Year: 1875

| tion. If a bottle of brandy stood at
| one hand and the pit of hell yawned at
| the other, and were convinced that I
should be pushed in as sure as I took
| one glass, could not refrain The


late DIR. r. D. Mussy, of Cincinnati,


relates another case. A few years ago
| a tippIer was put in an alms-hOuse in
this State. Within few days he had
tried various expedients to get rum and
| failed. At length, however, he hit
upon one which was successful. He


we Mt into the woodward of the estab-
| lishment, placed one hand upon the
| block, and with an axe in the other
struck it off with single blow. With
! the stump raised and streaming, he ran
into the house and cried, Get me rum!
| Get me rum my hand is off. In the
confusion and hustle of the occasion, a
bowl of rum was brought, into which


he plunged the bleeding member of his


body; then, raising the bowl to his


mouth, drank freely and exuitlngly ex-
claimed, Now am satisfied ! DR.. j.


3. Turner relates a case of gentleman
who, while under treatment for lnebri-
ETY., during four weeks secretly drank
the alcohol from six jars containing
morbid specimens. On asking him
why be committed this lOathsOme act,
he replied: Sir, it is as impossible for
me to control this diseased appetite as
it is for me to control the puIsations of
my heart.


Almost every one can point out,
among his acquaintances, one or more
cases of this morbid craving for drink.
Can we consider it anything but an ire
gistible impulse that makes a man risk
everything health. friends, fortune,
and, more than all, the happiness of
his wife and children, and his own self
respect, in order to crafty this appetite?
What sane man would subject himself
to the agOnies of body and mind which
the indulgence always entails, and
which he knows always entails, upon
the indulger? A young friend of mine,
who has been habituated to 'sprees,'
for some years, had abstained for six
months. He went TO bed one night at
his house, under circumstances in no
wise different to those to which he had
be Il accustomed. At l o'clock he got
up, went up town and entered upon
spree OF six weeks duration. Another
friend, on the evening previous to his
marriage to a most estimable lady, who
had consented to the marriage only on
his most solemn promise to reform,
was in beastly state of intoxication,
though he knew that if it were discov-
cred the happiness of his whole future
life would be wrecked.


"The mania for drink may rest in
various degrees of intensity, just as any
other mania may be either very mild in
It's degree or very violent. It is also
evident that it may have many inf1u-
ences at work in its production. The
disease has recently been made the sub
iect of inves tigatio for its etiOlOgy to
be clearly understood. Some points,
however, have been pretty definitely
settled.


"Heredity has for long time held
prominent place in the list of causes.
The fact OF numerous drunkards being
found in the same family could not be
overlooked. And heredity does IN
dOUbtedly play an important role in the
causatiOn of the disease, but not always
as pu5e inherited dipsomania.


''The clinical history of the affection
places it among the Deurosis, and we
fnd that its causes and the laws govern
ing its development also give it simi-
lar place. AS an inherited neUrosis
may display itself in one member or
III AL4Cu Vi a. 1dlullN III Juo 10TH Oh al
epilepsy, in another in general insanity,
In another IN some simple eccentricity
or marked mOnOmania, so undoubtedly
in many cases dipsomania may be only
a manifestation of a neurOtic diathesis
which has existed in his prOgenitOrs in
an entirely different type. And, on the
other hand, it seems highly probable
in fact, it is in strict accordance with
this law of inherited neurOsis-tbat the
dipsOmaniac may bequeath to his off
spring some nervous disease widely diff
ferent from his own, as a marked pre-
disposition to hysteria on the part of
females, or, as has been frequently OBJ
served, epilepsy or idiOcy. 1t Is as
much perhaps, to the operation of this
Law of Inheritance as to the general de-
cay OF the vital powers that the oft
occurrence of these forms of disease in
the families OF drUnkards must be at
tributed.


Physical disease has an important
influence in the production of morbid
craving for alcoholic drinks. DR..
Brown, in his testimony before the
committee of parliament, said L have
known dipsOmania to be produced by
injuries of the brain in perfectly sober
men also, I have seen it produced by
sunstrOke and other causes. saw a
case of a sober man who became a dip
somaniac by taking a draft of cold
water on a hot day which caused faint
ing and an entire change of character.


81 have a friend, a physician, who
told me that often he was able to tell
when an attack of dipsomania was i'm
minent. He felt bilious; and frequent
ly he had been able to forestalI the at
tack by taking a mercUriaI. There are
also other disturbances, especially of
the nervous system, which led to
craving of artificial stimulus in some
of the forms of alcohol.


'' But by far the most active agent in
the production of the disease is the use
of alcohol itself. The exact maoner in
which this is brought about is not
clearly understood, but il must be
through the agency of the nervous sys-
TEN. Let the dipsOmaniac take ever
so little alcohol, and Immediately an
irresistible craving seizes him for more.
It Is well known of some kinds of
drinkers that if they take one glass they
are gone know a most estimable
man, a man of fine attaiEments and
liberal in culture who tolls me that he
does not take a glass of beer for fear OF
bringing on an attack of dipsOmaDIa.
Some years ago he visited an inebrlate
institution and afterwards abstalned
for some six or seven years. He was
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