160 



DRUNKENNESS. 



Variaic* 

 in the plie- 



1 . > ' .4 I't 



inloxica- 



ReUxed 



t-tage of the 



litie* which are stranger* to him in his sober moments. 

 In so much, that the remark of the Spectator }* just, 

 when he say*, " that the person you converse with, 

 after the third bottle, is not the same man you at first 

 Mt down with to table." " He who jests UIXMI a man 

 that is dnmk," *ays PuWins Syrus, ' injures the absent." 

 The appeal of Marchetas from Philip dnmk to Philip 

 sober, is well known. 



The phenomena of intoxication vary both with re- 

 spect to the sort of liquor drunk, and the temperament 

 or natural disposition of the person who drinks. Much 

 mere, however, seems to depend on the last of these 

 circumstances than on the first. Wine, spirits of every 

 kind, porter, strong-ale, cyder, perry, mum, mead, 

 purl, koumiss, all owe their intoxicating quality to the 

 alcohol they contain ; and the liquors called liqueurs, 

 are nothing but alcohol variously disguised. 



If the inebriating liquor continue still to be applied, 

 the high degree of excitement before described, will 

 very soon terminate in a frightful state of relaxation. 

 This H easily explained by a well-known law of the 

 animal economy, that all cx< nil.ttion is fol- 



lowed by debility. A degree of paralysis or palsy now 

 takes place over the whole frame, and the mental de- 

 bility corresponds to the relaxation of the body. ()1- 

 jects make little impression on the senses ; die pa^-ions 

 are weakened ; the understanding darkened, and the 

 conceptions being incoherent and confused, the drun- 

 kard either remains silent, or mutters an unintelligible 

 soliloquy. He now for the most part soon falls into a 

 profound sleep, and sometimes an apoplectic stertor 

 marks the oppressed state of the brain. When this is 

 the case, the symptoms are not to be distinguished 

 from those of true apoplexy, otherwise than by a know- 

 ledge of their remote cause. Hut this is sometimes un- 

 known, and can only be conjectured from the smell of 

 liquor in the breath, or the ejection of it from the 

 stomach. The person is now, in vulgar phrase, said to 

 be " dead drunk ;" and this sometimes turns out to be 

 literally true, for real apoplexy, palsy, or convulsions, 

 at times supervene, and conclude the scene. In a per- 

 son dead drunk, the only signs of life are the fterlorou* 

 or snoring respiration, with the pulse full and slow, and 

 the warmth of the body still remaining. The usual 

 way, however, in which the drunken paroxysm goes 

 off, is by a few hours sleep, during which the alcoholic 

 stimulus is either evacuated by perspi ration, vomiting, 

 or urine, or is somehow neutralized by the action of 

 the system. The drunkard then awakes with a feeling 

 of low spirits, of nausea and loathing of food, of languor 

 and head-ach ; seldom with any recollection of what 

 has passed. 



When death has been the consequence of the drun- 

 ken paroxysm, dissection has shewn the brain to be 

 exactly as it is found in true apoplexy. Morgagni has 

 related several such cases. 



The power M!' n.M.-ting cold and contagion, and a 

 want of sensibility to pain, has been often observed to 

 be surprisingly great in persons intoxicated. In Uns 

 respect they resemble maniacs. 



It is, however, during the first stage of the drunken 

 paroxysm only that this resistance to cold i ' 

 and the same may be said with respect to contagion. 

 This we know to be always strongly resisted by that 

 firmness and resolution of mind which necessarily ac- 

 companies a vigorous circulation of the blood. 



Tne insensibility of the inebri i!" tn p. MI. is striking- 

 liiyiopun. Jy remarkable. Drunk people fall oft' their own 



and off their horses, wiUj greatly less injury than others 



Dituctinn 

 of dead 

 drunkard*. 



Rcasunre 

 tu cold and 



usually do. Sailors, wiy* Dr Trntter, who-.- heedless Drtnln. 

 revels expose them to more di-at< T. than other men, Bett - 

 frequently receive the most friulitful wounds and bruise*, Sl "~i~^^ 

 without the smallest *ins of feeling, and without any 

 recollection afterwards of die manner in which they 

 were inflicted. 



The symptoms we have hitherto described are those Symptom 

 which usually appear in persons not addicted to a habit vary from 

 of drinking; but with such as are, they vary consider- riminuua* 

 ably. One great point of difference is, that the plea- ce * 

 surable feelings at the commencement of the drunken 

 paroxysm are by no means so .strong in them. For by 

 frequent repetition, the relish for wine is blunted ; and 

 while the desire for the application of the stimulus is 

 augmented, the pleasure arising from it is diminished. 

 And tin's is what distinguishes a temperate man from a 

 sot. 



The effects of inebriating liquors will be very dif- 

 ferent at different times. They will vary with the 

 habit of intoxication, the fulness or emptiness of the 

 stomach, the time of the day, the heat of the climate, 

 the season of the year, the temperature of the room, and 

 in short with whatever tends to vary the excitability of 

 the system. F.vcry pt rsoii knows, that less liquor will 

 produce intox'cation in the forenoon than after dinner; 

 and we learn from Captain Hligh's narrative, that whew 

 he and his companions in an open boat in their passage 

 to Timor, were, from a scarcity of provisions, reduced 

 to a state of almost continued fastin;.'. a single lea-spoon- 

 ful of rum produced inebriation. This state of the M 

 tern :ias been called accumulated excitability. But in 

 typhus fever it seems to In- in a state directly opposite; 

 for then two or even three bottles of wine will some- 

 times be usetl in the four-and-twenty hours, and that 

 too by delicate females, without inconvenience. 



When the stimulus of fermented liquors is frequently 

 resorted to, the efficiency of it is gradually diminished; 

 and to produce the same effect on the system, a larger 

 quantity of the same sort of liquor, or else a similar 

 quantity of a stronger sort, must be applied. For it is 

 a law of the animal economy, that all stimuli, whether 

 mental or corporeal, lose their effect by repetition. 

 We may hence account for the charm of novelty in our 

 gratifications, and how it comes to pass, that men of plea- 

 sure, who have exhausted every source of enjoyment by 

 frequent repetition, are the most miserable of mortals, 

 and exclaim in the bitterness of their hearts, that " all 

 is vanity." They are seized by an ennui which nothing 

 can relieve ; and go about seeking gratification, without 

 finding it. 



Some of the strongest symptoms of the drunken ha- s 

 bit, are a neglect of dress and cleanliness; a sloven I;. . 

 sallow, or bloated appearance; and not (infrequently a drunkc 

 sort of convulsive or paralytic motion in the gait, well 

 known to most people. When any person once begins 

 to shew these symptoms, we may fairly put him down 

 as nearly in a hopeless state. Gout, and consumption, 

 and diabetes, and water in the head, have perhaps been 

 sometimes cured, though long and justly reckoned op~ 

 prohria nicilirin(C ; but the habit of intoxication e\. 

 (veil these diseases in obstinacy. It may indeed al- 

 most l>e said to be a " country from whose bourne no 

 traveller returns." One perhaps in a thousand may 

 the devouring gulf. Nowhere is the elegant al- 

 lusion of the Jewish prophet more completely verified 

 than here; " Can the Fthiopian change his skin, or the 

 leopard his spots r" The habit of drunkenness is scarce- 

 ly cvVr fijot the l>etter of. 



It is not uncommon to hear people say that they have 



