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Tribune Extras Lecture and Letter Scries. 



effects, bow much mustard on your beef a.^rrees with 

 you, and how much disagree*, or how much butter you 

 can eat on your buckwheat cakes. Iu fact I do not 

 know that you can use any of these things without in- 

 hiry. For to some persons tea and coffee and tobacco 

 and mustard are poisonous. Every person must, 

 to a great extent, be a law unto him- 

 self in the matrer of his food. No one c;m 

 a priori tell him what and how much are Rood for him. 

 A single class of wine may be excess for some indi- 

 viduals, while to others it fills a roie which nothing else 

 can flil. That alcohol even in large quantities is benefi- 

 cial to so im> persons, is a point in regard to which I have 

 no doubt ; but those persons arc not in a normal condi- 

 tion, and when they are restored to health their pota- 

 tion- should cease. I have seen many a weak, hysterical 

 woman drink a pint of wbi-kv or brandy a day without 

 experiencing the least intoxicating effects, or even feel- 

 1111: excited iiy ic. Tlie exhausted tissue has seemed to 

 absorb it \\itii an energy as thoutrh it were its one 

 thing craved, and recovery has been rapid under the use 

 wbeii all other means have failed. I have seen strong 

 men struck down with pneumonia and fever, and appa- 

 r>nllv saved from the grave by brandy or other alco- 

 holic liquors. I have prevented epileptic seizures by its 

 moderate use. Neural trie attacks are often cut short by 

 it, and sometimes entirely prevented. It has been effi- 

 cacious in catalepsy, and in tetanus it is one of 

 the best antidotes to the bites of poisonous serpents, as 

 I have repeatedly witnessed: in the convulsions of 

 children from tecihiugaud otlier sources of refi"X irri- 

 tation it is invaluable; in the spinal irritnuou to which 

 women, and especially American women, are so subject 

 nothing takes its place, and ia certain forms of gastric 

 il\M>ep-ia ii must be given if we wish to cure our 

 patients. 



DANGER OF EXCITING ALCOHOLIC THIRST. 



You know all this as well as I do, and you know 

 that I h-ive by no means mentioned all the 

 diseases in which so far as our knowledge goes, alcohol 

 in some form or other is the sheet-anchor of our 

 hopes. I would not like to lie cut off entirely from the 

 use of alcoholic liquors in my practice, and yet I often 

 try to do without them, for I am. fearful of exciting a, 

 .thirst which will not stop at my bidding. Still, 

 when they are clearly indicated I give them 

 without self-reproach, feeling that I have done 

 my duty, and that I am no more responsible 

 for the consequences of any after abuse than I snouid be 

 In]- the shipwreck of a child whom I had in good tailh, 

 and with ilic, object of contributing to his welfare, sent 

 on a voyage to Europe. I would not send my son to 

 Europe to be educated if I could in all respects educate 

 1dm iqually well in this country ; neither would I pre- 

 scribe aleoh' lie liquors if I could do without them. I 

 know that I am digressing from my subject, but in view 

 of the great imp.iriance of the whole matter, I ask your 

 indulgence tor a little, Turthcr wandering. 



With reference, to the moderate use of alcoholic 

 liquors, it must be remembered that we are not living in 

 a state of nature. We are all more or less overworked; 

 we all have anxieJies, and sorrows, and misfortunes, 

 -wl.h'h gradually in some cases, suddenly 111 others, wivr 

 away our mind and our bo. lie--. We have honors to 

 achieve, learning to acquire, and perhaps wealth to ob- 

 tain. Honors and learning and wealth are rarely got 

 honestly without hard work, and hard work exhausts 

 all tjje tissues of the, body, and especially that of the 

 nervous system. Now, when a man finds that flic wear 

 and tear of his mind und body aro lessened by a glass 



or two of wine at his dinner, why should ho not tnlte 

 it ? The answer may be, Because he sets a bad example 

 to his neighbor. But he does not. ni3 example 1? a 

 good one, for he uses in moderation and decorum one 

 of things which experience has taught him are beneficial 

 to him. And why should he shorten his life tor the pur- 

 pose of affording an example to a man who proiuibly 

 would not heed it, and who, if he did, is of less value to 

 society I 



None of us defend dram-drinking. If is a vile, a per- 

 nicious practice, hut the instinct that drives men and 

 even women to it is human, and we must take it ac.it 

 exists, just as we are obliged, to recognize other instincts 

 fully as vile and pernicious. The inborn craving for 

 stimulants and narcotics is one which no human power 

 can subdue. It is one which all civilized societies pos- 

 sess. Among the earliest acts of any people emerging 

 from savagery is the manufacturing of an intoxicating 

 compound of some kind, and one of the first things a 

 colony establishes is a grog-shop. It was, as Dr. Cham- 

 bers remarks, "an awful outburst of nature" wnen out 

 of 500.0UO men who took the pledge in the United States 

 350,000, according to The Band of Hope Review, " broke 

 it;" and he very pertinently asks, "Have the same pro- 

 portion ever broken vows of chastity or any other 

 solemn obligations I" 



But if we cannot overcome the instinct by prohibitory 

 laws, we can regulate it and keep its exercise \vithin 

 bounds. M}' own opinion is that the best way to do this 

 is by discriminating legislation in f.ivor of wines and 

 malt beverages and against spirituous liquors. I would 

 make it difficult to get whisky and at the same time easy 

 to procure beer, and I woul 1 likewise offer every encour- 

 agement to the growth of tao vine and the hop. Expe- 

 rience has shown that total prohibition while failing to 

 a great extent In practice, drives men and women to 

 opium and Indian hemp, substances still more destruct- 

 ive to mind and body than alcohol. 



DIPSOMANIA OK METHOMANIA. 



Another point seems to require notice. There is a 

 condition, a form of insanity it may be, known aj dip- 

 somania, or, more properly met Romania. It is described 

 us consisting in an irresistible impulse to indulge in 

 alcoholic liquors. Doubtless there are individuals who, 

 while recognizing the injury which excessive indulgence 

 in alcohol inflicts upon them, are, in a great measure, 

 powerless to control their morbid appetite. At one 

 time they mitrht easily have retrained, but frequent 

 yielding, and perhaps also the direct action of alcohol 

 on the brain, have so weakened their volitional power 

 that restraint is well-nlah iuiposinie. Probably many 

 who pass for ordinary drnnkarks are in reality metho- 

 niar.iacs. Indeed, I supyosi 1 th"ro are very few of those 

 who are habitually juore or loss intoxicated who in 

 their more sober moments will not lament their inability 

 to abstain, and curse the feebleness of will and the 

 strength of the appetite which keep them drunkards. For 

 all such the lunatic asylum is the proper place, BO long 

 as they coirmit no outrage on the persons or property of 

 others. I f they plunge info crime punishment should 

 follow with as much certainty as for sober criminals. 

 As for confiding in the honor of such persons and allow- 

 ing them to rangi' at largo while nominal residents of 

 un incbriaie asylum, I regard it as the uttermost kind of 

 follv. What would we think of the wisdom ami pru- 

 dence of a superintendent of a lunatic asylum who would 

 trust to the honor of a patient who had previously at- 

 tempted suicide, and allow him to no at laru'O on his 

 ph-due not to kill himself} And vet this is essentially 

 the nature of the discipline at inebriate asylums. I have 



