The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-06-01
The sphygmograph.


The SphyGm
Some physicians, more particularly
those who have never used it, are
skeptical as to the value of the
sphygrnograph; but I am sure that it
has often afforded me indications for
treatment which would otherwise have
escaped me. In dipsomania, the I'M
happy subjects are too often supposed
to resort to drink in consequence of
mere morbid impulse; but if the sphyg
morgraph were used, it would often be
found that impulse has a physical
basis in the shape of heart failure,
and that the Sinking feeling pleaded
eXtenuation is not pretext only. One
tracing" the Doctor says, shows a
good example of this condition. it was
taken from lady who was brought
to me, after the failure of numerous
treatments, in the hope that 1 would
counsel her confinement in a home
The tracing suggested the trial of
heart tonic, and l advised a mixture
of coca, hydrastic Canadensis, and
digitaliS, and, of course, total abstin-
ence. 1 was able to follow her case
for eight months, and, although on two
occasions (for an liberated sore throat
and for bronchitis, following influenza)
port wine was given, and the bottle al
lowed eXperimentally to remain at her
discretion, there has been no relapse.
Such a result would be satisfactory in
ordinary alcoholism; in dipsomania it
is remarkable"
Heart depression, however, is only
one of the factors Of this craving which
is purely physical and as such has to
be carefully distinguished in practice
from mere moral impulses arising from
the desire of self-indulgence or from
dangerous company or other occasions
to which the habitual debauchee re-
spends sensitiVely. DR.. jennings does
not pretend that there is any adequate
physiological treatment for the latter
class of subjects. LAS with morphia,
this treatment presupposes a real de-
sire to give up alcohol, and is only.
therefore, applicable to a certain class
of caseS-those that are willing to al
low themselves to be directed"
On the other hand, vicious habit long
continued naturally gives rise to that
obscure physiological disturbance
that physical distress which consti-
tutes the craving. It's best parallel is
the nerve storm preceding fits of cpl
lepsy. When it appears on the horizon
of the spree consciousness, he
will naturally not recognize it for what
it is but his whole attention will be
turned toward the alcohol which he
knows, from previous experience, will
allay his restlessness. Nothing is more
common than to hear such men, whose
fits of alcoholism resemble nothing so
much as recurrent mania, assure their
friends that they never get drunk I'M
less deliberately, when they are bored
beyond measure. 1t might dispose
them to submit to treatment. if they
could he fn haf
dom to be physical restlessness as
amenable to treatment as any other
nerve storms.
Removing the Cause.
This willingness to be treated (Which
should, of course, be based on the
clear understanding that the treatment
it really scientifc) will often enable
patients to renounce their addiction
with an ease they had never before
thought possible. 1 recently treated
with complete success a lady who
through reverses of fortune and com
pulsory inactivity (she had previously
been a great horsewoman) had become
addicted to whisky which she was de-
sirous for the sake of her children to
give up. 1t is difficult to measure the
intensity of an addiction, and the
value, therefore, of the method OPP
posed to 1t; put 1t can be done lndl-
Fectly by the failures of the treat
ments previously tried. In this case
for more than a year every specialist
had been consulted in vain, and all
treatments. including DR.. Sapeliers
horse serum, had totally failed
In accordance with the recent views
of Dr. Haig Dr. Jennings long since
came to the conclusion that the irrita-
BILE weakness in the craving accompa-
MES an influx of uric acid into the cir
culation; and he has made the use of
bicarbonate of soda and the Turkish
bath, already so well known to hard
drinkers from mere experience, impor-
tant elements in assuaging the nerve
storm and forestalling it, II have no
hesitation in saying that outside of
the morphia habit 1 have several
times saved life by the administration
of a teaspoonful of bicarbonate of
soda, which is. under certain condi-
lions, a powerful tonic to the heart and
circulation-that is, whenever slug
gishness of these organs depends upon
acidity." Attention is also paid to di-
recting the diet In the sense of vege-
tarianism and abstinence from the use
of salt. Cerebral galvanism has also
been applied with profit. The doctor
protests against the consideration of
e,,cb rnaans upplfed To an end definite