THE CAUSES OF DRUNKENNESS 75 



though men drink for three separate reasons, it 

 must not be supposed that all drinkers are sharply 

 separable into three distinct categories. The same 

 man, at the same time, may drink to satisfy his 

 thirst, his palate, and his craving for drunkenness. 

 Or at first he may desire to satisfy his thirst, next 

 to gratify his palate, and lastly he may seek for 

 intoxication. Or again, at the beginning of his 

 drinking career, he may drink primarily to satisfy 

 his thirst or taste, and, at the end, primarily to 

 gratify a craving for intoxication. The fact 

 remains, however, that, while many men drink 

 merely to satisfy thirst or taste, the principal 

 motives with others is to obtain those feelings of 

 intoxication which alcohol produces when acting, 

 in considerable volume, directly on the central 

 nervous system. 



It has been necessary to draw these distinctions 

 clearly, because much confusion exists in the public 

 mind. The extreme wing of the temperance party 

 regard all drinkers as drunkards, who differ only in 

 degree ; and a drunkard is often spoken of as a 

 thirsty soul. But moderate drinkers, those who 

 drink merely to satisfy thirst or taste, are never 

 real drunkards ; and the real drunkard, as such, is 

 not a thirsty soul. He drinks, not because he is 

 thirsty, but because he craves for that mental state, 

 that mental paresis, which we call drunkenness. It 



