1-792. on hard drinking. 75 



nervous debility, by tlie aid of spirits 5 many of these have 

 begun the use of these poisons from persuasion of their 

 utility, rather than from the love of them \ tiie relief, 

 however, being temporary, to keep up their etfects, fre- 

 quent accefs is had to the same delusion^ till at length 

 ■■.vhat was taken by compulsion, gains attachment, ar>d a little 

 drop of brandy, or gin and water, becomes as necefsary as 

 food J the female sex, from naturaldelicacy, acquire this ■ 

 custom by slow degrees, and the poison being admitted in 

 small doses, is slow in its operations, but not lefs painful 

 in its effects. 



" The soberer clafs of tradesmen, alse, who occasionally 

 indulge in their sixpenny-worth of brandy and water, 

 gradually slide into the same unhappy habits, and entail 

 upon their constitutions the same misery, which \ Ihall 

 no-w introduce. 



" The first appearance of indisposition very much re- 

 sembles what has beeu last described ; and uqder the decep- 

 tion of the gout, the fuel Is heaped upon the fire, tiU the 

 delusion has been too long maintained to admit of retreat 

 in general, at least the attachment to the use of spirituous 

 drinivs, becomes so predominant, that neither threats nor 

 persuasions are powerful enough to overcome it. The 

 Tniseraole sufferer is so infatuated, as, in spite of locks and 

 keys, to bribe by high rewards the dependent iiurse pri- 

 vately to procureit. 



" But the concluding symptoms are very different from 

 either of the foregoing histoiies j frequently, indeed, the 

 appetite for food vaniilies, but sometimes continues voraci- 

 ous j and, at the same time, whilst the body is costive, and • 

 no vomiting ensues, the lower extremities grow mors and 

 more emaciated ; the legs become as smooth as poliflied 

 ivory, and the soles of the feet even, glafsy and fhining, 

 and at the same time so tender, that the weight of the fin- 

 ger excites fhrjcks and moaning j and yet I have kaown, 



