THE STAGES OF DRUNKENNESS.

Dunstan Times, Issue 796, 20 July 1877, Page 4

THE STAGES OF DRUNKENNESS.

A Sunderland police sergeant once came in for a severe wigging from Mr Simpson, then on the bench, for not being able to say to what extent a prisoner was drunk. In order to be prepared on all questions of the kind in future, he wrote in his pocket book the following:— Sobriety.—When sober, there is not much disposition to talk, and a glass or two predisposes to sleep. Lively.—This state is reached by a glass or two more. .Reasoning powers good, and what is said is smart and pertinent. Fresh.—Another glass, and the drinker is still more eloquent, but less logical. His perception is still tolerably dear—beyond himself. Very Fresh.— Conversation more highly coloured ; eloquent impassioned; and the drinker overwhelms his companions with a flood of talk, and he begins to suit the action to the word. Tipsy.—Gestures very vehement; and epithets much exaggerated. Argumentative, but not rational. Words considerably abridged and ideas lamentably obscured. Very Tipsy.—Got a turn for vocal music. Speechifies in incoherent language, and evinces a most decided tendency to mischief and locomotion. Proud as a peacock, brave as a lion, and amorous as a dove. Drunk. Perversely quarrelsome, and stupidly good-natured ; dealing in shake bauds and knock downs. Tongue stammering and feet unsteady. Very Drunk.—Abortive attempts to appear sober, Sees everything double. Balance totally lost, and vocabulary''reduced to a few interiections. Stupidly drunk.—Head and stomach topsy-turvey. Eye« fixed and glaring. Utter incapacity of speech and locomotion, accompanied with an indistinct consciousness of the situation. Dead drunk.—Trying to hold on to the floor, or if asleep, confused dreams ot creditors.