An expose of the causes of intemperate drinking, and the means by which it may be obviated / by Thomas Herttell, of the city of New-York ; published by order of the New-York Society for the Promotion of Internal Improvement.

  • Herttell, Thomas, 1771-1849.
Date:
1819
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An expose of the causes of intemperate drinking, and the means by which it may be obviated / by Thomas Herttell, of the city of New-York ; published by order of the New-York Society for the Promotion of Internal Improvement. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    i IB ] are carried on in many of them, with as little disguise as if the law enjoined their practice. If a physician undertakes to cure a disorder, it is not only necessary that he should know the complaint, but he should be acquainted with the causes which pro- duce it, before he can, with any certainty of success, apply a remedy. If he mistakes the disorder, or its causes, it would be but accidental, should his prescrip- tion be correct; and a wrong one is seldom, if ever, harmless. Tho' it may not of itself directly increase the complaint, it is followed by the mischief of draw- ing the attention from the true applications, and the malady is suffered, uninterruptedly, to progress in its natural course, to its fatal consequences. Besides, re- peated, ill-directed, and unsuccessful attempts to cure a disorder, often lead to the erroneous conclusion, that it is irremediable; the further effort hopelessly aban- doned, and the mischief permitted to survive. In short, I very much doubt, or rather, I do not believe, that the radical causes of intemperate drinking, have ever been recognized by any measures which have been adopted to correct it—for, in opposition to all that has been done, the evil and its consequences have not only con- tinued, but continued to increase. Hence it follows that the means adopted for remedy, have never been directed to, or reached the source of the mischief. I do not mean to deny, that legislative enactments, literary and religious institutions, may, as auxiliary means, be productive of essential benefit. But I do no less conscientiously than confidently assert, that their influence in checking or destroying the vice of intem- perance, has neither been obvious or useful. Notwith- standing the numerous legislative acts intended for that