Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-08-02
ALCOHOLISM IN CHILDREN.


one would think that a chapter with
this heading must necessarily be Il short
one but unfortunately it is not so, as
we learn from IN article ON "lnfantile
Nlcoholism,' contributed to the Gazette
tes HopitauN dune I'D by DR. Roubi-
,:cvitch. The writer tells us that it is
not at all unusual To find children sui
fering from the effects of alcoholic
drinks taken To excess, sometimes by
themselves. but oftener by their par
ents whose sins are thus visited upon
tEen in accordance with the scriptural
assertion We translate below part OF
d review of Or. Rouhinovitch's article
contributed To Cosmos (July % by of.
i. Nienard. Says this writer:
1T is certain that alcoholism is fire.
cuentiy found in the ancestors of cpl
| lcptics and insane persons. 1t is found
| still oftener among the parents of chill
aren suffering from mental weakness,
morbid obsessons, ETC.. and this leads
US to cases in which nervous trouble
brought on by congenital intoxication
shows itself in children by dipsomanio
"a malady characterized by periodical
and irresistible desire to drink alcohol.
| the child is in the presence of wine or
Ilcuor and this is not allayed until the
desire has been satisfied. II is the eff
feet Of hereditary Transmission of the
appetite for alcohol which leads it's vic
tim TO chronic alcoholism with all its
| consequences.
I'VE shall get very good idea, says
Roubinovitch, of the hereditary conse-
cuences of alcoholism, so far as the
| nervous system is concerned. by study
ling these statistics given by Demme:
OF fifty seven children in ten alcoholic
families selected at hazard he found
1besides twenty-five who died when
only a few weeks Odd twelve idiots. five
cases of hydrocephaly five epileptics,
| two clipsomaniacs and only eight nor
nal persons.
las n corollary of all these mental
! heredito- alcoholic manifestations we
find that infantle or Juvenile criminali-
tv is more and more accumulated in the
| families of drinkers. In Switzerland
| half of the children in the houses OF
| correction had alcoholic parents, ac-
cording TO an investigation of the fed
| eral council in 1884.
! Catholicism from nursing is Well
| demonstrated clinical fact. The alco-
| hol passes into the Iothers milk. and
numbers of cases of illness and convul-
SONS among young children have no
other cause than the sometimes uncon-
scious alcoholism of the nurse.
I'm a school where the children We're
| from 4 to 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. brandy
| ought not to be put into coffee
81 don't put mine into the coffee.
| spoke UP a little tot; i do like papa and
mannma I drink it alone in my cup
| after have finished my coffee.
"Then the teacher asked: Are there
other children here who drink their
brandy in their cups
Five little hands We're raised. And
that was the usual proportion.
/ "Alocohol in the form of branded
fruit, bonbons containing lqueurs. OF
/ ru,n-soaked cake, should never be given
| to children.
"we may often observe in nursing
children nervous troubles akin to men
| nights and having no other cause than
| alcoholic INVESTIGATION. But they may
a,so manifest acute alcoholism in the
| form of actual drunkenness.
..lAlcohol acts, then. in different ways
/ with children. If the child is congeni-
tally tainted by the poison, it may pre-
sent type of degeneracy that is In
some degree due to the alcoholic poi
soning of its ancestors. Alcohol can
also lead to troubles that are more spe-
cially attributable to its hereditary in
i,uence, such as certain obsessions
night terrors. and particularly dipso-
mania. Finally, alcoholism in the par
euts gives rise to disposition to the
same trouble i'm the children"