Insanity: Its Causes and Prevention

to develop and perpetuate the Insane Diathesis, there are none which can be

rge numbers in all our asylums and hospitals; but the effects of alcohol are so insidious, it has been so generally used in the past, and its effects are s

alization of any millennial period, as to its use and abuse, in this or other countries. Indeed, while probably there is much less of alcohol used as a beverage among the more intelligent portion of the community at the present time than there was fifty years ago, yet I think there is more used in that way among the operative classes, and especially the young of large towns and cities. The facilities of obtaining

or atmosphere; life is so much more intense in many of its avocations which were then unknown, necessitating very much larger drafts upon the brain and nervous system; the means with which to purchase and use alcoholic beverages by the laboring classes are so much more abundant and easily obtained now than formerly, and while living in places of larger population than would be possible if residing in the country, or in small villages,-

nd it was found that in more than one tenth of these cases the cause of insanity had been traced to the use of alcohol. This, however, did not embra

irectly through the influence of alcohol. Some writers estimate the amount of insanity which is caused through the influence of alcohol, on parents and their children, in England, at a m

enders the brain liable to unstable and irregular action. And I may remark at the outset that it does not so much signify in what form of beverage it may be used. The quantity taken is the important point-whether i

activity, it becomes necessary to study, in some measure, its physiological effects upon the system, as they have been demonstrated by means of experiments conducted with scientific accuracy. This beco

h, and how much is physiologically signified by its effects as a stimulant, especially upon the primary tissues of the body, has not been so well understood. That this may be rendered more clear in the mind of the reader, I shall now introduce some of the results of experiments conducted by Dr. Parkes and Count Wollowicz. These experiments were upon the person of a strong and healthy

g the days while increased amounts of alcohol were administered

e first, or water, period, was 77.5; but on this day two observ

n of this one day, viz., 77 beats per minute, with the alcoholic days, s

fluid ounce of alcohol, th

ith two fluid ounce

th four fluid ounces

ith six fluid ounce

th eight fluid ounce

th eight fluid ounce

umber of beats on that day as midway between the 11th and 13th days, or 18,432. Adopting this, the mean d

the last of 23 per cent.; and the mean of these two gives alm

lic period as in the water period (and it was really more powerful), t

o 122 tons lifted one foot, the heart, during the alcoholic period, did daily work in excess equal to li

ohol was left off, and apparently at the time when the last traces of alcohol were eliminated, showed, in the sphygmographic tracings, signs of unusual fulness; and, perhaps, in consequence of this, when the brandy quicke

relation to the action of the heart. The primary effect of alcohol is upon this organ, through its influence upo

secured, a draft is made upon its reserve power, and, that it may regain this, there must necessarily afterward occur a period of so much less than normal activity. In other words, what has been gained in action under the effect of stimulus, must be lost on its withdrawal, and there must ensue a period of feeble and imperfect action,

necessary to its normal action as to thought. To such an extent is this so, that consciousness at once fades into darknes

should remain unaffected by over-stimulation of the heart's action, which, in reality and effect, is the controlling power of the system, and may be likened to an e

f alcohol a little further, that we may more

e requisite material for life and activity. So important is the regularity of this supply to the brain in the discharge of its functions, that a special arrangement of blood-vessels is provided, or rather the number of arteries is larger and their distribution more complicated and va

are no longer of any use, they may be eliminated and removed from the body. These coverings, or membranes, as they are called, in turn, derive their materials for growth and function from the minute capillary blood-vesse

rt, is that of a narcotic. Its effect is to partially paralyze this nerve, and leave the heart to act more freely and rapidly under the influence of the motor nerve; in consequence of this partial paralysis of the coats of the capillar

in-cell, connective tissues, and fibres. If this is imperfectly performed, and some portion of this seco

ecome correspondingly less responsive to both objective and subjective impressions or influences. There must result,

seless, will ultimately cause a thickening of the coverings of these cells and fibres of the brain,

blood flows through the brain more freely, thought becomes more accelerated, and there is an excitement of utterance and imagination. This period, however, soon passes by, and before long the mind becomes less clear and accurate in its perceptions; it is partially clouded; it loses the nicety of its moral sense; it does not perceive the moral side of conduct so clearly and definitely as formerly; it does not judge so accurately in reference to the claims of friends and society; and there is not that sense of propriety as to personal conduct which formerly existed. Moreover, the rapidity of impressions becomes lessened, and conse

brandy, equal to about half an ounce of alcohol, taken by a healthy man, raised the galvanometer in a few minutes, in one case twenty-five degrees, and in another case forty-five degrees. He concluded that the thermo-electric currents of the system were strongly excited by small doses of alcohol, and that this excitement may be profitably employed when there is 'clea

embranes in other portions of the body. I hardly need enter upon this branch of the subject in order to establish proof of its very great effect as an agent in producing a changed and unstable condition of brain-action. And yet we need to bear in mind how greatly its eff

membranes of other portions of the system, as well as those

k rapidly and equally, the membranes require to be at all times properly charged with water. If into contact with them any agent is brought that deprives them of water, then is their work interfered with; they

ol becomes one of the most extreme causes of modification of animal f

vastly greater and more ruinous in its effects upon the brain, when used during the period of youth and early manhood. At this time, the whole system is much

ing more highly organized than any other organ or portion of the body, and the metamorphosis of its tissues being more rapid during the earlier periods of life, becomes greatly more susceptible to the bad effects of alcohol

nt, but when once again the unfortunate victim is thrown upon his own resources, and left to his s

wn that the effects of alcohol are such, that they are most surely transmitted from parent

smitted from parent to child, to the third or fourth generation, unless it be sooner eliminated, and may manifest itself in any one of the many forms mentioned, all of which are of a serious nature and generally exist through life. The importance therefore of abstinence from the use of alcoholic beve

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