THE PHILISOPHY OF DRUNKNESS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VI, Issue 352, 15 March 1856, Page 4

THE PHILISOPHY OF DRUNKNESS.

(From the Spec tutor.) t There are degrees i,, drunkenness, and a.so varieties; and physiolusry has been brought to bear upon the subject from a high quarter, v, a manner that must toad greatiy lo the relief of persons unhappily overtaken. When the stomach is cm >tv, ' a .single glass., of ardent spirits wou'kl produce an effect of depriving a personnot at all of the use of his senses, but of "the steady list- of his lej,V ; it would be " still more fully , o iv „i e caSe of v ver(ig , [UUS subject. lh e experiment has been >fied upo:. persons - capable of taking as ku-e a quanli.y o f wine as almost anybody," namely an er-cl.-siasiieal jud-e and a'cler^vman. J | u > liability to be affected is increased by ion^ exposure to fatigue or exercisealter shooting or hunting f and then a single glass o cherry brandy will make the party unable t., s,t 01l horseback for a quarts ol'-iinour- This lecture upon tin cxhi- ! )lU, U1' ul »«'«»-olic8 in vertiginous subjeclH IV Vn C frO1" lliei"<l.^nr-nt- S eat by the Chandler of York, on a charge against the Reverend Mr. Clarke for drunkenness, lhe case comes beiore us in the imperfect '"'•'.n of an extract IVum a provincial paper, wiucn gu-es nothing more than the remarks

f the jud^e ; but rvoin these remark? we taller ilia? Mr (lake had been Jlucused of intoxication, and had brought forward te-iti«no«iv to characicr; elucidated by mpisrht in i*ie nosology of the glass, the judge dismissed the case. So you ace not to take a man to he drunk because lie seems so. You may observe "<res(ures" which are " peculiar" and the aspect of which we sill know from observation ; vet the man who is liable to make them' involuntarily may be a person of the best character at all times, and peculiarly in his senses at that moment ; having his intellect decidedly at his command, though not his legs. Henceforward, therefore, with this light thrown upon the matter, persons who imagine that they are unsteady "on their pins" may »'o abroad without fear that they shall lo.se their character; for have they not the certificate oC an ecclesiastical judge ? " It is of course desirable," says the judge, that under circumstances of exhaustion from " locomotive "' activity, the harmless glass of wine or spirits should be avoided, since the circumstances make all the difference with respect to the singU: glass that there is " between v few drops; of prussic acid and a well flavoured peach." Mere epicutean sense, therefore, will regulate discretion in the choice or avoidance of wine, according1 to the locomotive and vertiginous condition of the subject. Unfortunately, it happens that the subject does not always know his own state. The respectable gentleman who delivers this lecture naiveiy remarks, that when he was unable from the joint effects of locomotion, vertiginosity, and cherry brandy, to sit on horseback, "• nobody but myself probably was aware of this circumstance." Persons in the condition described are very apt to nurse a hope that nobody observes it; yet what is more conspicuous than a man in the vertiginous state making peculiar gestures ? The lines of his motion in no respect coincide or run parallel with the motions of persons of ordinary condition ; the zig-zag action, the obstructive movement of the tongue, the aberrant gyrations ul the eye, while he makes ingenious endeavours to conceal his condition, are observed all round, and he alone it is who thinks that nobody perceives because everybody il takes no notice." "My own experience " fails to enlighten " the subject " on this point, because he cannot at the moment place himseif on the locus standi of the person who is non-vertiginous. The clinical lecture delivered by the judge on the body before him will be of the vertiginous habit. We can imagine a " navvy ' brought up for being drunk and disorderly, and crying to the magistrate— " My gestures were peculiar, I admit, yet I had taken no more than one 'go'; but I had been greatly exhausting my locomotive faculties, and I am a vertiginous subject." Or one of the number of men brought up periodically for beating their wives will now perceive his true deieuee ; lor, extending tie argument of the judge, he will perceive that in some vertiginous subjects the intt.'llect <is well as the legs may be temporarily incapable of marching ; and he will represent to the magistrate, that, notwithstanding his general judicious and humane character, on that peculiar occasion, under circumstances winch demand the ohariuhlc constructions (»«v«loped in the new philosophy of drunkenness, he had unhappily mistaken his wife jor a walnut tree. Certainly this use must '"- made of the judgment on the case : j unless we are to understand that there is some physiological diifere.nce between loco- j motive judges or vertiginous clergymen and Bi-dinary people like dock-labourers and navvies.