METHOD OF CURING THE HABIT OF DRUNKENNESS IN GENERAL.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 397, 20 October 1876, Page 3

METHOD OF CURING THE HABIT OF DRUNKENNESS IN GENERAL.

[by eev. e. eoyeb.J Many persons become drunkards from family broils : they find no comfort at borne, and gladly seek for it out of doors. In such cases it will be almost impossible to break the habit. The domestic sympathies and affections, which oppose a barrier to dissipation and wean away the 'mind from the bottle, have here no room to act. When tho mother of a family becomes addicted to drink the case is very afflicting; home, instead of being the seat of comfort and order, becomes a hell; the social circle is broken up, and all its happiness destroyed. In this case there is no remedy but the removal of the drunkard. Man is very much the creature of babit. By drinking regularly at certain times be feels the longing for liquor at the stated i return of those periods—as after dinner, or immediately before going to bed, or whatever the period may be. He even feels it in certain companies, or in a particular inn or public house at which he is in the habit of taking his libations. I know a man who could never pass a pubr lie house on the roadside without entering it and taking a glass, and who, when after a violent effort he succeeded in getting beyond the spot, straightway returned to reward himself with a bumper for bis resolution. It is an excellent rule for drunkards to break all such habits. Let tho frequenter of taverns, public houses, and other drinking assemblages leave ofF attending these places. If he must drink, j let him do so at home, where there is every likelihood his potations will be less liberal. Let him also forswear the society of drinking companions, either in his own house or in theirs. Let him,'if he can manage it, remove from the place of his usual residence, and go somewhere else. Let him frequent the company of sober, intellectual, moral, and religious persons. By following my advice rigidly he will get rid cf that hateful habit which haunts, him like his.shadow, and/intrudes; itself by day and by night into the sanctuary of his thoughts. If be refuses to lay aside the Circcan cup, allow me to, call his most serious attention on that di-i sease which waits upon bis steps j that dropsy, palsy, poverty, emaciation, and idiotism, followed by death, pursue bim like attendant spirits, and claim him as their prey. Sometimes an attack of disease may have the effect of soboriug drunkards for the rest of their lives. Many individuals, after such changes, become remarkably lean ; but this is not an unhealthy emaciation. Their mental powers also suffer a very material improvement, their intellect becoming more powerful, and their moral feelings more soft and refined. Persons who have been for many years in tho

habit of indulging largely in drink, audto whom it has become an elixir vita indispensable to their happiness, cannot be suddenly deprived of it. This should be done by degrees, and must be tht> slow result of conviction. It' the quantity be forcibly diminished against the person's will, no good can be done: he will only seize the first opportunity to remunerate himselt for what he has been deprived of, and proceed to greater excesses than before. If his mind can be brought by calm reflectiou to submit to the decrease, much may be accomplished in the way of reformation. A great many difficulties undoubtedly attend this gradual process, and no ordinary strength of mind is requix*ed for its completion. It is,".however, less dangerous than the method recommended by several eminent physicians, and ultimately much more effectual. Although their plan may be free of hazard, the effects of their method are not likely to be lasting. The unnatural action to which a long intemperance had given rise clings to the system with pertinacious adherence. The remembrance of spirituous or malt liquors, like a delight--ful vision, still attaches itself to the drunkard's : mind, and he longs, with insufferable ardor, to feel once more the ecstacies to which it gave birth. This, in my opinion, is the consequence of a-too rapid separation. Had the sympathies of nature .been- gradually operated upon, there would have been less violence, and the. longings had a better chance of wearing insensibly away. A strong argument against too sudden a change may be given in the case of food. Persons who are in the daijy habit of eating fiesh meat feel a sense of weakness about the stomach if they suddenly discontinue it, and live for ; a certain time, viz., one or two weeks, en'- ■ tirely upon bread or vegetables. Every individual in good health, and accustomed to excellent living, will, I am sure, feel the same thing. The stomach, from want of stimulant, loses its tone, the craving fqr flesh meat is incessant and strong, and, if it be resisted, I think, heartburn, or other forms of indigestion are sure to ensue. 1 In such a case vegetables are loathed as intolerably insipid. Even bread is looked, upon with aversion and dis-relish. It is precise ly the same with spirituous or malt liquors. Their sudden discontinuance, where they have been long made use of, is almost sure to produce the same, and even worse, consequences to the unfortunate drunkard. I do not mean to give here any directions with regard to the regimen of a reformed drunkard. I may only say that this will depend on various circumstances, such, for instance, as age, constitution, diseases, and manner of living. In my opinion the regimen ought generally to be as little heating a« possible. A vegetable or milk diet will commonly be preferable to every other. But there are many cases in which food of a richer quality may be wanted, as when there is much debility or emaciation. In such a case a moderate quantity bf good wine may even be necessary. In goat, also, too great a change of living may not always be salutary, more especially in advanced years, where there is weakness of the digestive organs, brought on by; ; the disease. In old age wine or spirits (good) may often be very useful to sustain the system, more especially when sinking by the process of natural decay. The older a person is, the greater the inconvenience of abstaining all at once from liquors, and the moie slowly ought they to be taken away. I cannot bring myself to believe that a person who for twentyfive or thirty years has drunk freely can suddenly discontinue this inveterate and ancient habit without a certain degree of risk. The idea is opposed to all that I know of the mental and bodily functions, A great many physicians recommend tartar.emetic for the cure of habitual drun-.. kenness. Possessing, they observe, no positive taste itself, tartar emetic communicates a disgusting quality to those fluids in which it is dissolved. The method of prescribing it (tartar emetic) according to the age, habits, constitution, &c, of the individual, and be adminis- ! tered in slightly nauseating doses. How- i ever, it must always be used with great caution, and never except under the eye of a medical man, as the worst consequences might ensue from the indiscreet employment of so active an agent. In plethoric individuals, the habit of drunkenness might be attacked with some success by the application of leeches, cold application, and blisters to the head, accompanied by purgatives and nauseating doses of tartar emetic. In conclusion I will say to the drunkard, if really he is resolved to abstain, entirely from liquors, to earnestly solicit the assistance of a physician, and follow punctually his advice and prescription.