DIPSOMANIA.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 237, 27 November 1880, Page 4

DIPS OMANI A.

"A medical man" contributes, the following to the Chriatchurch Press:—

Within the last few years the word -/•.Dipsomania/ 1 , a Greek word (meaning thirst and madnees), has been| revived, to express that craving; for intoxicating liquors, which, according ♦o some pbysicianß, partakes of ! . the character of insanity. Now, although a fit of intoxication is undoubtedly an attack .of: temporary, manio, yet it: appears a .highly unpbilosophical view | (and otic, too, w^ich 18 fraught with ! .the greatest danger to society) to: regard a dipsomaniac us an -irresponsible being ; to. look upon, him, in, facias an imjividuVf affected by some recognised form of lunacy. Hard drinking is a degraded vice, and, like) many -cither vices, the more freely it is indulged in •he more difficult becomes -its slidcon^ tinuauce. It is a cause, of insanity jand "a 'cause of crime,, though- I believe its influence in .these respects has,- been v.maofai! overrated. ' Lord Sbafjsttnry says: "Frem my own experience ias a Commissioner' of Lunacy for the jlast iwerity years, and as chairman of j the Commission during sixteen years, ifor-.'-lified by inquiries in America, /I 'find, that fully Bix-tenths of -.alUbe of I insanity to be; found in these, r^los and in America,; arise from no other cause than l abtte .'of f intemperance." The drunkard, is ar tf ill jihd jintr.uttiful j | 'be 'break's every .promise he mikes, and he is perfectly regardless of the feel- ! ings and" happiness of., others. ■;.- But nevertheless, h seems to me absurd to J say that the desire for alcoholio stimulants is a disease— that it is sypmto mati.c of. some abnormal cerebral^cpndi- * lion,^unless indeed; we say the same of every act of wickedness or ' folly." - Not only is the experience of the. dead house agßinat such a, view, but if this evidence" beset aside aa of little value, we yet know that there is no difficulty in curing the mostinyeterate.sot, pro vided we are but able to deprive him ol bis poison. The fact is indisputable that many, who. drink to excess con be persuaded to abstain temporarily, if only !. a. limit, to their... abstinence be fixed, so that they may enjoy, the anticipation of a debauch; while a few can be so; inflerced ibat itiey renounce this bjubit "entirely., : Tbe drunkard .is a Nuisance

tr. hin/s^lf and;to all -who— are—broughtin.to contect vjith'|im; and it kiopS': regretted thaMh^ eare ' no legal means orcon{rolling%imj;until he is ourbd q.f hia folly. / ; ThVJ manJ who attempts suicide by some summary process is liable to jmprisotimeht, while be Iwbo slowly poisons himself may proceed to certain destruction 'with impunity. j He may ruin himseif and, bis family, b^t so that he only breakß, mbral laws land obligations he cannbt-.be. Btopped, id hie , 'downward career. v The 1 of society demands some place of detention for such men i} and even if aoiAct of Parliament canbot be obtained to sanction the necessary interference with the liberty of these misguided people, yet I believe that there are many who would voluntarily enter and submit to the rules of an institution for the cure of drunkenness. Mr Dickens, in ; his "American Notee," menions the case of a man who got himself locked up in the Philadelphia prison so that he might rid himself _of .bis Rropensiiy to drink, where he remained iv solitary confinement for two years, 'though be had the power of obtaining hia liberty at any moment thht he chose to a&k for it. Patients have more than once been heard to say that they ■would gladly submit to any treatment or surveillance j but they have also said that without restraint all elae would be useless, for tifey cbuld ; not trust tbemselvef . The ' chief points that demand atteution. .are , these :— To enforce total abstinence, since we believe it.be more .easy fi r the habitual drinker to renounce a 1 stimulants than to practise rupieratioD; to afford mental occupation and amußßoaenf) and . especially ;putdoqr [recreation ' inicheerfui society.f It Voften^a ciueeVion as to what shall be substituted for beer or wine at meal; times. We generally recommend milk or; some - agreeable fruit syrup in soda water, r