Alcohol Causes Insanity.
By D. T. Taylor
I PASS into the region of mind, invaded and shattered to utter ruin by the abuse of alcohol. Of all the fair gifts of God to man the gift of reason and sound intellect ranks among the noblest. To be deprived of these is to come under the shadow of a great woe. He who voluntarily parts with his reason is a fool. He who by any method robs another of this gift is a villain. Now the liquor men are peopling the earth with fools and madmen. This indictment is a terrible one—alas! it is too well sustained. Idiocy is increasing, just in proportion as drunkenness by drugged alcoholic liquors increases; in a like ratio fools multiply. True, there are other causes of such mental deformity, but alcohol is the prime cause. Dr. James C. Brown, of England, in 1872, testified officially that the drunkard begets idiotic and insane offspring. Dr. Nathan Allen, of Lowell, Mass., said the same. Dr. Charles Story, of Chicago, says the same. Dr. H. R. Storer, of the Birkshire Medical College, and Dr. Albert Day, formerly of the Binghamton Inebriate Asylum, unitedly assert, "Idiocy, and Insanity are among the direful effects so often seen by medical men, in the persons of the children of those who are addicted to habits of intoxication." Dr. F. Winslow, of England, says, "The human race, morally, mentally, and socially, is deteriorated by that poison; drunkards have drunken children. I was looking at some statistics the other day in a list of criminals; there was a father a drunkard, grandfather a drunkard, grandmother an idiot, and in the whole line of these figures, that family were drunkards, they were criminals, they were idiots; all the forms of vice were hereditarily transmitted." Dr. D. G. Dodge, of Rouse's Point, N. Y., found at Binghamton, that of 379 patients, 189 inherited intemperance from parents or ancestors. Dr. S. G. Howe, in a report to the legislature of Massachusetts, said, "The habits of the parents of 300 of the idiots were learned, and 145 are reported as known to be habitual drunkards." "This," says Dr. Story, "accounts for one-half of all the idiots." When this report of Dr. Howe went abroad, it created intense excitement; the world was startled, the medical school alarmed. Now, mark! In 1850, the census showed there were in our country, 15,787 idiots. In 1860, there were 18,865 idiots. In 1870, there were reported 24,527 idiots; an increase of 3,000 in one decade, and 6,000 in the next. I believe, with many others, that this last should be 40,000. Shame prevents the reports of idiots. I have been assistant marshal, taking the census of over 5,000 people, and I know this to be true. We have, then, all the way from 12,000 to 20,000 idiots in our fair land, directly or indirectly made so by the rum-demon, and horrible drugs combined with alcohol constantly increasing the number. Only think of it; 20,000 imbecile creatures, many of them slobbering, mindless fools that might have been strong minded, cultured, noble men and women, now shame our families and darken this land to please the rum power! Great God! how long! Insanity is increasing. Alcohol produces temporary and also chronic madness. The deadly drugs now mingled with alcohol, such as stramonium, strychnine, belladonna, etc., in large doses will produce insanity. The continued intemperate use of these, causes mania and lunacy. I could, by the use of that terrible herb, belladonna, keep you insane many months. The cyclopedia says, under the word "Insanity," that, "of the physical causes, intemperance in the use of alcoholic liquors is by far the most important." Go to France; how is it there? Motet examined nearly 900 cases of insanity, and found that over thirty-three per cent. were drunkards. Behics, a learned Frenchman, went further and wrote that thirty-four per cent. of the insane in France were directly made so by the intemperate use of alcohol.
Take Germany: Dr. M. H. Romburg, of Berlin, during a third of a century, saw 50,000 cases of mental disease, and then wrote a book of 2,000 pages about them, in which he says of alcohol and the popular deadly drugs—they destroy the nerves, deprave the blood, poison the brain, and largely cause insanity.
Come to England: In an official report to the House of Commons, in 1872, the select committee said: "The habit of frequent or prolonged intoxication leads to insanity." Again they say: "There are strong reasons for believing that some considerable amount of helpless drunkenness and frenzied intoxication is due to adulteration." And they attribute 20 per cent. of the existing insanity to this cause direct. This committee examined twenty-six witnesses, a majority of whom were the ablest physicians in the realm; all said the prevailing intemperance was fast destroying the morals, the sanity, and the lives of the people. Dr. J. C. Browne had 700 cases of drunken insane persons in his charge, of whom 200 were epileptics; epilepsy and general paralysis were on the increase in England, and he traced these to the beers. Dr. Kavanaugh goes beyond the figures I have given from this committee, and declares that "forty per cent. of the lunatics in the kingdom have gone mad through the poison of alcohol." I don't question the accuracy of his estimate. Look at Ireland: The evidence of Dr. James Neugent was sad. He was General Inspector of Lunatics for all Ireland. He said that although Ireland's population had diminished from 7,500,000 in 1845 to 5,500,000 in 1872, yet the number of insane had not diminished; it was the same as when the island had 2,000,000 more population. The awful drinking habit was the prime cause—he could see no other. The figures concerning Ireland's madness are these: In 1845 there was one insane person to every 661 souls, but in 1872 there was one insane person to every 300 souls. Is this not alarming indeed? Yet, Ireland's physicians tell us the cause—alcohol, "the greatest curse and bane of society," said Dr. Neugent. Dr. Thomas B. Christie, Superintendent of the Insane in the Army, testified that in India the wretched drinks caused 20 per cent. of the cases of insanity with the soldiers. In England, no less than 1,731 persons went mad in a single year, 1863. The total number of idiots and insane in England's asylums to-day is 87,000. Only think of it, and tell all the earth that King Alcohol has in a single country—a Christian land, too, as we call it—robbed nearly half of these bar-bound souls of their reason, and shut the unfortunate, wretched, agonized and lost creatures up in a mad house. Hear it, ye who persist in drinking, selling, and licensing the trafic in this poison! Our own land; our great, noble people! How is it here? Let the doctors—let the stubborn, indisputable figures reply. Nearly fifty years ago Dr. Kerk wrote: "As to madness, every one knows that it is a common effect of excessive drinking." And he adds: "It is stated on good authority that one-third of all the cases of insanity in the United States may be traced to intemperance as a direct cause." Now what does the government say? It sharply recognizes the existing evil. The census report for 1860 says: "The use of intoxicating liquors is a very great source of mental derangement." This is high authority, and of great weight. Dr. Hiram Cox furnishes the proof. He examined 400 cases of insanity in Ohio, and then wrote these burning words: "Two-thirds of their number became insane from drinking the poisonous liquors sold at the groggeries and taverns of our city and county." I come to the terrible figures: In 1850, we had 15,610 insane persons in our asylums, or one to 1,485 of our population. In 1860 there were 23,999 insane persons, or one to 1,312. But in 1870 the number of insane was 37,432, or one to every 1,030 souls. Look at this increase and ponder it well. Now, I have the highest authority for stating that nearly, if not quite one-half, of these cases of mental madness, are directly or indirectly traceable to the awful drinking habit. The drugged beverages shatter the nerves, destroy human tissue, indurate delicate internal organs, blister the stomach, engorge the blood vessels, craze and unbalance the brain, causing utter madness. Think again—from fifteen to twenty thousand raving maniacs, and as many more fools from the poison alcohol alone! Hide these dreadful facts longer we cannot. Alcohol saps the foundation of human reason, and the liquor party is fast turning the world into a gigantic mad-house. Idiots and insane, say 80,000. Cause of 40 or 50 per cent., alcoholic drinks. One day, not far hence, this army of ruined souls will confront the rum party at the bar of an avenging God. What answer, when the stern inquiry comes, "Who wrought the eternal ruin of these?" What answer from him whose voice, and vote, and every act, aids and gives comfort to the damning liquor traffic? Banish the bar and the bottle. I plead with the voters in every town in our country to set down their feet and resolve it shall be done. Heavy judgments are at hand. Let us not provoke His lifted thunders by our sins, lest He in righteous anger launch them in fury upon our nation.—From a Lecture delivered by D. T. Taylor, in St. Albans, Vt.