The drunkard's diseased appetite : what is it? if curable how? by miraculous agency or physical means -- which? / [J. Willett].

  • Willett, J. (John), -1881.
Date:
1877
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The drunkard's diseased appetite : what is it? if curable how? by miraculous agency or physical means -- which? / [J. Willett]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    ebriate, both from the platform and the pulpit, this strange and dangerous delusion. The fact is that many of these people, whom they hold up as living examples of the truthfulness of their declarations, never possessed the appetite for liquor, and could at any time have given up its use at their will or pleasure, as thou- sands who join temperance organizations do, without invok- ing Divine aid. In view of the tens of thousands of drunkards who invest the nation, it would be a terrible calamity )f all these mighty hosts of tipplers drank in order to assuage the cravings of a diseased appetite for intoxicating stimulants—but, mercifully, it is otherwise. Drunkards from Appetite. There are, however, a very large number of inebriates who, unfortunately, have either inherited or acquired the appetite for alcoholic liquor, and it is this class whose condi- tion claims our present attention. Just as the appetite of the healthful man, when hunger or thirst is felt, longs for nourishing; food or refreshing bevera- ges, so, in like manner, does the diseased appetite of the confirmed drunkard crave for ardent spirits. Withhold the alcoholic beverage, and the intense pangs of the burning ap- petite seem akin to the torments of the rich man who from the pit of perdition prayed that Lazarus might be sent to dip the tip of his finger in water to cool his burning tongue Whence comes this consuming thirst which this class of drunkards exhibit ? There must be, somewhere within the man, a deep-seated diseased condition of the physical struct- ure, which feeds upon and is intensified by the absorbtion of these fiery liquids.