DR. WINSLOW ON DIPSOMANIA.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume XII, Issue 537, 26 December 1867, Page 3

DR. WINSLOW ON DIPSOMANIA.

(From the 8. M. Herald.) That drunkenness is a disease is generally overlooked, and many persons are ready to denounce, or punish inebriates, rather than to try to cure them. Dr Winslow, however, takes a more scientific view of the matter and regards uncontrollable or uncontrolled habits of intemperance as the result of te. elral disease.

It is in vain that appeals are addressed to the intellect or conscience of the victims of this disease. The desire for strong drink is their master, their wills are paralysed, and they are really no longer in a sane condition. There are different stages of this disease. In some cases the irresistible desire for alcoholic drink comes on only occasionally, but in the worst forms of the malady it is ever present. l That the tendency of the habitual use of drugs which have a special action on the brain must be to produce disease of that organ cannot be disputed. No better proof of this is needed than what we have in the case of confirmed inebriates.

What has brought them into their pre- - sent condition ? The habitual use of some form of aloholic drink. Their present state was not created in a day, a month, or a year, it has been a work of time. Tn some cases it has required the habitual me of alcoholic drink for many years to pro*' duce that amount of cerebral disease which Decisions the insane desire for intoxicating* drink. The early stages of this disease are generally disregarded, or the symptoms are so obscure that they are not observed. But in every part of the country, we may find men and women following the course which will in time render them confirmed dipsomaniacs. Dr Winslow says “ It is not easy in many cases to discover with exactness the fans et origo mail of this malady. The injurious habit of tippling may be traced to a variety of It often originates in early life, even during the days of childhood. The pernicious practice of permitting or encouraging young children 1 sip a little wine ’ out of their father’s or mother’s glass during the hour’s of dinner is a mistaken act of kind* ness, and cannot be to highly condemned,” i

It is a practice from which no good can' possibly result, and which may create in children that belief in the goodness of strong drink and that habit of using it, ■which may end in the dipsomania* There can be no excuse for giving children wine or other intoxicating drink, except ignorance of the nature of the drink and cf its action when introduced into the human body. Dr Winslow refers to experiments as to the different action of an orange and a glass of wine. The experiments have been ascribed to the late John Hunter, but whoever was the experimenter the results are interesting. The account is as follows

** -A. late ingenious surgeon, occupied for ft great part of hia life in experiments equally well conceived and accurately executed, gave to one of the children a full glass of sherry every day after dinner for a week. To another nearly of the same ftge, and under similar circumstances, he gave a large China orange for the same space of time. At the end of the week he found a very material difference in the pulse, the heat of the body, and the natural secretions of the two children. In the first, the pulse was quickened, the heat increased, the renal secretion Was highly colored, and the evacuations were destitute of bile; whilst the second had every appssrascs of high Health. Sa then reversed the experiment. To the firstmentioned child ho gave the orange, and to the other the wine. The effects followed as before—a striking and demon, etrative proof of the pernicious effects of vinous liquors on the constitution of children in full health.” Dr Winslow adds: —“ The deficiency of bile is full evidence of the injurious effect of the wine upon the digestive organs in this double experiment," Every effort should be made to train up the young to avoid the use of strong drink, so that as the present victims of alcohol die o£ there may be no recruits to fill up the ranks of intemperance. It is true* that many children who have been trained up abstainers have afterwards taken to the use of strong drink. This is to be de-

jplored, but the parents have the consola- ' tion of knowing that if thier children do become the slaves of strong drink, it is in spite of their training, and not in consequence of it. Dr Winslow is of opinion that tbs chronic habit of intoxication has often owed its origin to the influence of drinking songs over the minds of weak persons who wished to be thought “good company” and “jolly fellows.” There is no doubt that by convivial meetings and the drinking customs of society the appetite for strong drink is engendered ana in or eased, ana a constant supply of tiie slaves of intemperance is lurnislieu. There are many causes at work leading to the use of alcoholic drink, and the drink, by its action on the bodies, minds, and circumstances of the people, causes a larger amount of suffering than wo will attempt to calculate or describe. What can be done to remove the evil P —to cure the dipsomaniacs and preserve the sober! The only effectual cure for dipsomania is abstinence from intoxieatin liquor, and this is also the only absolute preservative for the sober. It is no leducation, no position in society, nor even piety, which will prevent the slow, insidious, poisonous action of alcohol upon the brain. The right principle is to avoid |it altogether. It may bo said that the course is very ultra—it is going the other extreme. Cannot strong drink be used in moderation ? It certainly can be used moderately j only the fact is that while people are using this bewitching liquor moderately, in many persons a love for it will be established, a morbid action will be set up in the brain, dipsomania will be produced, and then it will be discovered that wine is a mocker, and that at last it can bite like a serpent and sting like an adder. All the dipsomaniacs began with moderate draughts—they never intended to be what they are. And as long as alcohol retains its power to produce drunkenness, and human nature remains what it is—if men will persevere in the use of alcoholic liquor, intemperance will continue to destroy the bodies and souls of the people. Notwithstanding all the evils flowing from the use of strong drink, apd the clearly demonstrated physical and and social advantages arising from its entire disuse, it has still a mighty hold upon the bulk of the community. All agree that drunkenness is a great evil, but the majority sanction the use of that which produces it; or in other words, drunkenness is one of the evil consequences of using liquors which all persons except the teetotalers approve of. It is, however, perfectly clear that the way to cure the intemperate is to induce them to take the pledge and abandon the use of intoxicating liquors. Tbisjsimple expedient has been blessed in the reformation of thousands who were once miserable drunkards. These reformed characters are living witnesses to the fact that drunkards may be cured, and that teetotalism is the appropriate remedy. This way of curing intemperance is applied at all our temperance meetings, and by appeals to the understanding and affections, men and women are induced to adopt our principles, and are saved from all the evil consequences connected with the use of strong drink. But there are thousands of persona who have so far injured themselves by the use of strong dring, that they are so infirm of purpose, so weak-minded, that when they take the abstinence pledge they cannot keep it. For these persons sanatoria are required, where for a time they may be preserved from the temptations to drink, and where by judicious treatment and example, they may be emancipated from the horrid slavery of evil habit. There are already several places where the intemperate may voluntarily subject themselves to curative treatment, and no doubt the number of such places will increase as their usefulness becomes more generally known. something more is wanted. Some inebriates are not to be reached by any appeals. Dr Winslow says, “ The majority of the unhappy persons are insanely unconscious of their condition, and studiously resist every appeal that may be addressed to them. The voice of reason, and even threats of certain ruin and death, have no influence over them.” In the case of these persons, Dr Winslow says, “It would be necessary to have recourse to some form of compulsoiy confinement and detention.” In order to effect this, legal enactments must be obtained, and at present the prospects for temperance legislation are not very bright. But drunkards are perishing ; let us then do all that we can to save them, by all the means of legislative action and moral suasion which Providence has placed at our disposal. [Dr Forbes Winslow has published a series of letters bearing the title “ Uncon> trollablo Drunkenness considered as a form of Mental Disorder, with suggestions for its treatment, and the Organisation of Sanatoria for Dipsomania."]