The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1889-06-01
ALCOHOLISM.
Tho Frightful Effects and Maladies Re-
suIting from the Use of Alcohol.


suIting from the Use of Alcohol.
DR.. Monin, distinguished French
physician and secretary of the French
Society of Hygiene, has recently COM
pleted a report on the scourge of alco-
holism, that has just been published,
and in which, without useless digres-
sion, simply but implacably, he has
traced cruel but truthful picture OF
the progress of the evil.
Frightful, in truth, are the effects
and maladies which result from the
alteration caused in the human or
ganism by the use of alcohol. But it
is, above all, the degradation or the
perversity of the brain and the intelli-
gence which offers the most horrible
spectacle.
The driuker does not at once become
subject to these Authorizations. AL
though drunkenness may be consid-
cred as passing insanity, it is not
until after general disordering of the
whole nervous system that the drunk
ard succumbs to delirium. He begins
by feeling pains in his head, loses his
memory, forgets words, hesitates in
his actions, weeps for triHes and laughs
unconsciously. Irascible, uneasy.
jealous, he presents, at first, profound
troubles of moral sensibility. Then
he becomes taciturn, soured and sub
Jet to childish peevishness. At the
same time the will becomes less and
less active, and ends in utter hope
lessness. While in this condition
some can not write, others can not take
hold of any object, however much they
may desire, from lack of sufficient
volition.
The victim of alcoholism who has
reached this period of his decay has
an agitated expression, suffers from
considerable congestion, is covered
with a profuse perspiration on the
least occasion, and hiS eyes are brill
liant and injected with blood. At
other times, on the contrary, the ex-
preston of the face is sad, and the
physiognomy of the man thus attacked,
with his hanging lips, dull eyes and
thin hair, clammy and moist, shows
exactly the state of the intelligence of
the unhappy victim.
Soon, now, the drunkard. fatally
drawn toward intellectual and physic-
al decrepitude. is constantly being de-
ceived by his senses in the apprecia-
ton of surrounding things. 1t is thus
tbot ba faa1c tra,,, bIiporc ond oraap;nor
sensations, cramps and a quivering of
the nostrils and the upper lip He
has visual Authorizations, confounds
colors, particularly violet and yellow
with red, and can not distinguish sill
yer from gold. He is a prey to con-
tinual insomnia and endless magma
tions. Sometimes he imagines him
self surrounded by flames and feels The
painful burns, or he sees armed men
springing upon him; and it is la
mentable spectacle to see the unhappy
man struggling against his imaginary
enemies.
Among the most frequent forms of
alcoholic delirium are jealousy, and,
above all, belief in imaginary perse-
cution. There are numerous cases
where the wretched victims imagine
that they have large sums of money
hidden away, and the precautions
which they take to conceal the i'm
aginary fortune from the pursuit of
others are Incredible. Every visitor
is suspected. The parents. wives and
children of the miserable creatures
are suspected as so many ravishers,
and their words and gestures are in
terpreted in a manner that would be
grotesque if it were not so pitiful
Others believe themselves destined
for the highest positions, and enjoy to
the full these imaginary honors.
Others, again, have an abnormal de-
velopment of physical sensation, and
their imagination makes them feel
actual shocks, and they complain that
some unseen person is beating them
with clubs. A case in point is cited
where one man in delirium constantly
imagined that some one was dealing
him violent blows with a clenched
hand. To avoid this he walked along
by walls, sidewise, so as to protect his
back, but even this did not prevent his
tormentor from still striking him in
the same place.
At last worn out with suffering,
exhausted by terrors, the sufferer dies
in the midst of the most frightful hor-
rors; often, even, he does not await
the end, for he destroys himself to es-
cape from the fantastic visions by
which he is possessed, and the nerv-
Gus pains which give him no respite.
All! those who by patient research,
painful experience and ungrateful
studies, shall have found practical
means of checking the progress -
alcoholism, will merit the heartfelt
gratitude of humanity. Dr. Monin
has presented scientific picture Of
some OF the terrible details. and PEE
rusal of his book would open the
eyes of every drinkcr whose lntelli-
gence and moral sense were not al
ready destroyed. TRANSLATED by Olive
Harper, for Demorest's Month ly.