Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-10-14
Is Inebriety a Disease.
From the New York Herald.

The statement made by Dr. Crothers to
the British Medical Association at its meet
ing in Toronto that drunkenness in any
OF its forms is an evidence of insanity is
calculated to provoke renewed discussion
of still vexed question. While scientists
have generally agreed that the craving for
drink is in a certain sense a diseased con-
dition associated with mental and physical
weakness, they are hardly prepared to
adopt in their entirety the extreme and
radical views Of the author.
The drinkers will certainly resent the i'm
putation as too sweeping and too uncom-
promising. Still we must admit that there
are certain uncomfortable desires in the
liquor habit which are assured evidences
of positive physical imbeciity. These are
the extreme cases with the different grades
that lead to absolute mental alteration. If
il were otherwise 1t would be impossible
for any drunkard to reform.
In the majority of instances there Is no
doubt that the habitual drinker and the
one who yields to periodical bouts are
weak vessels. with low will power and with
an overpowering need for stimulation. So
far the habit is plainly an evidence of de-
fective resistance, but whether this can be
said to be due to purely physical or men
tai cause Is not yet clearly settled.
The predisposition may be present, but
it is by no means unconquerabie. Herein
hereditary tendencies are powerful con-
trolling factors Drunkenness is we'll known
to run in families for generations. The VIC
tim Is born weak. and is proportionately
handicapped in his subsequent struggles. II
he yields ever little to temptation he is
apt to be lost. In such a sense he is to be
pitied rather than blamed. The outbreaks
are emotional, impulsiv.. paroXysmal and
functional rather than the result of original
organic defects In the brain Itself. They
would seem to be due more to hypehsensi-
tiveness of the nervous system in general
than to purely mental causes.
The neurasthenics and the nervously ex-
hausted are, for instance, most prone to
drink. They are also apt to be confirmed
smokers. given to indulgence in mar
cotiC drugs, and are prone to run to excess
In all sorts of similar indulgences, and yet
these victims are not generally charged
with insanity. Might it not be more reason.
able to assume that insanity was a result
rather than cause of the trouble?
1t is well known that the brain becomes
affected In the long run by continued in
diligence in drink. Like the liver, kidneys
and arteries, it becomes organically affect
ed, and certain specified LESSONS can be duly
demonstrated by autopsy. There is what is
known as the wet BRAIN of the drunkard,
in which there is an effusion upon the sur
face of the organ and a thickening of the
enveioping membranes that account for the
mental hebitude of the victims. Our asy-
lums are full of such cases. but they are
received only after the work Is done.
The drinker thus starts with one dis
ease and finishes with another The pro-
pensity is in one sense a nervous ailment.
cratic explosive, often uncomfortable, and
ends as a purely organic aiiment.
Whatever view we may accept regarding
inebrlety as a veritable disease, the ques-
ton has its purely humanitarian aspect
In dealing with the drunkard as patient
rather than a criminal, in striving to cure
rather than to punish him. At least on this
point all criminologsts allenists and other
experts cordially agree.