The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1902-12-04
ALCOHOLISM IN CHILDREN.
Startling state of Affairs Revealed
by DIR. ROubinOvitch In Euro
pean Journal.


One would think that chapter with
this heading must necessarily be a
short one. but unfortunately it is not
so, as we learn from an article on In
fantiie Alcoholism" contributed to
the Gazette des Hopitaux June 14)
by DR.. ROubinOvitch. The writer tells
us that it is not at all unusual to find
children suffering from the effects of
alcoholic drinks taken to excess, some
times by themselves, but oftener by
their parents, whose sins are thus Wis
tied upon them in accordance with
the Scriptural assertion. We translate
below part of review of DR.. Roubin-
Ovitch's article contributed to Cosmos
(July 81 by DR.. L. Menard Says this
writer:
1T is certain that alcoholism is fire.
quently found in the ancestors of cpl
leptics and insane persons. 1t is
found still oftener among the parents
of children suffering from mental
weakness, morbid obsessions, etc. and
this leads us to cases in which ner-
vous trouble brought on by congenital
intoXication shows itself in children
by dipsomania-a malady character
lied by periodical and irresistible de-
sire to drink alcohol. There is a feel
ing of acute anxiety when the child
is in the presence of wine or liquor,
and this is not allayed until the de-
sire has been satisfied. 1t is the eff
feet of hereditary transmission Of the
appetite for alcohol, which leads it's
victim to chronic alcoholism with all
q consequences.
I'VE shall get very good idea, says
ROubinOvitch, of the hereditary con-
sequences of alcoholism, so far as the
nervous system is concerned, by study
ing these statistics given by Demme:
OF 81 children in alcoholic families Sc
lected at hazard he found (besides IS
who died when only few weeks old),
IL idiots, five cases of hydrocephaly,
five epileptics, two dipsomaniacs, and
only eight normal persons.
AS a corollary of all these mental
observation-disclosures manifestations, we
find that infantile or juvenile crimi-
nality is more and more accentuated
in the families of drinkers. In Switz-
erland, half of the children in the
houses of correction had alcoholic
parents, according to an investigation
of the federal council in 1884.
alcoholism from nursing is a we'll
demonstrated clinical fact. The alco-
hol passes into the mothers milk. and
numbers of cases of illness and convul-
aionS among young children have no
other cause than the sometimes I'M
conscious alcoholism of the nurse.
in a school where the children were
from four to six years Of age, the
teacher, giving a lesson on coffee,
asked this question:
"'What do we put in Coffee
Sugar, answered several children.
Brandy said the others,
"'Children,' said the teacher, bran
dy ought not be put into coffee
81 don't put mine into the coffee
spoke up a little tot; I do like papa
and mamma; I drink it alone in my
cup, after l have finished my coffee
"Then the teacher asked: Are there
other children here who drink their
brandy in their cups?'
Five little hands were raised. And
that was the usual proportion.
"Alcohol in the form of branded
fruit, bonbons containing liquors, or
rum-soaked cake, should never be
given to children.
1--WE may often observe in nursing
children nervous troubles akin to men
nights and having no other cause than
alcoholic intoXication. But they may
also manifest acute alcoholism in the
form of actual drunkenness.
alcohol acts, then, in different ways
with children. If the child is congen-
italy tainted by the poison, it may
present a type Of degeneracy that is
in some degree due to the alcoholic
poisoning of its ancestors. Alcohol
can also lead to troubles that are more
specially attributable to its heredi-
tary influence, such as certain obses-
sions, night terrors, and particularly
dipsomania. Finally, alcoholism in
the parents gives rise to a disposition
to the same trouble in the children"
Translation made for The Literary
Digest.