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successively without the end of one being necessarily to do with the muscles, the blood, the heart or the followed by the death of the others.

Take an example that will illustrate this proposition. The combustion of carbon in a confined atmosphere produces a toxic gas, carbonic oxide. This is what kills suicides who burn charcoal in a room hermetically sealed. Now, the carbonic oxide acts especially on a particular anatomical element, the red globules of the blood, and all the symptoms of poisoning by this agent are the consequence of this poisoning of the blood. This means that the blood dies before the other tissues, and if these finally perish, it only occurs because they are deprived of living blood, which is indispensable to their existence. Moreover, death by hemorrhage presents the same phenomena as death by carbonic oxide; and we can in both cases restore all the appearances of life to the poisoned animal by restoring to its organism blood which replaces that which was lost in one instance and that which was unable to sustain life in the other. Physiological analysis goes even farther yet, for it has been found not only that the blood was poisoned, but even the part of the blood affected has been determined, the seat of the trouble having been located in the red globules, and more particularly in that constituent of the red globules which chemists have termed hemoglobine, which takes oxygen from the air and carries it to the tissues.

lungs, but it exerts its poisonous action on the intellectual faculties, an action which is manifested by intoxiçation and delirium. It is true that, after a while, if the intoxication is prolonged, the heart, stomach and muscles end by feeling the effects of the perversion of the nervous centres; but these troubles are only secondary, and alcohol, like ether, haschisch, opium and coffee, is a veritable intellectual poison.

The same accurate knowledge which we possess concerning carbonic oxide unfortunately does not extend to all poisons. We know that blood, muscles, nerves, and the spinal cord have properties which are destroyed or perverted by certain special poisons, but our information rarely goes beyond this primary localization. I shall try here to study poisons which act upon a certain part of the organism, unquestionably one of the noblest since it is the organ of intellection, the brain. But I shall not endeavor to point out the very spot where the poisoning occurs. The location of the intellectual functions is not so accurately determined as to permit us to make any other study than that of symptoms. We shall see, then, what are the symptoms of poisoning of the intelligence, and perhaps this investigation may be as profitable to the philosophic mind as to physiologists, the union of the physical and the moral part being so intimate that it would be improper to separate them in this study. Some sort of introduction like this was necessary in order to make it clear what was meant by the expression "poison of the intelligence." We do not wish to convey the impression that any poison acts solely upon the intelligence without affecting other organs and functions; we simply mean that its primary action is exerted upon the mind. And if later on the other functions are disturbed, this fact changes in no respect the power which it possessed of altering from the beginning the intellectual faculties. This is not, then, an exclusive action, it is only a predominent action, because there is no absolute classification of the facts of physiology and all rigorous demarcation is necessarily arbitrary and liable to error. Moreover, to return to the example already cited, in the last period of poisoning by carbonic oxide there is an intellectual agitation, some delirium and other symptoms of perversion of the intellect; but these troubles only come consecutively, they are the result of the complete poisoning of the blood. The brain deprived of living blood is disturbed by its function, and as we observe delirium in cerebral anemia following profuse hæmorrhages, so after poisoning by carbonic oxide, we observe intellectual disorders produced by the absence of living and oxygenated blood. Therefore, carbonic oxide is not a poison of The study of poisons which affect the intellectual the intelligence, it is a poison of the blood which only faculties presents a peculiar social interest in addition acts upon the brain because it has first affected the to its physiological and psychological relation. In blood. It is otherwise with certain substances, such as alcohol and chloroform, which affect primarily the functions of the brain. Before any other functional troubles occur the intelligence is attacked-intelligence or sensibility, which is the same thing. It has nothing

We ought not, for other reasons, to be surprised to see that poisons, which may at first alter the intelligence, may in the end extend their action to other functions. In fact, the central nervous system, which is the part attacked by the poison, presides over nearly all the grand vital functions, and while it is the organ of intelligence it is at the same time the organ which excites muscular movements, and which controls the functions of the heart, the digestive tube and the secretory glands scattered throughout the organism. So among the poisons of the central nervous system there are some that act on this or that function more than on some other, yet in the last stage of their action all these functions may finally become profoundly affected. Thus chloroform, which in the beginning acts by suppressing the will, memory and sentiment, or in other words, by disturbing the functions of the brain, ends by paralyzing, at a later period, the movements of the heart and of respiration, that is to say, the spinal cord; whereas the action of strychnine is the reverse of this, being first upon the spinal cord and afterward upon the brain. In the same way tartar emetic only acts upon the stomach through the intermediary nervous system. If we cut the vagus nerves which go from the spinal cord to the stomach, we prevent the vomiting from tartar emetic poisoning, and yet the poison leaves the intelligence intact, at least when given in a small dose, for a very large dose acts upon the heart first and afterward upon the intelligence. Moreover, there are some poisons of the central nervous system which exert their action upon different parts of this tissue. If we consider the nervous system as having three principal functions-intelligence, which depends upon the cerebrum, voluntary movements depending upon the spinal cord, and organic movements of the heart, digestive tube and glands which depend on the medulla oblongata intermediary to the spinal cord and the brain- if we follow these divisions we shall find some poisons acting first on one or the other of these parts and consequently upon the functions which they control, but afterward exerting their action on all parts of the nervous system. We shall occupy ourselves at present only with those poisons which act first upon the brain and disturb the intellectual functions. We shall not seek to determine how they act, for their mode of action is still unknown. It is certain that the poison is conveyed to the brain by the blood, and that the action of the blood, charged with the toxic material, upon the nerve cellules of the circonvolutions, modifies them in a way that disturbs the mind. But what is this action? Is it a chemical combination of the poison with the cellules? Is it a mechanical difficulty in the cerebral circulation? That is a matter of which we are absolutely ignorant, and one which future experiments may some day enable us to understand. Nevertheless, before knowing the causes of things it is easy to know their effects, and if we do not understand the ultimate cause of poisonings of the brain we may at least study their results and symptoms.

II.

fact, it appears that man, in all ages and in all countries, has been dissatisfied with the state of his intelligence, and has sought to excite it by toxic substances. Now that which characterizes all poisonings of the nervous system is that the poison, before destroying, excites;

and it is this surexcitation that man seeks with such ardor and passion. As soon as it has become a habit it imposes itself with such force that nothing can combat it. It is a veritable social peril, as much for the Chinese and Hindoos who smoke opium, as for Europeans who drink alcohol.

Alcohol is, as everyone knows, the result of the fermentation of sugar. All saccharine liquids, left to themselves, ferment and produce alcohol and carbonic acid; so all saccharine liquors, when fermented, are alcoholic drinks. The symptoms which these drinks produce are always very nearly the same. Although these symptoms have been known for all time, they have only rarely been the object of a methodic analysis; and perhaps it is only in the scattered works of novelists and dramatists that we can find ingenious and graphic descriptions of intoxication and its effects.

The first effect of alcoholic intoxication is a secret sense of satisfaction, a most agreeable kind of beatitude. At this moment it seems that the ideas become clear, difficulties and obstacles disappear, life; to use a common expression, is rose-colored, and there is contentment and happiness in living. If they continue to drink, the intellectual excitation augments and shows itself in various ways-in one word we may sum up all these forms by calling it a condition of hyperideation.

The hyperideation of intoxication in the first degree is a very curious and interesting phenomenon, but it will be dangerous to observe it too frequently as a personal experience. In this state there is a profusion of ideas of all sorts-joyous, glorious, lascivious, sad, pugnacious-ideas which succeed one another with great rapidity. Their distinguishing feature is their want of moderation, it seems as though there was no measure in the intelligence, all is out of proportion and everything expands. They feel the moral forces increased ten-fold, they think themseves capable of doing everything and of undertaking anything, and in the meantime new ideas follow each other without cessation; after one enterprise they think of another, and then of one more. All are impracticable, but all amuse for the moment until they vanish. Perhaps in the number there is something rational, but they have no time to grasp it; there is a perpetual to-and-fro motion, a kind of phantasmagoria, more or less seductive, in which they cannot find time to make a pause. We understand very well how impossible it is for them in this condition to keep their confidences, they become communicative and gushing. Even when the intoxication is slight, this tendency to overflow is manifested, but in a more advanced degree there is no confidence that it respects. As must fermenting throws to the surface everything there is at the bottom, so wine lays bare the most secret thoughts of those who have taken too much of it. This hyperideation is, in the main, only an excess of imagination, and sometimes this activity of the fancy shows itself in another way by ingenious sallies, ludicrous stories or eccentric freaks. There are some authors who cannot write unless in this condition of surexcitation, and it is this that gives their works a factitious stamp of originality. Often, while intoxicated, in the midst of this deluge of ideas all of a sudden there appears, without any logical connections, one idea which has nothing in common with the preceding fancies and which fixes itself with desperate tenacity. It constantly recurs in the midst of the others, just as in concerted music the theme reappears without cessation under the modulations and variations which surround it.

So we find two special characteristics of the first stage of intoxication, one is a rapid succession and the other a certain fixity of ideas. It seems at first as though there was a contradiction between these two forms of intellectual excitation, but there is none if we examine carefully the mechanism of the intelligence.

In the normal state all the faculties, imagination, judgment, memory, the association of ideas, are gov.

erned by another superior faculty, which is attention. Attention, or the will, is the man himself, it is the individuality which, being in full possession of resources which it controls uses them where it wills, when it wills, for any service it pleases. Now, in the intoxicated state, even in the beginning, the will and attention disappear. There is nothing more than imagination and memory left, which, abandoned to themselves without guidance or control, produce the most unexpected results. Sometimes there is one idea which they cannot drive away, sometimes there is an idea which they cannot retain, for attention is designed as much for the elimination of certain ideas as for the fixation of others. The fixed idea, then, may depend on an absence of attention as much as the idea that is too fleeting, and in both cases it is the consequence of poisoning of the brain by blood charged with alcohol. Therefore, although it may seem to one who is in the first stage of intoxication that his ability for work is increased, if he really wishes to work he will soon find himself unable to collect and fix his ideas, and the delusive fertility, with which he thinks himself endowed, will very soon appear to him like an actual impotence, against which he is unable to contend. Sometimes, however, perhaps by chance or from habit, the idea involuntarily fixed is precisely the one he wishes to elaborate, and this happy coincidence may make him think that his attention is intact, but this will prove to be an illusion, for it will be impossible for him to do any other work. It is by this loss of attention, then, by the sur-excitation of the imagination, and by the diminution of judgment, that the first effects of intoxication are characterized.

There are some men whom it is impossible to mak tipsy. In the end, after a great quantity of alcoho has been imbibed, they will have the symptoms o profound intoxication, the uncertainty of gait, un conquerable sleep, insensibility, vomiting, syncope: but they will not have had, in appearance at least, that period of intellectual excitation which characterizes the first moments of intoxication. This is a peculiar phenomenon, and due to the influence of the will. We have said that in intoxication the will and the attention are diminished, but they have not entirely disappeared, so that the will may even concentrate itself on the fear of intoxication. Thanks to this fixed idea, which the intoxication exaggerates still more in intensity, there is no external manifestation of delirium. Although within ourselves we may feel the psychologic effects of alcohol, we may yet have, in a large measure, the power to resist its invasion. Bad news, or a serious accident, suddenly sobers one unless the intoxication is too profound; it is then a very curious mixture of will-power and willweakness. The will can prevent neither vertigo, interior illusions, nor troubles of locomotion; but it will often be able to control the loquaciousness which is generally the principal sign of intoxication. It seems as though there was a disagreement between the ideas and speech. As much as one is incompetent to act upon the first development of ideas, by so much he remains master of himself so far as his tongue and his acts are concerned. In spite of ourselves a crazy idea may appear and impose itself upon us, but fortunately we remain the judges of this idea, and if it appears foolish to us we are able to keep it to ourselves and not let what goes on within us be seen.

When, on the contrary, they yield to the first intoxication; when they abandon the will by giving loose rein to all the ridiculous fancies that occur to the mind, they are then unable to leave off, and it will require a grave emergency to put a stop to the hyperideation and the overflowing speech. It is characteristic of those who consent to become tipsy to say to themselves at the beginning of a dinner, we will be free and easy," and from the very first glasses they are drunk. Sometimes even the intention to become drunk is equivalent to the act itself. We have seen

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some persons drunk before they had taken a drink, and whose speech showed them to be clearly fuddled. This analogy is recognized in language. Good news, unexpected fortune, unhoped-for success, produce an affect analogous to intoxication, and we say that one is "drunk with success."

There is then, besides the intoxication of alcohol, a kind of moral intoxication which resembles it, and which is manifested by the same effects; but this kind is observed more rarely, it is not given to everyone to experience it. Certain persons are endowed with a nervous temperament that is delicate and excitable. These are nervous temperaments, but not wholly so in the sense as usually applied. They are nervous so far as the brain is concerned. The slightest accident upsets their balance of judgment. By the smallest emotion, or the least annoyance, their presence of mind and courage is at once destroyed. When they are in their normal state they are wanting neither in judgment nor in will-power, but let an unforseen accident happen, and will, judgment, reflection, all suddenly disappear, and the condition of the intellectual faculties is equivalent to that produced by intoxication. In such persons the slightest access of fever brings at once delirium and hyperideation. In common parlance, they are weak-headed," and unless they take care of themselves they become intoxicated before they are aware of it, with a deplorable facility which plays them many an evil trick. We may reasonably compare this predisposition to that nervous state so common in women, and known as hysteria. Now, women, and particularly hysterical women, become intoxicated very easily. The smallest dose of alcohol suffices to make them lose their heads. In fact, in those who are hysterical, as in the cases of predisposition, the will and the attention are feeble, and it only takes a very little thing to make them disappear entirely. Besides the individual predisposition there are other conditions that should be taken into account, the different kinds of intoxication and the relative rapidity with which in each the intoxication appears. The intoxication of brandy is dull and heavy, it produces scarcely any intellectual excitation, and seems at first to act upon the organic functions of circulation and respiration. On the contrary, the intoxication of wine is light and stimulating, particularly Champagne and Burgundy wine, which are chiefly characterized by psychic effects. Finally, the mixture of liquors of different kinds increases very much the intensity of their action. The rapidity and facility with which alcohol is absorbed is not without some influence. So, when one is fasting, alcohol acts very quickly; on the contrary, when taken after a hearty meal, it is absorbed more slowly, and its toxic effects are less to be dreaded. In England, where alcohol has made its ravages even in the highest circles of society, a queer custom was, in olden times, practised by some which enabled them to drink a great deal without becoming drunk; this consisted of drinking a glass of oil at the beginning of the dinner, and thus preventing the absorption of alcohol by the stomach and intestines. This disgusting custom was, it appears, in use in former times when immoderate drinking was more common than now.

may feel in an instant the effects of intoxication. It is supposed that this immediate action of the alcohol is due to the sudden suppression of its excretion by the skin and the lungs. It is for this reason, as Dr. Burrill remarks, that the monks of St. Bernard only give coffee to travelers.

From all that precedes, we may conclude that a feeble dose of alcohol surexcites certain intellectual faculties-imagination, memory, the association of ideas-but that it paralyzes some others, especially the will, reflection and judgment. Nevertheless, from one strong dose there may be a disappearance of all traces of intelligence.

To the exaltation succeeds a profound depression, a true coma, using the word in its technical sense. Insensibility is complete, no exterior excitation can awaken the unfortunate being who is dead drunk. Thus, surgical operations may be made painless, the same as with chloroform; and Montaigne gives instances of this, too long to be repeated here. This period of complete anaesthesia is far from being without danger, and frequently death occurs in the comatose period of intoxication.

It is in this manner that the phenomena of intoxication succeed each other in most cases; but occasionally between the period of coma and that of excitation, there comes a very serious condition, which the ancient authors called convulsive intoxication. "Ten men," says Percy, "can scarcely control such a madman. His countenance is ferocious, his eyes glitter, the hair bristles, his gestures are menacing. He grinds his teeth, spits at his attendants, and, to lender the picture still more hideous, tries to bite those who approach him; he tears at everything, lacerating himself if his hands are free, clawing the earth if he can escape, and uttering frightful screams." It is to this terrible period of intoxication that the crimes and murders belong which are committed by drunkards. Those who have this kind of intoxication are as irresponsible as lunatics, and the delirium which Percy has described so graphically is absolutely like the delirium of maniacs. But this form of intoxication only occurs to those whose blood is vitiated by previous alcoholic excesses, and it is one of the notable incidents of alcoholism that the furious delirium may come after a new excess in drink, when this excess has perhaps been relatively less than those which have preceded it.

The action of alcohol, however, is not merely a rapid intoxication of short duration; if its use or abuse is prolonged for a long time it may become a chronic intoxication, which profoundly disturbs the functions of our organs and ends by altering all the tissues. The nervous system is altered, and particularly the brain; more, perhaps, than the other organic systems. Accurate experiments made upon animals whose food has been mixed with alcohol have demonstrated that the brain will absorb a certain quantity of this substance, by reason of the elective affinity which certain tissues have for certain poisons, so that after killing dogs thus intoxicated we may take the brain and recover by distillation a certain quantity of alcohol. If the experiment is continued for a long time, these unfortunate dogs, unwilling victims of drunkenness, end, in the long run, by losing their intelligence. They become uneasy, melancholy, restless. According to M. Magnan, they have veritable hallucinations. At times they think they are being pursued, and run off affrighted, howling and trying to bite at the empty air. At other times, in the middle of the night, they utter plaintive groans, and tremble in every limb, as though they saw in front of them some horrible phantom.

The external temperature has a certain effect. While I was in Egpyt, in the month of September, it was intensely hot; and I remember that a half-glass of Bordeaux, mixed with water, was sufficient to make me giddy, and that if I had not taken care, and had continued to drink the reddened water, there might have been disagreeable consequences. Perhaps this increased power of the wine was accounted for by the rapidity with which alcohol volatilizes at a temperature of forty degrees; but the explanation is not very satisfactory, of chronic poisoning of the intelligence by alcohol. for whatever may be the external temperature that of the blood remains almost invariable. The sudden effect of exterior cold is also interesting to note. Thus one who rises from the table only slightly stimulated, and who exposes himself suddenly to a freezing air,

In man, likewise, melancholy and fear are the results

It seems as though, by a kind of legitimate penalty, nature made expiation for the joys of intoxication by the terrors of alcoholism. At first there is only a vague sense of indefinable melancholy, which they seek to combat by new doses of the poison. Little by little

this melancholy increases. At night, when in that state which is not quite sleep nor yet a condition of wakefulness, phantoms may appear, ill defined, but repulsive in shape. These are not yet true hallucinations, they are merely illusions; but soon the hallucinations come, hideous forms, disgusting animals, or terrifying objects borrowed from the domain of real life. One cannot get a better idea of this form of delirium than by reading the cases of alcoholic lunacy as they occur in medical literature. It is sufficient to borrow one example from M. Magnan, and as all these cases resemble each other we may judge very well from this simple example concerning the most common form of alcoholic delirium. It occurred in a woman forty-five years old, who had been drinking for a long period. "As soon as the light was extinguished hallucinations would come with the darkness. She tried to fix her attention upon other objects. She closes her eyes and tries to sleep. It is in vain, all at once she hears the voice of her parents, the groans and cries of her daughter being carried off. She sees spiders' webs on the walls, whose threads, filaments and meshes shorten and elongate, in their midst black balls appear, which swell and diminish, taking the form of cats and rats. which pass along the threads, jump over the bed and disappear. Then she sees birds, grimacing faces, apes, which run around, coming out of the wall and reentering it, chickens who bury themselves, and which she tries to catch. On all the roofs of the neighboring houses appear men armed with guns. Through a hole in the wall she sees the barrel of a revolver aimed at her; fires break out on all sides, the houses fall in, all disappears. In the midst of the tumult she sees her husband and her children butchered, as they are crying fire, by the assassin whom they had called to help them. She hears the clocks, music, the noise of a machine alongside of her chamber, then chants and confused cries. The trees seem to dance, and are covered with globes of all colors, which move backward, swell up and diminish. For a moment immense fires of various colors light up the horizon."

Sometimes these hallucinations are so frightful that they compel the unfortunate victim to kill himself. Nothing is more common than the suicide of drunkards. According to Brierre de Boismont in a total of 4,595 cases of suicide, there were 530 from intoxicationabout one-ninth. This is a notable proportion, a grave social consequence of the abuse of alcoholic drinks.

These baneful effects of alcohol are well known; how does it happen then that everywhere, in all climates and in all ages, man has had such a love for this poison? He is, moreover, the only animal that has a passion for strong drink. It is barely possible to | cite a few instances, wholly exceptional, of apes or dogs who have been known to drink alcoholic mixtures and have taken a certain pleasure in it, yet for man this pleasure is general, and hardly permits of an exception. It is because man alone has need of forgetfulness. Often the reality of life is cruel, saddened by fatigues, cares, disappointments. Sometimes we see the workmen in our large cities overcome by misery and giving way under the severest toil; sometimes the inhabitants of the cold fogs of Scotland and Norway, or the icy steppes of Russia; sometimes the unfortunate savages of feeble intelligence, striving against famine and bending under the galling yoke of a despot, wholly miserable and oppressed, bowing to destiny. Nevertheless, they have the means of escaping from this servitude; a few drops of this cordial serve to banish all the gloom. Misery, cold and hunger will have vanished; they will feel strong and powerful. The sufferings of yesterday will be forgotten, they will hardly care for those of to-morrow, and with the alcohol which stupefies them it will seem to them as though they had filled their veins with health and happiness. (Recently, in a very strange work, in all respects, in l'Assommoir of M. Zola, the effects of alcohol have been described in detail. The evils it engenders are

represented in all their cynical horror; misery, prostitution, debauchery, crime; such are the fatal consequences of alcolism and drunkenness. So M. Zola's book cannot be considered as absolutely immoral, although the talent of the author may be veiled by the grossness of the language.)

It is, therefore, among the poor peasants and in cold climates, where poverty is especially hard, that alcoholism makes the greatest ravages; in England for example. There, drunkenness has become a social scourge. Among a million paupers helped by public charity there were, in 1865, 800,000 drunkards. The drinks which serve for daily consumption are generally whiskey and gin. Whiskey is the product of the distillation of fermented corn or rye. Gin or spirits is obtained by the distillation of the spirits of grain upon juniper berries. We may add to these the wines of France and Spain, for the most part adulterated, porter, ale, and stout, beers very rich in alcohol. In the United States, where the thirst for alcohol is not less than in England, beside whiskey and gin, they drink adulterated brandy, and rum obtained by the fermentation of molasses. In Sweden alcohol has made great ravages. According to statistics each inhabitant, with the exception of women and children, consumes about 100 litres (22.01 gallons) of alcohol a year. On Sundays, in the villages, it is rare to encounter any one who is not drunk. Nevertheless, the Swedes are a laborious people, intelligent, and one of the most honest in Europe. In Russia, the consumption of alcohol is enormous, and is unfortunately encouraged by the taxcollectors. Beside the spirits of grain, such as vodki and kummel, there are a great number of other alcoholic drinks, brega, or white beer, symorosli, or wine of birch, produced by the fermentation of the sap of the birch tree. The Tartars of the East drink fermented mare's milk, a very alcoholic liquor, known as koumys. On the contrary, in temperate climates and in the countries of the South of Europe, drunkenness is a rare vice. The Spanish are proverbially sober. Greeks, Italians and Turks only rarely allow themselves any excess in drink. In France, fortunately, alcoholism is limited in extent. Absolutely rare in the south of France, it is more common in the north, notably in Bretagne, in Normandy, and in Flanders. Finally, excess of drink destroys every year about 50,000 persons in England, 40,000 in Germany, 25,000 in Russia, 4,000 in Belgium, and only 2,000 in France.

People reduced to servitude, and those who have emigrated in order to support themselves, are rarely sober; they drink to drown their troubles. The Irish and Poles are of this class, and of all the people of Europe they are the most given to drunkenness. In Asia, the Chinese are generally very sober, but when they emigrate, whether to the United States, to Cochin-China, to the Indies, or to the different islands of Oriental Asia, they become desperate drunkards, drinking the rice or grain spirits, which the Anglo-Saxons, caring little for morality, sell at the lowest price.

It is curious to observe how savage tribes, in the presence of European civilization, have immediately borrowed its most pernicious feature, the habit of intoxication. In America, the Indians, and in Australia, the miserable tribes of the interior, consume immense quantities of "fire-water." The evil has made such frightful progress with them that these people will probably soon disappear before the invaders. All along the coasts of Africa, in Guinea, in Congo, at the Cape, in Abyssinia, the European traders sell strong liquors, which ravage the tribes. The distillation of millet and honey, the wines of the palm, date, and banana do not suffice for them; they must have the grain-spirit from Europe. These childish people, who are not capable of moderating their desires nor of governing their pas- · sions, drink madly, and are not satisfied until they are dead-drunk. According to M. Picqué, the Tahitians were formerly ignorant of the use of alcoholic liquors, but in 1796 the Europeans having taught them the fer

mentation of the fruits of their country, they were seized with a crazy passion for the boisterous drunkenness which these liquors produce. Thenceforth they subjected to fermentation the juice of oranges, pomegranates, pine-apples, and a multitude of other fruits. M. Picqué also reports the example of the Laplanders of Finmark, who know nothing of the art of distillation, but when they came alongside the vessel, the first thing they asked the sailors was for some brandy, and they were soon dead-drunk.

Among the numerous poisonous drinks employed by man to pervert his intelligence, we have not yet spoken of absinthe. In fact, absinthe does not act solely by means of the alcohol it contains, but rather by the essence of absinthe, which, even in a small dose, is a notable poison. That which distinguishes absinthe from alcohol is that, instead of acting solely on the encephalic nervous system, it also acts with great rapidity upon the spinal cord, producing tremors, paroxysms of epileptiform convulsions, and, finally, attacks of epilepsy. It appears, moreover, to produce a kind of special intoxication. The same feeling of satisfaction and comfort occurs as in alcohol, and the effects of beatitude and hyper-ideation are more marked with absinthe than with alcohol. Perhaps the sensation of warmth and comfort which absinthe gives may be attributed to its effect upon the spinal cord, but in every case it is an energetic poison, and its prolonged effects become injurious to the intelligence far more rapidly than those of alcohol, as the patient researches of M. Magnan have demonstrated. Therefore, absinthe should be absolutely prohibited by law from being used, although we should not dream of doing the same with alcohol. Alcohol is an excellent stimulant, which, in a moderate dose, is agreeable, and at the same time useful. It is a reparative aliment; it is besides a tonic medicament whose efficacy is incontestable. But how feeble are its advantages alongside of its defects!

HOMOEOPATHIC MEDICAL SOCIETY
THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
REPORT OF THE BUREAU OF PEDOLOGY.

DR. AMELIA WRIGHT, CHAIRMAN.

which will not digest. This may be proved by testing. I do not think any food containing starch should be given before the child reaches the age of five or six months; if it is, the child will begin to drool. The only way in which I think starch can be nutritious to the child is in sugar. I believe improper feeding to be a great cause of the frightful mortality among children. I had charge of a case of confinement of an Irish woman (very healthy) with her eleventh child. No milk had been secreted at either birth, and she had brought them up on bread and milk, and, as she expressed it, they had pined away and died, only two having survived. Now, in my opinion, these children were killed by the indigestible starch in the bread. Of late years I have had a great deal better luck with babies than I used to have, which I think arises to a great extent from the care I give them immediately after birth. Formerly the child, born into the world just as the creator wanted it, was, after the doctor had performed his task, passed over to the nurse. First, she would discover that the skin had not been put on right, some way. So she would bandage, pulling as energetically as she could, and pinning about every half inch, in that way to compensate nature for leaving the skin too loose. And then commenced the process of stuffing, followed by the process of churning, accomplished by laying the baby on its back and trotting it. Pretty soon it vomits. In this way, by improper management, by improper food, and by churning these little stomachs, we make short tombs in all of our cemeteries. I believe it to be the duty of the physician to instruct a nurse not to interfere with nature. During the last ten or twelve years of my practice, I have tried not to interfere with the prerogative of the Deity, and I do not have half the trouble with babies that I did before.

Dr. Osborne-In regard to washing the child's mouth with cold water, I think the paper states that it should be washed once a day. I should say half a dozen times a day. At this point, I should like to mention something new to me with regard to drying the milk OF when the mother does not intend to nurse the child. I have found bandaging the mammal to work very nicely.

Dr. Helene S. Lassen presented a paper entitled "A Case of Cerebral Disease." Was it originally cerebral, or was it produced by Allopathic drugging?

A paper, by Dr. Clarence M. Conant, on "Infantile Constipation," read by the chairman, elicited the following discussion :

A Member-Why would it not answer as well to put the child to the breast 48 hours after birth as when first born?

Dr. Carr-I should like to call attention to an article, but recently known to me, which I have found efficacious in removing hardness of the breasts: equal parts of carbolic acid and sweet oil rubbed on the breasts every three or four hours.

Dr. Doane-I think I have obviated one difficulty in a very simple way- i. e., by dressing the umbilicus with a wad of cotton batting, instead of the old way.

Dr. Wright-That is a method very generally used, and is recommended by Dr. Guernsey in his work on obstetrics.

Dr. Adams-Turn the cord upward and to the leftI have yet to see any ill effect when this rule was observed.

Dr. Wright-In addition to the reason given by the author of the paper, viz., that the colostrum will prevent constipation, the act of nursing will be of service to the mother, by exciting uterine contractions, thereby preventing uterine hemorrhage. A Member-But suppose you are getting normaler than rubbing is better when the breast is caked.

Dr. Chamberlain-In case of broken breast, I have learned that it is well to keep the patient as free from drink as possible; also, that steady, firm pressure rath

contractions ?

Dr. Wright-Individual cases call for individual treatment- much must depend upon the condition of ¦ mother and child.

A Member-If the mother is comfortable and the

On motion, the Bureau was closed, and Dr. Amelia Wright elected chairman for the ensuing year.

THE BUREAU OF SURGERY

child cries, why should it not be placed at the breast? Reported the following papers, through Dr. M. O.

A Member-It does not follow that because a child cries, it must be hungry.

Dr. Doane-I think that right here is where physicians make a mistake. I do not think that because a child cries, it needs food. Its stomach is damaged by filling it with food, and the more the child cries, the more they feed it. A child, before it has cut its teeth, has nothing with which to masticate its food; it should, therefore, be given in a liquid state. If you feed the child even bread, you put something into its stomach

Terry:

1. Gastro-Elytrotomy a Substitute for the Cæserean Section. By H. I. Ostrom, M. D.

2. Hydrocele and its Treatment. By F. W. Adriance, M. D.

3. On the Uses of Wire, Cross-barred, as a Surgical Appliance (a Modification of the Sayre Plaster Jacket). By M. O. Terry, M. D.

4. Surgical Use of Bandage. By J. T. Hotchkiss, M. D.

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