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

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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$attendant upon the chronic form of this malady, which we have not been able to account for satisfactorily in all cases, on the theory of defective nutrition ; for in many dissections we have not only found the digestive a])])aratns free from organic lesion, but in a healthy state, ca])able of having per- formed its normal functions. From microscopic examina- tions of diherent organs to account for the causes of the wasting of the body, we have discovered in the lungs minute granulated bodies of a fixed texture, and identical in char- acter with those already described in the liver. Those bodies were found, in some cases, clustered together, in others, sep- arate, and embedded in the vesicles of lungs. A\'e have fre- quently found them presented to the number of several hun- dred. Their usual seat is in the lower lobes, yet in some cases, they have been found in the summit of the lungs. That they are not allied in their nature to any species of scrofulous tubercle, is demonstrated by the fact that the}' never soften nor suppurate. We have sometimes found them present in the liver and lungs of the same subject, but this is not often the case; for when they abound in the former, tliey are generally aljsent in the latter. These morbid products generated from alcoholic blood are a source of great irrita- tion to the delicate structure of the lungs, and by lessening the diameter of its air cells render the organ incapable of ])erforming its due office in the ventilation of the blood. The blood, therefore, being nnoxidized, creates in its circulation through the system a hectic fever, whiidi sa])s the vital energies of the system, and leads to the death of the body. The following, like a large number of similar cases that have come under onr treatment, illustrates the morbid con- dition of the lungs in the chronic form of this disease, known as rum consumption: Mr. M., a laborer aged 48, a hard <lrinker for eleven years ap])lied for medical treatment one month before his death. On examination, we found the fol- lowing synqhoms: Skin hot and dry; ])ulse quick and wiry; cold extremities; lack of ap])etite; torjhd condition of the bowels; a hard and dry cough, with a hectic fever. In onr ti-eatment we found it inqiossible to control the ])atient, and in s])ite of onr ex('rtions and remonstrances, he draid< himself to death. Three davs aftc'r death, we examined the body,$