Drunkenness / by George R. Wilson.

  • Wilson, George R. (George Robert)
Date:
1897
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Drunkenness / by George R. Wilson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    The third characteristic of the kind of brain in question is a liability to be affected by small doses of the stimulant. This is normal in children and females who are of a comparatively delicate nervous organisation; but there are some children in whom this peculiarity is more distinctly marked, and who manifest it even in adult life. The term “small dose” is of course a relative one, and it is only when the idiosyncracy is unusually pronounced that it is of importance. The same homoeopathic pro- clivity may be observed in relation to other drugs besides alcohol. The next sign is one of much more im- portance, though it is frequently overlooked. We have already referred to a mode of nervous action which is called explosive or fulminating. This quality predisposes men to spasmodic and impetuous conduct, inappropriate to the circumstances out of which their actions arise. It is manifested frequently in the matter of drinking. I have known men suddenly and impulsively indulge in a bout of drunkenness without any warning either to themselves or their friends, without any appreciable occasion for it, without a conscious desire to be intoxi-
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