Real and imaginary effects of intemperance : A statistical sketch, containing letters and statements from the superintendents of eighty American insane asylums, the history of five hundred inebriates, the history of ... paupers, and statistics of drunkenness / ... By G. Thomann.

  • Thomann, G. (Gallus)
Date:
1884
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Real and imaginary effects of intemperance : A statistical sketch, containing letters and statements from the superintendents of eighty American insane asylums, the history of five hundred inebriates, the history of ... paupers, and statistics of drunkenness / ... By G. Thomann. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

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    CONTEN TS Insanity.—Exaggerations on the part of temperance advocates; opinions in reference to intemperance as a cause of insanity. Reported increase of insanity; reasons for the assumption that such increase is not real; opinions of Dr. Wilkins and others. Alleged increase explained; comparative table in support of such explanation; more cases of insanity constantly brought to light in proportion as the means for their treatment increase, and popular prejudices vanish. Improvement in the methodB of search for, and enumeration of, insane. Comparative table showing proportion of insane in various countries 3-10 Evidences of Decreasing Inebriety. — Conditions favoring increase or decrease of drunkenness. Opinions of Montesquieu and Dr. Bowditch. Decrease in consump- tion of distilled, and increase in consumption of fermented drinks in the United States. Relative effects of fermented and distilled beverages in the Netherlands (Table of Alcoholism), in Bavaria, in France, in England (Gin Epidemic), in Ger- many. Efforts of temperance societies to substitute fermented for distilled liquors. Intemperance in Alsace-Lorraine. Mortality from alcoholism in various countries. Improved condition of the people of the United States. Comparative table of in- sanity, alcoholic insanity, and consumption of liquors in various countries 10-23 Intempehance as a Cause of Insanity, Statistically Considered.—The mode of col- lecting data; difficulties that had to be overcome; inevitable imperfections of table; eighty institutions accounted for; fifty-four asylums furnished statistics. Showing of collected material: seven per cent, of all cases of insanity caused by in- temperance. Differences between opinions and figures—how explained; Dr. A. I. Thomas on popular fallacies in reference to insanity caused by intemperance. Average ratio of insanity caused by drink in United States, compared with like ratio in Denmark and other countries ; comparison with former years. Alcoholism and its results in the Southern States; colored population very temperate, as shown by reports of Surgeon-General of the Army; quality of ardent spirits, an important factor in the causation of insanity ; examples cited. Causes of comparatively large proportion of insanity in populous cities; Dr. Marvaud's opinion as to causes of inebriety. Insanity transmitted by drunken parents to their offsprings ; Danish sta- tistics on the subject compared with Dr. Howe's figures 23-33 Alcoholic Inebriety, Insanity and Beer. — Claim of temperance advocates that the use of beer creates a taste for ardent spirits, and affects the brain; contrary opinions cited. Report of five hundred cases of alcoholic inebriety ; age, sex and nationality of inebriates; kind and quantity of drinks consumed by them; propo-nn of ha- bitual beer drinkers—their nationality; effect of complicating diBei: amber of inebriates having had attacks of delirium tremens. Proof that beer ha no tendency to supplant itself by creating taste for ardent spirits 34-39 Pauperism.—Differences of opinion as to causes of involuntary pauperism. Voluntary poverty invariably ascribed by temperance advocates to inebriety. Liebig's opinion that poverty is a cause of intemperance; like opinion of other scientific writers; temperance societies in Europe acting on the assumption that poverty produces in- temperance ; their efforts to ameliorate condition of the laboring people; over- crowded dwellings, want of pure air and water also a cause of intemperance; an English example cited. Intellectual sloth of the poor—how it affects their drinking habits; compulsory idleness and want of divertisement on Sunday, another cause of excesses. Involuntary poverty often mistaken for its opposite; examples cited; indolence, sobriety and beggardom in Italy. The history of 671 paupers; proportion of indigence caused by intemperance directly, ten per cent. ; nationality of intemper- ate paupers ; no habitual beer-drinkers among them. Indigence caused by intem- perance indirectly. Drinking habits of intemperate pauperB; the story of an intemperate pauper's life. Cost of pauperism, insanity and crime, compared with revenues derived from liquor traffic ; absolute groundlessness of the claims of prohi- bitionists from an economic standpoint 40-52