Dipsomania or Thirst-Madness

Feilding Star, Volume XI, Issue 82, 4 January 1890, Page 3

Dipsomania or Thirst-Madness

The periodical desire for strong drink which sometimes besets in-iivid uals, otherw ise moral aud exemplary, is a species of -paroxysmal mama be ( ytmd the control of the patient. It ia quite oeitaiu that there are thousands '. <if cases of remittent drunkenness, which present the symptoms of disease The pen.dieat .drunkard is not a h -bitual dram diiuker. But at parti ©ular tillli he appears to be attacked wih a thirst iv i luess which depr ye. Jiiiu of *he power of volition, and hurries him into the most terrible ex ©esses. During the interval between the paroxsyms he may be a perfectly sober man. For many weeks, or evsu mouths, he m»iy have steadily refused to taste a drop of liquor ; may, in- 4 deed, have leh uo inclination for it ; t but, on the contrary, have regarded it , with disgust. Aud yet, wbeu the fit ■ comes ou, the raging thirst for alcohol utterly paralyses his conscience aud his will. A man in this condition is a monomaniac, and should be treated as oue. If put uuder proper restraint at the commencement of this furore the disposmaniao, in nne eases out of ten, might be tided over his di'ficu'ty in the course of a week, and perseverance in the course at a recurrence of the hallucination would probably eventuate iv a complete cure. It is not easy to rersuaie the world that all drunkenness is not voluntary. The law does not recognise dipsomania. It treats all inebriates alike This seems to be unjust, though it is hard to say wheie the line should be drawn between free-will excess and that which pro ceeds from an uncontrollable mania. — Mumford's Magazine.