THE INEBRIETY QUESTION.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1211, 21 August 1911, Page 6

THE INEBRIETY QUESTION.

MEDICAL INSPECTOR'S REPORT.

WOMEN AND ALCOHOLISM, *

Dr. \\, E. Jones, inspector of inebriates' institutions of Victoria, in tho course of a report which was laid on the table in the Victorian Legislative Assembly on August B, stale's that the Inebriates Act has mado it possible for the Government to establish two institutions inlo which it is 110 degradation for a drunkard to go —a factor in the treatment of drink and drug disorders which it is impossible to over-estimate. Tho keynote of tho Act is cure—of the institutions themselves regeneration. Thero is nothing to suggest punishment, or to give an inmate tho idea that ho has lowered himself in tho eyes of his fellow men.

Dr. Jones adds: "If any attempt is to bo mado to deal with tho question of the drink traffic on sensible lines, it seems to mo essential that all wino bars and spirit vaults should be entirely dispensed with, and that tho salo of intoxicants should only bo permitted in restaurants and hotel dining rooms—in short, in those places where food also can bo procured. Something in this direction might be achieved by legislation insisting that wherever drink is to bo sold across a bar there should bo available such simpio stimulants as freshly-made tea, coffee, or soup. In this very simpio way something could bo done to mitigato the evils of "shouting," and the pernicious habit which has arisen amongst business men, commercial travellers, and others of concluding their dealings with a drink.

"It is greatly to be regretted, but nevertheless it. seems abundantly clear that the female sex is becoming more and more addicted to the abuse of alcoholism, and this is the more to be deplored inasmuch a:i its effects on the rising generation will bo most disastrous, for the inheritance of any neurosis is more potent foT ill if it bo transmitted through tho female line. In coming to this adverse opinion, I am guided more particularly by tho experience that th.s hospitals fcr tho insane afford, for therein of lata years one 'sees more and more cases' of polyneuritic psychosis (Korsakoff), entirely attributable to alcohol, presenting singularly well marked symptoms, and, amongst others, sterility; possibly in these cases not its worst feature, but nevertheless pointing most clearly to the ill effects that will result if women aro exposed to the temptations of drink. In this direction one can only a'k and wonder how great is'tho evil wrought by grocers' licenses."

Such drugs as morphia arid cocaine, says Dr. Jones, should not bs supplied by chemists without a physician's prescription, and it should be the duty of tho physician to see that the permit is not abused.

The Government inebriates' retreat at Lara cost the State about .£100(1 for maintenance during 1910. As 12G patients wero admitted, the cost per head to the Government was something liko £8. Tho remainder of the cost was received from patients themselves and from tho produce of the farm. * , The following table gives tho history of tho patients after treatment:— From Admitted July, 1907, During to Dec., 1910. 1910.. Doinfj-well 44 112 Not improved 27 10S Improved 9 52 Still in institution 25 25 Dead ' i 14 Insane 2 7 Order rescinded — ' 2 Not heard from 3 11 Discharged too recently to judgo 12 12 126 311