Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-05-12
Results Of Scientific Queries as to the
Causes of Inebriety.
DRUNKENNESS CALLED A DISEASE,
frequently Hereditary, and Only to be
Cured by Heroic Treatment.
FEMALE INEBRIATEs IN HIGH LIFE
rNnrrrrr FOE rHr prsrArcH.1 J

accept the existence of the evils of drunken
ness as fact and devote themselves mainly
to inquiring how said evils may best be
remedied.
have one of their pamphlets before me.
The reading it contains is very different
from most of the labored reports and ESSAYS
put out by scientific bodies, inasmuch as it
is neither dull nor dry, but curiously inter-
esting as whole. "Does Inebriety Con-
duce to Longevity" is the subject Of an ad-
dress delivered by the President OF
the society. 1t appears that GER
tain persons, presumably interested
in the manufacture or sale Of
intoxicants, have issued cards, printed in
various languages, and circulated them very
freely in Great Britain and elsewhere.
These circulars purport to give table fur
nished by committee of the British Medi-
cal Association, appointed to investigate the
relations of disease and alcohol, from which
it appears that the average age of total alb
stainers at death was 81 years; that of decid-
edly intemperate men, 81; free drinkers, 81;
careless drinkers, SO, and habitually tenn
perate, g. So the President raises his very
novel query, and in effect answers it by the
words, "Not much"
A MAN OF STRAW DEMOLISHED.
1t is true, he says, that such figures were
set forth, but it is not true that they warrant
any deduction in favor of the superior
longevity of drinkers, or that the British
Medical Associa ton gave utterance to any
such absurd or unfounded conclusion. He
points out that the reports were limited and
defective, that the data were collected in q
loose manner, that of the deaths returned
only 2S per cent of all were those of alb
stainers, and that the statictics we're value
less as basis for general conclusions.
The explanation of this apparent greater
shortness of life among the teetotalers is
very simple. The general habit of drinking
has come down from remote antiquity,
while the abstinence movement is but some
so years or so old. The great majority of
our converts to teetotalism have been young
persons, so that the average age of living
abstainers must for some time to come be
much less than the average age of drinkers
of all degrees. Such is the simple explana-
ton of this latest 'iMare's nest of Bacchus.
This explanation is corroborated by two
other tables constructed by DE- Owen and
his committee. When deaths under 80
years of age were excluded, the average age
of the abstainers was about four years more
than that OF the decidedly incorporate.
When all deaths under 40 years were ex-
cluded, the average age of the teetotaler was
one year greater than that of the tree drink
-ers,- -And more than i've years greater than
that of the incorporate.
TEMPERANCE AND LONG LIFE.
A conclusive proof of the superior longev-
ity Of abstainers over drinkers who are not
drunkards, is afforded by the returns of the
United Kingdom aud General Provident
Institution. The statistics are spread over
% years, and embrace only the lives of ab-
stainers and moderate drinkers, drunkards
being excluded. In the temperance section
the number of expected deaths during the
% years was 3,9y7; the number of actual
deaths was 2,796. In the general section
there were 6, IA expected deaths and 1884
actual deaths.
These figures show only II per cent NOR
tality of the expectancy, saving OF 90 lives
in every 100 among the abstainers, while
among the non-abstainers there was a NOR
tality of 98 per sent, or saving of but two
lives in every 100.
The investigation committee, instead of
arriving at the startling and absurd conclu-
sion imputed to them, actually decided and
stated in their report their full belief in the
following propositions:
That habituRl indulgence in alcoholic
liquors beyond the most moderate amounts
has distinct tendency to shorten life, the av-
erage shortening being roughly proportional
to the degree OF indulgence. That in the pro-
duction OF cirrhosis and gout, alcoholic ex-
cess plays the very marked part which it
has long been recognized as doing. That
total abstinence and habitual temperance
augment considerably the chance Of death
from old age or natural decay. So does true
science even witness to the superior health
fulness of abstinence. The more the effects
Of alcoholic intoxicants are inquired into,
the stronger confirmation there will be of
the truth Of the foundation principle of the
great temperance and prohibition move-
ments, that intoxicating narcotics are dan
gerous articles, noxious to health and life,
in all quantities which are followed by any
appreciable effect.
INEBRIETY A DISEASE.
In the same document is printed paper
by Mrs. L'Oste, an associate member of the
society, who has been engaged in the study
and cure of inebrietv for q years, and who
is now connected with a home devoted to
the cure OF female inebriates from the cul-
tured classes. Her belief is that nothing
but the absolute and immediate discontinue
ance of the use Of stimulants in any form
will effectually cure the drunkard. The
former practice of weaning patients by de-
grees-a sort of "tapering of, /" whereby the
patients supply of liquor was reduced grad
uslly-she says reminds her Of man who,
while drowning his superhuous kittens, used
to take them out of the water at intervals to
breathe, beiLg under the impression that
each fresh immersion rendered dying easierl
She is now convinced that the system was
wrong; it simply prolonged the pain, fos-
tered the craving for alcohol and heightened
the time required to thoroughly purify the
system from all traces of it. Mrs. L'Oste
gives, as the result of her experience and
observation, the following statements:
Il am entirely of opinion that inebriety
is disease, often hereditary, the germs of
which may sometimes be noticed even in
children, frequently shown by their inordi-
nate thirst and their craving for hot condi-
ments with their food, and highly spiced
dishes. / have seen this in several instances
in the children of ladies under nv care.
One little girl of 10 1 discovered to be in
the habit OF taking pepper out of the cas-
tors and eating it by the spoonful. This
tendency, all who have studied the question
must know, is constant trait in the adult
inebriate. When the disease was not inher-
tied, have found that the majority of cases
were caused by the nervous debility result
ing from feminine disorders.
THEIR NATURE CHANGED BY DRINK.
while under influence ofthe disease, the
sufferers are not responsible for their actions,
their whole natures and characters undergo
a complete metamorphosis. the most high
principled and scrupulously truthful will
ssoop to such depth Of deceit and degrade
ton, as at other times they would shudder
to think Of. The craving for stimulants
becomes so intense that they are incapable
of resisting it when at liberty, and at this
stage will hesitate at nothing, even some
times riskino their lluea 70 ohtair. .t;.un.,