The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1902-07-03
The Definite Cure of the Alcohol
II @+ Habit. "

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The Definite Cure of the Alcohol
Fl & - Habit.
Sanitary reformers have often
called attention to the encouraging
circumstance that the hereditary
tendencies Of the stimulant vice
can be easily counteracted by edu-
cational precautions, such as the
rule to avoid alcohol, even in the.
form of medical specifics, and ac-
custohing child to dread the first
steps on the road to intemperance
as the beginning of a life blighting
disease. -, l. r. =
The difficulty of total prevention
has, indeed, been considerably
overrated, but it is equally certain
that the difficulties of a complete
cure are still apt to be moderated.
The study Of the alleged perver-:
sion in the instincts of drunkards'
children has led me to doubt the
existence of any such thing as an
innate, i. e., constitutional and un-
avoidable, laundering after. strong
drink; but that craving, once es-
tablished, resembles the Fire of
Callinlcus, that would burn under
water and reproduce it's devouring
flames from a,mere spark.
Alcoholism is, in many respects,
a true physical disorder of the in
termittent type, and for period,
varying from week to a couple
of months, the convalescent has no
difficulty in keeping his pledge.
Here as elsewhere, strong moral
emotions react on the organism.
The firm resolve to conquer the
besetting vice has not been all in
vain; the tempting demon seems
to have departed. That hope may
hold its own against the first
shadows of the cloud which-gen-.
orally about the end Of the second
wee k-begins to creep over the
patients soul in the form of a
vague spell of discomfort. The
reformant declines to admit his
dependency, or tries to explain it
away, this way or that; there have
been disappointments; the debili-
tating heat in summer or the dis
NAL mists of winter may have at
fected the organ of the mind. But
the cloud remains, and its darkness
increases till the very stars of
heaven, as we'll as all earthly
CLEANS of hope, seem blotted out
Of existence. A dull, more and
more insupportable torpor paral-
ICES all vital energies, and the de-
sire for relief by the aid Of the
wanted stimulant at last reaches a
degree of vehemence that threatens
to overpower the protests of con-
science.
The most dreadful symptom of
that affection, and the main risk at
the brink of a relapse, is the per-
ception of the fact that the inten-
sity of the discomfort seems to be
slowly but steadily increasing. If
the demon even now proves all but
an overmatch for the moral ener-
gies summoned as to a last desper-
ate fight for existence-how shall
the tide of battle be turned to-mor-
row or after tomorrow, when the
enemy perhaps will return to the
charge with a legion of other
fiends?
In a crisis of that sort the hopes
of the patient, as we'll as those of
his nurses and friends, may be sus-
tanned by the confident expectation
of a respite, which experience has
proved to supervene about the end
Of the fourth day after the begin
ming of the paroxysm.
An anaesthetic, lethargy, akin
to that relieving the anguish of a
fasting cure, gives the tortured
nerves an interval of rest; there is
still a feeling of abnormal languor,
but the agony has subsidized, and
the prayer for peace is answered
by a few hours of slumber. a-a
The subsequent craving for
stimulation is not much more i'm
portant than the ''morning habit
of the habitual topper, and the least
repetition Of the poison dose at
that time tends to clinch the fet-
tiers of bondage and to forfeit the
benefit of theprevious struggle.
But, if the patient continues to
refuse any compromise, the whis-
pers of the tempter gradually be-
come less audible, and everything
depends on the possibility of aid
ing the convalescent to tide over
the transition period of the next
two or three weeks.