Dr. Bucknill on drunkards.

John Charles Bucknill

Date:: [1876]

Credit: Dr. Bucknill on drunkards. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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$“ ings, staff of service, etc. Thus the important essentials for efficient “ treatment have been necessarily defective ; and the result is, that “ the care of a very small fraction only of insane drinkers has been tl undertaken, and cure somewhat rare.” “ The inmates, with partially restored sanity from enforced depriva- “ tion of stimulants, become restless, and knowing that they cannot be “ detained legally, demand liberty, and take leave, or else work on the “minds of friends or guardians by entreaties or threats, and get it. If, “ however, the State will sanction, under proper checks, both voluntary “ admissions and compulsory commitments, in cases of genuine dipso- “ mania, permitting prolonged detentions, until real benefit is derived, a “ sufficient number of homes or retreats, or by whatever name they may “ be called, for the cure of persons in the upper and middle classes, “ would certainly spring up, both through private enterprise and the “ efforts of companies or associations, formed for the purpose, some- “what similar, indeed, to many existing and thriving lunatic retreats “ and asylums, affording accommodation and means of treatment very “ different in efficiency from those inebriate institutions which have, in “ times past, struggled under cramping difficulties. Now, into such “ houses as these, many unfortunate persons would enter voluntarily, “ as they do in some of the American inebriate institutions, knowing “ that, if they did not thus surrender themselves for treatment, they “ would be compulsorily committed ; and then, when they are under “ control, the law, as I have already hinted, could prolong it for such “ a time as might be deemed necessary to accomplish the humane ends “ in view.” Alas ! alas ! that it should all come this ! This highly philan- thropic movement! These humane ends in view ! When I think, sir, of what the evil of strong drink really is among the lower classes in some parts of your country and of mine; when I think of what I saw in company with Sheriff Dickson in the drink haunts of Glasgow, on the night of Saturday the 27th of May last; when I think of the crowds of men and women, many of them infant- laden, whom I there saw steeped in the bestiality of drink, it makes me right angry with these philanthropic fribbles, who, with eyes averted from the drunken and debased populace, fondle the subject of the casual rich man’s drunkenness, with dainty considerations of how he is to be placed in a golden cage, “ pleasing his palate in the way of good culinary arrangements,” and his captivity made profitable. Let Dr. Peddie carefully examine the wynds of Glasgow, their drink-shops, lodging-houses, and police-cells, on a Saturday night, and he will afterwards perhaps not think it so easy to perfume hell with rose water. As I said in the speech which has led to this discussion, some mem- bers of our profession are misdirecting the attention of the public in this matter. By the noise of their philanthropic drum, they would lead us, by false alarms, from the real field of battle. They dally$

Dr. Bucknill on drunkards.

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