The history of the first inebriate asylum in the world / by its founder [Jonathan Edward Turner]. An account of his indictment, also a sketch of the Woman's national hospital, by its founder.

  • Turner, J. Edward, 1822-1889.
Date:
1888
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The history of the first inebriate asylum in the world / by its founder [Jonathan Edward Turner]. An account of his indictment, also a sketch of the Woman's national hospital, by its founder. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    an impurity of the blood ; a morbid state of the gall-bladdei-, producing' jaundice, palpitation of the heart, indicating abnormal action of this great engine of life-moving power; a wild and delirious state of the mind, indicating a feaitnl change in the action of the brain, giving rise to defective vision, hearing, taste, and smell, proving that the special nerves have lost their power of communication from the outer world to the inner man. AVe find that the bi-ain takes on a diseased action, demon- stratino’ the fact that it has an affinitv for alcohol which no other organ possesses. AA'e also find that this condition per- vades the entire nervous system, and produces a comjdete prostration of its important functions. Hence the mind is impaired, the will of the individual destroyed, and at last the victim of this malady becomes a- wandering maniac. The following one hundred cases of dissection and post- mortem of inebriety establishes beyond a question the dis- tinct morbid anatomy and pathology of this disease, and proves most conclusively that the brain is the first organ which becomes diseased from alcohol: Brain and stomach, ...30 Brain, stomach and liver, 27 Brain, stomach and intestines, 15 Brain, lungs and kidneys 10 Brain, stomach, liver and lungs, !) Brain, stomach, liver, lungs, kidneys, gall-bladder and intestines, 5 Brain, stomach, liver, heart, lungs, kidneys, gall-bladder, iutes- tinesand urinary bladder, 4 THE BRAIN. The morbid conditions of the brain in chronic inebriety are set forth in the following case: Mr. II., a carpenter aged 40, who had been a hard drinker for eighteen years, tvas attacked with delirium tremens for the third time. AA’e were called'on the second day of his attack, and found him labor- ing under the last stages of insanity of inebriety. His eyes Avere red, and had a furious ex]iression, rolling constantly Avitli a wild glare. He was under the inqu’ession that Avild animals and reptiles of monstrous size Avere ])iirsning and enveloping him in their folds, and would cry out most ])iti- fully for relief. His face Avas tumid, the temporal arteries