The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1890-08-14

TEMPERANCE NOTES.
] ~ ,,.rerEsTiiNa suiesEc7.
sDr. 4. 0.sCrotAers ON Aloohsl,e aeredity
IN Diesasss y Children.
A. Il same under my care for home
treat,nent 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. he5other boy i've
years oil, both invalids, and had been
undsr constant medical care from in
fancy. tho. general diagnosis being
sscrofuta and general sanamia; and both
vera Of pale and delicate appearance,
extremely excitable and nervous. 80
They had continuous irritation Of the
Atonsseh, from .an nprestrioted. diet Of
k4 kinds II f4o4s: md drinks, except
wine and sheer; were Very 4 passionate
NJ h,S slightest Opposition to
lheirs wishes and after period
Of rage would be greatly OK.
hausted and have q distinct fever. for a
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
Oh 3vn ,SAl. L
other times she was precociously bright,
and irritable at any opposition to her
wisheA
The family physician had no faith 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
naHy, death of the physician brought a
new man who recognized the alcoholic
heredity of these cases and ordered
them to the country where tho
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 Il 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 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, l
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
" RI ha k41
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 a pro.
nounced dipsomanlac, suddenly, and
without any special temptation. Years
after he came under my care, and was
chronic case. From a 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.
tlce, aud where the alcoholic neurotic
symptoms were not understood.
l think we may confidently expect of
the practice II medicine that in the
near future such cases will be treated so
successfully that the alcoholic or insane
predisposition will be warded off. l 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
inebriates, a great variety of diseases
cou mon 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
they are freighted with
some heredity or predisposition to par
tlcular 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 a 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
until after the higher
peripheral brain has reached
certain development, especially in the
growth of the emotional and inhibitory
centers. In others this defect is seen in
infancy, in an abnormal hypcrsesthesia
OF the senses, and nutrient disturbances.
Some children manifest irritation at all
sounds, and all changes of light and
by continuous CRYING: the