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NOTIFICATION OF BIRTHS ACT.
LOOKING BACK.-NOTIFICATION OF BIRTHS ACT.
1871
from 8’ 6 in Hampstead, 9 9 in Chelsea, 11’2 in recurred, and was observed to run a similar course succesGreenwich, 11’8 in Lewisham, and 12-3 in Wandsworth, to sively on the also of the nose, the cheeks, the chin, lower 18-3 in Poplar, 18.4 in Bethnal Green, 19’ 5 in Finsbury, part of the neck, the left breast,’ epigastrium, hypo19 7 in Southwark, 19’ 9 in Holborn, and 21 -.3in Shore- gastrium, and the middle of the thighs and legs. In ditch. The 5285 deaths from all causes included 456 some places no trace remained, in others the skin was left which were referred to the principal infectious diseases ; brown, rough, and scaly. About the middle of July, of these, 115 resulted from measles, 55 from scarlet the attacks of retching began to be attended with fever, 92 from diphtheria, 55 from whooping-cough, violent pricking, and burning pain of the stomach ; it 22 from enteric fever, one from ill-defined pyrexia, lasted about four hours, and induced great exhaustion; and 116 from diarrhoea. The lowest death-rates last nothing, however, was rejected by vomiting until the 12th of month from these diseases were recorded in St. Marylebone, August, when, after violent retching for two hours, the Hampstead, Stoke Newington, Lambeth, Wandsworth, patient threw out a large quantity of a watery liquid conCamberwell, and Greenwich ; and the highest rates in taining a great number of the eggs of the common gnat, a Hammersmith, Finsbury, the City of London, Shoreditch, quantity of a blackish, flocculent, fetid, animal substance, Stepney, Poplar, and Southwark. The 115 deaths from and, what was most remarkable, an immense quantity of measles were 19 below the corrected average number in small larvæ, which swam about with great activity. The the corresponding periods of the five preceding years ; quantity of this fluid, rejected on the 12 h and three followthis disease was proportionally most fatal last month in ing days, amounted to seventy-nine pints ! On the 16th, Paddington, Hammersmith, Holborn, Finsbury, Shoreditch, there was an intermission, on the 17th the vomiting returned, and Poplar. The 55 fatal cases of scarlet fever exceeded and then ceased for eight days, but in the evenings the by 18 the corrected average number ; among the various patient was attacked with general convulsions, rigidity of metropolitan boroughs this disease showed the greatest the extremities, and violent lacerating pain at the epigastric proportional mortality in Stoke Newington, Hackney, region ; the whole fit sometimes lasted for several hours, and Finsbury, Shoreditch, Stepney, Poplar, and Lambeth. The during it she generally made a noise like the barking of a dog. 92 deaths from diphtheria were 29 above the average On the 24th the vomiting again returned, and continued daily
ranged
in the corresponding the highest years; were recorded in St.
till the 12th of September, when the cause of it was at last found out. The patient had been observed to go frequently disease to the water-closet, and, being watched, was discovered to Pancras, Hackney, City of London, Stepney, Southwark, Bermondsey, drink copiously from a large cistern of dirty water, which Battersea, and Greenwich. The 55 fatal cases of was kept there for the purpose of washing down the pipes, whooping-cough were nine fewer. than the corrected and into which filth of various kinds was frequently thrown. average number; this disease was proportionally most fatal Being now closely interrogated, she, with some difficulty, in Stepney, Poplar, Battersea, Deptford, Lewisham, and confessed that she had been in the habit of drinking this Woolwich. The 23 deaths referred to " fever" were 17 below disgusting liquid daily since the middle of July, and that the the average number in the corresponding periods of the flavour of it was so agreeable to her taste, that she could not five preceding years ; of these 23 deaths three belonged to abstain from it, though aware that it was the cause of her the City of Westminster, three to Islington, three to Poplar, sufferings. She was, therefore, shut up and closely watched, three to Southwark, and two each to Bethnal Green and and in a short time all the symptoms disappeared. It is very Wandsworth. The 116 fatal cases of diarrhoea exceeded remarkable, that during the whole course of this singular the corrected average number; this disease showed the affection, the appetite (except during the fits of retching highest proportional fatality in Paddington, Finsbury, and vomiting) was quite voracious ; there was no emaciation, Stepney, Poplar, Southwark, and Woolwich. In conclusion, and the menstrual functions continued to be quite regular.it may be stated that the aggregate mortality in London Extract from the Journ. Complen. infectious diseases was 4’3 last month from the the corrected cent. above average. Infant mortality, per measured by the proportion of deaths under one year of age to registered births, was equal to 116 per 1000. The lowest rates of infant mortality were recorded in Chelsea, the City of Westminster, St. Marylebone, Hampstead, Holborn, "Audi alteram partem." and Greenwich ; and the highest rates in Paddington, Shoreditch, Bethnal Green, Stepney, Southwark, and Battersea. number
preceding
periods of the death-rates from
five this the
principal
Correspondence.
NOTIFICATION OF BIRTHS ACT.
Looking Back. FROM
THE LANCET, SATURDAY, Dec. 26th, 1829. SINGULAR CASE OF
with
PICA,
immense
quantities of eggs and larvæ of the common gnat. LOUISE C. aatat. 19, having been employed from her childhood in keeping sheep, was frequently, when in the fields,
vomiting of
to drink ditch-water, to which she at last became accustomed as to prefer it to any other. During the last three years she had been several times in the Hospital of Thouars, for ulcers of the legs and arms, which speedily healed, but after a few months broke out again, and one for confluent small-pox, from which she completely recovered. On the first of June she was admitted a fifth time, for superficial ulcers of the legs and arms. These were gradually healing, and nothing remarkable was observed in the patient till the 16th of July, when she was attacked with hiccup, nausea, and retching, which recurred almost every day for several hours, during a period of nearly two months. On the 18th, a con. siderable quantity of a yellowish limpid serum was observed to exude from the middle of the forehead, which, on the following day, was covered with very small superficial ulcers; these healed by the 23rd, and at the same time the serous exudations ceased. After a few days, however, the latter
obliged so
To the Editors of THE LANCET. SIRS,-Numerous objections have been urged against the of the Act many of which deal entirely with side adoption issues and are consequently not worth discussing.. The members of the profession have, however, in my opinion, raised two valid objections to the Act, and in regard to these I desire to state in the outset that I am in entire sympathy with them. The objections I refer to are: (1) compulsion under a penalty to do work without a fee ; and (2) the notification of illegitimate births. Adequate payment for the necessary certificate would overcome the former difficulty but I do not see how the provision of a fee could remove the latter objection. That being the case it seems to me that nothing short of the definite exclusion of medical practitioners from the obligations imposed by the Act can be completely satisfactory to them. Of course, this cannot be done in reality until Parliament amends the Act, but the question I wish to urge is, Will it or can it not be made to work out in practice to a great extent in such a way ?7 The parent is liable under a penalty to notify the birth and I am advised that under the Act as it stands the parent is the proper person to proceed against for failure to do so, even in those cases where a doctor is in attendance. The local authority can surely under this Act elect to proceed for default against the parent in preference to the doctor, more especially as he is by law made primarily responsible. Surely there is no need to proceed against two different persons for one offence. There is a precedent for such a procedure in the case of the Notification of Infectious Diseases Act, under which, although the parent in that case is made responsible for
1872
ALCOHOLISM : ITS CAUSES AND TREATMENT.
infectious disease in his family, the doctor animal type of human kind, the tiger ape of Voltaire, the alone is held so by the sanitary authorities. The obvious human beasts of Schopenhauer and Zola. An old French reason of this is that technical knowledge and skill is needed physician, Heulard d’Arcy, translates a speech of Diogenes to diagnose a case of infectious disease, which even the law to apetit crevé of that period as follows : " Jeune fils, men cannot presume is possessed by the parent. Such a difficulty amy, ton père t’a engendre estant yvre " (ivre). " My young does not arise under the Notification of Births Act. Then, friend, thy father, when drunk, begat thee." And the same even after a case has been declared to be a notifiable disease observation might be made to many a youngster of the by the medical attendant, the authority does not require a present age. This nervous depravity may take various duplicate certificate from the parent, because this is entirely forms and our prisons and asylums teem with the children unnecessary, and if the medical man fails to report the case of alcoholism, who will live, and who will not or cannot he alone is proceeded against. justify their existence by doing any useful work, who prey I hold, therefore, if the procedure obtaining under the upon the humanity which helps them. The prevention of Notification Act is reversed in the administration of this Act alcoholism might be helped by a better instruction in the and the parent is held responsible, as he ought to be, the public schools on the use of alcoholic beverages and the misery objections of the medical profession to the Act must be and suffering which follow in the train of the drink habit. greatly mitigated, though of course they cannot be com- Our youth should be taught that, although it may be conpletely removed, apart from an amendment of the Act. I trary to the example of parents, the habitual absorption of quite think the above method will be the simpler way alcoholic beverages is neither necessary nor beneficial for of administering the Act, because the first intimation to an.y ordinary man doing man’s work, physical or intellectual, the medical officer of health of a non-notified birth will much less for any ordinary woman; that alcohol in the no doubt be received from the Registrar of Births and shape of wine, beer, cider should be looked on as a pleasant Deaths in his weekly returns. The certificate of the luxury, as an aid to social intercourse, not as a necessary Registrar would be sufficient evidence against the parent article of daily consumption ; that alcohol may be necessary to convict, and most readily obtained. Whereas if the local in certain circumstances, but these are so rare that authority decided to proceed against some other person probably the majority of persons may go though life without rather than the parent-for example, the doctor-inquiries this necessity ever arising ; that those who cannot do have to be set in motion to find out who was actually without alcoholic drink for the most part have either would in attendance at the birth. Such attendance would have to acquired a habit which has obtained a mastery over them or be proved in court, &c., and altogether the process would be they are " poor creatures" who require a fillip to do their a much more complicated one than that suggested above. I daily work with satisfaction to themselves and to others. think, therefore, on the score of both convenience and Lastly, it should be strongly impressed upon the young simplicity the parent will be made responsible. Should this and inexperienced that while an occasional glass of beer, be the case the doctor could further protect himself in any claret, or cider may be indulged in by the young, distilled case by drawing the attention of the parent to his obligation spirits should never find a place amongst their beverages. under the Act. I am. Sirs. vours faithfullv. To youthful blood and brains they are abhorrent-destructive JAS. T NEECH, M.D. Durh., as vitriol to steel. Hogarth’s contrasting pictures, Beer Medical Officer of Health of Halifax. Halifax, Dec. 23rd, 1907. Street and Gin Lane, illustrate a moral and physiological lesson. To reform the inebriate habit is confessedly very diffiALCOHOLISM: ITS CAUSES AND TREAT- cult ; indeed, some assert that it is almost impossible to cure a confirmed drunkard, especially one of the female MENT. sex. Our first aim should be to get if possible the To the Editors of THE LANCET. cooperation and the confidence of the patient in the SIRS,-There is a Chinese proverb to the effect-" It is not early stage of alcoholism. The personal influence of the the wine that makes the drunkard but the vice "-i.e., ‘° It priest, of the physician, of the father or mother, husband is not a vice to drink wine but to be unable to resist the or wife, should be brought to bear to try to induce victim of the alcoholic habit to reform. This influence craving for it." This "craving" may be caused : 1. By the must be used judiciously and with discretion, especially in inheritance-a fertile cause-from ancestors not necessarily alcoholic but whose nervous systems have been depraved by the case of the wife, for the "nagging wife" often vicious excitement and self-indulgence. 2. Excessive and aggravates the evil which the poor woman, with the best intentions, would cure. Removal from environment and either mental or exhausting toil, physical (worry), associates is all important ; " country homes,"or " houses of monotonous work under the depressing influences of wet and cold, foul air, unwholesome or scanty food, squalor, and rest"should be multiplied in which a few patients can be treated, and the influence of the master of the house should dirt. 3. The ennui owing to want of occupation, which is be exerted to try to induce by example as well as by advice often the inheritance of those who have not to earn their the patients to reform by work of some sort, agriculture or daily bread by any physical or mental effort and who find horticulture ;the care of small stock might be given; any one in alcohol euthanasia. can work on a small holding (though very few can make a The rich man’s son inherits wants, living out of it) and the work can be made as light or as His stomach craves for dainty fare, With sated heart he hears the pants energetic as the worker pleases. Of course, no alcoholic Of toiling hands, with brown arms bare, drink should be obtainable in these institutions, but it is And wearies in his easy chair." useless to cut off the supply of liquor unless some occupa’‘ Under-work,"then, is a fertile cause of alcoholism. 4. tion be given to divert the mind of the patient from the The powerful influence of environment in the association craving for alcohol. Drugs are useless, worse than useless, with those who have acquired the alcoholic habit. As an except perhaps some simple sedative, such as bromide in instance of the effect of example, many years ago, on a some form, as they are apt to lead the patient to rely on the voyage to India, when the rum ration was issued daily to drug and promote a vain hope that self-help may not be so soldiers on board a transport, I watched the recruits at the essential as has been represented. The diet should be as rum tub. Some of these lads had apparently never tasted simple as possible. Alcoholics usually have a depraved raw spirits before they came aboard. At first they made a stomach and a palate which craves for hot and stimulating wry face over their " totsand swallowed their liquor with food, and a little starvation diet, or what would be condifficulty. Towards the end of the voyage no difference was sidered such, may be necessary. discernible in the apparent relish with which the rum; ration The punitive method of treating alcoholism is useless; I was gulped down by the recruit and by the older soldier. have seen it tried in the Army more or less daring 30 years of These are the chief causes of the drink habit. "Train an my life. Fines, confinement to barracks, cells, imprisonment, idea, acquire a habit, obtain a master," is perhaps more and in the old days flogging-all failed to check the proapplicable to alcoholism than to anything else. Once the pensity to obfuscate the system with the alcoholic poison. alcoholic habit is acquired the power of resistance is Those who were subjected to it, with rare exceptions, usually gradually enfeebled until all self-control is lost and the went from bad to worse unless they got into the habit of craving for drink becomes an over-mastering passion. soaking without showing it, and often obtained a character As regards others, the drunkard’s action takes effect for sobriety and badges for good conduct which they certainly more especially in the procreation of children whose did not deserve, if abstinence was considered a sine nervous systems are more or less depraved or morbid, quâ non. As to the advanced cases of confirmed and who are often truly "degenerate," who revert to the alcoholism who are in many cases hopeless, who are
reporting cases of
1871
from 8’ 6 in Hampstead, 9 9 in Chelsea, 11’2 in recurred, and was observed to run a similar course succesGreenwich, 11’8 in Lewisham, and 12-3 in Wandsworth, to sively on the also of the nose, the cheeks, the chin, lower 18-3 in Poplar, 18.4 in Bethnal Green, 19’ 5 in Finsbury, part of the neck, the left breast,’ epigastrium, hypo19 7 in Southwark, 19’ 9 in Holborn, and 21 -.3in Shore- gastrium, and the middle of the thighs and legs. In ditch. The 5285 deaths from all causes included 456 some places no trace remained, in others the skin was left which were referred to the principal infectious diseases ; brown, rough, and scaly. About the middle of July, of these, 115 resulted from measles, 55 from scarlet the attacks of retching began to be attended with fever, 92 from diphtheria, 55 from whooping-cough, violent pricking, and burning pain of the stomach ; it 22 from enteric fever, one from ill-defined pyrexia, lasted about four hours, and induced great exhaustion; and 116 from diarrhoea. The lowest death-rates last nothing, however, was rejected by vomiting until the 12th of month from these diseases were recorded in St. Marylebone, August, when, after violent retching for two hours, the Hampstead, Stoke Newington, Lambeth, Wandsworth, patient threw out a large quantity of a watery liquid conCamberwell, and Greenwich ; and the highest rates in taining a great number of the eggs of the common gnat, a Hammersmith, Finsbury, the City of London, Shoreditch, quantity of a blackish, flocculent, fetid, animal substance, Stepney, Poplar, and Southwark. The 115 deaths from and, what was most remarkable, an immense quantity of measles were 19 below the corrected average number in small larvæ, which swam about with great activity. The the corresponding periods of the five preceding years ; quantity of this fluid, rejected on the 12 h and three followthis disease was proportionally most fatal last month in ing days, amounted to seventy-nine pints ! On the 16th, Paddington, Hammersmith, Holborn, Finsbury, Shoreditch, there was an intermission, on the 17th the vomiting returned, and Poplar. The 55 fatal cases of scarlet fever exceeded and then ceased for eight days, but in the evenings the by 18 the corrected average number ; among the various patient was attacked with general convulsions, rigidity of metropolitan boroughs this disease showed the greatest the extremities, and violent lacerating pain at the epigastric proportional mortality in Stoke Newington, Hackney, region ; the whole fit sometimes lasted for several hours, and Finsbury, Shoreditch, Stepney, Poplar, and Lambeth. The during it she generally made a noise like the barking of a dog. 92 deaths from diphtheria were 29 above the average On the 24th the vomiting again returned, and continued daily
ranged
in the corresponding the highest years; were recorded in St.
till the 12th of September, when the cause of it was at last found out. The patient had been observed to go frequently disease to the water-closet, and, being watched, was discovered to Pancras, Hackney, City of London, Stepney, Southwark, Bermondsey, drink copiously from a large cistern of dirty water, which Battersea, and Greenwich. The 55 fatal cases of was kept there for the purpose of washing down the pipes, whooping-cough were nine fewer. than the corrected and into which filth of various kinds was frequently thrown. average number; this disease was proportionally most fatal Being now closely interrogated, she, with some difficulty, in Stepney, Poplar, Battersea, Deptford, Lewisham, and confessed that she had been in the habit of drinking this Woolwich. The 23 deaths referred to " fever" were 17 below disgusting liquid daily since the middle of July, and that the the average number in the corresponding periods of the flavour of it was so agreeable to her taste, that she could not five preceding years ; of these 23 deaths three belonged to abstain from it, though aware that it was the cause of her the City of Westminster, three to Islington, three to Poplar, sufferings. She was, therefore, shut up and closely watched, three to Southwark, and two each to Bethnal Green and and in a short time all the symptoms disappeared. It is very Wandsworth. The 116 fatal cases of diarrhoea exceeded remarkable, that during the whole course of this singular the corrected average number; this disease showed the affection, the appetite (except during the fits of retching highest proportional fatality in Paddington, Finsbury, and vomiting) was quite voracious ; there was no emaciation, Stepney, Poplar, Southwark, and Woolwich. In conclusion, and the menstrual functions continued to be quite regular.it may be stated that the aggregate mortality in London Extract from the Journ. Complen. infectious diseases was 4’3 last month from the the corrected cent. above average. Infant mortality, per measured by the proportion of deaths under one year of age to registered births, was equal to 116 per 1000. The lowest rates of infant mortality were recorded in Chelsea, the City of Westminster, St. Marylebone, Hampstead, Holborn, "Audi alteram partem." and Greenwich ; and the highest rates in Paddington, Shoreditch, Bethnal Green, Stepney, Southwark, and Battersea. number
preceding
periods of the death-rates from
five this the
principal
Correspondence.
NOTIFICATION OF BIRTHS ACT.
Looking Back. FROM
THE LANCET, SATURDAY, Dec. 26th, 1829. SINGULAR CASE OF
with
PICA,
immense
quantities of eggs and larvæ of the common gnat. LOUISE C. aatat. 19, having been employed from her childhood in keeping sheep, was frequently, when in the fields,
vomiting of
to drink ditch-water, to which she at last became accustomed as to prefer it to any other. During the last three years she had been several times in the Hospital of Thouars, for ulcers of the legs and arms, which speedily healed, but after a few months broke out again, and one for confluent small-pox, from which she completely recovered. On the first of June she was admitted a fifth time, for superficial ulcers of the legs and arms. These were gradually healing, and nothing remarkable was observed in the patient till the 16th of July, when she was attacked with hiccup, nausea, and retching, which recurred almost every day for several hours, during a period of nearly two months. On the 18th, a con. siderable quantity of a yellowish limpid serum was observed to exude from the middle of the forehead, which, on the following day, was covered with very small superficial ulcers; these healed by the 23rd, and at the same time the serous exudations ceased. After a few days, however, the latter
obliged so
To the Editors of THE LANCET. SIRS,-Numerous objections have been urged against the of the Act many of which deal entirely with side adoption issues and are consequently not worth discussing.. The members of the profession have, however, in my opinion, raised two valid objections to the Act, and in regard to these I desire to state in the outset that I am in entire sympathy with them. The objections I refer to are: (1) compulsion under a penalty to do work without a fee ; and (2) the notification of illegitimate births. Adequate payment for the necessary certificate would overcome the former difficulty but I do not see how the provision of a fee could remove the latter objection. That being the case it seems to me that nothing short of the definite exclusion of medical practitioners from the obligations imposed by the Act can be completely satisfactory to them. Of course, this cannot be done in reality until Parliament amends the Act, but the question I wish to urge is, Will it or can it not be made to work out in practice to a great extent in such a way ?7 The parent is liable under a penalty to notify the birth and I am advised that under the Act as it stands the parent is the proper person to proceed against for failure to do so, even in those cases where a doctor is in attendance. The local authority can surely under this Act elect to proceed for default against the parent in preference to the doctor, more especially as he is by law made primarily responsible. Surely there is no need to proceed against two different persons for one offence. There is a precedent for such a procedure in the case of the Notification of Infectious Diseases Act, under which, although the parent in that case is made responsible for
1872
ALCOHOLISM : ITS CAUSES AND TREATMENT.
infectious disease in his family, the doctor animal type of human kind, the tiger ape of Voltaire, the alone is held so by the sanitary authorities. The obvious human beasts of Schopenhauer and Zola. An old French reason of this is that technical knowledge and skill is needed physician, Heulard d’Arcy, translates a speech of Diogenes to diagnose a case of infectious disease, which even the law to apetit crevé of that period as follows : " Jeune fils, men cannot presume is possessed by the parent. Such a difficulty amy, ton père t’a engendre estant yvre " (ivre). " My young does not arise under the Notification of Births Act. Then, friend, thy father, when drunk, begat thee." And the same even after a case has been declared to be a notifiable disease observation might be made to many a youngster of the by the medical attendant, the authority does not require a present age. This nervous depravity may take various duplicate certificate from the parent, because this is entirely forms and our prisons and asylums teem with the children unnecessary, and if the medical man fails to report the case of alcoholism, who will live, and who will not or cannot he alone is proceeded against. justify their existence by doing any useful work, who prey I hold, therefore, if the procedure obtaining under the upon the humanity which helps them. The prevention of Notification Act is reversed in the administration of this Act alcoholism might be helped by a better instruction in the and the parent is held responsible, as he ought to be, the public schools on the use of alcoholic beverages and the misery objections of the medical profession to the Act must be and suffering which follow in the train of the drink habit. greatly mitigated, though of course they cannot be com- Our youth should be taught that, although it may be conpletely removed, apart from an amendment of the Act. I trary to the example of parents, the habitual absorption of quite think the above method will be the simpler way alcoholic beverages is neither necessary nor beneficial for of administering the Act, because the first intimation to an.y ordinary man doing man’s work, physical or intellectual, the medical officer of health of a non-notified birth will much less for any ordinary woman; that alcohol in the no doubt be received from the Registrar of Births and shape of wine, beer, cider should be looked on as a pleasant Deaths in his weekly returns. The certificate of the luxury, as an aid to social intercourse, not as a necessary Registrar would be sufficient evidence against the parent article of daily consumption ; that alcohol may be necessary to convict, and most readily obtained. Whereas if the local in certain circumstances, but these are so rare that authority decided to proceed against some other person probably the majority of persons may go though life without rather than the parent-for example, the doctor-inquiries this necessity ever arising ; that those who cannot do have to be set in motion to find out who was actually without alcoholic drink for the most part have either would in attendance at the birth. Such attendance would have to acquired a habit which has obtained a mastery over them or be proved in court, &c., and altogether the process would be they are " poor creatures" who require a fillip to do their a much more complicated one than that suggested above. I daily work with satisfaction to themselves and to others. think, therefore, on the score of both convenience and Lastly, it should be strongly impressed upon the young simplicity the parent will be made responsible. Should this and inexperienced that while an occasional glass of beer, be the case the doctor could further protect himself in any claret, or cider may be indulged in by the young, distilled case by drawing the attention of the parent to his obligation spirits should never find a place amongst their beverages. under the Act. I am. Sirs. vours faithfullv. To youthful blood and brains they are abhorrent-destructive JAS. T NEECH, M.D. Durh., as vitriol to steel. Hogarth’s contrasting pictures, Beer Medical Officer of Health of Halifax. Halifax, Dec. 23rd, 1907. Street and Gin Lane, illustrate a moral and physiological lesson. To reform the inebriate habit is confessedly very diffiALCOHOLISM: ITS CAUSES AND TREAT- cult ; indeed, some assert that it is almost impossible to cure a confirmed drunkard, especially one of the female MENT. sex. Our first aim should be to get if possible the To the Editors of THE LANCET. cooperation and the confidence of the patient in the SIRS,-There is a Chinese proverb to the effect-" It is not early stage of alcoholism. The personal influence of the the wine that makes the drunkard but the vice "-i.e., ‘° It priest, of the physician, of the father or mother, husband is not a vice to drink wine but to be unable to resist the or wife, should be brought to bear to try to induce victim of the alcoholic habit to reform. This influence craving for it." This "craving" may be caused : 1. By the must be used judiciously and with discretion, especially in inheritance-a fertile cause-from ancestors not necessarily alcoholic but whose nervous systems have been depraved by the case of the wife, for the "nagging wife" often vicious excitement and self-indulgence. 2. Excessive and aggravates the evil which the poor woman, with the best intentions, would cure. Removal from environment and either mental or exhausting toil, physical (worry), associates is all important ; " country homes,"or " houses of monotonous work under the depressing influences of wet and cold, foul air, unwholesome or scanty food, squalor, and rest"should be multiplied in which a few patients can be treated, and the influence of the master of the house should dirt. 3. The ennui owing to want of occupation, which is be exerted to try to induce by example as well as by advice often the inheritance of those who have not to earn their the patients to reform by work of some sort, agriculture or daily bread by any physical or mental effort and who find horticulture ;the care of small stock might be given; any one in alcohol euthanasia. can work on a small holding (though very few can make a The rich man’s son inherits wants, living out of it) and the work can be made as light or as His stomach craves for dainty fare, With sated heart he hears the pants energetic as the worker pleases. Of course, no alcoholic Of toiling hands, with brown arms bare, drink should be obtainable in these institutions, but it is And wearies in his easy chair." useless to cut off the supply of liquor unless some occupa’‘ Under-work,"then, is a fertile cause of alcoholism. 4. tion be given to divert the mind of the patient from the The powerful influence of environment in the association craving for alcohol. Drugs are useless, worse than useless, with those who have acquired the alcoholic habit. As an except perhaps some simple sedative, such as bromide in instance of the effect of example, many years ago, on a some form, as they are apt to lead the patient to rely on the voyage to India, when the rum ration was issued daily to drug and promote a vain hope that self-help may not be so soldiers on board a transport, I watched the recruits at the essential as has been represented. The diet should be as rum tub. Some of these lads had apparently never tasted simple as possible. Alcoholics usually have a depraved raw spirits before they came aboard. At first they made a stomach and a palate which craves for hot and stimulating wry face over their " totsand swallowed their liquor with food, and a little starvation diet, or what would be condifficulty. Towards the end of the voyage no difference was sidered such, may be necessary. discernible in the apparent relish with which the rum; ration The punitive method of treating alcoholism is useless; I was gulped down by the recruit and by the older soldier. have seen it tried in the Army more or less daring 30 years of These are the chief causes of the drink habit. "Train an my life. Fines, confinement to barracks, cells, imprisonment, idea, acquire a habit, obtain a master," is perhaps more and in the old days flogging-all failed to check the proapplicable to alcoholism than to anything else. Once the pensity to obfuscate the system with the alcoholic poison. alcoholic habit is acquired the power of resistance is Those who were subjected to it, with rare exceptions, usually gradually enfeebled until all self-control is lost and the went from bad to worse unless they got into the habit of craving for drink becomes an over-mastering passion. soaking without showing it, and often obtained a character As regards others, the drunkard’s action takes effect for sobriety and badges for good conduct which they certainly more especially in the procreation of children whose did not deserve, if abstinence was considered a sine nervous systems are more or less depraved or morbid, quâ non. As to the advanced cases of confirmed and who are often truly "degenerate," who revert to the alcoholism who are in many cases hopeless, who are
reporting cases of