Year: 1875

my heart.


" Almost every one can point ont,
among his acquaintances, one or more
cases Of this morbid craving for drink.
Can we consider it anything bat an ire
s1stlble impulse that makes a man risk
every ything-health, friends, fortune,
and, more than all, the happiness OF
his wife and children, and his own self
respect, IN order togratify 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? q? A young friend of mine,
who has been habituated to sprees,
for some years, had abztained for siz
months. He went to bed one night at
his house, under circumstances in no
wise different to those to which he had
be n accustomed. At 1 o'clock he got
| up, went up town and entered upon q
spree of six weeks duration. Another
| friend, on the evening previous to his
marriage to q most estimable lady, who
| had consented TO the marriage opfv on
his most solemn promise to reform.
was In besstly state of intozication,
I 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
its degree or very violent. It is also
| evident that it may have many infiu-
ences at work in its production. The
| disease has recently been made the sub
| iect of investigation for its etiology to
| be clearly understood. Some points,
| however, have been pretty definitely
settled.


"Heredity has for long time held a
! 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 un-
| doubtedly play an important role in the
causation of the disease, but not always
as pure inherited dipsomania.


"The clinical history of the affection
| places it among the neurosis, and we
| find that its causes and the laws govern
! ing its Development also give it SINH
lar place. As an inherited neurosis
may display itself in one member or
branch of a family in the form of an
epilepsy, in another in general insanity,
IN another in some simple eccentricity
or marked monomania, so undoubtedly
IN many cases dipsomania may be only
/ q A2eAAAC1Nd1lOAl VI y ubuIOblC OAhIuCblS
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 nauFOsis-that 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. Il 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 1have
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. I saw a
case OF a sober man who became a dip
sOmaniao by taking a draft of cold
water on hot day which caused faint
ing and an entire change of character


4 have a friend, physician, who
told me that often he was able to tell
when an attack of dipsomania was im-
minent. He felt bilious; and frequent
ly he had been able to forestall the at
tack by taking a mercurial. There are
also other disturbances, especially of
the nervous system, which led to q
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 manner in
which this is brought about is not
clearly understood, but it must be
through the agency of the nervous sys-
tenn, Let the dipsomaniao 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.' l know a most estimable
man, a man of fine attainments and
liberal in culture who tells me that he
does not take n glass of beer for fear of
bringing on an attack of dipsomania.
Some years ago he visited an inebriate
institution and afterwards abstained
for some six or seven years. He was
troubled, however, with a very painful
affection OF the rectum, and for its re-
lief took chloroform. AS soon as he
recovered from the chlorofOrm marco,
sis, he felt the irrepressible desire for
alcohol, which In spite of everything he
gratified, though he was fully aware of
the disastrous consequence that would
inevitably follow.


d" It would thus appear that it is not
the peculiar AND special action of alco-
hOl on the nervous system that arouses
the desire, but some changes in the
nutrition of the nerve centers, which
agents other than alcohol can bring
about.


elf we have arrived at the correct
pathology of the affective, its treat
ment need not detain us long. When
we come to recognize dipsOmania as a
disease, and not vice, we are on the
high road to the accomplishment of
good in its rational treatment.


Obviously the frat thing to do is to
remove the causes, and as these may be
various, each case should be made
subject of special and close study.
OF course the question of inebriate
asylums comes in here with pertinancY.
The advantages OF these are admirably
summed up by DR.. D. T. Crother5, of
Albany, n. Y, in an article in the
American Practitioner, for November,
1874, as follows:


They will enable the patient TO
isolate himself from all excitement and
allow complete rest of the nervous
system. They remove all care and re.
sponsibility from the patients mind,
except that of recovering his lost health
and make him a party with the pbysi-
clan to bring about this result. This
of itself is a powerful factor in the
treatment. Hospitals and asylums
give the medical man complete control
over the habits and surroundings of the
patient, and offer facilities for superior
hygienio and medical treatment.


Some New French Aphorisms.