The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1890-08-15
TEMPERANCE NOTES.
SCIENTIFIC NOTES.
Dr. T. d. Crothers OH Alcoholic Heredity
in Diseases of Children.

Dr. L. ID. CrOtherS OH AlcOnOhc hereuisy
i'll Diseases of Children.
A. B. came under my care for home
treatment for periodic inebriety. He
has used wine on the table at meals for
twenty years; for ten years past he had
drank in paroXysms. His wife used
wine on the table also, and during lac
tation had used both beer and wine
freely. He had two children, one a
girl of eight years, the other a boy five
years old, both invalids, and had been
under constant medical care from in
fancy the general diagnosis being
scrofula and general an@mia; and both
were of pale and delicate appearance,
extremely excitable and nervous.
They had continuous irritation Of the
stomach, from an unrestricted diet OF
all kinds of foods and drinks, except
wine and beer; were very passionate
at tho slightest opposition to
their wishes and aftor period
of rage would be greatly ex-
hausted and have distinct fever for
day or more. The girl had attacks of emo
tional rellgiosity, in which she mani
tested great sorrow and melancholy at
her sins, and asked the prayers of all
persons she came in contact with; at
other times she was precociOusly bright,
and irritable at any opposition to hE.13
wishes.
The family physician had no Gath in
heredity, and treated these various con-
ditions as so many symptoms of threat
ened organic disorders which his skill
and remedies prevented from gaining
farther Both had suffered from rube-
ola and scarlatina, and were supposed to
have never fully recovered. Bronchitis,
enteritis, gastritis, neuritis and various
heart diseases were constantly threat
ening, and as constantly averted. FL
nally, death of the physician brought a
new man who recognized the alcoholic
heredity of these cases and ordered
them to the country where the
diet was restricted, and enforced
exercise outdoors, and frequent bath
ing when it could be carried out.
These children had marked nerve
and brain instability, with low vitality,
and were neurotics, which would of
necessity develop insanity, inebriety or
any other form of nerve and brain de-
generation; and the rational treatment
should have recognized this condition,
and given special attention to the
diet and surroundings, and the avoid
ance of all existing causes that would
stimulate the brain and nervous
system.
A physician wrote me that he had
| given tincture cinchona to a neurotic
child of one year of age, for slight
| fever which resembled malaria. In a
short time the child would cry for the
| medicine, and only would be satisfied
for little time after it was given; on
one occasion it took at once a two
ounce mixture of this drug. He
| changed to other tonics, but found that
nothing would satisfy the child but
tinctures. The child was found to
have an alcoholic mother, who died
soon after it's birth, and the alcohol
| in the tinctureS aroused an organic
memory which had been inherited.
In private practice, some years ago, 1
| treated little boy for over five years
for the most confusing and varied dis
| orders and diseases that it was possible
to have; he recovered from one disorder
only to be Frustrated with another.
| None of them were we'll defined or clear,
and much difference of opinion pre-
vailed among the numerous medical
men who were called in consultation.
At puberty this boy became pro-
nounced dipsomanlac, suddenly, and
without any special temptation. Years
after he came under my care, and was
a chronic case. From study CT his
history it was ascertained that his
father was an inebriate, and died be-
fore he was born. Here was an alco-
holic heredity, which had escaped no.
tice, and where the alcoholic neurotic
symptoms were not understood.
1 think we may confidently expect of
the practice of medicine that in the
near future such cases will be treated so
successfully that the alcoholic or insane
predisposition will be warded off. have
heard of numerous instances of child
rem from infancy upward to puberty,
upon which alcohol in any form and in
small quantities acted as hypnotic; in
in some cases no other medicine could
be tolerated, and in some alcoholic her
edity was present, in others it was not
clear.
In the study of the early history OF
inebria ties, a great variety of diseases
common to childhood appear, and seem
to have been more intense than in 9TH
er children. Such cases seem to have
suffered more severely than others
from nutrient disorders, shocks and
traumatism; they are freighted with
some heredity or predisposition to par
ticular forms of degeneration: the or.
ganism has received a certain bias, from
which it can not escape. Alcohol, of all
other drugs, seems most potent to i'm
press cell growth and function.
No fact is more firmly established
than that alcoholic ancestors will
transmit to their children defective
brain and nerve power. The form and
shape of this defect and its manifesto
tions will vary widely. -'
In many cases it may not be
prominent until after the higher
peripheral brain has reached a
certain development, especially in the
growth of the emotional and inhibitory
centers. In others this defect is seen in
infancy, in an abnormal hyper@sthesia
of the senses, and nutrient disturbances.
Cnp,a nh III ,nr ~, ~ Cost 70 ton or n