The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1902-07-30
THE GREAT DESTROYER
SOME STARTLING FACTS ABOUT
THE VICE Of lNTEMPERANcE.

A Scottish Expert Says That the Exess
sivs Csc OF Alcoholic Ssimuiants Causes
an Undas Amount Of Mental Diseas~.
MaaufactnTanG Social Burdsas.
William p. Spratling, M. D., Superinten-
dent Of the Craig Colony for Epileptic&
writes % follows: In the eighty eighth an.
nual report of the Royal Morningside Asy-
lum at Edinburgh, Dr. T. s. Clouston. tho
very distinguished and able Superintendent
of the institution. says about alcohol as
cause OF insanity:
II cannot myself get over the conclusion
that the excessive use Of alcoholic stimu-
lants during times Of brisk trade and high
wages hss to large extent been the cause
of the undue amount OF mental disease
which we have been called on to treat this
year. We had, as i matter OF fact, lI5
cases, or about a quarter OF our whole
number OF admissions, IN whom drink was
assigned as either the sole or as a contribu.
tory cause Of the disease. II the admission
of men alone are looked at, eighty-one, or
abou. onc-third OF them. were alcoholic
cases. have never had experience OF any.
thing approaching this before. aud should
fail in my duty il, seeing more OF the terri
bic effects OF excessive alcoholic drinking
in destroying honor and reason and SELF
control than almost anything else in Scot
land. did not strongly draw attention to
fact so disgraceful to US as community.
The mental doctor sees the very worst that
alcohol can do.
mo bodily disease, no family ruin, no
social catastrophe is 50 bad as the destruc.
ton of mind. II 10 certain that for every
man in whom excessive drinking causes abb
solute insanity there are twenty in whom
it Injuries the brain. blunts the moral sense
and lessons the capacity for work in lesser
degrees. The brain generally, and espe--
cially its mental functions, suffer first, and
suffer most from alcohol in excess. Ignor.
ance of this fact, thoughtlessness, present
enjoyment of its effects, the temptations OF
the possession OF money. bad environments,
dangerous social customs and hereditary
brain instability are the chief determining
factors why men drink TO such excess that
they become insane. When in any commu-
nifty there is large class to whom pros
perity always means excessive indulgence
in drink and defiance OF natural and moral
law, it means that higher sort OF educa.
ton is needed or that degeneration has set
in. Mental inhibition 10 the very highest
and most important brain quality, the salt
without which social decay IN inevitable.
Without an average natural endowment OF
this quality q man thereby exhibits moral
imbecility. Excessive use OF alcoholic or
other brain stimulants such . man 10 espe-
cially prone to, and it soon finishes Oh his
usefulness, 80 that he becomes q criminal.
0 loafer or o lunatic. Henceforth he is
burden or . curse to the community.
"Or il we take the man who originally
had an average inhibitory power, but who
has deliberately thrown 1t away BY the ex.
cessive use Of alcohol, he too soon becomes
a social burden and nuisance. Han society
no remedy in the way OF prevention OF
such causes OF insanity? can imagine .
politician or lawyer Of the doctrinlire sort
saying that true conception OF liberty
necessarily implies the liberty for man
to drink himself to death II be can aEotd
TO do 80 ut his own expense But it looks
to even q plain man an irrational applica.
ton Of the doctrine Of liberty to say that
der himself burden on other people, ana
a source OF degradation and danger 70 the
community by any means whatever. Many
people state very confidently that no legs
iatiye or State means can possibly dimin-
ish the injurious drinking Of alcohol. Such
persons cannot have seriously looked at tho
effects Of the recent laws in regard to drink
in Norway and Sweden, and other facts
set out in that mine Of facts on the sub
iect - Messrs. Rowntree and Sheswells
book. Our recent Tnebriates Act is al.
most dead letter. and Lord Peeps report
remains as yet an interesting subject OF
academic discussion. The two authors
mentioned have flooded US with authenti.
Gated statistics, yet nothing is seriously
tried legislatiyely to stop the hundreds OF
thousands Of people who thus poison their
brains. Convictions for being drunk and
incapable steadily increase in Scotland;
nv alcoholic luaatics have risen from an
average Of fifteen and half per cent: in
the years lS74-sS to twenty-one and hall
Der cent. in lSs9-98. TO twenty-five and .
half per cent. in 1899, and now to twenty
four and half in 1900, all this apparently
resulting from the prosperity OF the coun-
try, and yet the politician cries, non pos
sumus.
Our profession OF medicine Is unani"
NOUS in demanding some effective lesisla-
ton on the matter"