of alcohol, the single great downfalls, the wrecks of minds whose active sanity are of such moment to the destiny of the race. But we do here see that alcohol serves to paralyse the formation and arrest the development of higher mental and moral, and consequently finer nervous organisation, and thus acts to keep down the conception and practice of life. An example of this is afforded by the mental condition and attitude of the masses in any country under any form of government which imposes upon them what they deem to be false conditions and coercive terms of living. They do not formulate dignified and intelligent protests, or if they manage to do so much as this, they lack clear moral and intellectual discernment of the decried evil and its remedy, they fail to combine, to organise, to execute, lacking all that concentrates and sustains effort in a word, they lack volition; hence, sporadic, fitful, abortive manifestations. In inebriety the confusion and partial paralysis of the higher functions of aspiration and unselfishness is the rule, and the field of volition sinks to the plane of ambitious self-seeking, more or less concealed and refined or crude and brutal in its expressions, according to inherited tendencies, previous habits, dominant proclivities, and the quality and kind of alcohol ingested. Hence there is no basis for expecting moral effort or affectionate consideration from a person in this state; he has no volition in the matter. Inhumanitas ebriosa, in itself an abnormal condition, is none the less a natural product of inebriety. So also with ferocitas ebriosa, and when sobriety is restored, the tedium vitae is the protest of the outraged being to the impotent organism. For Habitual tippling makes this fallen and steadily falling mental and moral condition habitual, and the victim does not know how it is with him. what is true of any habit-that if long persisted in, it will, by adapting body and mind to its recurrence and effects, become at last instinctive-is true of the alcoholic habit even in its early stages, because alcohol, in its peculiar power to dull the mind and drug its guardian attributes, can produce in a single indulgence a greater subjection of the volition than will result from many commissions of a non-intoxicating act, and therefore the will or the choice to drink, or even indifference, if only the alcohol is ingested, will more quickly perhaps than any other act become involuntary and compulsory. Of course tobacco, chloral, opium, and licentiousness-all narcotising in their effects, and hence paralysersare great auxiliaries to the evil force of alcohol, and, like it, are great destroyers of the power of volition, but consideration of them does not come within the scope of this paper. Any keen observer really interested in this question will be sure to see, and that without going out of his way, how alcohol undermines the will, i.e., the power of sane decision and firm execution of that choice-the power by which chiefly we attain and maintain true manhood and womanhood, and how by this weakening of the will the character is unraveled in many subtle and intricate ways, stitch by stitch, until it retains neither form nor significance, and is but a limp thread trailed hither and thither by the fitful winds of temptation. The degree in which alcohol undermines volition is of course greatly determined by the mental quality and temperament of the drinker, the extent to which he carries the habit, and the nature of other habits formed in connection with it, &c. In some instances so-called moderate drinking has palpably as totally undermined the will, while in others excessive drinking has not overcome this power. It is also to be carefully remembered that the effect of alcohol on volition has innumerable disguises, many of them successfully deceiving alike the victim and the spectator. In some persons a once pure and virile volition-susceptible, as volition should be, to the at once enlightening and modifying influences of the aspirations of a sound and humane heart-is by the alcoholic habit gra dually transmuted into a peculiar stubbornness, combined with an absence of emotion and indiffence to the emotions of others. Such a person at first and at last will be spoken of as a man of iron will, and the transition from the firmness of pure volition to the immobility of stolid selfishness, if felt, will not be understood; will be imagined to be an intensification of the will power, 66 It is a condition in reference to volition not unlike that which sometimes occurs in the physical organisation, when, after death, the form once bright with living energy having been consigned to decay, is by some unseen process turned to stone, Could I be heard," said Charles Lamb, "I would cry out of the black depths to all those who have but set a foot in the perilous flood. Could the youth, to whom the flavour of his first wine is delicious as the opening scenes of life, or the entering upon some newlydiscovered paradise, look into my desolation, and be made to understand what a dreary thing it is when a man shall feel himself going down a precipice with open eyes and a passive will to see his destruction, and have no power to stop it, and yet to feel it all the way emanating from himself; to perceive all goodness emptied out of him, and yet not to be able to forget a time when it was otherwise; to bear about the piteous spectacle of his own self-ruin :-could he see my fevered eye, feverish with last night's drinking, and feverishly looking for the night's repetition of the folly could he feel the body of the death out of which I cry hourly with feebler and feebler outcry to be delivered, it were enough to make him dash the sparkling beverage to the earth in all the pride of its mantling temptation; to make him clasp his teeth, and not undo 'em To suffer wet damnation to run thro' 'em." The following remarkable instance of the thraldom of drink, especially illustrating its power to keep down the once degraded will, is cited and vouched for by Dr. John Cheyne:A gentleman of birth and refined tastes, deservedly popular for his attractive qualities, became habitually intemperate. A dear friend wrote to him, "Your family are in the utmost distress on account of this unfortunate habit. They see that your business is neglected, your moral influence is gone, your health is ruined." To this he replied, "Your remarks are, indeed, too true, but I can no longer resist temptation. If a bottle of brandy stood on one hand and the pit of hell yawned on the other, and if I knew that I would be pushed in as surely as I took one more glass, I could not refrain.... You are all very kind. . . . I ought to be grateful, but spare yourselves the trouble of trying to reform me; the thing is now impossible." While we do well to battle earnestly with the cause of such miseries and tragedies as these, they, in their turn, certainly point out the necessity, the humanity, of in the meantime founding and funding institutions like that of the Dalrymple Home, for the care and cure of the victims of drink, who need supervision and restraint just as much as do the inmates of lunatic asylums. And, indeed, if the facilities for the restraint and care of inebriates until the cure of recovered self-respect and volition could be effected, bore any comparison to those provided for the insane, the decrease in the number of the latter would be perhaps the most telling practical comment ever made on the scope of the drink evil. ALCOHOL IN ASYLUMS.-The "Use of Alcohol in Asylums" is one of the special subjects selected for discussion in the Psychology section of the British Medical Association during the approaching meetings to be held in Belfast. THE TEMPERANCE HOSPITAL. THE annual meeting of governors of the London Temperance Hospital was held on Tuesday evening, 27th May, in the Lower Room of Exeter Hall, under the presidency of Mr. BENJAMIN WHITWORTH, M.P. The Rev. Dr. DAWSON BURNS Summarised the report, which he said commenced with an epitome of the work done in the hospital during the ten and a half years of its establishment. It showed that upwards of 2,000 in-patients and 16,000 out-patients had been treated, and dwelt upon the growing favour with which the principles upon which the hospital had been established was being received by the public, and especially by the medical profession. It then drew attention to the fact that the board were able to announce the completion of the great scheme of the hospital. It was intended originally to make the hospital capable of receiving 100 in-patients, but the scheme had been so enlarged that when the new section was completed that section alone would contain seventy beds, and thus enable the hospital to receive 120 in-patients. The cost of the first portion built had been entirely subscribed, and the whole was freehold. The expense of the second portion had been partially met, but £8,000 was still wanted. A large mass of statistical information was given, including the medical report and a synopsis of cases. They intended soon to publish a pamphlet which would contain a summary of all the surgical and typhoid cases treated in the hospital from the begin. ning, together with other cases. They hoped in this way greatly to accelerate the time when the practice there would be the practice of the medical profession. The financial statement was read by the Treasurer, and showed that the receipts had been £3,886 15s. 8d.; the building fund had brought forward £25,413 13s. 5d.; donations, £6,244 13s. 11d.; interest, £66 17s. 9d., and with other items, £31,725 5s. Id. The endowment fund was £1,917 12s. 8d., which was invested, and the subscriptions to the endowment fund this year had been-from legacies and donations, £624 13s. 11d., and interest, £14 11d. 6d. The Hon. CONRAD A. DILLON moved the first resolution :-"That the progress of the London Temperance Hospital, and the continued success of the principle upon which it is established, afford cause for devout thankfulness, and encourage the expectation of yet greater benefit, both to medical science and the temperance reformation, from the extended operations of this national institution." He was sure the meeting would have read with pleasure the statement in the first paragraph:-"The Board are glad to report that the in-patients for the year numbered 513-an increase on the previous year of 102, or 25 per cent. The out-patients were 3,333an increase of 1,128, or 50 per cent." He congratulated the meeting on the progress of the institution in the estimation of the public. Of the inpatients there were two abstainers to three non-abstainers. The outpatients numbered four abstainers to three non-abstainers. The patients came from no fewer than twenty counties. This was a national institution, and thus had a national claim. It performed not only the duties of a temperance but a general hospital. The Hon. and Rev, Canon LEIGH, M.A., seconded the resolution, which was adopted. Dr. JAMES EDMUNDS said that the confidence of the medical staff was if possible greater than ever with regard to the general principle of the non-alcoholic treatment of disease. They did not tie the hands of the medical staff, who were responsible for the lives of the patients, but the administration of alcohol was left in their discretion. They had now had some 2,300 cases of such a serious kind as to need admission into the hospital, with O special treatment and special nursing, and during the whole of the ten and a half years the institution had been in operation only a very few ounces of alcohol had been used even experimentally as medicine. At the end of more than ten years' work they were entitled to say that the number of cases had been sufficiently large to justify the medical officers in calling attention, as they had done, to certain memoranda which were appended to the report. Amongst the fifty-three typhoid fever cases there had been five deaths, and when they looked at the post-mortem examinations that had been made, it was known to medical men that no administration of alcohol could have saved them. The cases of recovery had done extremely well. There was a mortality of rather less than one in ten. mortality was smaller than the mortality in any other hospital in London during the period, and there had not been given to one of these cases a particle of alcohol either as diet or medicine, and yet a large number of them ought to have died according to the ordinary hypothesis. The house That surgeon had taken out the whole of the surgical cases during the ten and a half years. There had been 542 of such gravity as to require admission into the hospital, and amongst these there had been 103 major surgical operations, among which there had been only three deaths. Mr. ROBERT SAWYER moved the next resolution :-" That by the pending enlargement of the London Temperance Hospital, which will increase the accommodation for in-patients from 52 to 120 beds, a strong and cogent call is addressed to all the friends of the institution and the public generally, in order that by liberal contributions, annual and otherwise, the new wing may be opened free from debt, and the yearly increase be rendered com. mensurate with the augmented pecuniary liabilities that will arise, if the appliances of the hospital are to be utilised to the utmost possible extent." The resolution was passed, and, after short addresses by Mr. Thomas Cash, Mr. C. Kegan Paul, and Mr. James Clark, the proceedings were brought to a close. BEER IN LUNATIC ASYLUMS. THE following is taken from the thirty-second report of the Derbyshire County Lunatic Asylum for the year 1883, by Dr. Murray Lindsay, superintendent physician: "Upwards of twelve months' experience of the working of the arrangement for the discontinuance of beer to patients and staff has been attended with the most satisfactory results, and fully confirmed the views expressed in the report for 1882, on pages 23 to 25. There is nothing to be regretted in the change, and we have no wish to return to the previous system. "By this change a considerable saving of about £410 per annum has been effected, after deducting the liberal money allowance paid to attendants and servants in place of beer, and extras to patients. This is so far satisfactory, but it should be deemed of secondary importance to the health and welfare of the patients who are and ought to be the primary consideration, and whose health has not suffered from the discontinuance of beer. "The amount expended on alcoholic stimulants (wines, spirits, and porter) for the sick and others has also been diminished, without detriment to their health in my opinion, other nutritious articles of food, such as milk, beef-tea, eggs, &c., having been substituted with advantage in many infirm cases. The average cost of alcoholic stimulants has been reduced from 2d. per patient per week in the four years from 1868 to 1871, to 1 d. in 1880; 1d. in 1881 and 1882; and d. in 1883, the maximum cost of 24d, having been reached in 1863; whilst the death-rate has been slightly higher in the four years from 1868 to 1871 than in the last four years of diminished expenditure on alcoholic stimulants, and the number of patients was considerably higher during the last four years-362 at the close of 1868, and 433 at the close of 1883. "From the foregoing it will be seen that the expenditure for alcoholic stimulants has been reduced to onefourth of what it was. "Notwithstanding the sneers and theories of a few writers in the lay and medical press, which have no effect in deterring committees of visiting justices and medical superin. tendents of asylums from taking a practical and common sense as well as humane view of this question, the discontinuance of the general use of beer in pauper asylums is gradually and surely gaining ground and extending, because it is considered unnecessary as a general article of ordinary diet and on account of other disadvantages. "Oxford, Ipswich, and Bristol Asylums are some of the latest converts to the discontinuance of beer; and at the last new asylum recently opened, the large and important asylum for the county of Surrey, at Cane Hill, no beer is given to patients or staff, the committee of visiting justices, acting on the advice of their able medical officer, having decided at the opening of the asylum to exclude beer from the ordinary diet. It is also a significant fact, in whatever light it is viewed, that at another asylum in an adjoining county, the attendants are almost unanimous in preferring a money allowance or other substitute in place of beer, the application for such change coming from the attendants themselves; whilst at a second asylum in another adjoining county, 'the staff generally have been given a money allowance in lieu of beer; which has been gratefully received and much appreciated,' beer being at the same time given to patients as part of the ordinary diet. "In the previous report for 1882, I remarked, 'In a few years it will probably be found that in the majority of English pauper asylums beer will not be given as an article of ordinary diet, the minority at present giving no beer will soon, I believe, be converted into a majority.' This prediction is likely to be fulfilled sooner than might have been expected. "I have a list of twenty-nine Engglish asylums (twenty-four county and five borough) in which beer is either partially or entirely discontinued or never given as an article of ordinary diet. This is very nearly half the total number of pauper asylums in England and Wales, the total number being sixty-three (fifty-two county and eleven borough), and it is very probable that a complete return up to the present date would show that the turning point has been reached, and that in the majority of pauper asylums beer is not generally given as an article of ordinary diet." The following is an extract from the 19th Annual Report for 1883 of the Medical Superintendent (Dr. Spence) to the Committee of Visitors of the Staffordshire County Lunatic Asylum, Burntwood, near Lichfield : "The expediency of substituting a money allowance in lieu of ale for the attendants and nurses has been brought prominently before your notice lately, and it may be of interest to place on record the information which I obtained on this subject from the superintendents of a large number of the county and borough asylums throughout England, in reply to queries which I caused to be forwarded to them. Sixty circulars were issued, and answers were in due course received to all. Considerable diversity of practice was shown; but, on the whole, the feeling appears to be strongly in favour of discontinuing ale as a ration for the staff; in several asylums where the returns showed that ale was still given, the superintendents informed me that it was in contemplation to abolish its use with very little further delay. I thought it would not be inopportune at the same time to ascertain how the patients fared in this particular. "The following tabular statement |