SPECIFICS FOR THE CURE OF INEBRIETY. 73 5 



drunkenness with intense earnestness. The excitement of the 

 political campaign and its drink excesses had prepared the public 

 mind for this great emotional remedy the pledge. John Haw- 

 kins's infectious earnestness animated his followers, and roused up 

 an army of lecturers which scattered to every town and hamlet 

 all over the country. The campaign excitement of 1840 appeared 

 again in a great temperance reform wave, which steadily grew in 

 numbers and enthusiasm up to 1847, when a high tidal point was 

 reached and reaction began. Over a million persons signed the 

 pledge, and the evils of drinking and alcohol were discussed in 

 almost every neighborhood in the country. Never before had 

 any reform movement been prosecuted with such terrible earnest- 

 ness and contagious enthusiasm. All selfish motives and personal 

 interests seemed to disappear in the one great purpose to pledge 

 the victim and inspire him to avoid spirits and lead a temperate 

 life. The spirit of the old crusaders seemed to have reappeared 

 again. This was literally a psychological storm-wave, the reac- 

 tion in part of the campaign of 1840, and the outgrowth of 

 obscure psychological conditions, which had been prepared for 

 a long time before. It crossed the continent and was felt every- 

 where, and a few years later was only known in the history of 

 the past. While a number of inebriates were restored, its real 

 work and value were in a different direction, not yet fully realized. 

 It seemed to be a great force that fused and mobilized a tide of 

 oncoming truth, and was literally a forerunner, indicating new 

 and clearer conceptions of inebriety. It not only broke up old 

 theories, but opened up new ranges of work, and gave glimpses 

 of more effectual methods for cure. 



The first inebriate asylum in the world grew out of this move- 

 ment, and all the various temperance organizations date from the 

 same source. Even the Prohibition party is the outgrowth of 

 this reform-wave. 



It was the first great psychological evolution of the drink ques- 

 tion, giving an impetus and inspiration to its study, above all 

 moral and political considerations. It was also a great empirical 

 epidemic which assumed that the drink evil was the result of a 

 feeble will, the remedy for which was the pledge, supported by 

 personal sympathy in organized societies. It was a moral and 

 ethical empiricism, based on the purest and highest motives ; had 

 it been founded on truth, would have lived as a great power in 

 the upward movement of the race. In this connection it will be 

 of interest to trace another great wave of empiricism, that created 

 intense interest for a time. Unlike the Washingtonians, it was 

 thoroughly mercenary, and, like the present specifics for inebri- 

 ety, it was born in mystery and sustained by credulity and dog- 

 matism. 



