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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    quarrelsome, affectionate, or lachrymose ; or it may only lead to the trance-state or to continued stupidity and apathy. Such unrelated symp- toms—conspicuous impairment of the mental functions, and relative integrity of the motor level—contraindicate the free use of alcohol. To tnese signs of predisposition to alcohol- ism we may add an extreme difficulty in keep- ing within physiological limits in the use of stimulants—a defect of inhibition. Fortunately, a very large number of men are physically incapable of continued excess. Normally, with alcohol as with other things, excess creates a strong feeling of repulsion. In some cases the general discomfort attending intoxication is extreme; sometimes the slightest excess produces violent sickness ; very often the day following a liberal indulgence brings with it something like loathing for the stimulant. In any case, other considerations effectually con- trol alcoholic desire in the minds of well- constituted men. But, in individuals of the type which we have been considering, self- control is apt to be notably defective, so that, to borrow a suggestive figure, not only are the horses wild but the driver is incapable.
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