528 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



made this diagnosis, although there was no odor of alcohol in the 

 breath. He was taken home, and remained in bed a week. Two 

 opinions prevailed: one, that he had drunk in his office; the 

 other, that it was congestion of the brain. He denied having used 

 spirits, but was confused about the events of the past. In this 

 case a similar heredity from alcoholic ancestors was present. 



These cases are sufficient to illustrate the clinical fact that I 

 am attempting to demonstrate. I am informed by good authority 

 that during the late war many similar cases were noted, and were 

 the subject of much comment and speculation. Thus, men who 

 were total abstainers would, under the excitement of the battle- 

 field, exhibit the wild frenzy of a drunken man or be stupid and 

 largely unconscious of the surroundings. As an illustration, a 

 noted officer at Antietam came riding back from the "front," 

 swaying in his saddle, and shouting parts of songs, in a marked 

 drunken state. 



He was a total abstainer, and had not drunk any spirits, but 

 had been at the " front " for hours under great excitement, having 

 a horse shot under him. His conduct was so strange and wild 

 that he was ordered back, under the impression that he was in- 

 toxicated. Different surgeons noted this strange frenzied state 

 on many occasions, but in the excitement and change of battle 

 could not ascertain whether it came from the use of spirits or 

 from some mental state. On many occasions it was clear that by 

 no possible ordinary means could spirits be obtained, and yet men 

 previously temperate seemed fully intoxicated. When the battle 

 was over and a degree of relaxation took place, many men would 

 exhibit childish excitement and delirious irritability identical 

 with alcoholic intoxication. At other times, after a period of pro- 

 longed strain and excitement, when coffee was given freely, the 

 same inexplicable symptoms of intoxication would appear and be 

 termed "coffee-drunk." When these symptoms appeared at the 

 "front " under fire, they were termed " baUle-drunJcs." Some facts 

 very similar have been noticed in the navy, in the case of gun- 

 ners, who after a short time of exciting work would become like 

 drunken men and be obliged to go to their berths. This condition 

 has been noticed in persons who were shocked or greatly alarmed 

 at the time of great disasters. A railroad superintendent in- 

 formed me that on two occasions he had noticed instances of the 

 apparent intoxication of railroad-men who seemed to be at fault 

 through an accident. The intoxication came on after the acci- 

 dent ; but from a most careful inquiry he was convinced that 

 they had not used any sj^irits then or ever, and that their condi- 

 tion was unaccountable. 



An incident was related to me by a gentleman, who had been 

 talking quietly in the cars with another man, when they were 



