.<►. ^^^ ^"nO. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) y A f// 1.0 I.I 1.25 "i^llllM 12.5 !^ i^ III 2.0 18 il III 1.6 rnotograptiic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 i/j CIHM/ICMH Microfiche CIHM/ICIVIH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut Canadian de microraproductions historiques Technical and Bibliographic Notes/Notes techniques et bibliographiques The Institute has attempted to obtain the beat original copy available for filming. Features of this copy which may be bibliographically unique, which may alter any of the images in the reproduction, or which may significantly change the usual method of filming, are checked buiow. D D D □ n n Coloured covers/ Couverturtf de couleur r~~| Covers damaged/ Couverture endommagie Cot/ers restored and/or laminated/ Couverture restaurie et/ou peiliculie □ Cover title missing/ Le tit titre de couvt^'^ure manque I 1 Coloured maps/ Cartes giographiques an couleur Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black)/ Encre da couleur (i.e. autre que bieue ou noire) I I Coloured plates and/or illustrations/ Planches et/ou illustrations en couleur Bound with other material/ Reiiik avec d'autras documents Tight binding may cause shadowii or dfstortion along interior margin/ Lareliure serree peut causer de I'ombre ou de la distorsion le long da la marge intdi'ieure Blank leaves added during restoration may appear within the text. Whenever possible, these have been omitted from filming/ II se peut que certaines pages blanches ajouties lors d'une restauration apparaissent dans le texte, mais, lorsque ceia itait possible, ces pages n'ont pas iti filmies. Additional comments:/ Commentaires suppldmentaires: L'Institut a microfilm^ le meilleur exemplaire qu'il lui a iti possible de s« procurer. Las details de cet exemplaire qui sont peut-dtre uniques du point de vue bibliographique, qui peuvent modifier une image reproduite, ou qui peuvent exiger une modification dans la m^thode normale de filmage sont indiqu^s ci-dessous. r~~| Coloured pages/ D D Pages de couleur Pages damaged/ Pages endommag^es Pages restored and/oi Pages restaurdes et/ou pellicul^es r~l Pages damaged/ p~l Pages restored and/or laminated/ Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ Pages d^rolordes, tachet^es ou piquees Pages detached/ Pages ditachees Showthrough/ Transparence Quality of print varies/ Quality inigale de ('impression |~~| Includes supplementary material/ Comprend du materiel supplementaire Only edition available/ Seule Edition disponible Pages wholly or partially obscured by errata slips, tissues, etc., have oeen ref limed to ensure the best possible image/ Les pages totalement ou partieltement obscurcies par un feuillet d'errata, une pelure, etc.. cnt i^td fiim^es d nouveau de facon it obtenir la meilleure image possible. The tot The pes oft fiirr Ori( beg the sicr oth( first sior or il The sha TIN whi Mai diff enti bag righ raqi mai This itsm is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/ Ce document est film^ au taux de reduction indiqui ci-dessous. 10X 14X 18X 22A J 12X 16X 20X 26X 30X 24X 28X ] 32X tails du odifier une mage The copy filmed here has been reproduced thanks to the generosity of: Douglas Library Queen's University The images appearing here are the best quality possible considering the condition and legibility of the original copy and in keeping with the filming contract specifications. L'exemplaire fiimi fut reproduit grAce A la gin^TonM de: Douglas Library Queen s University Les images suivantes ont 6t6 reproduites avec le plus grand si in, compte tenu de la condition et de la nettetA de i'exemplaire filmi, et en conformity avec les conditions du contrat de filmage. Original copies in printed paper covers are filmed beginning with the front cover and ending on the last pag<9 with a printed or illustrated impres- sicn, or thn back cover when appropriate. Ail other original copies are filmed beginning on the first page with a printed or illustrated impies- sion, and ending on the last page with a printed or illustrated impression. Les exemplaires originaun dont la couverture en papier est ImprimAe sont fiimis en commengant par le premier plat et en terminant soit par la derniire page qui comporte une empreinte d'impresslon ou d'illustration. soit par le second pla;, salon le cas. Tous les autres exemplaires originaux sont film^s en commengant par la premiere page qui comporte une empreinte d'impresslon ou d'illustration et en terminant par la dernidre page qui comporte une telle empreinte. The last recorded frame on each microfiche shall contain the symbol —»- (meaning "CON- TINUED"), or the symbol V (meaning "END"), whichever applies. Un des symboles suivants apparaTtra sur la dernidre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbole — »> signifie "A SUIVRE", le symb- le V signifie "FIN". Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent 6tre film6s d des taux de reduction diffdrents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul cliche, il est fiimd d partir de I'angle supArieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prertant le nombre d'images n6cessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mithode. rrata o lelure, 1 it J 32X 1 2 3 1 2 1 3 4 5 6 ^ I ^'•■^ A INEBRIETY ITS SOURCE, PREVENTION, AND CURE BY CHARLES FOLLEN PALMER h New York Chicago Tokonto FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY 1898 # / Copyright, 1896, by Fleming H. Revell Company THE NEW YORK TYl'E-SETTING COMPANY THE CAXTON I'RESS CONTENTS The Nervous-Mental Organization rA(;K MoRiiin Conditions and ri.RVKRTKD Sknsations .... ii The Characteristics of Nerve-'nfliience 12 Natural Inheritance in Connection with I'hysical and Moral Disease 16 The Nkuro-psychopathic Constitution 17 Mental Disease 20 The Inebriate Diathesis 21 The Relation which Disease or Injury Holds to Alco- holic Inebriety 23 The Relation which Morality l?ears to Inebriety 27 The Distinction Made liv Medical Scientists be- tween Hereditary and Acquired Inebriety 30 The Possibility of Altering the Constitutional Tempera- ment by Suitable Education 31 II The Inebriate's First Step toward a Cure The Inebriate in His Moral Aspect 39 Moral Status of Inebriates 40 Trained Will Power an Essential to Self-preser- vation 41 5 a ^ 'i> G CONTENTS I'AtiK An Unselfish Wife not Always the Best for a Weak Husband 42 The First Steps to be Taken for the Inebriate's Resto- ration 44 Sensitiveness of Some Inebriates to Inebriate Asylums 44 Further Steps to be Taken by the Inebriate in Building up Moral Manhood 45 Purgation of Evil Thoughts of Others an Essential ... 47 The Inebriate's New Life 48 Nothing More Dangerous than a Life of Ease, Care- lessness, and Levity 49 The Character of the Temptations that will Assail 11 im 50 The Valueof Each Day's Self-denial in Petty Indulgences 52 No Inebriate Really Cured unless He has Built up Self- control on the Structure of Daily Self-denial 53 Ri;i'.\KATION OK TIIK PllVSICAL DaM.\U.:S WROUGHT BY Alcohol (.4 III The Rkmedying of the Preinebriate Morbid CONDITION.S AND THE StRENCITHENING OF THE Bases of Seli<'-control Treatment in luuly Youth rq The Masculine Treatment an I'lssential in Early Life 60 The Character of His Occupations, Amusements, and Exercises , 52 Sanitary Regimen in Ventilation, Cleanliness, and Diet 64 Entire Abstinence from all Stimulants and Narcotics an Essential 5^ To Correct the Absence of Ambition in Moral-Material Directions _ _ , _ go The Training of the Executive Force or Moral Will Power ^^ Moral Defection in Well-trained Youths 76 CONTENTS IV The Inebriate's Continued Progress in Build- ing UP Moral Manhood i>A(;e The Hypercritical Condition of Mind with Regard to Our Fellow-men very Destructive to Mental Health 8i The Value of Being Indulgent to the Beliefs and Opin- ions of Others 85 Manly Indulgence for the Weaknesses and Infirmities of Others 86 The Value of Moral Persistence 88 Adherence to Virtues in Harmony with Our Disposition and Associations not Moral Strength 90 Encouragement in a Life of Self-denial 92 Moral Characteristics and Various Types of THE Inebriate The Ineuriate in His Moral Characteristics 97 The Brutal Criminal Inebriate of Our Cities .... 98 The Nervous Animal Type of Inebriate 98 The Intellectual Type of Inebriate 99 The Domestic and Religious Type of Inebriate 100 The Brutal Criminal Inebriate in His Connection with Jails and Penitentiaries loi The Spiritual Effects of Drunkenness 105 Diagram To follow 109 THE NERVOUS-MENTAL ORGANIZATION The Nervous-Mental Organization Morhii) Conditions and Pf.rvkrted Sensations The Cliarat'teristics of Ncrve-infli'ence Natural InlicritaiicL' in Ccnincttion with Physical and Moral Disease TiiK NKURo-i'svtiic nine CoNSTiTunoN Mental Disease The Ini.hkiaik Dimiiesis The Relation which Disease or Injury flolus to Alco- holic Inebriety The Relation which Morality Bears to Inebriety The Distinction Made hy Medical Scientists be- tween Hereditary and Acquired Inebriety The Possibility of Altering the Constitutional Tempera- ment by Suitable Education 10 THE NERVOUS-MENTAL ORGANIZA- TION Morbid Conditions and Perverted Sen- sations.— au intelligent persons unite in believing that the entire nervous force constituting the nervous organization is generated within the ganglionic centres of the brain, and that the brain is the physical organ of the mind. Obedient to the impulse therein given, this im[)erial and multiform system, embracing millions of nerve-cells, exercises its functions in the production of all the mental phenomena. Under the varying transformations and modifications of the nerve-sensations are evolved our ideas, feelings, moral perceptions ; through these we acquire the facul- ties of attention, memory, comparison, judgment,, and the desires and volitions. The passions —love, hatred, fear — and the will are influenced by their alternating activity. With every movement of the mental processes there is a change, alteration, or loss of nerve-element, and the basis upon which its healthy equilibrium rests is healthy blood and pure air. The primal force which produces activity in this sub- tle piece of mechanism is purely spiritual, and is de- rived from the first great Source of all created matter ; 11 12 INEBRIETY but the exciting causes producing its manifold phenom- ena are spiritual, psychical, and physical, and these are constantly arising through association with altering con- ditions within the body, with external objects, and with objects that are neither corporeal nor material. The Qiaracteristics of Ncrvc-influcnce#— From the lowly forms of animal life, whose nerves pro- duce only reflex action in its simplest expression, up- ward through every series of progressive development, with the superaddition of nerve-centres, wliich add to the complexity of nerve-furrtion, there is accu- mulated evidence that every such additional centre furnishes a source of new power, potentially capable, within certain limits, of modifying the action of the subordinate centres, yet nevertheless incapable of wholly negativing their specialized functions. Thus the organic nerve-cell presides over nutrition, and so far as the sim- ple vegetative growtli of the animal is concerned, its action is all-suiTicient ; but in order to connect simple and organic growth with the plienomena of animal life an additional centre of force is needed, and there are evolved the reflex centres of the spinal cord, which unite vegetative growth with animal action. The sensory centres being next evoh .d, there is the possi- b!h'ty of sensory being added to organic and reflex action. There is no consciousness of life, of motion, or of sensation ; but evolution goes on, and the brain becomes the centre of that conscious energy which pre- sides with such mysterious power over the thoughts and actions of man. To understand fully the operations of the brain ne- TH^ NERVOUS-MEhlTAL ORGANIZATION 13 cessitates a knowledge of the functions of the spinal and sensory centres ; for there are many acts performed by man which bear the semblance of conscious volition, yet when correctly interpreted only give evidence of automatic action of the reflex centres of the spinal cord a!id sensorium. While a few cases have been reported in which apparendy limited nerve-action resulted with- out the existence of the proper nerve-elements, such as fibres and cells with their prolongations, yet it is an accepted fact that nerve-force exists only within the boundaries of the nervous structure, and that this nerve-force is generated not only in the cells, but also in the fibres, as seen when they are at rest. For ex- ample, in a Hmb removed, oxygen or strychnia restores nervous energy after its complete exhaustion. Nerve-force is not generated by any volitional effort. As magnetic, frictional, and statical electricity are only different forms of expression of the same energy, so simple impression, sensation, ideation, emotion, and volition are but different forms of expression of the same nerve force and come from the special molecular structure of the organ through which they iire mani- fested. This unity of nerve-force precludes its intense expression in more than one way at a time, so that if there is great bodily fatigue, mental work is impossible, and vice versa ; neither can volition hold full sway in the presence of deep emotion. Nerve-energy is transformed into motion, as evi- denced in muscular action ; it is also transformed into heat, but it is not known whether this is an immediate or a secondary result. There arc a few instances recorded 14 INEBRIETY which seem to show its transformation into h'ght, and it is well known that in certain animals electricity is the direct result of its metamorphosis. From tliese data the conclusion seems authorized that at least a partial correlation exists between the physical forces and the energy resulting from nerve-action. It is im- portant to remember that the character of nervous and mental phenomena is determined by the condition of the nerve-centres, whether the condition is one of de- velopment of the centres themselves or of modification by disease or by foreign substances. The existence of the spinal cord alone predicates the possible existence of automatic reflex action, which, though unconscious, gives evidence of the use of means to a special end. Add to the spinal centres the medulla oblongata, and there result the involuntary and unconscious coordi- nate muscular movements of respiration, swallowing, coughing, and simple exclamation. Unconscious sen- sations of pleasure and pain, of taste and hearing, come by the addition of the annular protuberance, while the four medullary tubercles at the posterior surface of the annular tuber alone give visual power. The cerebel- lum coordinates the muscular movements of the body, while the cerebrum not only determines the nature of the mental life, but it alone is able to bring the varied sensations of nervous action Vvithin the domain of con- sciousness. The existence of these several general centres is therefore necessary in order that the many acts of human life may be performed ; and as a neces- sary corollary it is found that in proportion as any centre is undeveloped, diseased, or modified, nervous THE NERyOUS-MBNTAL ORGANIZATION 15 or mental action will be changed, limited, or arrested. That mind is influenced by and is dependent on the physical condition of the brain is again evident when we remember the effect caused by poisoned blood on all mental expressions. Hashish, opium, and alcohol, for example, weaken the will, exalt the automatic ac- tion of the brain, disturb perception, exaggerate self- consciousness, distort the emotions, dethrone reason, and cause moral turpitude. Diminish the normal blood- supply to the brain and the mind changes its charac- ter ; restore the needed amount and the mind promptly responds to the altered condition. Old age, injury, fatigue, anything which impairs the normal nutrient action of the nervous centres of thought, directly modify intellectual and moral mani- festations ; and the conclusion is irresistible that every psychical manifestation has a physical antecedent, and that cause and effect are as certainly established within the realm of mind as of matter. To explain the how and the why of mental action as a result of physical conditions is impossible. It is an ultimate fact, and as such is beyond explanation, as much so as how electri- city comes from the union of metals with an acid, or how life springs from a seed, or perfume from a flower. The effects of impure air on the nervous system are well exemplified in the case of young resident medical officers in hospitals, one and all of whom, more espe- cially if their animal vitality is still further lowered by overstudy, have their capacity for recuperation some- times deteriorated to such a degree that if they get a flesh-wound it is almost certain to become a suppurat- 10 INEBRIETY ing sore, and so bad a one that, notwithstanding the application of the most powerful therapeutic agents in the pharmacopoeia, it will sometimes resist healing so long as they live under the hospital roof; whereas it lieals rapidly, without assistance of either balm or lo- tion, so soon as they transport themselves into the pure, strong, fresh air either of the seaside or mountain-top.* Natural Inheritance in G)nnection with Physi- cal and Moral Disease.— The masterly labors of Gal- ton and Ribot have established the fact that a gen- eral law of heredity obtains in the mental as well as in perce'>tive and physical life. Its influence is un- disputed by all intelligent persons in forming the character of instinct, perception, intellect, will, and control over the appetites and passions, including all the moral impulses, either normal or abnormal, and the pathological conditions to which the physical and mental life are subject. This law invokes an analysis of the physical and mental antecedents which give the bias to the criminal's individual character and which so irresistibly impel him to crime. Testimony is conck.oive in establishing the heredity of many neurotic diseases, such as a simple nervous temperament, neuralgia, chorea, hysteria, hypochon- driasis, inebriety, criminality, and insanity. Assuredly it is a fact which none can deny that the offspring of nervous, insane, epileptic, inebriate, consumptive, scrof- ulous, or criminal parents are more liable to develop some special form of disease than those whose parents are free from any vitiating cause. They have organi- * William G. Stevenson, M.D. ; Dr. George liarley, F.R.S. THE NERVOUS-MENT/IL ORGANIZATION 17 zations which render it not only more possible, but more probable, for ancestral vice to appear, although the particular form which this vice may assume is not necessarily determined by the parent. Many neurotic diseases, like physical forces, are correlati/es of one another. They are metamorphosed oftentimes in their transmission, so that what was neuralgia in the parent is chorea or hysteria in the offspring ; or chorea or hys- teria may be transformed into epilepsy, and this into insanity, and in a third generation develop phthisis, dipsomania, or criminality. Conversely, criminality or drunkenness may engender epilepsy or madness ; and thus throughout the entire category of nervous mani- festations testimony is adduced to sustain the fact that cause and effect are as invariable in the intellectual and moral as in the physical world, and that through heredity the physical, intellectual, and moral forces of the ancestor largely determine those of the offspring. The NEURapsYCHOPATHic Constitution, — It is not the purpose of this treatise to enter into the comprehensive subject of nervous and mental diseases, but only to inquire into that one department of die nervous group of constitutional temperaments which in France is known as the neuro-psychopathic constitu- tion, and that only in connection with one of its exag- gerated forms,— inebriety,— involving as it does the happiness and success of so large a proportion of the human family. So intimately related is it to insanity and the neuroses that at critical per ?^ as of life it i& very apt to develop into one of them. It is congenital, 18 INEBRIETY or attributable to early interference with the normal (lex-elopment. At least seventy-five per cent, are he- reditary. Included within its subjects are to be found the most gifted, the most vicious, the weakest, and ordinarily the most unhappy of mankind. Chatterton, Gold- smith, Burns, Steele, Coleridge, Southey, Charles Lamb, and Cowper are instances of this perverted or- ganic disposition. Dr. Folsom doubts if the compen- sation to society of such members of this family as IJyron, Burns, De Quincey, and others is equal to the loss and injury sustained through the acquisition of the men who become the inmates of our prisons and alms- houses and destroyers of home peace ; and he quotes Clouston as saying that the world would be better off to lose the comparatively few ill-balanced geniusc s, the hundreds of impracticable, unwise, talented men and women, along with the thousands of people who can- not get on, shiftless, intemperate, idle, improvident, and impracticable, in order to get rid of the diathesis. It shows itself in infancy and childhood by irregular and disturbed sleep, irritability, apprehension, strange ideas, great sensitiveness to external impressions, high temperature, delirium or convulsions from slight causes, disagreeable dreams and visions, romancing, intense feeling, periodic headaches, muscular twitchings, ca- pricious appetites, and great intolerance of stimulants and narcotics. At pu])erty, developmental anomalies are observed in girls, and not seldom perverted sexual instincts in both sexes. During adolescence there is often excessive shyness or bravado, always introspec- 1 THE NliRyoUS-MENT.IL ORGANIZATION 10 tion and self-consciousness, and sometimes abeyance or absence of the sexual instinct, which, however, is frequently of extraordinary intensity. The imagina- tion and imitative faculticti may be quick. The affec- tions and emotions are strong. Vehement dislikes are formed, and intense personal attachments result in extraordinary friendships,^ which not seldom swing around to bitter enmity or indifference. 'J'he natural home associations and feelings easily become disturbed or perverted. The passions are unduly a force in the character which is commonly said to lack will power. The individual's higher brain-centres are inhibited, and he dashes about like a ship at sea without a rudder, fairly well if the winds are fair and the sea calm, but dependent upon the elements for the character and time of the inevitable final wreck. Invenlion, poetry, music, artistic tastes, philanthropy, intensity, and ori- ginality are sometimes of a high order among these persons, but desultory, half-finished work and shiftless- ness are much more common. W'wh many of them concentrated, sustained effort is impossible, and at- temi)ts to keep them to it result disastrously. Their common sense, perception of the relations of life, ex- ecutive or business faculty, and judgment are seldom well developed. The memory is now and then phe- nomenal. In later life there is a ready reaction to ex- ternal circumstances, even to the weather, by which they are usually a little exhilarated or somewhat de- pressed. They are apt to be self-conscious, egoistic, suspicious, and morbidly conscientious; they easily become hypochondriacal, victims of insomnia, neu- rit m\ 7' 20 INFRRIBTY roue, hysterical, intemperate, or insane; and they c,f- fcncl against the proprieties of Hfe or commit crnnes ^vith Ic^s cause or provocation than other persons. Many of them are among the most gifted and attrac- tive people in their community, but the majority are otherwise and possess an uncommon^ '''^^''''\^Z nuiking fools of themselves, being a nuisance to their friends and of little use to the world. Some exceptions get on fairly well if their lives are tolerably easy or especially well regulated. Their mortality rate espe- cially from pulmonary consumption, is high. In tne critical physiological periods of life there is danger of breaking down. Mental Disease,-Tliere is a further developmen of the hereditary predisposition to nervous or mental perversion, with more or less evidence of the neuro- psychopathic constitution. It is of two forms, the depressed and the mildly exhilarated, in either case amounting to simple melancholia or mild mama Some- times the two forms are seen in a sin-le member or in different members of one family where mental degenera- tion has begun. The frequent association of pulmonary disease with these cases is possibly due to malnutrition in those persons living under the influence of more or less perpetual gloom, and to exposure and overexertion in those who are constantly and unnaturally excited, sleeping too little, and drawing upon their alert brains to the extent of exhaustion. Misanthropists, communists, enthusiasts, reformers, useless people and worse than useless, common nui- sances, criminals, saints, and heroes are found among 77//: Nl-.Rl'OUS-MENTAI. ORGANIZ/ITION 21 them. Undoubtedly in the case of criminals the tyr- anny of their organization deprives the intellect of the proper inhibitory power over the passions and evil ten- dencies, and yet with sufficient motive they can hold themselves considerably in check. It is only when the disease progresses into active insanity that the world is convinced that what it looked upon as meanness and wickedness was only disease. It seems like progressive development of character, except for the fact, generally overlooked, that it advances in a contrary direction to what would be natural, and is in- dependent of normal development.* The Inebriate Diathesis.— The earliest teach- ing of the temperance reformer was that intoxicating liquors are dangerous articles; that multitudes of persons are so susceptible to tlie narcotic influence of alcohol that, whatever their accomplishments or station, if they drink at all they drink to drunkenness ; and that the confirmed inebriate is a diseased indivitlual under- going the tortures of a living death, manifesting symp- toms characteristic of the operation of an irritant nar- cotic poison. The temperance enthusiast . f latter days denies that inebriety is ever a disease, insists that the fault always lies with the drunkard, never in the drink, and that only evibdisposed persons and fools fall victims to the al- coholic excess. With the former 7vcll-itifonncd friend of the inebriate the physical phase of narcotic indulgence, the arduous * Dr. Folsom. IhlliMIHTY and protrcactcd (haractcr of the struggle of the drunk- ard for emancipation from his t;rannous taskmaster, is recognized. With tlie latter ill-informed visionary there is no physical element in Uie matter,-nothing but wanton immorality, a wiuul sin, or at the best degrading weakness, in taking the first drink after the evil is once recognized by the moral perceptions,— and he complacently declares that religious and moral deter- mination and influences are alone of service in the reformation and cure of the inebriate. The illustrious foreruimer of temperance, Erasmus Darwin, two centuries ago, and Benjamin Rush, a century ago, besides other far-seeing and profound thinkers long before, knew and taught the truth. It is not the vicious, the ill disposed, or the poor who alone swell the great army of Uie intemperate ; the most guileless spirits, the purest minds, die most unselfish souls, the loftiest understandings, and the clearest heads have gone down before the irresistil)le power of drink. The refrain swells from ten thousand voices, " Men become drunkards because they drink." If ever this were true it is here ; but in the language of Tennyson : " 'I'luit a lie which is half a truth is ever the blackest of lies ; That a lie which is ail a lie can be met and fought with t)Utright, But a lie which is part a truth is a harder matter to fight." Men become drunkards through drinking, it is true; that is, drinking is the means by which they attain to a state of int')xication. Though a cause, drinking is THI: Nl^RrOUS-Mf-NT/IL ORGANIZATION 23 not the sole cause of drunkenness. It is in our coun- try and in some otlier countries the i)rincii)al means of intoxication. In other lands, and to a great extent among ourselves, opium and other narcotics are the in- toxicating agents. There are many means used, by men and women who never drank and cannot drink alcohol in any form, to produce the toxic condition and give rise to the inebriate diathesis. A case has recently come to light, die first instance known to medical science, of a phosphorus liab.' used first as a nerve-stimulant. The patient, while in the army, felt some symptoms of nervous debility, and seeing the hospital steward give phosi)h()rus to sick soldiers, he began taking it himself in the shape of pills. It seemed to put new strength and energy into his nervous system. He subsequently became a con- firmed habitue to its use, and now he cannot give it up without his nerves suffering ; he craves it as the drinker craves his dram, and is a complete wreck.* The Relation which Disease or Injury Holds to Alcoholic Inebriety.— Disease may act as the precMs- posing, exciting, complicating, and protracting cause of alcoholic inebriety. The disease may be inherited or acquired. It is proverbial that the progeny of in- sane or inebriate parents frequently become insane or inebriate either at or near puberty or middle life, when the exciting causes are presented that develop the latent tendency. As many are born imbecile, epileptic, or idiotic because of some defect in the procreating power, * Dr. Norman Kerr, F. R. S. 'i-m 24 INFRRIETY so many are born who inherit an inebriate diathesis; it is tlieir sad birtiiright. They are the product of a defective and degenerate parentage. Cf several hun- dred cases of inebriates whose ancestral records were noted at the Fort Hamilton Inebriate Asylum, over one third had cither insane or inebriate parents, the latter being in excess. While we may regard inebriety and insanity in pa- rents as the principal predisposing causes of alcoholic inebriety in their offspring, we should also include among the predisposing causes of an hereditary char- acter, only secondary in importance to those mentioned, (7// nniroHc icndi'uch's, all hereditary diseases accompanied by dei^enerafive r//ciousness and regis- tered on the nerve-fibres of the brain for future repro- duction. Exercise or work in the open air, society of virtuous and cultivated women, a puzzle, a conundrum, a laugh —anything, all things, to get the mind back to a healthy standard. Action ! action ! action ! Action of the mind, action of the body, uniform, persistent, and tiring, is the treatment. If the mind shall have become so morbid as to find 76 INEBRIETY no satisfcK tion outside of continued isolation and avoid- ance of social-moral restraints and duties, wi h aversion for intercourse with healthy, refined youth of both sexes in their social assemblies, continued efforts are neces- sary to overcome such unwholesome and pernicious instincts or morbid acquisitions. The whole fabric of utilitarian morality is dependent upon association. Success in life is fatally marred at the beginning of the career unless every oi)p()rtunity of mingling with one's kind of both sexes is availed of to cure this evil ten- dency. There must be a daily growth of healthy social instincts, by mixing in society, by ignoring the diseased sense of personal deficiencies, by doing all that lies in the power of the patient to forget himself for a time by helping others to forget the vivid sense of their genuine troubles and afflictions, by cultivating an ambition to please others, and by showing himself pleased with them. If constitutionaUy im lined to self -depreciation and to a sense of personal inferiority and deficiency in social talents, the constant association with intelligent, polite, and considerate men and women of the world, and persistent study of the requirements of .social inter- course, is the only cure for that form of nervous egoism, uncultivated selfishness, and mauvaise honte. The assumption of responsibility as adviser an :1 pro- tector of cultivated women, with the ability to assume such an office, is a high moral agent for good. The opportunities to do this in a youth's life are ordinarily abundant, Init are usually shirked. Moral Defection in Well-trained Youths.- It has ever been a matter of astonishment to narents who REMEDYING AND STRENGTHENING 77 have reared children in a highly moral and religious atmosphere, and have subjected them to the strictest home restraint apart from vicious associations, that, m spite of these safeguards, at least one of the flock turned out no better, and possibly not so well, as the offspring of their poorest neighbcjrs, whose secular and religious education and training were alike of the most meagre character, and who were permitted to run out in the byways and inhale possible contamination at every breath; and still greater is the wonder when one of their tenderly nurturetl sons, who " kicked the traces " in his early youth, and finally ran away from the pa- rental roof, returns, older in years, but with a success that could be reached only through years of self-denial, fortitude, patience, and industry. It may be a relief to these good parents and guardians to know that it was not due to any culpable negligence or remission of duty on their part that some of their children turned out so diametrically opposite to the pattern to which it was intended they should conform, but simply to ignorance of a physico-moral law which influences cause and effect. This they had not so much refused to recognize as the fact that the constitutional temperaments of children, even of the same parents, differ largely, and the education and training suited to one temperament might be very prejudicial to another. The organic conditions which made departure from a steady life easy were systematically being uacked and stimulated in the case of one child by a course of train- ing more favorable to the growth of the weaker and more effeminate qualities, which were weakening and 78 INHBRIETY ri prejudicial and dirctly t^)posed to thv^ formation of that great safeguard of life built up of manhnes!!, self-depen- dence^ and sclj control^ so imperatively demanded in his case ; while with another, escape from liie enervating influences of home life, the being thrown on their own resources at an adaptable age, and the accidental con- junction of other favoring circumstances, developed strong, heahhy, intellectual forces which antagonized a disposition to a self-indulgent life and carried him safely onward in spite of pitfalls and dangerous places to material success. IV THF INHRRIATE'S C )NT1. JUED PROGRESS IN BUHDING UP MORAL MANHOr 79 lll.t l L ' JJ.U^.l- ggB IV The Inebriatk's Continued Progress in Build- ing UP MoRAi- Manhood The IlyiHTtritical Condition of Mind with Kcf^ard to C)ur I'Lllow-nu-n very DcstriRtive to Mental Health The Value of IJeing Indulgent to the Beliefs and Opin- ions of Others Manly In<-' hi\\)\l of (IwfUiiig upon the weaker iiiul meaner qualities and vices of others in thought and conversation is enervating to the mental and hurt- ful to the moral health, and the sooner it is laid aside the better. The weak men who indulge in it are weaker than the women who do so, for where the latter have been led into the practice by reastai of the restricted sphere of their activities, men have no such excuse. On the other hand, to speak of the good traits in our associates and neighbors necessitates a restraint upon our egoism, and the desire for moral precedence in the lives of others is provocative of intellectual ex- pansion. It is gready developing to engage in this latter practice, w^hich especially commends itself to a woman as the quality in a man's mind which she is 81 82 INEBRIETY less able to emulate than any other manly trait he may possess. It is true she does at times caustically remark that " men speitk well of one another because they are afraid of one another," but she does not honestly believe this, for it is the true genius of manliness in the habit which excites her respect. The tattler of the male sex is held in quiet contempt even by the tattler of the female sex. who, though she may encourage him in his unmanly displays of small- ness, meanness, and insignificance, at the same time rates him much below herself in strength of mind and character. The value of the appreciative quality of mind with regard to others depends upon the man's intelligence and sagacity in discovering admirable traits of charac- ter not apparent to the ordinary observer, and perhaps only obscurely guessed at by the possessors themselves, and not upon an uncalculating assumption that such virtues exist, or for self-interest. Therefore in speak- ing of others it is well to maintain reticence on the score of their well-known faults and vices of character, and refer to their virtues and choicer traits. Although this will prove a difficult matter at first from insufficient cultivation, it will finally become as easy and fluent as the other, and he who penetrates the deepest into this undeveloped mine will ultimately be esteemed the best talker. In the generous rivalry which would spring up to outdo one another in this accomplishment, virtues and capacities now undreamed of would be brought to light and the aggregate results become incalculably beneficent. The smartest man in society would be he THE INEBRIATE'S CONTINUED PROGRESS 83 who could discover the greatest number of beauties, and the dullest and stupidest he who could alone find nothing but faults and blemishes. The weak and faulty, the discouraged and despair- ing, would be stimulated to live up to the character given them by others when they learned that the good they were but dimly aware of possessing elicited the praise of their social contemporaries, while the bad they were conscious of doing was treated with silent contempt. The greatest flattery would be the praise of quaUties and capacities which the man knew he pos- sessed, but with which he had never been pioperly credited. It would not only make him feel stronger and better, and inspire him with respect for the intelli- gence and admiration for the generosity of the man who openly avowed them, but it would also encourage him to give a guaranteed force tc the commendation by making it still further deserved. We have got so into the fashion of seeing strength and capacity in successful corrupt men that we fail altogether to note the greater strength ar:d nobler capacities in unsuccessful (taking wealth as the standard of success) good men. Yet it is easier and more immediately profitable for the unprincipled man to do evil than for the good man of mediocrity to continue to do well ; and therefore, the demands upon the latter's strength of resistance being greater, he is the stronger and the manher. To be just, to be generous, in our estimate and criticism of others, is a very high grade of manli- ness and possibly the scarcest of all our manly qualities. To give full and complete credit to others in public 84 INEBRIETY seems like hiding our own light under a bushel, yet by withholding any good ',vord with respect to others we may be sinning against 'hem cruelly, and may carry, by a compromising silence, a train of evil consequences to them which is f.ure to rebound in evil results to our- selves. The excess of praise, although it is regarded as man-worshiping, is stimulating to every quality of healthy manhood. Ordinarily the worst of our fellow-men are the tran- sient and emotional : colorings and expressions, exter- nally noticeable, are no safe indications of the real man within, who is rarely sounded by the lighter gages of associated life. We must be at our best before we can get at his best, before we can draw out that moral worth in him which only responds truthfully U) tlmt which is genuinely trustworthy in ourselves. It is alone through our own manhood that we can bring his into activity, if there be any of that quahty in him to re- spond to true calls. If we fail to do this, it may l>e through some lack of it in ourselves, hidden even from our own eyes through unc<'>fiscious egoism ; and we may feel pretty certain that what we do call out corresponds closely to that exhibited by ourselves, whether it be nol)le or whether it be mean. Herein lies the influence of every man or woman, either for good or mischief, in their relations with one another. The capacity to read others and to do justice to others in speaking of them approaches to a rare genius ; and as, however conscientiously we may set about it, the essay is carried on largely by a comparative anal- ysis of qualities which we know to be within ourselves, we seldom arrive at more than faint impressions, the THE INEBRIATE'S CONTINUED PROGRESS 85 silent mannerisms, leaving out the real character al- together. The study of the real man in others must be prefaced by the study of the real man in ourselves, and the doing so will develop a stronger and kinder regard for one another, outside of circumstantial aspects, which would seem to affiliate closely to that tenderness of manhood characterized by the great Formulator of our religion as " loving one another." The Value of Being Indulgent to the Beliefs and Opinions of Others»-It is rarely that we get at the real sense, the true meaning, of a person who gives his opinions and behefs, either in conversation or in writing, if they are apparently antagonistic to those we hold, and it may be more through our own weaknesses than the fault of the other that we so signally fail to do so. It may only require on our part a mental position of patief*^ ^^ kindly allowance, and withdrawal of personal prejudK>;s ff>r a while readily to translate his mode of working up tliought and his manner of conveying that thought iMo '>'ir more familiar and satisfactory pro- cesses; and it ^ arnything but manly to indulge in irri- tability and unf easortkig criticism until we are thoroughly satisfied that our interpretation meets with his approval. When so authorized, with a just allowance for his situ- ation in 'ife, which may give greater or less freedom of expression, it may be that our own views will be altered through what he has advanced. Possibly his beliefs are by necessity what our own would l>e under anal- ogous conditions, or they are sul)stantia!Iy the same under a different dress. Unifornu'ty of opinion may be more general than we think, but uniformity of ex- pression seems im[)ossible. I 86 IN n BR I FT Y Manly Indulgence for the Weaknesses and In- firmities of Others^-It is through the moral weak- nesses and infirmities of others, even to their vices (excepting that unpardonable sin of intense greed for accumulating vast fortunes at the expense of others), that our manly sympathies receive the healthful exer- cise they require. This necessitates on our part a re- linquishment of self-flatteries, prejudices, and egoism, and merges our minds into a trained sense of the suf- ferings of odiers, not morbidly dwelling on sufferings and sins, but encouraging a healthful fellow-feeling, which prompts a rightful help to them and is at the same time helpful to ourselves. Usually, however, the weaknesses and infirmities of others seem to excite and draw to the surface our manifold weaknesses, which, instead of making us more companionable and indul- gent, are apt to arouse a spirit of contradiction. We are thus made more hypercritical, severe, and domineer- ing than usual, and thereby aggravate rather than relieve the evil. This can be remedied only by disciplining our self- control and trairdng our sympathetic impulses to that degree of strength which is l)eyond the weakness drawn out of us ; in fact, throwing aside our personal egoism, self-flatteries, and prejudices. Every man and woman with these healtlifully cultivated susceptibilities to the sufferings of others, which come from intimate connection with them in a proper and indulgent state of mind, is more than a missionary, more than a skilled physician. Under the moral and bodily miseries of life they are the medicines that silently but surely work THE INEBRIATE'S CONTINUED PROGRESS 87 to alter the mental conditions which make sin and suffering possible. We may exhibit stronger and more convincing evi- dences of sympathy and benevolence in giving our time rather than our money to alleviate all that needs allevi- ation in the lot of other men and women, for whom we are called upon by the spirit of manhood within us to do all that lies in our power. Unfortunately, however, we are too apt to give that which costs the least self- denial, without much regard to the necessities or the well-being of the individual recjuiring our assistance. That which costs the greatest inconvenience to give is not always money, and for that reason the bestowal of it may be the best suited to enable a person to help himself. It takes very little of a man's money and a great deal of the man himself to do the best he can for another, but that form of assistance which is in harmony with the man's disposition and costs no effort is the one ordinarily bestowed. The unfortunate and unsuccessful, the poor and miserable, the cruelly afflicted and innocent sufferers, and even the tempted and fallen ones may perhaps be permitted to suffer for a greater or less time in the world, not as an evidence that they, any more than the fortunate ones in life, have committed greater infractions on moral laws, and are receiving the results of their misconduct, but that their sufferings may work out for them a greater breadth of manhood than, with their organization, would otherwise be possil)le. The more 'licit misery is responded to by our intelligent aid and sympathy, rather than our con- tempt and harsh criticism, the more we assist in accom- plishing the end in view at the least possible expense of human suffering, that of carrying out the line of de- veloi)ment evidently intended by the great spiritual Source from whom all that is valuable in us first ema- nated. The Value of Moral Persistence,- -It would seem as if the quahty of manly persistence, in order to pro- duce results of i)ermanent value to the man and to mankind, must be educated and trained in a high moral direction and not l)e made subservient to selfish per- sonal interests. The men who arrive at material suc- cess by this force of persistence and determination to achieve certain ol)jects in life are rarely men who began their careers with a resolve to become rich with- out scruple at whatever cost. At first their ambition was of a more heroic type, and may not ha\'e altered until the result of this ambition was with::, their reach. This once obtained, bringing, as it ordinarily does, wealth in suflficient abundance to satisfy wholesome wants, these successful men in a double sense are rarely able to divorce tlie two in their after conduct of Hfe. The altruistic motive lias, however, been adulterated by the egoistic tendency through motives of calculating expediency, and where it commenced with the unselfish query, What good will it do? it ordinarily ends with the more fixed politic consideration, How much will it pay? In persistence there is always strength-, not necessa- rily manly strength, for it may be persistence in evil; but even though it l)e not manly, but brute strength, it is certainly of more value than the weakness of waver- ing, which is a continued waste of nervous manhood THE INEBRIATE'S CONTINUED PROGRESS 89 all through. Persistence, if it be at all logical and reasoning, may be and often is utilized by its subsequent conversion into good. The genuinely wicked persistence in man for a gen- uinely wicked purpose is fortunately of sufficient rarity to shock us when it is openly manifested ; but the great majority of individuals whom we regard as persistently wicked may be nothing more than persistently self- indulgent and mentally diseased. No man is strong in manly persistence who does not finish his stage of life in this body at a point which reaches its maximum of moral persistence. There is nothing so weak and offensive as moral waverings, nothing so strong nnd beautiful as moral persistence, the building up of man- hood on a solid, impregnable rock of stern, irrevocable resolves, which, though it may know defeats, has never known unconditional surrender of any portion of the ground it has gone over. It is oftentimes the case, lu.wevcr, that the persistently successful man in business or in religion is greatly in- clined to self-laudation, and indulges this weakness to an extent offensive to others who are honesdy obliged to acknowledge that they have achieved no very great success in either, but, on the contrary, may be set down as failures in both. The generator of moneyed wealth and the successful genius of religion each becomes a law unto himself in his self-conscious appreciation. If it were only true that the one had built up a fortune and the other goodness by lives of painful self-denial and self-renunciation, of enduring faith and untiring per- sistence, in lines tliat were solidly against the grain of w if* their inclinations, then it would seem as if they deserved to have a just and favorable opinion of their merits and the right to call attention to their well-earned deserts ; but, unfortunately for themselves, they do not in the greater number of cases tell the truth. Without being fully conscious of it themselves, they may have been largely the creatures of favoring circumstances, which, finding them with inherent lines of action in harmony with success, carried them through almost in spite of themselves. Instead of using any very great and ex- hausting labor involving self-denial, it may be that they were simply indulging themselves in habits of mind and body the most congenial and agreeable to their natural instincts and sensations ; and it is refreshing, therefore, to hear occasionally of a successful wealthy man who in- genuously acknowledges that hissuccesswas awonderto himself— that his life, instead of being a painful one of deprivations and unpleasant exhaustive demands upon his mind, was on the whole exciting and pleasurable, and a departure from such employment into uncongenial directions would have indeed been misery ; that instead of being one long-continued, determined effort at over- coming difficulties and knocking down the traditionary stone walls and barriers to success, it was nothing more than passive obedience to an harmonious life of daily thought and action, made the easier by the absence of conflicting and antagonistic desires and tendencies. Adherence to Virtues in Harmony with Our Dis- position and Associations not Moral Strength.- If there is one thing more than another tliat a man hates to confess, it is that he cannot drink without becoming THE INEBRIATE'S CONTINUED PROGRESS 1)1 intoxicated ; yet it is much more manly to say this than the reverse, that he can drink witliout getting drunk. It shows that he possesses tlie excitable ner- vous-mental temperament of the intellectual man and that his higher manly faculties are largely in excess of his lower animal nature. He who says that he must drink or life is no object to him is not a healthfully developed man. His body may be in apparently good condition, his muscles hard and strong, but his mind has either never been properly disciplined in early youth or is going through degenerative changes from the presence of some insidious disease. He must either go voluntarily and at once into mental traiiu'ng and treatment, or be hurled into it later, with suffering and misery, by the inexorable working of the moral law, which, before turning hiiu out a complete man, will first have ground him up into exceeding small pieces. It is not only unmanly, but mean-spirited, for the intemperate man to declare that, although he is weak on the one point of getting drunk, he is especially strong on other temptations ; that, although he gives way to inebriety, he does not do so in odier vices, such as gambling, lying, stealing, taking undue advantage of another in a bargain, scandal-mongering, bearing false witness, adultery, and the like. He deceives himself and attempts to deceive others when he says so, for he knows that he does not exercise any strong force of moral resistance to these, and that the reason he does not yield to them is because he has no stror g tendencies or inclinations in such directions. If they possessed one half the power over him that drink does, he would : it 5 I 02 INEBRIETY yield to every one of them. There is no manh'ness in adhering to virtues which are in harmony with the dis- position — no moral advancement whatever ; for it might be harder to gamble than not to gamble, to take ad- vantage of another than not to do so, to commit adultery than to subdue the prudent fear of conse- quences, to steal than not to steal. 77/<" /ntt/i is that /ir has exhihiteJ i^rratcr moral strnigth in Jii^htifii^ a^ij[ai//st his et the newly resolved man bear in mind that in living his life of daily and hourly resistance to his smaller a}>|)etites, foibles, and petty indulgences, he will meet with many difficulties, and that, instead of getting easier from day to day, life will become harder, with all sorts of appa- THE INEBluAiE'S CON! SUED PROGRES O;. rently riew mptations cropping out to block his path- way to (111. He h perhaps frecpicnily u.jiessedin tlie past this tendency of his natun lo ^pos' ' 's will and gooc/ res( ves, and it has alvvay:, . >tumbling-block to his ccatiniuim c in the right pall As he experiences day after day ihis ming antagoin"sm, and beholds a long vista of ever ^^i owing difficulties before him, he becomes discouraged at the api)arent endlessness, hope- lessness, and unsatisfactoriness of his endeavors to ilo right, and succumbs to what he f^onsiders the inevitable. He attributes his failure to hi stiny and to the devil being too much for him, ignorant that this seeming opposition to his moral recovery is nothin more than the operation of a moral law of the divine economy in one of its most beautiful workings, by which his will I)ovver and force of resistance to evil are l)eing educated and trained in the same manner as the fond mother trains her infant child to walk, step by step. As the strength increases, so do the trials or temptings increase, making further demands upon that growing strength until it reaches its fullest development. Instead, there- fore, of discouragement and despair, the mind of the struggling man should feel insi)ired with increasing hopefulness and continually renewing trust and thank- fulness. » >a^ ^W IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 7 & A {./ ^ j,:^ < o m^.r C/j h ^ ■ i 1' ) 4 • 1 MORAL CHARACTERISTICS AND VARIOUS TYPES OF THE INEBRIATE 95 Moral Characteristics and Various Types of THE Inebriate The Inebriate in His Moral Characteristics The Brutal (.'rinn'nal Inebriate of Our Cities The Nervous Animal Type of Inebriate The Intellectual Type of Inebriate The Domestic and Religious Type of Inebriate The IJrutal Criminal Inebriate in Ills Connection with Jails and Penitentiaries The Spiritual Kflects of Drunkenness Diagram 9G ES OF ith MORAL CHARACTERISTICS AND VARI- OUS TYPES OF THE INEBRIATE The Inebriate in his Moral Characteris^'cs.— It may seem odd to numy jjcrsons to speak of the differ- ence in the moral status of inebriates. With tliese a drunkard is nothing but a drunkard and tliere is no good in him. But the moral habits and cliaracteristics of the individual, outside of drink, vary in accordance with his constitutional tendencies and tlie chara(-ter of his previous education, training, and situation in life. Until the moment of intoxication he may l)e either a weak good man or a thorouglily vicious one. Subse- quently, when he emerges from it, he returns to what he was previous to his debauch, but always with a de- clension in point of resistance not only to drink, but to every vice wln'ch his surroundings and distempered mind incline him to. Fortunate is the man who can then return to a nu'ral-inteUectual environment; not so much for what it ^oill do to cure his intemperance, luit li'hat it docs accomplish in preserving; him from the icorst 07 i IT A 98 INEBRIETY feature of if, the acquisition of vices, with the ultimate possibilities of crime. The Brutal Criminal Inebriate of Our Cities,— In the foreground we have the blackguard drunkard of our streets, big of limb, broad of chest, low of brow, and black of visage ; born of the gutters ; the braggart and bully of his less offensive neighbors, evil triumph in his eyes ; with strong assumption of physical power, but cowardly by instinct ; thief and murderer by inher- ent qualities, and only needing an accident to make either or both ; at times politic with the lowest form of animal cunning ; the woman-bruiser by nature and nur- ture ; his language as polluted as his mind, which rev- erences nothing but the brute force which overcomes him ; always the concentrated living spawn of the ac- cumulating growth of generations of depravity. The accidents of life sometimes make him the successful politician and the petty magistrate or alderman of our cosmopolitan cities, where he carries on his debauchery with immunity from the laws which he himseH dispenses in unjust, arbitrary, and cruel decisions and sentences against his less fortunate contemporaries in vice. The Nervous Animal Type of Inebriate*— In an- other class of inebriates we recognize the spoiled boy that is born of those social upheavals in which men without education, excepting that which business life develops, become suddenly well-to-do and are inspired with an ambition to elevate their sons into a more re- fined and cultivated social position than they them- selves can hope to occupy. With an active mind born of the parent who has per- CHARACTERISTICS AND TYPES 09 haps enriched himself without much scrupulous regard 'for the rights of others, with inherent tendencies in the direction of animal indulgences, an ill-regulated mind, ample means, and favoring environment, he very early absorbs the genius of the street more readily than that of the intellectual schools of life. His later education is of billiard halls, concert saloons, dance houses, gambling dens, and brothels, his conver- sation is altogether of these, and nothing in life is worth the living unless spent "as a tale duit is told," amid pleasures which apjjeal directly to the largely developed animal side of his brain. Although not devoid of a thin veneering of refinement and polish, it is not unlike that attributed to the Russian : " Scratch him and the Tartar appears." He is an imperfect develoi)ment, imperfect at birth and made so by the character of his after training and surroundings. Spurreil on by the necessity which impelled his father, he might not have differed greatly from him in the character of his success. The Intellectual Type of Inebriate*— In the third marked type of intemperate men we find the educated man of refined and intellectual instincts and habits, who obtains no gratification from the pastimes of the brutish or ignorant, does not indulge in profanity, card-playing, gambling, etc., because the bent of his mind from the beginning, predetermined by the organic superiority of the intellectual qualities over the physical, possibly through a long line of cultured progenitors, is not in the direction of such enjoyments, and his surroundings have not inspired him with a habit of mind that can obtain even surcease of suffering from such practices. ii it: 100 INERRir.TY fl If •!:if » He has no great vices outside of his indulgence in drink, because of the weakness of his desires, and he exercises no moral strength in resisting these, although he is apt to alTect a reputation for his exemi)tion from the common vices of ordinary drinking men. In his alcoholic inebriation he indulges in the intel- lectual form of pleasure rather than the animal, and often feels more moral when drunk than when sober. He is known frequently during his drinking-bouts to have been intellectually at his ])est, up to the time that his excessively stimulated brain gave way, by increasing intoxication, to the impossibility of putting his thoughts into an intelligible and coherent shape. At such times, if he happens to be of a classical or moral bent of mind, he will express himself with a purity and correct- ness that almost equal a Cicero, a Marcus Aurelius, or a Tacitus ; if he is idealistic and sentimental, in poetry that makes Homer, Dante, or Dryden seem closer to us than ever before ; if humorous and witty, the brilliant sallies and bonsmots which his highly stimulated ima- gination conjures up transport us into an atmosi)here breathing of a Sheridan or a Curran ; and if patriotic, the fire and vehemence of dead orators and eloquent statesmen become renewed and living under the stimu- lated forces of the intoxicated brain of the nervous m- tellectual man. This type, as well as the succeeding one, Is the pro- duct of hereditary disease. The Domestic and Religfious Type of Inetriate, — Then, again, we have the quiet, domestic youth, who has been brought up among virtuous women, who loves r CH.-iRACrr.RlSTICS ,^NI) TYPl'S 101 reading and the refined i)leasiires (-f home life. lie is reserved, modest, and cleanly in his habits, has little if any ambition, but has the character of mind and nervous organization which would make life sweet to him as a village cure or a country parson, where his small ego- ism would receive its necessary aliment through the sense of being useful to his fellow-men in a quiet, non- exciting field of labor rather than in a world of com- petitive ambitions, struggles, and cares. He has an appreciative sense of honor and probity, qualities which he has inherited along with his liability to indulge in stimukition. To him i)eriodical attacks of intoxicative mania seem to come as a resultant of his (juiet, non- combative existence, his soft and yielding nature, the disturbing influences of uncongenial living, and as a corrective medicine for his mental and physical weak- ness. He is a congenital neurotic. The Brutal Criminal Inebriate in His Connection with Jails and Penitentiaries,— These are the tyi)es that stand out more boldly than others, which are simply modifications of the foregoing specimens. With the first class referred to, where the brutal institicts are encouraged by street training and education and are accompanied by a love for and faith in depravity as a material basis of human existence, it would seem ns if nothing short of being made all over again would be of any benefit in converting these into decent members of society. What we have to do in their case is not the reformation and restoration of men who have at one time led respectable and socially correct lives, but the working up of the polluted raw material into a 102 iNnnRiiriY sliape rc.scnil)lin^^ humanity, with some sense of iitihta- rian morahty. They require new niinils and new bodies to begin witli, before the ordinary processes of secular and moral education can he made available. The dis- cipline and teachings of the church cannot be made effective through her customary methods, for the brains of these defective specimens of humanity are so struc- turally disorganized, through many succeeding genera- tions of ignorance, degradation, and wrong-doing, that e\en the sensations of j)leasure or pain are in them as (juiescent as in a rln'noceros and are excited only through the stomach. There is nothing for leligion to take hold of, and it is only by remedying the morbid organic conditions within their brains that they can be reached through the perceptive faculty. There is a constitu- tional restraint of the intellectual faculties, and a mental hygienic discii)line and training is required to do away with this and allow of a partial development at any rate. As this would have to be done through compulsion and by the state, the jails and workhouses might be diverted from their present position as ini(|uitous, legalized schools of vice and crime into a useful pur- l)ose, the conversion of the bad stock of animal men into human men. But this will never be done until the ridiculous fallacy that criminality or viciousness is a moral infraction, a voluntary transgression rather than a mental deformity, is laid aside, along with the other old moral lumber of past civilizations. It is no new theory to believe that all wickedness and weaknesses arise from organic perversion of the brain, to begin ' CH.iR.'H:iiiR!sin:s ^nd typhs 103 ' with, and from this bdng continually stimulated ami en- couraged by a wrong eilucation and training all through life; but we have also convincing proofs that these con- stitutional tendencies toward evil have been subverted, and the innate degeneracy corrected, from the fact that a large number of our morally healthy citizens of to-day started life with everything against them in this respect and undoubtedly owe their conversion to a rightful and proper training. The economic principle involved in Un'ning our l)ris()ns and jails into schools of mental hygiene for the building up of moral manhood on a stern and rigid mental discipline, however appreciable, would un- doubtedly call out the usual protests of the moral school of gadgrinds, who would see nothing in it but awards and encouragements of crime where there should be nothing but i)unishmcnt; who, in the same spirit that burned Protestant reformers as a prevention to the further spread of the crime of apostasy, would deal out blows rath;"' tlian specifics. But there is little fear that this sort of discipline would ever be regarded as a plea- sure by the prisoner, or that persons would commit crime in order to avail themselves of the prison educa- tion. No one will ever go to jail to accomplish his healthful education in life. .Schools and hygiene are not popular with criminals ; they have too decided a l)reference for the old ways. The entire economy of prison organization is worked on the principle of fear as a ruling motive in conduct, and the sound of the gong carries with it the inslant obedience of every inmate. Its rules are as immutable I h 104 iNnnRii-TY as the laws of tlic Mcdcs and Persians are said lo have been. In no otiier way can snch material he handled with safety, for kindness and indul^^ence are largely thrown away on these undisciplined men ; but if prison life fails to accomi)lish any good bi't that of ready obedience to discipline, harsh, cruel, and oppressive as it is, and as, under any change of oeliefs, it will always remain, it performs that which is of appreciable value to them and to the state. Unfortunately, however, the worlh of this to the prisoner is more than counterbal- anced by the |)oisonous influences unceasingly at work, through the admixture of perverted minds in various stages of cunning, evil ingenuity, and wrong-doing. The contagious examj-Ie through this compulsory as- sociation is the immoral education the i)risoner is now receiving, and tlusalwaj-s affords the stimulus to make weak men more vicious and criminal and stronger in evil contiiuially, while the hardened criminal, through the imiM-ovemcnt in his physical, allhough not in lu's mental and moral, health, is beconu'ng more dangerous to the future safety and security of society and con- tinually depreciating in i)ossible value as an econonu'c fa(-tor in civilization. The value of such a system of correction to sociefv, if it could be successfully put into operation, would be almost incalculable. It is open to doubt if even llic ti-cde schools of our country could turn out, when tiu'ir period of education terminated, more .serviceable men than these rigidly (h'sciplined, experienced, and s\'stcmatically worked inmates of our prisons, if their perverted mental organizations were prepared by right- ! \ CH.4R.4CTl:i!STI(S WAV) TYPES 105 \ \ fill training uiid treatment during incarceration to work healthfully, to ij,e hest ailvanlage for themselves and for the state. The Spiritual Effects of Drunkenness.- 1 n dosing this little treatise, it seems imperative upon us to call attention to the nn'schief wrought by the use of intoxi- cating Ii(iuors uix.n the liidden spiritual sources of man, and we cannot do this better than by (luotingan article which ai)peared some years ago in " Harper's Monthly Magazine" on that subject: " The curse of drnnkenntss on the side of its/Z/r.^vW// devastations has been abunilantly Jepi(-ted by the advocates of the temi)erance reform. The am<.unt of grain consumed in the manufacture of intoxicating liquors; the number of men whose labor is worse than wr.sted in imxlucing and in vending them ; the nun;l)er of lives destroyed by them ; the number of paupers and insane persons whose woes are traceable to this source ; the effects upon the health of individuals— all of these things are freciuently set forth with sufficient fullness m impressix'e rhetoric. Some allowances must be made for the overstatements of zealous advoc-ates, but there are facts enough of an ai)palling nature in these repre- sentations to call for the most serious thought. " V.\\{ the worst side of drunkenness is not that which api)ears in these familiar figures. The most frightful effects of the drink habit are not those which can be tal)ulated in statistics and reported m the census. It is not the waste of corn, nor the destruction of proj)ertv, nor the increase of taxes, nor even the ruin of physical liealth nor the loss of life, which most impresses the f"! \ ■'< lOG INEBRIETY mind of the thoughtful observer of ineliriety. It is the effect of this vice upon the cliaracters of men as it is exhibited to him, day by day, in his ordinary intercourse with them. It is in tlie spiritual realm that the ravages of strong drink are most terrible, " Body and mind are so closely related that when the one suiTers the other must share the suffering ; and the injury to the physical health resulting from intemperate drinking must therefore be accompanied by similar in- jury cf the mental and moral powers. But the incli- nation of the popular thought is so strongly toward the investigation of the physical phenomena that the spirit- ual consequences of drunkenness are often overlooked. Degeneration of tissues is more palpable than degener- acy of spirit, a lesion of the brain more startlint,^ than a breach of faith ; but tlie deeper fact, of which the senses take no note, is the more important fact, and it would be well if the attention of men could be fixed upon it. "The phenomena to which we have referred often report themselves to the (juickened percej^tions of those who stand nearest to the habitual drinker. Many a mother observes, with a heart that grows hea\ier day by day, the signs of moral de-ay in the character of her son. It is not the flushed face and the heavy eyes that trouble her most ; it is the evidence that his mind is be- coming duller and fouler, his sensibilities less acute, his sense of honor less commanding. She discovers that his loyalty to truth is somewhat impaired, that he de- ceives her frequendy and without compunction. Hiis effect is often observed in the character of the inebriate. CHARACTERISTICS AND TYPT.S 107 'rruthfulncss is the fundamentnl virtue; when it is iin- j)aired the character is undermined and strong (h'ink makes a deadly assault i][)on it. Coupletl with this loss of truthfulness is that weakening of the will which always accompanies chronic alcoholism. The man loses, little by little, the mastery over himself ; the regal faculties are in (diains. How many of his l)roken promises are due to a debilitated will, and how many to a decay of his veraciousness, it would be impossible for the victim himself to determine. Doubtless his in- tention to break (/f his evil habit is s(Mnetimes honest, and the failure is due to the paralysis of his will. "The loss of self-respect, the lowering of ambition, and the fading out of hope are signs of the progress of this disease in the character. It is a mournful spectacle — that of the brave, ingenuous, high-si)irited man sink- ing steadily down into the degradation of inebriety ; but how many such spectacle.-^ are visible all over the land! And it is not in the character of those alone who nre notorious drunkards that such tendencies appear ; they are of*?n distinctly seen in the lives of men who are never drunk. Sir Henry Thompson's testimony is em- phatic, to the efifect that the liabitual use of fermented licpiors to an extent far short of what is necessary to pro(lu< e intoxication injures the body and diminishes the mental power. "If, as he testifies, a large proportion of the most painful and dangerous maladies of the bodx- are due to the use (^f fermented li(Hiors taken in cjuantities which are conventionally deemed moderate, then it is certain tha* such use of them mu^t result also in serious inju- 108 INEBRIETY m ries to the mental and moral nature. Who does not know reputable gentlemen— physicians, artists, clergy- men even— who were never drunk in their lives and never will be, but who reveal in conversation and in conduct certain melancholy effects of the drinking habit? 'rhe brain is so often inflamed with alcohol that its functions are imperfectly performed and there is a i)erceptible loss of mental power and of moral control. " The drinker is not conscious of this loss ; but those who know him best are i)ainfully aware that his per- ceptions are less keen, his judgments less sound, his temper less serene, his spiritual vision less clear, because he tarries every day a little too long at the wine. Even those who refuse to entertain ascetic theories respecting these beverages may be able to see that there are uses of them that stop short of drunkenness which are still hurtful to tlie mind and heart as well as the body. 'I'hat conventional idea of moderation to which Sir Henry Thompson refers is quite elastic; the term is stretched to cover habits that are steadily despoiling the life of its rarest fruits;. The drinking habit is often defended by reputable gentlemen to whom the very thought of a debauch would be shocking, l)ut to whom, if it were only lawful, in the tender and just solicitude of friendsliij), such words as these might be spoken : It is true that you are not drunkards, and may never be ; but if you could know, what is too evident to those who love you best, how your character is slowly losing the fineness of its texture and the firmness of its outline, how your art deteriorates in the dehcacy of its touch, ES \ i hce. //t Mdse/ft A/or6 //} //ft -^ 1 1 DIAGRAM OF THE MORAL MANIFESTATIONS RESULTING FROM TH OF THE NERVOUS-MENTALS HEALTHY CONDITIO OF NERVOUS -MENTAL ORGANIZATION MAINTAINED THROUGHOUT LIFE /rregu/arity of tempers fee/in^i. » ll ING FROM THE NORMAL AND ABNORKAL CONDITIONS US-MENTAL STRUCTURE. ^e. Self/'nc/u lgence in Mord/d mental Sensations. Afordidly Unhealthy temper & Irregularity Imagination, of /eei/ngs. \lntense egoism. t^^ 'l'\ ^5 Ayarlclousness, Maliciousness, ' /Restlessness, Suspicion So/Is trust. Cruelty. Imprudence, Scheming. Impuls/treness, Djscouragement, Desfiair,. Intemperance, insan ity. Disease, , Suicide- ' Death. UNREST ilse ral- tlon. Modera t ion of Physical desires. temperSfeellngs Hea l thy Imagination ^^Actmty, Industry. Thoroughness, Perfectness, Uniformity. ^er. ''"^^ Prudence, ^^ foresight. Sag acity, GoodMemory. Judgement. \^ Satisfaction, Hopefulness, Cheerfulness, Contentment. Happiness. Highest Development in this life. Successful life. REST regul a rity ~~of malc/eslres. /rregularlty of tempers feelings. Self- In dulgence /n unhealthy Instincts. /ndolence. Impulsiveness. Impati ence. Discouragement C/fangeadllIfy, lossofpresence of mind. loss of Self control. Ale/encholy. Pec/;'c\''ness. Despair Intemperance. Insanity. Criminality. Disease, Deat/i. li * s : CHARACTERISTICS AND TYPES 109 how the atm(xspliere of your life seems to grow murky and the sky lowers gloomily above you, you would not think your daily indulgence harmless in its measure. It is in just such lives as these that drink exhibits some of its most mournful tragedies."