NEW FACTS IN ALCOHOLIC HEREDITY. 533 



the other, in which this particular alcoholic state had been ac- 

 quired, and more readily responded to contagious surroundings 

 than otherwise. In both cases, undoubtedly, heredity was present, 

 but in the latter some previous pathological state existed. What 

 form of brain and nerve defect, and what circumstances and con- 

 ditions combined to develop this special pathological state must 

 be determined in the future. Along this line are many psycho- 

 logical facts of great interest, that throw light on other mental 

 states. Thus, actors, who essay to represent insanity or inebriety, 

 are successful in proportion as they inherit a nervous organization 

 predisposing them to these affections. A single glass of spirits 

 may awaken a latent nerve defect, and soon after merge into in- 

 ebriety. So the effort to imitate the manner and conduct of an 

 intoxicated person may give impress and direction to an organism 

 that may be permanent. 



An actor, greatly praised for his skill in " Hamlet," was obliged 

 to leave the stage, for the reason that this character was becoming 

 so intimately his as to suggest insanity at an early day. A man 

 who acted the part of a drunken man was, after a time, so com- 

 pletely intoxicated as to be unfit for his part. He could not use 

 spirits, and had to give up this part of the play, for the same rea- 

 son as mentioned above. A remarkable incident came to my 

 notice along this line. A temperance writer, of great power and 

 vividness of detail, said that he lived all the details of the hero he 

 was describing, in his own mind. When the character was intox- 

 icated, he had all the symptoms, and had to go to bed after writ- 

 ing that the hero did so. He suffered, was exhausted, had pain, 

 mental agony, was joyous, happy, contented, and lived over every 

 event which he described. This man was strictly temperate, but 

 had a drunken father, from whom he inherited a peculiar nervous 

 organization, that gave him power to realize the toxic state from 

 alcohol and throw himself into it more perfectly. 



He says that it would impair his health to write more on this 

 theme, for he would be intoxicated most of the time while writing. 

 Many of these states may be termed emotional trance states, and 

 in some future time will be the subject of some very curious and 

 wonderful psychological discoveries. Those who observe inebri- 

 ates carefully, find them literally encyclopaedias of psychological 

 fact, that can not be understood by any present knowledge of the 

 subject. For instance, reformed men, or those who have recently 

 stopped the use of spirits, can not safely listen to a recital of the 

 sufferings and struggles of others to become temperate, without 

 taking on some form of mental shock that is fatal to their own 

 resolutions. The more vivid and accurate the struggles of a 

 drunkard are described, the more certainly the will of the hearer 

 is weakened and rendered impotent to help itself. Temperance 



