THE REMEDIES OF NATURE. 49 



hunger will decrease from day to day. After that the main point is 

 to gain time, and give Nature a fair chance to complete the work of 

 redemption. As the vis vital recovers her functional vigor the employ- 

 ment of other tonics can be gradually dispensed with, except in the 

 moments of unusual dejection that will now and then recur especially 

 on rainy days and after sultry nights. But in most such cases the 

 demon can be exorcised with the price of an opera-ticket, and not 

 rarely with a liberal dinner. " Good cheer " is a suggestive term ; the 

 mess, as well as music, has power to soothe the savage soul, and, before 

 invoking the aid of medicinal tonics, Bibulus should try the dulcifying 

 effect of digestible sweetmeats. 



But, on the other hand, when luck and high spirits give a suffi- 

 cient guarantee against present temptation, do opportunity should be 

 missed to forego a meal. Fasting is a great system-renovator. Ten 

 fast-days a year will purify the blood and eradicate the poison-diathe- 

 sis more effectually than a hundred bottles of expurgative bitters. 



And only then, after the paroxysmal phase of the baneful passion 

 has been fairly mastered, moral suasion gets a chance to promote the 

 work of reform. For, while the delirium or the crazing after-effects of 

 the alcohol-fever distract the patient, exhortations are as powerless as 

 they would be against chronic dysentery. Dr. Isaac Jennings illus- 

 trates the power of the poison-habit by the following examples : A 

 clergyman of his acquaintance attempted to dissuade a young man 

 of great promise from habits of intemperance. "Hear me first a few 

 words," said the young man, " and then you may proceed. I am sen- 

 sible that an indulgence in this habit will lead to loss of property, the 

 loss of reputation and domestic happiness, to premature death, and to 

 the irretrievable loss of my immortal soul ; and now with all this con- 

 viction resting firmly on my mind and flashing over my conscience 

 like lightning, if I still continue to drink, do you suppose anything 

 you can say will deter me from the practice ? " 



Dr. Mussey, in an address before a medical society, mentioned a 

 case that sets this subject in even a stronger light. A tippler was put 

 into an almshouse in a populous town in Massachusetts. Within a 

 few days he had devised various expedients to procure rum, but failed. 

 At length he hit upon one that proved successful. He went into the 

 wood-shed of the establishment, placed one hand upon a block, and, 

 with an axe in the other, struck it off at a single blow. With the 

 stump raised and streaming, he ran into the house, crying, "Get some 

 rum get some rum ! my hand is off ! " In the confusion and bustle 

 of the occasion somebody did bring a bowl of rum, into which he 

 plunged his bleeding arm, then raising the bowl to his mouth, drank 

 freely, and exultingly exclaimed, " Now I am satisfied ! " 



More than the hunger after bread, more than the frenzy of love or 

 hatred, the poison-hunger overpowers every other instinct, and even 

 the fear of death. In Mexico, my colleague, Surgeon Kellermann, of 

 vol. xxiv. 4 



