534 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



lecturers, who hope, by painting the horrors of drink so viv- 

 idly, to deter any one in the audience from falling in that 

 way, are deceived, and produce the very effect they seek to 

 remedy. 



In the same way, the sight of an intoxicated man produces a 

 dangerous form of excitement in the mind of the reformer, and if 

 this should last some time it would react in the same condition. 

 I have emhodied many of these curious facts in a paper, with the 

 title of " Mental Contagion in Inebriety," published in the " Alien- 

 ist and Neurologist " of October, 1884. In this brief glance of the 

 subject I have endeavored to bring out the fact that states of in- 

 toxication are found in inebriates and defectives that are marked 

 inheritances from parents. The organism has received a positive 

 permanent impression, from which it never recovers. Also, that 

 this pathological state of acute poisoning from alcohol may be 

 covered up by other defects, and only come out from the applica- 

 tion of some peculiar exciting cause.' I have called attention to. a 

 class of cases, that, from some exciting cause, suddenly become 

 to all appearance intoxicated, although they have not used spirits. 

 An inherited predisposition to this form of defect, from inebriate 

 ancestors, is ]3resent in these cases. Also a class of men who have 

 been total abstainers for a long time, who, under similar condi- 

 tions of excitement, appear intoxicated. 



I have described a class of cases where the intoxication was 

 purely from mental contagion, appearing in persons who have been 

 previously drunk, but were temperate at this time. Undoubtedly, 

 conditions of heredity, unknown at present, control and govern 

 this condition. It will be clear from this outline -grouping of 

 facts : (1) that symptoms of alcoholic poisoning can not be trusted 

 as evidence of the immediate use of alcohol ; (2) that the excessive 

 use of alcohol leaves a permanent defect or impress on the brain, 

 which will go down into the future Avith great certainty. It may 

 be concealed for a lifetime in the child of a drinking parent, but 

 at any moment may come to the surface, from the application of 

 its special exciting cause ; or it may appear in some other form 

 of defect that can be traced back to the injury from the toxic 

 action of alcohol. In brief, the range of facts that open up from 

 this point are truly bewildering, and their discovery and the 

 laws which govern them is the great future realm for inves- 

 tigation. 



This grouijing of general facts which I have presented, like a 

 preliminary survey in a new country, are merely landmarks for 

 other and more accurate studies. 



This is the field into which specialists press forward with in- 

 creasing enthusiasm, confident that behind all this mystery of 

 drink-craving will be found a majestic order of forces coming 



