The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1891-12-17

opium habit at Dwight, and SO N. B. Dyer
of Millbrldge and Mrs. S. G. Irving of
Brooks say. From more than one city In
Maine men have recently gone West, some
times openly and sometimes not, matter
which depends largely upon their conf
dence in the future. If there are half as
many people in the state who need this
from the general interest manifested In
the subject. the m0ney-saving by the es-
tablishment Of resort here will be no
small sum.
1t is never best that expectation should
be raised to too high pitch. The writer
came across the other day an old pamphlet.
1t was published at Chicago In 1879. con.
tains 16 pages. and is entitled, "Dlpsoma-
mia. DIR. D'Unger's Cinchona Rubra Cure
for Drunkenness-Continu and Period
zeal. What 1t Is! How 1t Was Found!
What 1t Has D0Dew In this Dr. r. Dun
ger sets forth various we'll known facts
and follow S them with some allegations OF
more doubtful character. He declared
drunkenness to be" "a durable complaint"
and that he had discovered and was using
"a concentrated tiDcture Of cinchons
which does cure It," He gave extracts
from letters from 16 persons he had cured.
the man who had squandered 100000, the
man who drank quart of whiskey day
for years. the lady whose husband was a
slave to beer, the man who looked at the
bottles on his sideboard as il they were
filled with castor oil, and all the rest of the
rather familiar list. But DIR. D'Unger and
his cures and his theories have gone by and
Manager Wo0dman of Pennington admit
ted that he never had heard of him. 1t Is
to be hoped the cure in which so many peo-
pie are trusting today will never be added
to the long list of forgotten remedies.
Many people have All erroneous idea
about what it Is claimed this Kelley
treatment can accomplish which ought to
be dsspelled. The theory is not, as many
suppose, that man who Is cured" cannot
again become drunkard, except In a few
special cases, but that the taste for liquor,
not natural but an acquired one is re-
moved so completely that man is placed
just where he was when he took his first
drink. In order to again become user of
intoxicants he must, with his eyes wide
open, go about 1t. He can regain the lost
appetite as easily or more easily than he
did In the first place, and the chances of a
second recovery are much smaller than
were those of first. 1t was the fault OF
John +. Mines and no one else that no re-
snmed his old habits and died OF rum. A
similar case OF which less has been said Is
that of DR.. w. +. Standiford, we'll known
Chicago physician who died last week from
using whiskey and opium: Last
May he went through a
course of treatment at Dwight and left
there. as he Acknowledged. completely
cured. But he went to experimenting up
those once freed from former habits of
drinking even more than for others.
Touch not. taste not, handle not" APP
peas to be the only safe motto. We are
told occasionally of reformed men who 60
about with their companions to their old
resorts In sort of spirit of bravado, but 1t
Is pronounced an unsafe proceeding by the
k aalQ m nr
otandiford's case it may be of interest to
state that he formerly enjoyed a practice
worth $50. 600 year which he lost through
rum In an effort to free himself from that
habit he experimental with morphine and
became slave to both. His condition on
leaving Dwight was satisfactory to his
friends and himself. but with fatal curl
osity he wanted to see If he could Ie-acquire
the habit, and he found, too late, that he
could.
Years ago, before the practice of drink
ing had been extlrpate d from Bangor, one
OF Its prominent citizens was wont to re-
mark; Rum is the worst thing man
can do" He died a victim to the thing of
which he thus playfully spoke. 1t is not
necessary to have absolute confidence in
Dr. Kelley, although one can't help hay
Ing good deal in the face of the well es-
taDiished facts regarding many cures
wrought at his establishment, to feel as
the Bangor man did, and to welcome any
thing that promises half so much as he has
already performed. Prohibition has done
a great deal, and is doing more every year
to abolish the drink habit, but 1t is entitled
to. and 1t needs all the assistance religion
and morality, and philosophy. and science
can give IT. 80 this institht, at Farming
ton, and the other, which soon, it is under
stood. will be established in our end of
New England, are entitled to hospitable
reception and their works to Just judg-
ment. Failures. and discouraging failures,
there will be. but while not expecting too
much. Is 1t not duty we owe our weaker
brethren to encourage everything which
offers so promising prospect Of relief
from one of the greatest evils which beset
society. q. &C.