1 827.] The Philosophy of Drunkenness. 613 



" Female drunkards are very subject to hysterical affections- There is a deli- 

 cacy of fibre in women, and a susceptibility of mind, which make them feel more 

 acutely than the other sex all external influences. Hence their whole system is 

 often violently affected with hysterics and other varieties of nervous weakness. 

 ThesV affections are not always traced to their true cause, which is often neither 

 more nor less than dram-drinking. When a woman's nose becomes crimsoned at 

 the point, her eyes somewhat red, and more watery than before, and her lips fuller, 

 and less firm and intellectual in their expression, we may suspect that something 

 wrong is going on. 



" There is nothing more characteristic of a tippler than an indifference to tea, 

 and beverages of a like nature. When a woman exhibits this quality, we may 

 reasonably suspect her of indulging in liquor. If drunkards partake of tea, they 

 usually saturate it largely with ardent spirits. The unadulterated fluid is too weak 

 a stimulus for their unnatural appetites." 



Moreover- 



" Drunkenness, according to the reports of Bethlehem Hospital, and other similar 

 institutions for the insane, is one of the most common causes of lunacy ; and there 

 are few but must have witnessed the wreck of the most powerful minds by this 

 destructive habit." 



The methods of curing the habit of drunkenness, which occupy the last 

 chapter in the author's book, and perhaps the most interesting of his sub- 

 ject, we seriously recommend to perusal ; but our limits (which we have 

 already strained to the utmost) compel us to pass them over very briefly. 

 The great question in the writer's mind appears to be should the habit be 

 dropped by degrees, or at once ? On this point, Dr. Trotter, in his excel- 

 lent Essay on Drunkenness, is a favourer of the latter course : he thinks 

 that the habit is a bad one, and the sooner and more completely we get rid 

 of it, the better ; liquors should be given up instanter. Mr. Macnish, 

 with much apparent reason, inclines rather to a contrary opinion ; and 

 thinks, with Darwin and Spurzheim, that even an unwholesome habit 

 cannot be hastily abandoned, after it has once been confirmed, without 

 danger. Much, as to this point, however, Mr. Macnish would admit, must 

 depend upon circumstances; such as the age and constitution of the patient. 

 Where absolute disease acquired has to be considered, there some slow 

 process, we shall agree, may be necessary ; but where there exists the 

 mere habit of excessive drinking to combat that is to say, where no 

 inconvenience beyond the absence of an accustomed stimulus has to be 

 cured in all such cases, we should decidedly say, with Dr. Trotter the 

 thing must be done at once, or not at all. 



The mere habit of drinking where the party, in his sober moments, 

 can see its utter ruinousness amounts to a species of insanity. It is the 

 strength of the will not in any moment of passion, but constantly and 

 habitually upon a given subject defying the power of the understanding. 

 The habit of falsehood, which some individuals are known to have, to a 

 degree of folly and miscalculation ; another morbid disposition the appe- 

 tite for theft where there exist none of the ordinary provocatives to such 

 crime ; -both these are conditions of the mental system bordering upon 

 insanity. It must be one effort that cures them for ever ; they cannot bo 

 left off, or abstained from, by degrees. We agree that " the sudden depri- 

 vation of the accustomed 'stimulus," where the habit of intoxication has 

 been inveterate, " may produce dangerous exhaustion." But we doubt 

 the propriety of giving liquor again " in moderate quantities ;" we should 

 say, give some other stimulus. Give air, exercise, amusement, change of 

 scene, where these can be procured. Where they cannot, give opium 



