The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1891-03-31
knowing what evil effects it will pro

AhONtnS Wudt EVIL e1ecGS IL VIII pro
duce in him.
But the fact is, as every one will per
ceive who has observed drunken men.
from the primary and least offensive
stage, which attracts crowds of laugh
ing and shouting oilers and ~vagabonds,
to the last stages of prolonged drink
ing, drunkenness is a real insanity.
The drunken mind is an incapable
mind. Yet it has ruled nations; spoken
with authority and audacity; declared
war; fought battles-but always, be-
.yond a reasonable doubt, to the detri-
ment of mankind, and the substantial
injury Of human rights. The literature,
the craftsmanship, the e%loquence of re-
cent intOxication-all that it has been
or can be-are, 1 maintain, wretched
shams and false pretences.
In truth, drunkenness, like insanity,
is helpless. It is a condition beyond
the sphere of the will, because it is be-
gun and sustained by physical causes,
over the operation of which mind can
have no authority. The insane man is
dominated by a local disease, the char
acter. of which he cannot truly know.
Drunkenness, likewise, is the effect of
a toxic agent, which cannot be modi1ed
in it's nature by any mental effort what
ever.
Unmanageable mental incompency
is ever present in the drunken state,
and it varies in degree, as intOxication
is more or less profound; it being i'm
piled, of course, that consciousness is
not extinct. The mind is sure to be
~perceptibly impaired, whenever the
alcoholic influence is sensibly present.
The truth in regard to the matter
may be summed up in the following
propositions:
1. Drunkenness appears to be true
insanity.
3. It is an insanity augmented and
intensified by several efficient causes
of mental Reorganization operating
together, and in the same direction.
3. It is an insanity unbroken by
lucid intervals, for there is no abate-
ment of the toxic impression of alcohol,
as long as that poison remains in the
system.
4. Drunkenness is not able to hide
itself or even disguise it's own features
in other words, the drunken person
cannot control his or her actions.
5. The law declares intoxication to
be a crime, yet it affords and protects
! facilities for unlimited intOxication.
6. The law declares that criminal
courses shall not excuse other crimes
growing out of them; yet it provides
the conditions for the establishment OF
criminal courses.
Z. The public, in it's aggregate
capacity, knows that drunkenness is
unable to control it's own actions-yet
by it's permissive attitude respecting
drinking resorts, it panders to the
morbid, or possibly vicious, appetite
for intoxication-thus becoming Itself
materially responsible for the crimes
of alcohol.
8. When the law declares, that UOI
untory drunkenness is no excuse fO'
crime, the word "volunt 4ry" becomes
amenable to criticism. When the dip
sOmaniac, or even the vicious idler, is
invited, lured, seduced, and beguiled
into drinking shops by the blandish
ments and sensuous attractions of such
places, the public, under whose auspices
they are conducted, is a party to the
inevitable results. The diseased or the
perverted will, yielding to temptation
under such circumstances, should not
in fairness and honesty, be esteemed
to act with freedom; to act voluntarily
II. L. Wright, NJ. D., IN Alienist arc
NeuroIogist, st. Louis, January.