326 THE NERVOUS SYSTEM 



may be due to a diseased state of nervous tissue inherited 

 from an ancestor accustomed to such use, though he may 

 never have indulged to the extent of intoxication. This 

 form of alcoholism is now considered and treated as a dis- 

 ease by medical rather than moral methods. 



474. Another acute form of alcoholism is called delirium 

 tremens, and this is so terrible to witness, so frightful to 

 suffer, that men speak the very name with bated breath. 

 It occurs in persons whose nervous systems have been for 

 a considerable time under the poisonous influences of 

 excessive amounts of alcohol. At the height of the 

 attack the patient becomes a raving maniac, subject to 

 the most torturing illusions and sometimes, with the 

 unnatural strength of madness, overpowering and escap- 

 ing from several attendants. Repeated recurrence of the 

 disease is almost certain to be fatal, though the first attack 

 is rarely so. Permanent insanity may precede death. 



475. Chronic Diseased Conditions arise from the gradual 

 poisoning of the system by the continued use of beverages 

 containing alcohol. Even though we admit that alcohol 

 in a definite small amount is, in some cases at least, fully 

 oxidized in the body, like other carbohydrates, and so 

 supplies energy as food, we must never forget that differ- 

 ent constitutions may be differently affected, and condi- 

 tions as to climate, temperament, and habits of life may 

 cause variations in its influence upon health and character. 

 We can never know perfectly the -nature of all the innu- 

 merable strains of hereditary tendency which unite to make 

 an individual what he is. Some one of these may have 

 impressed upon the nerve cells an instability, a weakness, 

 a peculiar susceptibility to the influence of alcohol, so that 

 the first taste may arouse the insatiable craving which 

 leads to dipsomania. In another case, the inherited weak- 





