METHOD OF CURING THE HABIT OF DRUNKENNESS IN GENERAL.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 395, 7 October 1876, Page 3

METHOD OF CURING THE HABIT OF DRUNKENNESS IN GENERAL.

[by eev. e. rotee.] Ttecently, through, the columns of your valuable I gave my views on the general " caus-es of drunkenness. Allow me to say a few words on the " method of curing the habit of drunkenness." To remove the habit of drunkenness from any person in whom ithasbeen long established is a task of peculiar difficulty. We hare not only to contend against the cravings of the body, but against those of the mind; and, in struggling with both, we are in reality carrying on a battle or fight with nature itself. The system no longer performs its functions in the usual manner, and to restore these functions to their previous tone of action, is more difficult than it would be to give them an action altogether the reverse of nature and of health. The first step to be adopted is the discontinuance of all substances, or spirituous and malt liquors, which have the power of intoxicating. You will ask me, I dare say, should they be dropped at once, or by degrees ? A great many physicians think and say they ought to be given up instanter. They contend that, being in themselves injurious (the liquors), their sudden discontinuance cannot possibly be attended with harm. But their reasonings on this point, though ingenious, are not conclusive. A dark, unwholesjrne prison is a bad thing; and it has been remarked that those who have been long confined to such a place, have become ill if suddenly exposed to the light, and pure air, on recovering their liberty. Had this been done by degrees, no evil effects would have ensued. A removal from an unhealthy climate (to which years had habituated a person) to a healthy one has sometimes been attended with similar consequences. Even old ulcers cannot always be quickly healed up with safety. Drunkenness becomes, as it were, a second nature, and is not to be .rapidly changed with impunity, more than other natures. Consequently I am disposed to say that drunkards cannot leave off their bad habits suddenly without injuring their health. If we consider attentively the system of man, We will be satisfied that it accomodates itself to various states of action: it will perform a healthy action, of which there is only one state, or a diseased action, of which there are a hundred. The former js uniform, nnd homogeneous.' It may be raised o? lowered, according to the slate of the circulation, but its nature is ever the same. When that changes, when it assumes new characters, it is no longer the action of health, but of disease. The latter may be multiplied to infinity, aud varies with a thousaud circumstances such as the. organ which is affected, and the substance whic h is taken. .Now drunkenness, in the long run, is one of those diseased actions. The system no longer acts with its original purity—it is operated upon by a fictitious excitement, and, in tho course- of time, assumes a state quite foreign to its original constitution ; an action which, however unhealthy, becomes ultimately in some measure natural. When an individual uses malt or spirituous liquors for a long time he cannot immediately get rid of it, because it has given rise to a false action in the syslem, which would suffer a sudden disorder if deprived of its accustomed stimulants. Disease, under such circumstances, triumphs over health, and has established so strong a hold upon the body that it is dislodged with difficulty by its lawful possessor. When a person wishes to get rid of spirits, &c, to .which he is accustomed, he must do so by degrees, and let the healthy action gradually expel the disordered one. Consequently I am inclined to think that, in many cases at least, it would beimproperand perhaps dangerous, to remove intoxicating liquors all at once from the drun kard. However, I do not mean to say that there are no cases in which it would be necessary to drop spirituous drinks all at once. When much bodily vigor remains, when the morning or evening cravings for the bottle are not irresistible, nor the appetite altogether broken, the individual should give over his bad habits instantly. This is a state of beginning drunkenness. He has not yet acquired the constitution of a confirmed drunkard, and the sooner be ceases the better. In general, the immediate abandonment of drinking may also take place when there is any organic disease, such as dropsy, enlarged liver, &c. Under these circumstances the sacrifice is much less than at a previous period, as the frame iias,. in a great measure, lost its powers of withstanding spirituous or mait liquors, and the relish for them is also considerably lessened. But even then the sudden deprivation of the accustomed stimulant has been known to produce dangerous exhaustion, and it has been found necessary to give it.again, though in more moderate quantities. Drunkards who have no particular disease, unless a tremor ar.d a loss of appetite, in my opinion, require to be deprived of the bottle b} degrees. Their system would be apt to fall into a state of torpor if it were suddenly taken away, and several mental diseases, such as melancholy, madness, delirium tremens, &c. might even be the result. With such drunkards I must acknowledge that there is very great difficulty in getting their potationsdiminished : very few of them have fortitude to submit to any reduction. There are many individuals that cannot be called drunkards who, nevertheless indulge pretty freely in the bottle, though after reasonable intervals. Such individuals usually possess health, and resist intoxication powerfully. Here the stomach and system in general lose their irritability, in the same way as in confirmed drunkards; bu.t this is more from torpor than from weakness. The springs of life become less delicate ; the pivots on which they move get, as it were, clogged ; and, though existence goes on with vigor, it is not the bounding and elastic vigor of perfect health. This proceeds, not from debility, but from torpor ; the muscular fibre becoming, like the hands of a farmer or miner, hardened and blunted in its sensibilities. Such are the effects brought on by frequent use of narcotic or spirituous agents, but an excessive use in every case gives rise to weakness. This the system can only escape by a proper interval being allowed to elapse between indulgences : but if dose be heaped on dose, before it has time to rally from former exhaustion, it becomes more and more debilitated ; the blood ceases to circulate with its wonted force; the secretions get defective, and the tone of the living fibre daily enfeebled. A debauch fevers the system, and no individual can stand a perpetual succession of fevers without injuring himself, and at last destroying liffi: In the long run drunkenness changes

its character. Tbe sensations of the drunkard, when intoxicated, are nothing in point of pleasure to those of the habitually temperate individual in the same condition. A man drinks at first for the serenity which is diffused over his mind, and not from any positive love he bears to the liquor. But, in the course of time, the influence of the latter in producing gay images is deadened. It ~h then chiefly a mere animal fondness for drink which actuates him : he likes the taste of it, as a child likes sweets or cakes, a;:d his stomach, for a series of years perhaps, has been so accustomed to an unnatural stimulant that it cannot perform its functions properly without it. In such a case my opinion is that liquour couid not be suddenly removed with safety. Sometimes the habit will be checked by operating skilfully upon the mind. If the drunkard has a feeling heart, much may be done by representing to him tlie state of misery into which he will plunge himself, his family, and his friends. By a strong etfort some individuals have given up, at once, drinking spirituous liquors, &c, in consequence of such representations, tiome drunkards have attempted to cure themselves by the assumption of voluntary oaths or solemn promises. They go before a clergyman or a Magistrate, and pledge themselves that for a certain period they shall abstain from intoxicating liquors of any kind ; and it is but just to state that these solemn promises or oaths arc sometimes strictly enough kept. They are. however, much oftener broken, the physical cravings for the bottle provailing over whatever religious obligation may have been entered into. Such a proceeding is, id my opinion, very absurd, and rfever answers the purpose of effecting anything like a radical cure; for, although the individual abides by bis solemn promise, it is only to resume .his old habits more inveterately than ever the moment it expires. (To le continued,.)