Sprees-Accidents
Resulting From Intoxication.
Physiology has distinctly proclaimed
the nature of that habitual craving for
strong liquors which, being gratifed,
ends in drunkenness. 1t is an abnor-
hal state of the nerves and brain, en-
gendered by the persistent use of the
st;mulant of alcohol, under the opera
ticn of law which finds its analogue
in the instances of opium, hashish,
tobacco and other narcotics. All such
drugs, without exception, it is alleged,
operate through the subtle machinery
OF the nervous structure, and tend by
necessary law to the creation of an APP
petite which grows by that it feeds
on" While the original quantity, by
repetition, loses its power to reproduce
its first pleasing effect, it is found to
leave craving void behind. Thus the
sensual nature demands an increase of
the Stimulant both in time and meas
ure. and at the same time the moral
resisting power is either partially weak
enea or absolutely annulled. Such is
tho theory of the history and genesis of
all the actual excess which rational
Temperance reiormers deprecate and
deplore. The love of pleasure on the
one hand, ever mounting to transient
crisis, and on the other an aversion to
pain, are the twin forces whereby the
letters of an Unsuitable lust are imper-
ceptibly but surely riveted upon the in
temperate man. In this state of vassal-
age, and in the midst of his misery, the
drinker eXclaims: II will seek it vet
againr'
Universal history, it is affirmed, at
tests and verifies this dictum of physio-
logical science. 1t records no single
example, amidst the multifarious condi-
tons of social life, where these Seduc-
tive intoxicants, once introduced, have
not been widely abused; or where their
use has remained stationary at some
fixed point of desiderated moderation.
The old Egyptian, the pagan Arab, the
favored Jew, the refined and cultured
Greek, the strong Roman, the wild
Scythian and the ancient German, all
in turn passed through the experience
which has been repeated amongst the
civilized Gets and the Christianized
Anglo-SaxOns of modern times. No
matter what other social conditions pre-
vail, of poverty OF plenty, of knowledge
or ignorance, of barbarism or refine
ment, of religion Or irreligion. the use
of intoxicants always spreads and in
creases. The passion for narcotics,
once engendered, never dies out, never
ceases; nay, it is forever charging it.
self with the supply.
To adopt the language of the great
historian Michelet, we have reached
'an age in which the progressive inva-
sion of spirits and narcotics is an in
vincible fact, bringing with it results
varying according to the populations;
here obscuring the mind and barbariz-
ing beyond recovery; there fatally pene-
trating the foundations of the physical
life and attaining the race itself. :" The
same writer, in his great work ''On the
Causes of Physical Degeneracy,"
founded on an extensive survey of the
social condition of the people of Ger
many and France, places the universal
use of alcoholics and narcotics amongst
the chief causes Of that decay in the
physi; al existence of the people which
is unerringly indicated by their diminu-
ton of stature and weight, by the
abridged duration of adult life, and
above all, by an increased proclivity to
mental disaster.
BACCHOMArIACs.
Of those individuals known as inebri-
ates or dipsomaniacs there are unfortu-
nateIy consid rable number among
US. But the word dipsomaniac, though
in popular use, does not correctly ex-
press wiat is meant to he understood.
1t is derived from the Greek words Sig
nifying to thirst and madness. Dipso-
mania signifies a mania for thirst,
which is obviously the reverse of what
is intended. In no sense do these per-
sons drink because they are thirsty. A
more appropriate name for them would
be that of BacchOmaniacs, since what
they strenuously desire and restlessly
seek is the sense of intoxication in
the various stages, and to secure this
they will swallow almost anything,
laudanum, spirits of wine, etc, pro
vided it is capable of producing that
condition; they crave for the excite
ment, the pleasure which they feel in
it, and above all for the train of happy
thought which it sets up.
These unfortunates may be roughly
divided into two classes. Firstwe have
the habitual tipplers. These begin
early in the morning. They commence
with whisky and apollinaris water, or
gin and soda water, and they continue
at this kind of game all day. In the
morning they experience tremor. de-
preston and a wretched sensation of
sinking and exhaustion; they revive to-
ward night and are never quite sober,
and before they go to bed they are com
monty only one remove from being
helplessly drunk. Toward the latter
part of their lives they become a prey
to various painful diseases. chiefly af-
fecting the liver, kidneys and stomach.
Sometimes hypochondfiasis of very
confirmed character declares itself; at
other times they are attacked by deliri-
UNI trenens or brain diseases. Suicide
or attempts at suicide during the Excess
sive depression which. ensues after the
first named malady arc not uncommon.
The second kind are those individuals
with whom the desire for intoxication is
less habit or propensity than mad
ness and a mania. They are not steady,
constant tipplers, they have intervals
long or short of sobriety, and during
these periods they are often the most
amiable, friendly and agreeable ofmor-
tails. Presently their time comes, and
either from some sorrow or worry or
anxiety, or often without any apparent
cause at all, they become silent, soli-
tary and moody for a few days or hours,
and then they betake themselves to rum
shops which have welcomed them be-
fore, and indulge in frightful and in
cessant drunkenness for periods vary
ing from five days to three weeks.
These persons, as rule, are extremely
abstinent in their sober intervals, and
very guarded as to drinking anything
of an Intoxicating nature III general So
ciety. Occasionally they are reformed,
or reform themselves, and there are
several vino under these conditions
have lived to good age and enjoyed
excellent health. But when it is other
wise their interludes of temperance or.
of abstinence become shorter and short
II a he oofs