The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1913-05-10
DOMAIN OF TEMPERANCE.
Al PHYSICIANS NOTION or THE
EVILS or DRINK.

The evil person does whilst drunk
is morally imputable to him provided
he foresees, even probably, that he will
commit it, writes Dr. O'MalIey in the
American Ecclesiastical Review.
Criminal actions are especially
chargeable against the drunkard, as
murder, assault, damage Of property,
unchastity, scandal, neglect of family,
and the like Evil speech in the form
Of contempt may not be grave sin, as
no one seriously heeds a drunken
man; but blasphemy and obscene.
speech are attributable to him as they
are intrinsically evil. These deeds and
words are not voluntary in act, but
they are in cause. (Cf ST. Thomas. g..
2, q. $50, a..
The. physical and moral evil done
child which is conceived in drunk
enness, or is the offspring of chronic
alcoholic, is imputable to the drunk
ard in greater or less degree accord
ing to the drunkard's knowledge.
AS was shown above, so grammes
OF alcohol taken at daily sitting Ca
pint of c1aret, half-tumblerfuT of
Whiskey) brings on all the somatic in
Jurtes of chronic alcoholism, although
the drinker may not become drunk in
the meaning of the term as used by
moral theologians. The bodily dis
eases, the loss of working power, the
injury done society and offspring can
all become mortal sins in themselves
apart from any notion of technical in
eDr1at1on. Sometimes, even a pint of
American beer taken daily at a meal
for IL days will so longest the kidneys
OF middle-aged man, who has been
proved to be healthy by frequent pre-
Vlous examinations, that casts will ap-
pear in his urine where none before
existed. In such cases a pint of beer
daily is dangerous excess, and where
family is dependent on the man the
excess is grave sin; just what degree
would constitute mortal sin in this
case would have to be judged special
ly. To take drug in a quantity suffi-
Client to cause chronic Inflammation of
the liver or kidneys, degeneration of
the nerves, and the like, can evidently
become mortal sin, apart from any
notion of drunkenness as a deprivation
OF consciousness, provided the person
knows that he is bringing on these
bodily diseases.
Chronic alcoholism, as far as the
body is concerned, is evidently dis
ease, as tuberculosis or nephritis are
diseases; but it is self-inflicted dis
ease, as the cutting off of a finger to
escape military service is a self-in-
nlcted disease, or mutilation. AS the
acquisition of the disease of chronic
alcoholism is the result of a series of
immoral acts, the fact that it is a
grave physical disease adds to the
moral turpitude Like syphilis acuuir-
ed In brothel, it is not only a dis
ease, it is also vice and a crime.
The chronic alcoholic and the syphi-
l1tlcs may repent their original i'm
moral acts, but they seldom advert
to the fact that the bodily degenera-
ton in itself is also a determination
which demands moral satisfaction.
The alcoholic cirrhosis, nephritis.
neuros1s, mental hebetude, the swarm
ing heredity of physical evils handed
down to children and children's chill
dren, and so on, are each separate
vice or crime. Hence, Aristotle said
The drunkard deserves double pun
ishment;;' and Sir Edward Coke, AS
for drunkard, who is voluntarius
daemon, he hath no privileges there
by; but what hurt or i'll soever he
doth, his drunkenness doth aggravate
it,
When one commits an immoral act
he falls into the sins that naturally
follow from this act, inasmuch as the
immoral act embraces the proximate
chances of committing these sins.
Whoever, then, culpably grows drunk
takes upon himself, besides the sub
stantial malice of drunkenness, its ac-
cidental and derivatiVe malice, by ex-
posing himself to the danger of COM
hitting these resulting immoral acts,
or of emitting the good he should
normally do"