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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.— SUPPLEMENT. 



and cerebral irritability, the same symptoms of 

 mania of suspicion occur; and even in simple 

 cerebral exhaustion — as from overwork — timidity, 

 irritability and suspicion are apt to show them- 

 selves as representatives of the mania which might 

 ensue if proper precautions were not taken. Fre- 

 quently also in the earliest stages of general pa- 

 ralysis, when alteration of character is first ob- 

 served, ungrounded suspicions of relatives and 

 friends are manifested. The method of production 

 of these delusions of suspicion seems to be that the 

 modifications in the nature and regularity of the nu- 

 trient supply to the brain-cells keep them in a state 

 of excitability — in a condition, so to speak, of dis- 

 satisfaction. Now, what are the proverbial effects 

 of hunger, regarded as a general condition ? Ir- 

 ritability, excitability, a tendency to put the worst [ 

 interpretation upon men's motives and actions, 

 and a propensity to hallucinations of the special 

 ■senses. These very symptoms occurring during 

 sound bodily health are evidently due to the state 

 of the brain-centres as modified by want of food 

 and by reflex excitability. Consequently it is 

 natural that an exaggeration of this condition 

 should result from such an habitual existence of 

 mal-nutrition as accompanies the organic changes 

 consequent upon the prolonged abuse of alcoholic 

 stimulants. 



I have spoken of this condition of chronic 

 alcoholic mania as one which remains almost 

 stationary ; but it must be remembered that one 

 condition absolutely necessary for the arrest of 

 the progress of such a disease is abstinence from 

 the stimulation which induced it. It unfortu- 

 nately happens that in many cases the first signs 

 of the accession of this mania are not regarded, 

 and the alcoholic, scarcely recognized as being 

 in a critical state, continues his excesses. The 

 pauper patient — usually of comparatively low 

 mental capacity and meagre education — when he 

 begins to manifest symptoms of alcoholic mania, 

 soon develops them to such an extent as to ren- 

 der his recognition as a lunatic imperatively ne- 

 cessary. It is different, however, with the pro- 

 fessional man, the artist, the journalist, and the 

 intelligent man of business. The working-man's 

 animal propensities usually lie near the surface ; 

 his mental operations are less highly specialized 

 than those of the man of refinement ; conse- 

 quently, alcoholic changes in cerebral nutrition 

 develop in the latter an initiatory series of symp- 

 toms which are not present in the former. How 

 often, for instance, one sees a truly brilliant man 

 undergo a series of painful mental changes di- 

 rectly due to excessive and injudicious indulgence 



in alcohol ! The ready writer, the bright and 

 witty talker, the man of natural aesthetic tenden- 

 cies with a powerful memory and a gift of ready 

 application has the higher mental faculties in 

 constant operation. He is swayed by changing 

 emotions, and the influence of all forms of ex- 

 citement, whether emotional, social, or alcoholic, 

 is to intensify, for the time being, the activity of 

 his naturally unstable intellect. When brought 

 into contact with others who manifest the same 

 intellectual tendencies, he has a natural pride in 

 the superiority which secures for him the admira- 

 tion of persons whose judgment he values ; and, 

 when exhaustion follows effort, he succeeds in 

 stimulating his weakened powers by alcoholic 

 drinks. For a considerable time, perhaps, while 

 the digestive system remains in such a healthy 

 state as to insure the supply of proper solid nu- 

 triment, this course is pursued with an appearance 

 of success, but soon the urgent symptoms of indul- 

 gence begin to manifest themselves. The mind, 

 unaided by artificial stimulus, becomes barren 

 and unproductive. Sentences are written that 

 appear to have no point, and jokes are uttered 

 which are destitute of humor. The man who 

 was accustomed to write with speed telling criti- 

 cisms and pointed epigrammatic sentences, has a 

 consciousness that his mind has become incapable 

 of sustained effort, and that his writing is dull 

 and insipid — a feeling which contrasts strongly 

 and painfully with his previous cheering sense of 

 power and fitness. Under the influence of an 

 alcoholic stimulant, he finds that, for a time at 

 least, he can again command his intellect. But 

 the control is only a temporary one, and is fol- 

 lowed by a greater sense of exhaustion than 

 otherwise would have been experienced. Mem- 

 ory, not so much for passing events as for facts, 

 passages, and references, which had been readily 

 acquired, begins to become weakened, and the 

 misery resulting from the loss of a reputation for 

 and consciousness of intellectual power supplies 

 a new incentive to excess. Not unfrequently petit 

 mal and attacks of simple vertigo ensue, still 

 showing that the most highly-specialized regions 

 are as yet alone affected. At this stage no one, 

 could, as yet, be regarded as insane, though as 

 great a change of function has relatively taken 

 place as leads, in the more lowly-organized mind 

 of the pauper, to the display of delusions of sus- 

 picion and hallucinations of the senses. After 

 this, however, if alcoholic indulgence is continued, 

 the ordinary symptoms manifest themselves Ir- 

 ritability passes into suspicion, voices are heard, 

 illusions experienced ; and the mind, becoming 



