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LYON PLAYFAIR, M.P., Chairman. CROYDON : PRINTED BY J. W. WARD, "ADVERTISER" OFFICES, KATHARINE STREET. 1876. *l Ill I III! Iill II THE LEGISLATION WHICH IS REQUIRED TO MEET THE CASE OF THE HABITUAL DRUNKARD \ At the last annual meeting of the British Medical Asso- ciation the reformation of the " habitual drunkard " was forcibly brought to the notice of the members by some of the associates in very excellent and practical papers. The Council of the Association also took up the question and appointed a committee to consider in what way the subject could be dealt with. That committee has had several conferences, not the least important of which was that at which it was determined to invite the Social Science Association to join in the proposed campaign, and to bring to bear upon the work that force which exists in the Association, which this year has the privilege of being presided over by Lord Aberdare. The invitation was cordially accepted by the Executive Council. As a member of both associations, and also one of the Edinburgh Committee, I most willingly respond to the request made by the Law Amendment Committee of this Association that I should submit some views for consideration and indicate the direction which legislative action should take. Three questions present themselves for discussion— 1st.— Is further legislation required for the control and management of the habitual drunkard ; are not the lowers already in operation sufficient for the purpose? ■UJLJJi 2nd. — Are those powers capable of being used for his reformation ? 3rd. — If not, and if new legislation is required, what direction should it take ? Let us fairly consider the first question — Is further legislation required ? Do the penal clauses now in operation against drunkenness prevent its further increase, or even prevent the victim of the disease repeating the offence almost as soon as opportunity arises ? I may be wrong in my conclusions, but according to my experience they are inoperative as preventive measures, and have not the least pretence for being considered curative. As a magistrate acting in a thickly-peopled district of greater London, I have seen the same persons charged with being drunk and disorderly, or drunk and incapable, as the case may be, fined or sent to prison over and over again. After seven or fourteen days' imprisonment, they are discharged ; in many instances, determined more than ever to be drunk as soon as they can. Those who will take the trouble to read the report 01, and look into the evidence taken by the Select Committee upon " Habitual Drunkards," which sat in 1872, will soon be convinced that present powers are useless for the purpose we have in view. When thirty, forty, fifty, or even 100 convictions are shown to have been recorded against the same individuals, it cannot be doubted that *' small fines and short imprisonments are proved to be useless." The testimony upon this point is ovei-whelming. When a person is brought up and sent to prison for fourteen days for disorderly conduct whilst under the influence of liquor, the time is just long enough to get rid of the evil effects of the debauch, and to produce a renewed desire for drink, which desire is gratified as soon ■^ as he IS discharged from prison. Comrades wait for him outside and carry him off for the purpose. The short time only increases the desire and sends him still further down the abyss from which, at present, there is scarcely any possibility of escape. The fact that a person has all dread of detention. Whilst there he is relieved of the dyspepsia under which he always, more or less, labours : he does not care for food, he has plenty of water, and by the time he comes out his relish is restored, and he goes at the drink again like a giant refreshed, without the least particle of an idea regarding reformation or amendment of We The maudlin sentiment which is occasionally met with in the early stages of recovery from a debauch is, in ninety-nme cases out of loo, evanescent, and has no time, under present arrangements, to become an integral part of a man s-still less of a woman's-mental condition, and the last state of the victim is worse than the first. The report of the Select Committee states distinctly tha there is an entire concurrence of all the witnesses m the absolute inadequacy of existing laws to check drunkenness, whether casual or constant." ^^ The opinion of the committee was most decided that fresh legislation upon the subject was necessary, and that the law should be made more simple, uniform, and stringent." Notwithstanding that report, which was made in June, 1872, no legislative action has been forthcoming and we are informed that the Government does not propose the introduction of any measure this year It was proved before the committee that drunkenness is the prolific parent of crime, disease, and poverty. That in some gaols as many as 75 per cent, of the criminals attributed their condition directly to drink ; that at least Ml 6 20 per cent, of the insanity recorded in Great Britain was produced by the same cause ; and that more than one-half of the idiots which excite our compassion are the offspring of drunken parents. It was shown as a natural consequence of these facts that increase of pauperism is inevitable, and that the children of drunkards are placed in positions of the greatest peril, with almost a certainty that they will be worse than their fathers. All this was conclusively proved by that committee which was so ably presided over by the late Mr. Dalrymple, yet, on the face of those facts, Parliament has not grappled with the subject, and has left it precisely wh ire it was before the Committee sat. Mr. Dalrymple introduced a Bill founded upon the recommendations of the committee, which was read a first time, but withdrawn in consequence of the resignation of Mr. Gladstone, and it remains to be seen whether the present Parliament will be persuaded to face the difficulty involved in fresh legislation upon the subject. There is evidence that a very large amount of drunkenness among all classes and both sexes never becomes public at all, and cannot at present in any way be dealt with by magistrates. Private drunkenness, especially among women, is even a more fertile source of misery, poverty, and degradation than that which affects the lower grades of society, and which gives so much occupation to the police. There is no legal remedy whatever for it ; the only punishment capable of being inflicted is exposure, and this, because of its inoperative result upon the victim, and its injurious effect on the innocent relatives, every friend of the unhappy creature always tries to prevent. Still the course of the drunkard is downward, and only becomes generally known when ruin stares the whole family in the face, or a suicide, or a homicidal act, has given ev-dence sufficient to prove that for a time at least the victim is insane. There conM n^f u u.. -I ^ iiiciecouici not be a Teater nmnf compound v f '' '"'''"""' "yarding explosive cZes a!d f '?"'""' ^ "'"^'' ""--^ numerous set of Clauses and produced much greater changes in the law „.„t ,• P^°P'^ constantly cry out for protecon agams, occasional evils such as may arise from a possible explosion, and which can „ni„ „^^^"'° '""" reeion Th„„ n i- T °"'>^ ^''^=<=' ^ narrow raTvv,;. ^- [ '^ ''S'"'^"^' enactments against « bv c"rr"": "'"" ™^ P''^'™^^^ - - -"'ion i killed by crcumstances over which he has no control A Ta crgeTnr"'' 'T'"' '^ '■"'^^'^ P>^ ^-n curable in i' t' '" ' ■"" ' '''''"^^ ^^'>'^h '» ""'y "skeletorin h \'''^"' "'"* '^ ■""- °^ l"s I skeleton m the cupboard " of almost every large familv and to send every year its tens of thousands into eternity an aitri':rr:L wT^^ruraif^ir-i,"^ be no alteration at all I 7 P'"'""^ *° interfere with personal L; • L TZT'TT ""^" nnf ,-,.f f J • , ^^L»t;ny . as it personal liberty were hundred different ways, in all ages, without serious injun- rclired r™"^"" ' "'" '"' "'^^"^■^^ °' ""= ^'^'^ Bill iV?"?"™ ."^ "'""'°" '" '"''^ "P Mr. Dalrymple's 8 present sufficiently alive to the necessity of legislation so complete as that which the chairman of the Select Committee desired, but I will revert to the opposition that Bill met with and which probably led to its withdrawal quite as much as the resignation of Mr. Gladstone. The promoters were stigmatized in a leading weekly review as a set of fanatics ; the Bill was set down as a counterpoise to Sir Wilfrid Lawson's permissive measure, each equally unlikely to be passed. Sir W. Lawson's Bill may or may not be passed, but assuredly, unless something be done to arrest the spread of drunkenness and to diminish the expcJsure to temptation which now ^o manifestly exists at every corner of almost every street, the people will some day take the work into their own hands, and a " whiskey war " may not be without its promoters even in our own land. It is true that men cannot be made sober by Act of Parliament, but bad legislation has fearfully tended to produce a race of drunkards, and it is for this bad legislation — this placing of temptation in way of those who are unable to resist it — that we now ask Parliament to provide a remedy. Should the present Parliament choose to leave the matter as it is, it is not improbable that the next House of Commons will close its doors against a majority of the liquor dealers who now sit on its benches ; and then possibly the hab'+ual drunkard and the great promoters of that class, viz., those who sell adulterated wine and beer, may have the requireme'.ts of each case met by an appropriate remedy. I cannot think that ministers have been wise in ignoring this subject. The deputation which waited upon Mr. Cross on the ist of July, of last year, should have impressed him with the belief that it was a matter not to be trifled with. It would be an unfortunate thing for it to be made a political question. Yet when men like Sir Thomas Watson speak rx= 9 out so plainly as 1,. did at that interview and th. ■ • . ■snores the question, there is a 'eaTtha't h o- ^ T" a party one Sir Th„™, i., . " V •>= ""•'"^e remarks- ^"""^ *'"^'^" ^''W- '" "ncludins his meas':;e:™r'r7,rSl":: -"folr;,"'''' "^ ^?'"^ "^-'^"ve instance of his rel-iHnnr ^^/"'"^^^tories wherein, at th" or by the sentence o the m ''T^'' ""' ^^ ^'^ own wish blec ^ng." ^ ''^^''^^^ ^« anything less than a national an example vheiT a f """,' '""^ ^' ^^^'''^ ('"""-"g presentm-'enVt'; r ^dirtt'? ^" "r'' '" '"^'^ absolutely necessary. ^''"■' '''™'^<' '" I'' the fa'Mh'ar;i^rr"yi7t::tt:iv'"^^^^^ r-"™ '° suffertrs had i„ ':„:*'' ' '*^"'^''' ^"'' ''""^^ "'-' '"a with the cnm nak The" T" """^'^'' ■" '"'o™^"™ any change in the L h,', '"■'''"^'' '° "^l'' -municLon .o o^^l^t.^j;-:!!^;. TnT '" : any well-di^estprl ^^ , • ^onsmci and assist attempts it S ill I H L^ '^'' ™ P"™= "^ter ™ajor,ty o hif As ^- ■'„'"' '" "'^' ' '^^"^^ '^^ a matter oruch"!'™ ' '""' """ "^' "^^' " - >.uch vtal importance to the well-being mmm 10 ■»"M of the State that it ought to be a Government measure, and not liable to those impediments which naturally beset a private l>ill. Suppose we now look at the difficulties which appear to have appalled the Home Secretary. One objector asks, " Do you propose to lock up every drunkard ? if so you will require enormous establishments." The definition con- tained in Mr. Dalrymple's Bill disposes of this objection — "the person must be habitually incapable, injurious to himself or others, and unable to manage his affairs." The mere fact that a garrotter could be subjected to the lash did more to prevent garrotting than was effected by the actual infliction of the lash itself on the culprit. The knowledge that the habitual drunkard can be deprived of his personal liberty will assist in preventing many from rushing headlong down the path of destruction before they have entirely lost their power of self-control. It is the class of drunkards who have lost that power to whom we wish to apply the proper remedy. The diagnosis of such cases is as well known to medical men as is the difference, which we now know to exist, between typhus and typhoid fever. The loss of self-control, the determination to have drink at all hazards and .ny cost, the changed mental state, the restlessness, the depression, the loss of all sense of duty, of truth, of honour and affection, are more or less present in every case, and tell the tale, when pointed out, but too clearly even to the uninitiated. Another difficulty which is started by our opponents is the fact that we cannot speak very positively as to the result of tteatment in a given case. We are required to show that there will be a reasonable probability of cure, and that also within a reasonable period of time. The experience which has been gained in other countries— t measure, irally beset ich appear ector asks, so you will lition con- ibjection — ijurious to s affairs." :ed to the effected by 3rit. The leprived of lany from on before •ol. It is * to whom ignosis of as is the m typhus trol, the .ny cost, spression, nour and :, and tell :n to the opponents as to the quired to ' of cure, le. The Lintries — 11 those treated. Dr. Peddie'say ■■ Th ■'" """'""'^ °' connects, and a K° j ^ , ^"^ '= ^ '»k which iney. 'f •weha:';d:;^;s%i:;::Let tr r '"■' who cannot care for himself . r. '"^ '^ ""« to bring retribuil on thostlto ? "'''"'^'^ '^ ^"' neglect. Surely it is timeT r . ^""'^^ '° ">« '-ve it longer ™;e*rm™d " "'^' '""^' ^"^ "<" '° for .h"tni/orrh:;^nr,::?" ■^^'^'-'™ '= "-^^"' ---»^versnowC:Lt;;Sm;t;:di^^^^^^^^ 14 useless for their reformation, it becomes necessary to consider the kind of legislation which is required. There are three distinct phases to be reviewed before we can determine the best course to be pursued so as to obtain a successful result. We have to consider the subject under the head of— (i.) Drink as a vice. (2.) Drink as a disease which has been induced by indulgence in vice. (3.) Drink as a disease inherited from those parents who did indulge in the vice. The whole subject has been so ably grappled with in an article in the Quarterly Review (Oct., 1875) on " Drink, the Vice and the Disease," that I should be scarcely doing right if I did not ask all those who are here present, and who have not read that article, to do so as soon as they can, and after reading it I feel assured that they will be wiser as well as sadder men. It appears, from incontro- vertible evidence, that upwards of 60,000 persons are annually slaughtered in this kingdom by vicious drinking. It IS the vice which produces the disease, and the question at once arises as to whether we shall take steps to cure the disease, after it has begun, or shall prevent its estabhshment ? The nation has spoken out and determined that, as regards fever, cholera, and the like, they shall be prevented, and prevention of epidemic disease is established as the law of the land. The nuisances which arise from excremental pollution are great, the destruction of life which they produce is enormous ; but there the evil stops. Dirt is destructive, but except as an indirect casue of drunkenness, it does not destroy body and soul together, it does not breed idiots and imbeciles, fill our gaols with criminals and our asylums with lunatics; it does not destroy the peace and lose parents 16 we oughf to Severn "he dh" ™J"' "'^' '" "^ "P'"'™ opinion as to the enoL„ T'"™ "' " ^™"d P"Wi<= necessity of rlisin "° ^ '? '"'^"P^'-ance and the drunkenness " hat" t^mt" '"t""'^'' ''^°'^^' ''S^-' steps against th cau 'ofT ^'^ '^'^ ^"^ *^"- therefore, this evening "i,, te '^li, IT' °"' ""J'^'' in the direction I h. !, advocating inquiry the principle:';;;' h ;; ^ 'uTe'l" '''' T" "^'"'^ "^ disease, a power whicrle" no n ''°"" °' """"? ">» and the effect of which at far T ""' '" "''^ ^"""'■•y' have no direct n,ea„s of ILt „, I "V °"=""^''' ^ has been tried, and as might be t * """'"" " been found to answer ,T1 l Z"""' ""P"'^''' " ha» cures has not been so g"t '" ^■""'" '"' ""■""- "' -atn,ent wi„ p JabI sCw' trbXre TTlT "^ "n-e^cr f!:— :" r: -^^^^^"^^ o.i>er disease the dnl d Lt'r dl^ '''" ^"''^ ^^^"^ styied by Mr. Aiford) r^^^^^'^^ " "^ ^- be certain, but in soits nf lot .. ^ '"' '''"'= '^ '« treatment at too earlv a /J ,."'"' ""^ "' ''^''^^^^ fr°m factor, suffic ent trtat;; ' "=^".V'" '"" '"°^' -'- beinggiventocaryou Letmetr! ;' ''"™'"'™ P°"- The estaWishment „f ]"" '" °"'' ''™ 'and. -^.,.,«has bee meane es t;:lT:''' ■/t""""'"" >^ '^'.terrfay ii'.i,,-,^ I hnn.T ^L despite the sneers of the -e wifh ou Re o'ma '!;"', ^"''''^''■^'^P'-^'d^ by Industrial Schoo ™r he h u """""^ "'"'""'^ ^"'^ <"" ---andwa:d:irir7ou;'re;r\-- 16 unacquainted with the subject, and reading the remarks of writers who are opposed to fresh legislation, would certainly conclude (as large numbers of people have done) that some vital change was contemplated in our statutes, some deadly attack upon the so-called liberty of the subject which must be stedfastly repelled. The review already quoted says that the proposals contained in Mr, Dalrymple's Bill are so absurd that they do not demand serious attention : the writer concludes a powerful philippic against the Bill by asserting that if Parliament were to pass such a Bill the Court of Queen's Bench (now High Court of Judicature) would set it aside. " Happily," says the writer, " the judges of that court have both the power and the will to keep a check upon foolish legislation." I commend this conclusion to the attention of members of Parliament— it tells us pretty plainly that Parliament is not paramount after all, although the writer has missed the spot where power really lies. What if the threat which the prophet used against the people of Israel be realized in our own land, "that the prophets should prophesy falsely "—what if the " people should believe a lie ? " their judgment be warped by the effects of neglected duty, and a Parliament be elected which should be imbued with the defective judgment which naturally belongs to the children of the inebriate. I may quote here an extract from the report of the Committee on Intemperance for the Lower House of Convocation, which Committee was presided over by my late esteemed friend Archdeacon Sandford, a report which is full of the most appalling evidence of the results of drink : — "The evils inflicted on society and the nation at large by intemperance are not only harrowing and humiliating to contemplate, but are also so many and widespread as almost to defy computation. It may be truly said of our body politic ' that the whole head is"' sick nation at 17 and eftc^vdv ''unnLVH"''' "" ""'''' ^^■"=«- "e speedily g^''at,"'toXk td'^^"1 '°°r^' -■ »y 'fforts"^:: whowill have mafrnpnJ^.v j' ' *, * The statesman a lasting claim t^olts^'aSe/' " """'^ ^"' ^^^^^^^^^ It may be fairly asked how we should determine when the time for punishment has passed and the time for thaTire uT"! ^'^ "^"^'' '^^""^ ^" --d ^he fact that the habitual drunkard has to be considered in two phases, VIZ as giving way to a vice and as the subject of a disease. If we are to take up the reformatory side of the question alone, there will not be much difficulty. The firs part of the definition of habitual drunkards as contained in Mr. Dalrymple's Bill will suffice :- " A person shall be deemed an habitual drunkard wbn n consequence of the habitual intemperardrrnki'ne of intoxicating hquor, is dangerous to himself or to others or is incapable of managing his affairs." ' _ It may be asked whether the definition does not imply that the person is a proper subject for a lunatic asylum. Truly it is an insanity, but it is not an insanity which can be properly treated in a lunatic asylum ; it is a partial insanity which the law does not recognize as fit for lunatic asylum treatment. The proprietors of lunatic asylums are as glad to get rid of such patients as ever the patients are to discharge themselves, and the victims are seldom rea y the better for the short detention which the law now allows; like short gaol imprisonn.ents they are useless for curative treatment. The evidence of all those 18 who are qualified to give an opinion is against detention in ordinary lunatic asylums, as being alike injurious to both the lunatic and the dipsomaniac. The witnesses are all in favour of special houses for their treatment, inasmuch as the victims are not insane in the ordinary interpretation of the term except when under the influence, or suffering from, the effects of intoxicating drinks. If a man has been the subject of homicidal mania during a drunken fit and has taken or attempted to take another man's life while under the influence of the disease, we do not hesitate to confine him for the rest of his life. What difference is there in the case of the homicide and that of the habitual drunkard. We confine the latter for seven, fourteen, or twenty-one days, as a punishment over and over again. Is there any real hardship in extending the time sufficiently long to reform him ? not as a punish- ment, but as a means of cire ; not in a gaol, but in a building set apart from both criminals and lunatics, and where he need not, by confinement therein, be branded as he may be by incarceration in either of the former in- stitutions. We extend the time of confinement without hesitation when we send a boy to an ordinary Reformatory for four years, or a child to an Industrial school ; why we should not treat the dipsomaniac in the some manner has yet to be proved. We should then be spared some repetitions of such evidence as that given by the Coroner for Liverpool, who, when describing the effects of free trade in drink in that town, said — *' That he shared, though unwillingly, in the harvest of death with the publicans, in fees paid to him for inquests held on deaths caused by crime and drunkenness— deaths by falling down stairs or against curb stones— deaths by bemg run over in the streets while helpless— deaths of mfants overlaid by their parents when drunk— deaths by murder and manslaughter, committed under the influence 19 ttis^'drinV ?K-''^'''y protesting against the prevalence of -t^i^fet'de^lt^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^-^' ^'^^ -P-ished, ^un- n.rf ^^T'r.'^^"^ '' is necessary to take up the second part of Mr. Dalrymple's definition, which refers to three previous convictions in a court of summary jurisdiction withu. a precedmg six months, because I think that if the firs part of the definition is adopted the second is alto- gether unnecessary. I wish also to keep clear of the penal and to take up the reformatory part of my subject only, although :t would be right to produce evidence of penaltie previously incurred, in proof of the probability of the establishment of the disease. A clause in the Licencing Act, 1872, gives power to the police to take proceedings against any one found drunk m places of public resort. Let this power be extended to indaviduals having a bond fide interest in the reformation of the victim, either as guardian, next-of-kin, heir-at-law or head of the establishment in which he resides. Let the proceedings be always taken in a court of summary Jurisd.aion andlet them apply to drinking in private as well as public. Let the magistrates have power, if they thmk fit, to give costs against the pursuer if they are of opinion that it was not a bond fide case for inquiry, and let the magistrates determine the time during which the patient shall be under treatment, and we have nearly all the alteration of law that is required. If to this power some of the clauses contained in the Reformatory Schools Act, 1866, be also combined-viz those which give authority to the Treasury to contribute' power to justices to sentence, power to compel friends to contribute to the maintenance of the person, power to local authorities to erect local reformatories, power to guardians to contribute to maintenance out of the 20 -Sir t rates, with penalties on those who assist inmates to break the rules of the establishment. And if with these are joined the clauses in the Lunacy Acts referring to visitation and control of management by justices, and also the appointment, when required, of a committee or person to act on behalf of patient during his treatment ; we shall have all the machinery that is really required to frame an Habitual Drunkards Bill, which shall at any rate be permissive, and will show in the course of a few years how far it may be prudent to travel on the road which tends to cure the disease alone. There should also be an arrange- ment by means of which a person should be able to be received in such an institution on his own petition, and machinery by means of which the visitors could revise the sentence if they thought fit, and very little else will be wanted to complete a permissive measure for dealing with the disease. It has been argued that it would be very wrong to allow a person to commit himself to a reformatory for inebriates because he might change his mind. Let us bring this to the test of custom, premising that the committing authority would require evidence that the application was bond fide; would it be right to allow a man to withdraw from a contract because he had mis- calculated his own power, or to give up the purchase of an estate because he found it inconvenient, or to compel a steamer, in which he had embarked for Australia, to turn back because he had altered his mind ? He had determined that his was a proper case for treatment, and the com- mitting authority had verified that opinion by proper inquiry, therefore there would be no reason whatever for allowing the plea of change of mind ; those who advocate the statu quo on that ground show little knowledge of matter. mm 31 H„,/ ^'"'."""^fore, containing a definition with half-a- tZikTr' "'"'"^' ""' " '•^'•■""S of certain clauses from the Reformatory Schools Act, 1866, and some of the prov.s,o„s contained in the laws relati g to ZL 1 he requtsue machine^, would be forthcoming w thou; an! further change in the law. " We should require the adaptation of existing laws to he case of habitual drunkards, as defined in he bT so a. the local authority could deal with each case The e should be power for others than the police to take pro rea'dTtTr^V'V™"'^'" ■' ^" ''' o'"- --"'""y fo, „?1 ,r Legislature, hoping that some may be found wdhng to divest themselves of the diffe^nces between Tweedledum and Tweedlcdee, and help Zse who at present cannot help themselves. has feceL a " ""'" ^'' ^^^''' "-^ Author ^ew York State Inebnate Asylum, who says — I am nformed on reliable authority that the cu es n.l nsftution have been a fraction over eapercen, Th acts were obtained by a careful cones^oXe witlth! fnends and guardians of patients who had 1^7 unde carca,,d treatment in the Binghampton Asylum" Dr. Lyman jngdon, the late Superintendent of ft,, same Asylum, reports •• Tl r ^J, „T T year to ascertain the numb J "' ''''""« ""' Who had been under tratent'.rever;! ^"" f.^" fact that about 60 per cent wer^ r T ■'^■"■"kable after periods of from fortV^y::::.':. "' --'-" ^^^ It: 22 Mr. Day, the Superintendent of the Washington Home at Boston, Mass., says, "That from general evidence in their possession, of the 5,000 persons admitted sincv the organization of the Asylum, fully one-third have been permanently reformed." Dr. Harris, of the Franklin Refor'natory Home of Philadelphia: "The proport'on of cures is not known positively, but from general statistics it is believed to be equal to the failures or hopeless cas..s.' ^ Dr. Charles Earle, of the Washington Home at Chicago, 111.: "That ou. oi 970 cases admitted between December, 1863, and January ist, 1875, about thirty per cent, were permanently cured and reformed." The Rev. J. Willett, of the Inebriates' Home for King's County, Fort Hamilton, New York: "That about two-thirds of all the patients who had been turned out were doing well." The Superintendent of the Maryland Inebriate Asylum does not believe in making glowing statements about permanent cures. He says: "There have been about 250 inmates, and it is believed that one-third of these are restored to the pursuits of sober and successful industry." The kindness of Dr. Dodge, in forwarding informa- tion from America, rjaL'es the Author to append these important statements to his paper. It appears from the same papers that the Medical Superintendents of American Institutions for the insane, at their annual meeting in June, 1875, passed a resolution endorsing the treatment of inebriety in separate institu- tions and recommending the establishment of hospitals for inebriates in the various States and in the provinces. ..^^ 28 Belmon, Retreat, 'qX\- ^ "■^"- '^*'<'="«. Belmont, Quebec, Deak S.R,-In renlv .„ , '''""'' ^^"'' •87';. b^g to enclose to your ,H. ^■°'" "'" °' ^^^ «-'h, I «his moment, is allT ifr/ :";, --'-■ which, 'at here add that the Retreat k" " *' '"''"■ ' ""-y in 'he fan of 'e,, and has IL » T" '"''"""°"' °P"'=d patients, of whtch"aVo ^l^rce:' ITI ^^' ^' ^" The great difficulty with us if ,h T ' ''"" '^"^'<'- Patients a sufficient len«h o^ T "" """'" ''"P 'he greater numbers. The "ha t '° ''^'"^' ""•" i" of a similar nature as ,h 1 in m" "''""'' '" '"^"""i"" Halifax, but not of suVctm d T""' """ ^"°"-" i" We are looking for.",^"; ""^^'7 '° --eport progress, public opinion will be much "'- '° ""' "■»' when 'o 'he drunkard, „d ""^^ ^JV"''^'''"^' '" ^ference disease; and then we IJ "!"""' '^ " '^''"^ i^' « inebriate, backed up bv ThT ^!k ■^^' "''"■°' "^ 'he ■nuch larger percentage of eteswm^ t ''"' "''^" ^ now can, as long as ft is lefr, Zu "'"'""''' ""'" we 'he patient to leave th! L f , "i' ™'""'ao' choice of effected. There al a " " v "h '"" " '"'' "" "-" opposed to treatment bv com„!l ""^ """"'='''>' are «o make and keep i, voZt "' """ "'^ ^'ammering establishments after he m!„ '^' T" '° ^""''"ot thesf houses, and trust o 'he hoT" ^"'""'"''^ •'^rding 'he patient. My elrfe„ce h '"' """ ''^''"-" of Patientshasconvineed "e La"th""' "''" ""'^ ^'^^f Where li,„ors and tobacco are concemrd.""^ "'"' """"^ Yours very truly, I^r- Carpenter. ^' ^^^eham.