THE BARK CURE FOR DIPSOMANIACS.
In the Medical Temperance Journal for July there is a good paper on this subject by Dr. Norman Kerr, who has had much experience in the treatment of habitual drunkards. Although he ridicules the vaunted virtues which have been ascribed to Cinchona bark in „ the cure of drunkenness, and says that its pretensions are baseless, and its promises as fallacious as those of its predecessor, yet he admits that it is a valuable adjutant to other remedies in the treatment of this affection. He thinks it of great service in restoring the broken tone and power of the shattered mental and physical constitution of the hapless dipsomaniac. Dr. Kerr justly observes that drunkenness is at once a moral and physical evil. While we must look to the will, however weakened, of the inebriate for an effectual and a lasting cure, his physical system must be strengthened and his craving for alcohol at least lessened. To aid in the accom-
- plishment of such desirable ends, we can employ various medicinal reme.4 dies, various hygenic remedies, and various modifications of diet. Equally and even of more importance, is the moral treatment of the dipsomaniac. il To whatever a will may be left to him —and very often, alas ! there seems none at all remaining—we must look for true reformation and a permanent cure. If all moral powers have vanished, and every spark of mental energy - fled, the only thing left is to forcibly keep the
| miserable wreck of humanity where no i alclud is ... . But no charmed potion will ever slay the dragon ■ of dipsomania.” Dr Kerr gives sevens! formulae for making preparations of red Cinchona among which In- recommends a decoction prepared as follows :—Add one ounce of the powdered bark to one pint of water, acidulated with 100 minims of dilute hydrochloric acid. Boil for ten minutes and strain when cold. Pour water over the contents of the strainer till the product measures one pint. Of this give two ounces, or a wineglassful, every three hours, gradually diminishing the frequency and quantity of the dose after the first day, till in six or seven days it is reduced to a teaspoonful three times daily. The bark may sometimes be advantageously administered With other drugs. Mr Moseley has been able to subdue the craving for alcohol by prescribing a noil-spirituous combination of ijed bark, chisetta, and a hot general stimulant. But the most reliable temporary alleviation of this craving that Dr Kerr has ever witnessed has followed the use of a full emetic dose of ipecacuanha. He also speaks favourably ol the Turkish bath in these cases, as it, he says, tends to soothe the inordinately excited brain and nerve centres, and to induce sleep more refreshing and infinitely less .dangerous than the sleep produced by chloral or opium, while it strengthens*the body, calms the perturbation of the mind, and reawakens the appetite for food.
GENERAL NEWS. At the Tralee assizes, within the twelve month (says a contemporary), a man was charged with the tjieftof LSI. Several witnesses swore positively to the facts. Justice Fitzgerald charged lucidly, and dead against the prisoner. To his utter astonishment—the astonishment of an Irish judge—the jury brought in a verdict of “ Not guiltv.” His Honor was for the moment struck dumb, and could hardly trust tiie evidence of his sense of hearing. He bade the foreman of the jury stand forward, and asked him if the verdict was really one of acquittal. “ Yes.”—“ Is that,” said his Honor, “ the unanimous verdict of the jury?”—Yes.” The shock was so great that the judge ordered the prisoner to be put back. Later in the day counsel for the luckiest of Paddys applied for his discharge. “It is quite clear from the evidence, Patrick O’Brien, that you stole the L3l. I hope this escape will be a lesson to you for the future.” And then came the climax from the prisoner, who artlessly said, “ Faix, your Honor, it was the first time I ever did the loike!” The following may not be amiss in connection with the ensuing Christchurch meeting: —Not many weeks ago we (Town and Country) called .the attention of the Sydney public to the presence in the Randwick saddling of a crowd of “ welshers,” and we have now to tell of the very sudden and unexpected departure of two of. these individuals, who have gone'to the land of the Maori, there to swell the list of “ runaways.” One of these levanters, a would-be “bootmaker,” is' well known to the “game and has oftentimes attracted attention by his peculiar appearance, but the other —a “backer,” by the way—h- d only lately come amongst us as a merchant, so it was said, dealing in the most precious stones; and from its general tone, and the manner in which he made himself known to the upper ten of sporting men, he quickly wormed himself int o the good graces of a few, but as is now only two well known, they are left to lament their loss. They are not gone, however, with all the fun to themselves, for letters have been written to the different clubs in New Zealand informing them of the performance, and they will no doubt be called upon for an explanation.
A draadful accident has occurred in a circus near Bordeaux. One of the horses took fright during the performance, jumped into the midst of the spectators, killing one woman, severely wounding many others, fracturing the leg of the person who rode the beast, and doing incalculable mischief. The consternawas general, degenerating into a panic ; the scene was however less horrible than that which was witnessed at a wild beast show in the provinces. A tiger burst through the bars of his cage . and leapt into the crowd, killing the woman on whom he alighted, and afterward venting his fury on many others. The tamer subsequently induced him by the persuasive powers of hot iron bars to return to his cage. It was discovered that the bars had been sawn asunder by a keeper who had been discharged for drunkenness.
On the first discovery of a fire it is of the utmost consequence to shut and keep shut, all doors, windows, or other openings. If the fire appears at alb serious and there are fire engines at a reasonable distance, it is best to await their arrival, as many buildings have been lost from opening the doors, and attempting to extinguish the- flames with inadequate means. If no fire-engines are within r each, it is best to keep a hand-pump. If that is not to be had, the next best thing is to collect as many buckets outside the room on fire as can be obtained, keeping the doors shut ; then creep into the room on his hands and knees (if the heat and smoke aie considerable), and throw the water as nearly as possible in the direction of the fire, keeping the door shut while more water is being collected. The police of London understand shutting up fires so well that they have in many instances kept fires 2 or 3 miles distant from the engine stations shut till the firemen arrived in time to extinguish them.
‘•Blind with rage” meant something in in a Paris workshop one afternoon three weeks ago. An overseer of the works, finding that one of the. men had not finished a certain piece of work which was urgently required, fell into such a state of fury as to strike him in the face. Almost at the same time, he fell back shouting for aid, and complaining that lie could not see ; the workmen came around him with offers of assistance, but nothing could be done. It was certain that he had suddenly lost the use of hath his eyes. Medical evidence showed that some of the blood vessels behind the eye had b and that the blood had flooded the interior cavities of the eyeballs.
Mr George Whitehoid, of _ Sheffield, England, has recently exhibited to a number of engineers a new process for jreducing seamless Bled andiron boilers. A ring of. steel being cast and heated is placed Upon a large roller* and by the use of smaller rollers, is flattened and enlarged to the required dimensions. The remaining portions of the boiler aI . G subsequently put on with bolts. The inventor claims that boilers constructed in this way will stand twice the pressure of those made from rmtd plates. , An outrage, recalling' the sensation scene in “After Dark” is [recorded in a Peruvian paper: —The Commissary of Beliavista reports that on the night of August 27, a |hiah of the name of Robert Hunter was discovered on the railway track, close to Bellavista, tied to the rails, in which position he had been left by three men, who, after robbing him of all the valuables he had about his person, left him to be run over by the next train, on the principle apparently that “ dead men tell no, tales.”
Another Tasmanian Nightingale; has appeared, says tthc Tasmanian Mail, this time from the North. Miss Kate Harvey, who sang at Signor Pompei’s great concert recently, is a worthy successor to Tasmania’s gifted daughter, Amy Sherwin. Her success was sur pr’sing from beginning to < n 1, the enthusiasm of the audience being as it was deserved. There must he something in our Tasmanian sunny blue skies akin to those of It!ay that our land gives so many stars to the musical world. Maria Carandini, Rosina Carandini, Fanny Carandini, Emma Howsou, Lucy Chambers, Amy Sherwin, and many othei s, are all Tasmanians, and now we have another name added to the list, Kate Harvey, well worthy to be associated with them.
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Temuka Leader, Issue 192, 6 November 1879, Page 3
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1,629THE BARK CURE FOR DIPSOMANIACS. Temuka Leader, Issue 192, 6 November 1879, Page 3
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