Drunkenness, its nature and cure, or, Asylums for inebriates : an address delivered before the Ohio State Medical Society at its annual session, June 1859 / by M.B. Wright.

  • Wright, M. B. (Marmaduke Burr), 1803-1879.
Date:
1859
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Drunkenness, its nature and cure, or, Asylums for inebriates : an address delivered before the Ohio State Medical Society at its annual session, June 1859 / by M.B. Wright. 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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    can give a true direction to public sentiment, and bring to completion that which, otherwise, might not have been undertaken. While I am now speaking, I feel that the sympathies and ready cooperation of the people are subject to our call; and my strongest hope is, that I may present drunkenness in that true light its importance demands. It has been supposed by men in general, that drunkenness, in all its aspects, is under the control of the will, and that its results are those of voluntary debasement. Taking a more philosophical view, however, some have associated it with disease of both body and mind, and have been directing their energies to appropriate sources of cure. All means heretofore employed to arrest drunkenness have failed; and the inference is, they were not adapted to the malady. Treated as an outcast, the unfortunate victim has become rebellious, and, perhaps, the passion leading him to destruction has been strengthened, just as chains and stripes, heretofore used, rendered the condition of the insane more deplorable. To administer a remedy in every-day practice with any hope of success, we must ascertain the seat and nature of disease. And to impress upon the mind the importance of any plan of treatment for the cure of drunkenness, it may be proper to inquire what it is. In the examination of machinery, we admire its polish, its nice adjustments, and its skillfully-balanced power. Within a given time, and with entire safety to itself, its wheels may perform a given num- ber of revolutions. Accelerated beyond this, the whole structure begins to shake; joints are opened, screws are loosened, bolts are broken, and alarming injury speedily follows. As a general proposition, we admit the intricate structure of the human body, and that it must be, beyond all cavil, the work of Om- nipotence ; yet, with all its complications, how careless are we in our estimate of its harmonious action and powers of endurance. Blood, air and food are natural stimuli for keeping the body in healthful action, and artificial aids are not necessary to secure an even balance between waste and repair. These aids are only useful when vital- ity, under the influence of some extraneous cause, has become greatly depressed. The system generates within itself a sufficient amount of heat for its own preservation, and requires no outside addition, except to counterbalance some sudden or unnatural loss. For its healthful exercise, then, the body requires no other exciting agents than those which nature, under the direction of Infinite Wisdom,