Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Dr. Bucknill on drunkards. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.
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![DE. BUCKNILL ON DEUNKAEDS. To the Editors of the 61 Journal of Mental Science.” Sirs,— Yesterday I received a printed letter from Dr. Peddie, addressed to me, purporting to be for publication in your Journal, and I naturally thought that I owed the sight of this letter, before actual publica- tion, to his courtesy; but this morning I learn from the printer that this letter was sent to me in error. It can, therefore, scarcely surprise Dr. Peddie that, under these circumstances, I prefer to reply to his attack in a letter to yourselves. In the friendly discussion which I have recently had with one of you on “The Relations of Drink and Insanity,” I said—“ If you will read Peddie’s and Bodington’s papers on the subject [read last August before the British Medical Association at Edinburgh] you will, I think, see that I was justified in my statement.” That is to say in the statement that u members of our profession were considering drunken- ness, not as a cause of disease, but as a disease in itself.” Little did I expect that this reference would have brought upon my head the accusations from Dr. Peddie :— First.—That I have mis-stated and mis-represented his opinions about insane drinkers; Secondly.—That I have ignored them; Thirdly.—That I have not read them ; accusations inconsistent with each other, and reminding one of the old pleadings which are now happily abolished, even in the casuistry of the law. It would help me if I knew which count of the indictment contained the real offence, because](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22366775_0003.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
