DIPSOMANIA. SUGGESTIONS POR THE PREVENTION AND REPRESSION or INTEMPERANCE, AND POE THE TREATMENT OF HABITUAL DRUNKARDS, EDMUND EDWARD ANTROBUS, F.S.A., JUSTICE OF THE PEACE FOR THE COUNTY OF MIDDLESEX AND THE CITY AND LIBERTY OF WESTMINSTER ; CHAIRMAN OF THE STRAND DIVISION ; VISITING JUSTICE OF THE HOUSE OF CORRECTION, WESTMINSTER, AND THE MIDDLESEX INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL, FELTHAM^ LONDON : STAUNTON AND SON, 9, STRAND. 1876. LONDON STAUNTON AND SON, 9, STEAND INDEX. • Page Increase of drunkenness 8 Drunkenness the cause of crime, disease, and poverty 14 Drunkenness the cause of Insanity and Suicides 20 Short terms of imprisonment 23 Licensing Act 28 Prevention 31 Legislation 34 Appendix 49 n,UC DIPSOMANIA. WITH SUaGESTIONS FOR THE PREVENTION AND REPRESSION OF INTEMPERANCE, AND FOR THE TREATMENT OF HABITUAL DRUNKARDS. The experience of many centuries lias proved to us that while the origin of a nation is to be sought in the physical attributes of the territory which it occupies, the cause of its progress and prosperity is to be discovered in the condition — moral, physical, and intellectual — of the individuals which compose it, and the state of the laws by which their conduct is regulated and controlled. The influence of a law either for good or evil may become visible at once, and its powers may rapidly develop themselves ; or again, its eifect may become apparent only after a lapse of years. But whether developed soon or late, every law must need from time to time revision, perhaps reconstruction, in order that it may adapt or increase its force to meet the requirements of each succeeding age and of a more complex state of society. We have an example of this in the Licensing Acts, which have been several times revised and materially altered. They were originally enacted not only to regulate houses of public entertainment and secure accommodation for all classes of the community, but also to control to a certain extent the excessive use of intoxicating liquors. We may assume that the accomplishment of these objects has been in some measure attained, but the whole subject has been and still con- tinues surrounded with the greatest difficulties. The general principles contained in these Acts appear to be sound, and their provisions seem to have worked with considerable efficiency. The last amended Act, 35 and 36 Vic, cap. 94, placing the beer-houses under the control of the magistrates, these having been before Hcensed by the Excise, was a step in the right direction, and ]ias proved a public and local benefit, but the granting wine licences to grocers does not appear to meet with very general approval, and by many persons is considered an encourage- ment of intemperance. The increase of drunkenness which has taken place during the last few years in certain classes of society, has directed public attention not only to the existing statutes, but to the necessity for the legislature granting further powers to meet this great and increasing evil. To attain this object, the late Mr. Donald Dalrymple introduced into the House of Com- mons, in the Session of 1872, a Bill intitled *' The Habitual Drunkards Bill," and also obtained a Special Committee to inquire generally into the subject ; the report of this Special Commiittee was duly presented to the House of Commons, and ordered to be printed, in June, 1872. Few persons, however, have an opportunity of seeing " BJue Books," and very lew possess either the time or inclination to read their contents ; extracts therefore are given from the report and the evidence upon which it is founded, in the appendix to this pamphlet, which may be perused with attention by every ])erson interested in obtaining further legislation for the prevention, repression, and cure of a vice which is increasing in every part of our country. The increase in the excessive use of stimulants is nob confined to this country — the same infatuation exists in all parts of Europe and in the United States of America. The alarming consumption of absinthe in France, a spirit more injurious to both mind and body than any other in use, has attracted the serious attention of the medical and civil authorities of this great nation. It is impossible to overate the importance of the subject under consideration. It is drink which causes the death of thousands, is the great incentive to crime and reduces large masses of the population to poverty and disease. It is through intemperance that a vast number of our homes, our warehouses, our churches, and other public and private buildings are set on fire, that our ships are lost and serious acci- dents both on land and sea so frequently occur. It must be admitted that the increase of drunkenness has been in a very great degree confined to the working classes. In the habits of the upper classes, a great change has taken place during the last half-century. If a man at the present time moving in good society, allows himself to become a victim to a depraved craving for stimulants, he is avoided, and soon disappears from the society of which he has before been a member, and descends to one occupied by persons of similarly vicious tastes and habits. A repressive force therefore of no ordinary power exists in good society, while in the Army and Navy a similar social degradation is accompanied by loss of rank or dismissal from the service ; unfortunately a corresponding deterent does not exist among the lower classes, who do not regard intoxication in the same light. Increase of Drunkenness. Weaseof TuRNiNG to Colonel Henderson s report to the run enness. gg^^gj-g^j.^ q£ State for the Home Department on the Metropolitan Police for the year 1875, it appears that the total number of persons apprehended by the police during the year was 72,606, of whom 49,712 were summarily con- victed, and 2,343 convicted after trial. There is an increase in the total arrests of 4,903 over the arrests in 1874. This large increase is almost wholly accounted for by the increase of drunkenness among the population. The charges of '^ drunk and disorderly " in- creased from 12,099 in 1874, to 14,926 in 1875, and for simple drunkenness, which maybe taken as ''drunk and incapable,'' from 14,056 in 1874, to 16,050 in 1875, the total increase under these two oflPences being 4,821, leaving the increase in all other offences put together at 182, with a rapidly increasing population. Increase of Committals for Drunkenness IN Middlesex of Women. Increase in The Yisitiug J usticcs of the Westminister SttSnor Prison in their report to the Court of Quarter Drunkenness Sossious, January last, state : — iddiesex. a -Qpon reference to the special report of the Committee, recently circulated, it will be found that while in the year ending Michaelmas, 1871, there were only 2,314 sent to prison for this offence, the number had increased hi the year end- ing Michaehnas, 1874, to 3,97 L ; and further, that in the year ending Michaelmas, 1875, this number had still further increased to 4,880, being more than a moiety of the prisoners committed. The increase of drunkenness is further demonstrated by a return which the Visiting Justices have had drawn up, giving the committals during the last six months ending November, 1875, and of the corresponding months of the four pre- ceeding years ; for whereas, in the first period of six months (1871) the numbers were only 1,517, in the last (1875) they were nob less than 2,748, the total committals being only 4,342." After the passing of the Licensing Act of 1872, 35 & 36 Vic, cap. 94, the number of committals for drunkenness increased from 3,025 to 5,306, probably from a too stringent interpretation of the Act on the part of the police. In the following year the numbers fell to 3,971, but again increased in the year ending Michaelmas, 1875, to 4,880, being an increase in the year of 909, and upon the return for the five years of 2,566. Passing to the year ending Michaelmas, 1876, a still further increase is found, namely, from 4,880 in the year ending Michaelmas, 1875, to 5,588 in the year ending Michaelmas last, being an increase of 708 upon the year, and an increase in the last six years of 3,074. If to the 5,588 prisoners committed during the year ending Michaelmas last for being drunk and disorderly, is added the cases of assaults, illegal pawning and minor offences induced by drink, the percentage of prisoners committed during the year from this cause, either directly or indirectly, will be found to be not less than bO per cent, of the total committals. 10 Eyidence before Special Committee. Mr. Heury Webster, GoTernor of the Borough. Prison, Kingston- upon-Hvdl. Hull. The total nuiniber of committals in Hull, in the years 18G1 and 1871 were respectively 1,683 and 2,025. Of these the number of committals for drunkenness uere in 1861, 511, and in 1871 1,024 ; the average number for the ten years ending 1871 was 679; in the last year the number was 1,024, a large increase on the average. During the period of ten years one case had been committed more than 40 times, one 30 to 40 times, eight 20 to 30 times, ten 15 to 20 times, thirty-five 10 to 15 times, fifty-seven 5 to 10 times, thirty-seven 4 times, sixty-two cases 3 times, one hundred and three twice, and two hundred and forty once, making a total of 555 prisoners previously convicted. Sheffield. During the year ending December 31st, 1871, 2,732 persons were apprehended for offences of all kinds ; of these 1,164 were apprehended for drunkenness, 877 of whom were men, and 287 women. The Chief Constable of Sheffield gives the following evidence with respect to previous committals : — 612 were, so far as known to the police, in custody for the first time, 143 for the second, 69 for the third, 32 for the fourth, 21 for the fifth, 17 for the sixth, 14 for the seventh, 1 1 for the eight. Five were in custody for the ninth time, 5 for the tenth, 6 for the eleventh, 4 for the tweltli, 4 for the thirteenth, 3 for the fourteenth, 3 for the fifteenth, and 19 from sixteen to forty- seven times. 11 Liverpool. The cases of drunkenness in 1862 were 12,000 Major areig. or 13,000, in 1863 13,914, in 1864 14,002, in 1865 13,922, in 1866 12,322, in 1867 11,932, in 1868 14,451, in 1869 18,3C3, in 1870 21,113, in 1871 19,559. The Head Constable of Liverpool gives a list of twenty cases which had been in custody from 8 to 120 times. The extent of intoxication which exists in the maritime classes in Liverpool, is thus given by Mr. W. Lamport, the senior partner in a firm of eminent shipowners at Liverpool, in the Report of the Royal Commission on Unseaworthy Ships. " The shipping masters do their work very efiiciently, and they have very often a very diffi- cult duty to perform. In connection with that, I should state that my firm and many of the large steamship owners in Liverpool are com- pelled to send their ships into the river, and to lie at anchor for 24 hours in order to let the crews become sober. I say most distinctly, that, as a rule, the crew go down to the ship drunk when they go on board. '■ They are just able to keep their legs, but they are not able to work the ship, and we are compelled to lose 24 hours by it. We are bound to fixed rates for onr steamers, and we are obliged to prepare for a vessel lying 24 hours at anchor in the river in order that the crew may get sober, and for no other reason. "Talking quite accidentally to our superin- tending engineer the other day, his expression was, that, as a rule, the three or four ofiicers, and the three engineers were the only people who went sober on board the ship." 12 The following extract from the Times of October the 11th last, shows the demoralization of the crews from the craving for stimulants induced by habits of intoxication. The Secretary of tlie Australia and New Zealand Underwriters' Association has sent us the subjoined letter with reference to the broaching of cargo on board the ship "Crownthorpe" in mid-ocean, which shows the perils to which life and property at sea are exposed by proper precautions not being taken to prevent the crew from plundering the spirits. Through negligence Id this respect, as we learn from an extract from a New Zealand journal, the crew became mutinous while intoxicated, and refused to work the ship, causing terror among the female passengers, and obliging the captain to call on the male passengers to assist him in shortening sail. But for the firmness of the captain in restraining those who were on his side from resorting to violence, the consequences, it is stated, would have been very serious, seeing that the mutineers consisted of nine able-bodied seamen, armed with knives and intoxicated. This, it would appear, is no isolated case, for the leader of the disturbance was heard on one occasion to boast, as our correspondent states, that he had never been on board a ship in which he had not broached cargo. Burnt matches are stated to have been found among the cargo. It is to be hoped that an example has been made of these able seamen, all of whom but one were arrested on reaching land, and that the pub- lication of these particulars will lead to some remedial measures being adopted : — " Committee-room, Jamaica Coffee-house, London, Oct. 10, 1876. " Sir, — By the New Zealand mail delivered this morn- ing the enclosed account of the broaching of cargo on board the ' Crownthorpe ' has been received, and the fearful peril to which the ship and all on board were exposed, in consequence of the plunder of spirits and the state of mutiny which ensued, is such as should receive the attention of the Government, with the view to prevent such cases, which are very frequent indeed, and which could, no doubt, be prevented if a proper separation were made of cargo from nil parts to which the crew have any access. When the Merchant Shipping Bill was before the last Session of Parliament, my Association made earnest and persevering efforts to get the matter dealt with in the Bill, and suggested that in the loading of vessels it 13 should be compulsoiy on those concerned to put up bulk- heads lined with sheet iron in a way that would completely isolate the cargo, short of which nothing would deter crews from the plunder of spirits, which they regard as a legitimate pursuit on board ship ; and you will notice that oaeof the culprits in the case of the ' Crownthorpe ' glories in the boast that he was never on a vessel ' in which he had not broached cargo.' " The matter was not dealt with in that Bill, and per- haps it will be still disregarded till some frightful catas- trophe occurs — as might easily have happened in the case under consideration — and can be traced to this cause, for the probability of mutinous conduct on the part of a drunken crew, and the likelihood of fire resulting from crawling over cargo for spirits with naked lights, seems insufficient to produce any action in the matter, " You will, perhaps, give publicity to this case, and if it should lead to any step for the prevention of similar occurrences, you will deserve the thanks of the community at large. " I am, Sir, yours obediently, " E. A. PEARS, Secretary." Drunkenness in Ireland. — Our Dublin Correspondent writes : — The Recorder of Dublin, at the Licensing Sessions on Saturday, said he regretted that Dublin " was fast becoming a sink of intoxication, reeking up to heaven every night." He feared that nothing would put down the drinking system until the temptation was removed, and men learnt to know that it was a disgrace to be a drunkard. Until something was accomplished in this way there was no hope for the welfare of the working classes. He had no idea until appointed Recorder, of the sad state of the city in respect of drink. So far as he was concerned, he was determined that gentlemen should not be allowed to traffic in publichouses until there was something like a reasonable reduction of them, in the hope that the people would be brought round to something like sobriety. He did not mean that absolute temperance should be forced on the people, or that they should be compelled to become members of temperance associations ; but something should be done to correct the present drinking habits. He then announced that he should deal with applications for transfers in the same way as with those for new licences — that is, he should have regard to the character of the house and the circumstances of the locality. 14 Drunkenness the cause of Crime, Disease, AND Poverty. That drunkenness is tlie prolific parent of crime, disease, and poverty, has been from time immemorial admitted ; this received impression is fnlly confirmed not only by the evidence con- tained in the report of the Special Committee, but by the governors, chaplains and medical officers of our prisons, suj)erintendents of refor- matories, industrial scliools, workhouses, and philanthropic institutions. In a return given to the Special Committee by Mr. Henry Webster, the Governor of the Hull Prison, it is stated that 79 percent, of the prisoners attributed their ruin and downfall to drinking habits ; in another prison it is estimated that 75 per cent, became inmates from the same cause. The following extracts from reports kindly furnished at my request by the chaplains and surgeons of the Middlesex and Surrey Prisons, give an equally high percentage. Tte Ee^v^ w. The Eev. W. F. Stocken, the Chaplain of Cold- Bath-Fields Prison, reports : — ■ " The number of commitments to this prison during the year 1874-75 for drunkenness and riotous conduct was 2,500. The commitments for assaults during the same period numbered 2,300, of which number it would not be too much to say that 2,000 were caused by drunken- ness. This number 4,500, sadly great as it truly is, by no means indicates the number of commit- ments caused indirectly by drunkenness. The number of commitments for other offences during the year 1874-75 was 6,758, and from my private conversations with our prisoners, I firmly 15 believe that I am much within the mark when I say that but for drunkenness, and the evil and ruinous consequences which follow in its train, there would not have been one-half of that num- ber of commitments during the period." The Ordinary of New2:ate, in a letter to the Jiie Eev. ,1 ,1 -^ 1 • 1% The Ordinary author, thus expresses himselt : — of Newgate. " I am quite sure that nothing can satisfactorily be done for reformation of habitual drunkards without further legislation, because the lust for drink is so strong that people of this habit will not voluntarily submit themselves to restrictions for a lengtli of time sufficiently long to do them good. I will also undertake to say that most of the murders which are committed, and crimes of violence, may be traced to drink as their im- mediate cause." The Kev. George Hough, formerly Chaplain at i^ev. aeorge the. House of Detention, and at present Chaplain °^^^* to the Westminster Prison, writes in a letter to the author : — '' I have paid somewhat particular attention to this subject, and I am quite convinced that 85 per cent, of the commitments are owing to this degrading vice. I do not mean to say that so many are actually charged with the offence, but I do maintain that if anyone would take the trouble to carefully investigate all the cases of petty thefts, assaults, ' kleptomania ' (so called), he would find that I am quite within the mark. I form my opinion from a fact which occurred at the House of Detention, Clerkenwell. I undertook, at the request of the late Archdeacon Sandford, a man who took a lively interest in the question, to closely inquire into the primary as well as the actual causes which led to the commitments of the various prisoners who might happen to come imder my notice during 16 a certain fixed period. The number of cases, taken just as they came on my Hst, amounted to 4,420. The result satisfied me that the per- centage given would be traced either directly or indirectly to excessive indulgence in intoxicating drinks. I have no reason to hope that there is any falling ofi* in the number in later years." The Rev. " During the 12 months ending 29th Septem- K^Gii^rt' ber last, the number of prisoners received into the House of Correction, Wandsworth, was, males 3,380, females 1,673, in both cases an increase on the preceeding year. Of these, 615 men and 958 women were sent for drunken- ness and riotous conduct, while 232 men and 556 women have been reconvicted for these offences, many of them over and over again, during the same period of time. Besides these, 608 men and 126 women have been sent for assaults committed, in almost every instance, under the influence of drink. "I do not think I need say more to prove the prevalence of this degrading vice, which in this prison the a-bove figures show to be in propor- tion much more prevalent amongst the women than amongst the men. This sad and humili- ating fact, moreover, must not be lost sight of, that it is not only amongst older prisoners that drunkenness prevails so extensively, but young girls of fifteen, sixteen, and seventeen are fre- quently here for that ofiience, as well as youths of equally tender years. Brought up in an atmosphere of sin and degradation, hardly knowing what it is to see those about them either sober or honest, it is no wonder that drinking and its attendant miseries become a part of the children's daily lives, when their natural protectors set them so hideous an example ; and so it is that they go on from bad to worse ; evil 17 habits of all kinds become confirmed in them, and a life of crime is the inevitable result of an existence spent in the constant association with drunkenness and debauchery, and too often ends in felony and penal servitude." Captain J. Rowland Brookes, the Superinten- C'^pt^m J. dent of the County of Middlesex Industrial BrToket School at Feltham, thus writes in a letter to the ^^perinten- j i dent of the autnor :— Middlesex " I rejoice to think that you intend to agitate g^w'"'''^ the question of doing something to stem the FeitZm. ruin and profligacy caused by that curse of the labouring classes — l)rink ! " Not only does it lead those under its influence into penury, crime, and insanity, filling our workhouses, prisons, and lunatic asylums, but also, alas ! it spreads its baneful influence to the next generation, thus feeding our Reformatories and Industrial Schools. This is manifestly shown by the fact that of the 232 boys admitted into this School during 1875, no less than Q7 owe their admission to neglect resulting from the drunken habits of their parents (or nearly 29 per cent.) These sixty- seven cases are classified as follows : — ^Father drinks, fifty-eight, step-father, one, father and step-mother, one, father and mother, four, mother three. " Nor can it be doubted that this by no means represents the entire amount of boys who owe their fall into vicious and disorderly courses to the intemperate habits c f thei-- parents. I firmly believe that a stricter inquiry and analysis would almost double the number. Nor is this mis- fortune limited to the boy's moral character, bat also his physical frame suffers, and the lad ren- dered scrofulous, consumptive, and debilitated, thus unfitting him from gaining his livelihood in after life. B ^' Indeed, the curse of drink seems to pursue the lad continuously ; for when by care and discipline his mind has acquhed a wholesome moral tone, and his frame restored to a comparatively healthy condition, then these same parents again step in, decline to sanction any suitable provisions for the boy, but drag him back to their wretched home, and utterly mar his prospects in life. "I have knoAvn cases in which a boy has been taken back home in this manner ; that his parents have on tlie evening of his return pawned the decent suit of clothes in which he was dressed (and even his bible), and purchased gin with the proceeds, turning out the lad the next morning to earn a livelihood as best he could. '^ Newt^'^* The Rev. W. A. Newton, Chaplain to the Middlesex Industrial Schools at Feltham, writes : " Among the various causes to which may be traced the origin of crime amongst our juvenile criminals, stand prominently, first, ' the drunken- ness of parents;' of 186 admitted into the Middlesex School at Feltham under the provisions of the 'Industrial Schools Act,' no less than 80 principally attribute their fall to this cause ; of this number no less than 56 had drunken fathers. Can we be surprised if the children become juvenile criminals, seeing that their parents are slaves to this crying evil ? " The drunken father, returning home at night sullen or impassioned by this terrible vice, adds cruelty to the list of woes ; the children cuffed, kicked and beaten, till terrified they flee to the streets, and once there soon become the associates of thieves and bad companions. '^ The boy must in process of time fall into the hands of the police or School Board oflicer, and is dragged before the Magistrate, and it is a happy day for him if he is sent to an Industrial 19 School instead of to prison to mix with common felons. But even when he has found a refuge in a school, the curse of drunkenness makes itself felt hereafter. " The boy is found to be utterly ignorant, even perhaps of the Saviour who died for him ; but by the patience and care of those under whom he is placed, learns habits of cleanliness and sobriety, prayerfulness and honesty, and it may be he shows some talent for music, and desires to enter a regimental band, or loving a roving life, prefers the sea ; or wishing to escape the miseries of home, desires to emigrate. The drunken father in numerous cases induces the boy to return home to squalor, misery, and vice, that he may earn money for him to spend in drink, and when work fails, the boy is again turned adrift into the streets, and usually finds his way to prison." This is no overdrawn statement, but the plain naked truth, and is an evil that cries aloud for the interference of the State. In the case of a boy wishing to enter a regimental band or to emigrate, the consent of a parent is required ; this is constantly refused from the cause noted by the Chaplain. The Eev. N. G. Pelkington, many years TheEev. K Chaplain to the County of Middlesex Industrial g^- ^'^i^^^gton. School at Feltham, thus writes : '"' I have no hesitation in stating that there would never have been any necessity for the Industrial School at Feltham had the parents of the children sent there been sober men and women." It was the exception, and a rare one, to be able to enter any other cause than the stereo- typed one of " drunkenness " of either one or both parents, as the reason of the child's vagrancy or crime, and consequent detention. B 2 20 Dr. SmHes, " During: the last thirty-six years I have seen Surereon to . ® , r« • i • j j i • j Cold-Bath- an immense number oi prisoners admitted into Fields Prison. Cold-Bath-Fields Prison, and from inquiries I have made I feel satisfied that not less than five-sixths of the number owe their imprison- ment directly or indirectly to habits of intemperance. The mischief caused by ex- cessive drinkino^ cannot be exaggerated ; it no doubt causes disease of the liver, the kidneys and the mucus membrane of the alimentary canal, and ultimately of the brain itself, and renders the victims of it peculiarly liable to acute attacks of illness affecting the respiratory organs a,nd the heart. When a drunkard is admitted into prison, and stimulants denied him, in many cases in a day or two an attack of delirium tremens comes on, which in my experience passes off in a few days, the patient being placed in a padded cell without restraiut, and supported with stout, beef-tea and cocoa. Afterwards I believe no bad results arise from a total discontinuance of stimulants." Dkunkenness the cause of Insanitv AND Suicides. During the period of twenty-six years in which the author has been in the commission of the peace for the County of Middlesex and the City and Liberty of Westminster, upwards of 500 cases have been brought before him for removal to a lunatic asylum by prison and parochial authorities. Upon inquiry a large number of these cases appeared to have arisen from excessive drinking. It has been found, however, extremely diffi- cult in very many cases to extract the truth ; relatives and friends being un^\illing that the 21 true cause should be known : or else having peculiar ideas of what constitutes drunkenness. For example, a policeman upon being examined in the Court of Quarter Sessions or police court, will reply, " that the prisoner was not drunk, but had been drinking." Equally fallacious notions are entertained by a large number of persons, especially of the poorer classes. The following evidence proves that one of the causes of insanity and suicides is drink, and to this also the re -admissions to asylums are mainly attri- butable. Dr. James C. Browne, Superintendent of the Dr. James West Riding Asylum at Wakefield, states that Browne. in the year 1868 or 1869, he made a statistical investigation as to the connection between drunkenness and insanity in the West Riding, and went over 500 cases of lunacy. He found 75, or 15 per cent., were directly due to drunkenness. In January, 1 8 7^, he made a care- ful examination of all the cases admitted during the year 1871 ; 404 lunatics were admitted, 174 males and 230 females. He found that out of the 404 cases, 58 were due to intemperance, which nearly corresponded to the investigation in 1869, giving 14 per cent, as against 15 in the former year. Dr. James C. Browne states, that he considers that any form of mental disease may be produced by drunkenness, and further that a large number of cases of mental derange- ment are indirectly due to drunkenness, as in the case where a drunkard transmits a weak nervous system to his offspring. He adds in confirmation, the statement of Dr. Howe, of Massachusetts, who says that out of 300 idiots 145 had drunken parents. The Eev. Joseph Wheeler, Chaplain of the JJ^^^^^^^- House of Detention, Clerk en well, in his Eeport whe^ier, 22 Chapiaiu at ^q -^j^g Visitiiig Justices in October, 1875, writes, prtentioii. " under the head of Attempted Suicides. '' The Chaplain cannot but remark upon the annually increasing numbers of this class of prisoners. In 1865, when the numbers committed were 8,934, there were 165 suicide cases, or some If per cent. In 1875 when the numbers committed, were 7,404, 246 cases, or 3 per cent., came under the Chaplain's notice. And the question is natu- rally asked, how can you account for so large a proportion ? To the Chaplain it appears that it is owing chiefly to the increase of drunkenness amongst the lower order of women, as only a small percentage of the 246 suicide cases, 157 of whom were women, were cases of determined attempts at ' self-destruction,' the remainder being those whose conduct while under the influence of drink, such as wandering by the river, or uttering some threat, had given rise to suspicion. Too many of these were young women of the ' unfortunate' class, whose wretched existence could only be sustained by constantly resorting to drink, some of whom have said ' well, we must drink in our life.' " Three cases came under the author's notice in July last, two of which were fatal, while the third was recovered ; all were the result of drink. The first case was that of a young woman both in person and education far above the usual in- mates of the Westminster Prison, passing under thename of "Courbenay." Shewascommittedfirst in May, 1871, twice in 1872, five times in 1873, three times in 1874, three times in 1875, three times in the first six. months of 1876 ; discharged on the 5th of July from prison, and soon after threw herself from Waterloo Bridge, striking ao-ainst one of the piers ; she was so much injured, that although rescued from the water 23 she was only able to utter the word '' Chaplain," This led to the authorities of the hospital to which slie had been taken to apply to the Westminster Prison, and was the means of her being recognized. Her real name was never discovered, or the position or name of any relative or friend. The second young woman, who went by the name of "Hempson," threw herself from the Temple Stairs and was drowned. She had been six times committed to Westminster Prison for drunkenness during the year 1875. The third case was that of a cab-driver, who threw himself off the Albert Bridge at Chelsea, was saved, and after being upwards of a week in the workhouse, was discharged. He had become an habitual drunkard, and was spending some money he possessed in drink. When under its influence he was in a state of drunken insanity. These three are a type of the cases of suicide which are of constant occurrence from the effects of drink. Short Terms of Imprisonment for Drunkenness. The evidence taken before the Select Com- Repression. mittee, clearly demonstrates that the present state of the law^ and short terms of imprison- ment for drunkenness is ineffectual, and con- sequently the Select Committee report, " that small fines and short terms of imprisonment are proved to be useless, as well as by the testimony of competent witnesses, as by the fact that the same individual is convicted over and over again to even more than 100 times." The following interesting information on this Stocken. 24 subject has been given to the author by the Chap] am s of the Prisons of Cold-Bath-Fields, Westminster, and Wandsworth, and by the two Medical Officers of the Middlesex Prison. As a Visiting Justice ot upwards of twenty -six years, he can fully confirm the statements and views as to the utter uselessness of short terms of imprisonment and small fines. Of the number of committals for drunkenness to Cold-Bath-Fields' Prison during the last four months, one had been 99 times before, one 82 times, five u]3 wards of 40 times, and 9 from 16 to Rev. w. 38 times. " This list," writes the Chaplain, " might easily be enlarged, it gives only the worst cases. It may well be argued from these cases that the practice of sending persons repeatedly to prison for drunkenness is useless. The term of imprisonment is frequently a few days ; a term so short that the efiect of their drunkenness scarcely passes ofi* before their discharge : if an assault has been committed as well, the ofiender may possibly be sentenced to three iPLonths, and he is only sent to serve a term of six months if he happens to choose his wife as the victim of his brutality. Even in these longer sentences, the treatment in a prison is not suited for habitua] drunkards ; the monotony and prolonged absti- nence from what they regard as the one luxury of life, seems often to aggravate their mania, so that on being released they plunge headlong into dissipation. I believe it is the opinion of the medical profession, that habitual drunkards should be sent to establisments where they might receive judicious treatment, proper diet, &c., and should be detained until they were cured. That such establishments would prove a success, it is not within my province to assert. I can only say that my experience enables me to 25 bear testimony that prison is not the place to reform them." Tiie following cases taken from the Times of Times, of October 4 of tJie present year, are types of the iste!^^^ ^^ '' cases committed to our county prisons. At the Thames Police-court, WiUiam 0., well known at this court, was charged with being drunk and disorderly, and violently assaulting Uobert Hill, 101 H, The con- stable said that at a quarter to 1 o'clock that morning he was on duty in Leman- street, Whitechapel, when he saw defendant standing over another man whom he had evi- dently knocked down. He tried to persuade the prisoner to go home, but he declined to do so, used foul language, kicked him violently about the legs, and tried to kick him in a dangerous manner. In answer to questions by the magistrate, the constable said the prisoner had been convicted over 100 times for drunkenness, disorderly conduct, and violent assaults on the police and civilians. On one occasion he was charged with killing a man, and was committed for trial, but acquitted; in fact he had spent the best part of his life in gaol. Mr De Rutzen now sentenced him to six months' hard labour. Martin M., a dissipated-looking woman, who has been committed more than " 100 " times by the magis- trates of this court for being drunk and disorderly, was again charged with a similar ofi'ence. For a number of years the defendant has spent a great part of her life in prison, and when discharged a day had scarcely passed over without her being charged with another offence of drunkenness and disorderly conduct. Mr. Chance, before whom she has been charged repeatedly, has expressed his regret that there was no asylum where he could send her. He committed her to prison for one month, with hard labour. The Chaplain of Westminster Prison writes : — Kev. George "As to 'Repression/ I can only say this, ^^^^g^- I do not for a moment believe or even hope that tlie present system of fine and short imprison- ment will ever cure the diseased prisoners : habitual drunkards especially, go out after three, seven, fourteen, or twenty-one days, asthe case may be, weak in body, with no appetite for wholesome nourishment, and craving for 'just one drop to 26 The Kev. William H. L. ailbert. Dr. Smiles. Dr. Laries. set them up ;' that one drop leads to another, and four out of every six who are discharged on the Monday, are occiipants of either the police or prison cell before the week is out. Frequently we have them in the same evening, very fre- quently within twenty-four hours." " The short sentences which the law allows to be inflicted upon habitual drunkards are worse than useless, so far as deterring them from constantly returning to prison is concerned, and this especially in the case of women ; the figures given already will abundantly prove, when a person has been committed repeatedly upon this charge for sentences varying from three days to one month (the utmost extent at present allowed by law), these sentences entirely lose their effect, and are looked upon by drunkards merely as intervals of time during which they will be well taken care of, and be fitted to commence their old courses again when liberty provides the opportunity." "A large number of prisoners are committed every year to Cold -Bath -Field Prison for drunkenness and drunken assaults, for short terms from three days upwards ; these short sentences appear to me to be a great evil ; the prisoners scarcely recover from then" drunkenness before they are discharged and return immediately to their old habits. Many prisoners have been committed upwards of a hundred times, and I think in the cases of these habitual drunkards the magistrates should have the power of giving long sentences." " I take this opportunity of remarking on the effect which longer terms of imprisonment lately inflicted on habitual criminals, parti- cuku'ly drunkards, have produced. It is certain that this effect has been good, the clianges 27 wrought in appearance, strength, and vigour having been often little short ('f marvellous ; in spite of this, however, many of these prisoners return to their old habits as soon as they are free, albeit they have repeatedly expressed their own sense of the great benefit they have de- rived from deprivation of spirituous hquors. " I have no wish to include in this report any matter that might be considered irrelevant to its ordinary purpose ; but I ask permission to express my opinion that many, if not most of such cases as I have referred to, ought to be looked on and treated as instances of moral insanity. This subject appears to me as one so full of interest and so deep in medical impor- tance, as to be well worthy of further serious legislative attention. To treat many of these cases medically, and not to punish them, would form an object alike benevolent in design and beneficient in operation." A second and third class of habitual drunkards and dipsomaniacs, both men and women, do not usually come under the power of the law. They form a large proportion of the whole. Some are possessed of funds and able to pay for their own support, others from poverty are unable to do so. The satisfactory results which have been attained in America by the establishment of Sanatoria and Reformatories for the care and control of habitual drunkards, the details of which will be found in the Appendix, and the necessity of adopting similar institutions in this country, so ably urged by Dr. Forbes Winslow and other medical men, induced the Special Committee appointed by the House of Com- mons to adopt the resolution which will be found in the Appendix. 28 Licensing Act. The foregoing pages amply prove the great extent to which drunkenness prevails in certain classes of society, and its results, it may be assumed, not only in the districts named, but in all parts of the United Kingdom. The grave question now arises, are the powers contained in the Acts of Parliament at present existing for the regulation of the sale of intoxicating liquors, and the correction or punishment of the casual or habitual drunkard when within reach of the law, sufficient to accomplish the object contem- plated by the legislature, and if not, what are the powers required to restrain, as far as law can do, the improper sale of spirits, wine or beer, to prevent drunkenness, to control and if possible cure the habitual drunkard ? Licensing Act, Provious to the Licensing Act 35 and 36 Vic, cap. 94 ^^*' c^P- 9^j the power of the magistrates to grant licences, was confined to hotels, restaurants, eating-houses and public-houses. By this Act it was extended to beer-shops, which had previously, as before stated, been granted under certain conditions by the Excise. These licences are granted annually upon a-pplication, and are renewed without comment if the houses have been properly conducted ; but if this has not been the case, and charges are brought against the holder of the licence, and substantiated, he is, if the charges are not of a grave nature, cautioned, but if sufficient cause be shown, the licence is refused — the holder of the forfeited licence having the power to appeal to the Court of Quarter Sessions. In some instances after a licence has been taken away, and the house re-occupied by a new and respec- 29 table tenant, it is restored at a subsequent annual meeting ot the magistrates. The holder of a licence is also liable to fines if he disregards the conditions on which the licence is held, or improperly conducts his house. A magistrate acting in a special sessional division is disqualified from taking any part either in the renewal of an old or the granting of a new licence if he has any interest whatever in a house situated within its boundaries. The granting of new licences receives at the New present time the special attention of the ^^c®"^^^- magistrates, who regard only the requirements of the public and the locality. In some districts licences have been in past times more freely granted than appears to have been warranted or required by the neighbourhood, but of late years the number has been limited, and chiefly confined to hotels, restaurants, eating-houses, and to public-houses in new localities when the number of new buildings justified the grant. After a new licence has been granted by the magistrates acting in a division, it has to be confirmed by a Licensing Committee, consisting of not less than three, or more than twelve magistrates, appointed by the Court of Quarter Sessions ; from this Committee there is no appeal. That the present course may be adopted with strand public advantage, has been proved by the manner i>^^isioii. in which the LicensiDg Act has been carried out by the magistrates acting in the Strand Division, in which the hotel, restaurant, eating-houses, and public-house licences at present existing are less than in the year 18.53, when the divisions of the County of Middlesex were revised. Since this period some houses have been closed by the proprietors, others have been pulled 30 down, the sites being required for different purposes ; or the hcences have been forfeited in consequence of the houses having been improperly conducted. The new hcences which have been granted since the revision in 1853, with two exceptions, have been to hotels, restaurants, and eating- houses. These have been required by the public in consequence of the erection of two important railway stations, bringing thousands of passengers daily to the division, and several theatres and music halls which are visited by pleasure seekers from all parts of the country. Care has been taken by the magistrates to secure as far as possible the occupation of licensed houses by respectable tenants who will properly conduct them. The total number of licensed houses at the revision of the divisions in 1853 was 242; of the same class there are now only 200. Of houses now licensed for the sale of beer and wine (some being for beer only) there are 31, showing that the number of houses licensed to sell intoxica- ting liquors does not amount now to the number in 1853. The administration of the powers of the Licensing Act being confined to a bench of magistrates, the licences are granted by a responsible and disinterested body, and conse- quently due regard is paid not only to the public requirement, but to the great interests involved. Licensing Another system has been of late years much advocated. It is proposed to supersede the magistrates and to place the powers of granting licences in the hands of persons elected in districts to be formed for the purpose, with power even to prevent any licence being held 31 in it, to transfer in fact the powers from a responsible and permanent, to an irresponsible and fluctuating body. The proposed scheme would, if carried out, utterly fail, not only in preventing drunkenness, but would create an amount of dissatisfaction fatal to the tranquility of every district ; the poorer classes of society would never consent to be deprived of the privileges which are enjoyed by the more opulent classes of society, and even if prevented from obtaining beer, wine, or spirits in one district, if so inclined, would obtain them in another, and consume them either im- moderately or otherwise in their homes ; the scheme is altogether visionary, and it is to other measures and means that society must appeal for the prevention aud suppression of drunkenness. Prevention. It is to religious teachiug, the moral and i^eiigious industrial training of children, that society must Mor^ar.d look chiefly to produce a temperate ai}d frugal industrial population. The vital importance of sobriety ^^^^^^^' should be inculcated on every child by every teacher in every school. The young should be taught to look upon a drunkard as an object of disgust and pity, disgust for the vice, pity for the victim ; they should be shown that by example children may influence those around them for good, and often be the means of either prevent- ing or mitigating the evils arising from the intemperance of parents or associates. It is especially important that persons when engaged in tuition, or in any other capacity in schools or institutions, either public or private, for the education or trainiug of children, should be 32 strictly temperate in their living ; that intoxica- tion, even if accidental^ should be visited with extreme censm^e, and if otherwise, with imme- diate dismissal. So deeply impressed with the importance of sobriety were the Greeks, that although not remarkable for morality in many respects, they were in the habit of making their slaves drunk, and then exposing them to their children, for their ridicule and disgust. Although sla\^ery no longer exists in this country in the form which prevailed in Greece, the slave of alcohol is found in every county and town, and in like manner should be held up as an object of contempt. It is the duty of the ministers of religion, whether belonging to the Church of England, of Scotland, and N on-Conformists, or the Church of Rome, to whom in a great degree the education of the young is confided, to impress on all classes under their control and influence the vital importance of sobriety as regards their temporal and eternal welfare, their own happiness and that of those around them, and the contrast between a life of frugality and comfort and one of misery and degradation. Careful supei-- The carefal supervision by the magistrates of licensed liceuscd houscs is an important element in the Houses. prevention of drunkenness. It is of great importance that these should be conducted in strict coiiformity with the tenor of the licence ; that any violation should be visited with censure, fine or forfeiture, especially when drunkenness is either encouraged or permitted on the premises ; that in granting any new licence, it should be for an hotel, eating-house^ or i-estaarant, except in extraordinary cases. One of the first steps to intoxication is drinking without eating, a practice which may be said to 33 be universal among the working and poorer classes, and ultimately leads to the ruin of thousands. If these classes confined themselves to a moderate use of stimulants with their lunch, dinner, or supper (and to this no reason- able objection can be maintained), they would live a life of sobriety and comfort, instead of one of recklessness and poverty. It would not be just to deprive an existing house, if properly conducted, of its licence, but every opportunity should be taken to limit the number of houses whose trade is confined to the sale of intoxicating drinks. When an establish- ment of this description has been badly conducted or closed, it would be for the public advantage that it should not be again licensed, or if licensed that it should be as an hotel, eating-house, or restaurant, as the neighbourhood might seem to require, and not as a public house. There are other and important questions intimately connected with the prevention of drunkenness, namely, the improvement of the dwellings of the poor ; the limitation of the number of occupants of the rooms ; the training of children, especially girls, in habits of neatness, of cleanliness and order, and in those domestic duties which render the home of a family one of comfort and content. The Rev. George B. DeEenzi, the Chaplain of TheEev. Millbank Prison, writes : — DrEeLi.* " The evil of drunkenness, especially in its connection with crime, is now so universally understood and admitted, that there is really no necessity for dwelling at any length upon it. It may now, I think, be assumed, without again resorting to statistics, that to the excessive indulgence in intoxicating drinks on the part of c 34 the masses, is due much of the poverty and crime and other attendant evils which affect the community. " The evil is manifest ; what the remedies are, and how they are to be applied, is not so clear. One thing, however, it strikes me is plain, viz., that suggestions to be of any value must aim at what is practically attainable. Among the impracticable measures suggested, I set down the entire suppression of the liquor traffic, as it is termed. That public opinion is likely to be educated up to this point, at least in our day, I for one do not expect, and therefore I do not look in this direction for a remedy. Legislation may doubtless do much in the way of the prevention of mischief from the indulgence in drink, but it must be at any rate for the present by regulating and diminishing, rather than by entirely suppressing, the sale of intoxicating drinks. Something has already been accomplished in this direction, and perhaps it may be possible by-and-bye to advance still further in tlie same direction, consistent with due regard to the convenience of the public. The entire closing of public houses on Sundays, a measure, even if practicable, would be unfair to the working classes, and would inflict on them an amount of hardship and inconvenience to which we have no right to expect they would willingly submit." Small Fines and Short Terms of Imprison- ment. Legislation. Although small fines and short terms of imprisonment may to some slight degree have a deterrent influence, they do not in a very large number of cases meet the evil. In the case of fines, in consequence of the habitual drunkard 35 spending almost every penny in drink, and leaving his or her family in a state of starvation and wretchedness, the alternative of a short term of imprisonment is almost always accepted. In illustration of this, out of 448 prisoners committed to Westminster Prison in August last for drunkenness and assaults on the police, only 26 paid penalty after committal to prison. The habitual drunkard cares little for such punishment, the prison and its cells are entered without shame, and are only left to commence a further career of intoxication, and in the end becomes a constant charge on the rates either in the prison, the workhouse, or the lunatic asylum. That short terms of imprisonment are not deterent, the following return of commitments of women to the Westminster Prison during the year 1875, for drunk and disorderly conduct, proves conclusively. It is therefore to other measures and further legislation that we must look for prevention and repression — a system more deterrent, and at the same time more reformatory. Of the 4,480 women committed to the West- ^^"^^"^^^^jJ'J^ minster Prison for being drunk, and disorderly PrSo^'''' ^'* during the year 1875, three-fourths were sent for periods under fourteen days, and the far greater number, as before stated, had been repeatedly in prison, their committals extending over many years. The expense annually incurred in the detention and support of this class of prisoner is enormous, and without any good result or reformatory influence. c2 36 Legislation, Sanatoria, &c. Dr. Forbes " ]y[y opinion lias been, that if establishments Winslow. ' ^ n j i j • p were organized for the reception of persons addicted to chronic habits of intemperance, hundreds would avail themselves of those institutions, and voluntarily surrender themselves for a time to control and treatment. " Such institutions are, to my mind, one of the great and crying wants of the age. The class of cases to which I refer are not admissible into ordinary lunatic asylums, as they cannot be legally certificated to be of unsound mind, according to the strict letter of the law. " Medical men who have to certify as to the mental unsoundness of the person prior to his being placed under legal restraint, have to state what they themselves observe as to his insanity or mental unsoundness ; and unless they can detect some aberration of intellect, evidenced by hallucination, delusion, or clearly manifested disorder of the brain, such as general paralysis or softening, and unless they can insert in the document that the patient is suffering from some aberration of intellect, specifying what its form is, or detect symptoms of diseased brain, such as softening of the brain or general paralysis, they cannot legally sign the certificate. The fact of a man or woman being an habitual and violent drunkard is not sufficient to meet the requirements of the statute test, and therefore there are numerous cases which one would gladly place under restraint — and which ought to be under restraint — not only for the protection of their own lives, but for the protection of the lives of others, which cannot be dealt with. " Where you can establish habitual drunken- 37 ness, and the patient is not inclined voluntarily to put himself in an asylum, 1 think the fact of his being proved to be in this condition should be sufficient to justify confinement. There are many cases of this kind that you cannot deal with. I know numbers of ladies moving in very good society who are never sober, and are often brought home by the police drunk. They are the wives of men in a very high social position. I have been often consulted about these cases, and my hands are tied ; I could not legally consign them to the asylums. I have no doubt there is the insanity of drunken- ness in them, but it is not the insanity which comes within the strict letter of the law. The legislature does not recognise habitual drunken- ness as a form of insanity, although medical men do. Of course it is very difficult to draw a line of demarcation between what I should term noriaal and abnormal drunkenness. Of course there is normal drunkenness, as there are normal forms of any other vice ; but when it passes the boundary line, and ceases to be a vicious propensity, whatever form it may assume, then the depraved morbid craving for stimulants is clearly traceable to the mental condition, and of course under these circum- stances you may deal with the disease, or you ought to be able to deal with it. There is a morbid craving for stimulants which is clearly traceable to a brain condition, it is a form of insanity, although it is not recognised by law. A man who has had ample opportunity of observing these cases and studying them, is able to diagnose pretty accurately the difference between normal drunkenness and abnormal drunkenness. " In reply to the following question (1338), 38 "How far do you believe, that if private institu- tions provided with legislative power to retain patients for an adequate period of time, were established, could they be made for the upper and middling classes to pay their way, our object being of course to separate those which could be provided by the State in some shape or other from those which could be provided by private enterprise V Dr. Forbes Winslow replies : — '' I believe such institutions would be a national blessing, and in many cases I believe they w^ould be self-supporting. I am satisfied that I could have had under my care some thousands (I am speaking within bounds) of cases of morbid drunkenness — I might say, of insane drunken- ness ; which I could have placed under restraint if I had an opportunity of doing it. I have seen the most frightful amount of loss of life, poverty brought on families, grievous, dreadful, and dire domestic distress and sorrow, and families wrecked and ruined by not being able to deal with these cases. In fact, as I have often said, ' Your husband or wife is committing suicide, and requires as much to be controlled as if they were taking belladonna or opium, or any other poison.' " I believe that if sanatoria were established on a broad basis, and the inmates of those institutions were allowed a certain amount of rational enjoyment, and subjected to the minimum amount of restraint, and that not an offensive restraint, and had all the reasonable indulgences of life brought within their reach, thousands would go into those institutions." " In private practice the treatment of these cases is much more difficult than in public institutions, and I think that asylums ought to 3.9 be established where drunkards can be watched and taken care of, and proper certificates signed, as in the case of kmatics/' " It appears to me that dipsomaniacs should be The Eev. treated in the same way as other lunatics ; for WiiUam e. l. I suppose it will scarcely be denied that drinking when indulged in without restraint does amount to a most fatal madness, and is therefore quite as much in need of repressive legislation as any other kind of mental disorder. And I beUeve that the only way to cope effectually with this growing calamity will be to build asylums for this class of lunatics ; or perhaps some of the prisons which it is proposed to close might be utilised in this way, where by strict compulsory rules and regulations as to diet, &c., combined with healthy surroundings, both by example and precept, they may be kept for years, if necessary, from all debasing influences of their former modes of life, and have some hope of becoming eventually, by God's blessing, cured and useful members of society/' " I feel more and more convinced, after many Helena L. years experience in prison and workhouse Antrobus. visiting, that there is little hope of cure for women who have once taken to drinking, unless they can be placed under lengthened restraint, medical treatment, and religious influence. Neither prisons nor workhouses are the places for them ; I do not believe an habitual drunkard has ever gone out from either really reformed or cured. Out of 4,342, the total number of prisoners committed to the House of Correction, Westminster, during the six months ending November, 30th, 1875, 2,748 were sent for this offence alone, and it may be fairly stated that two-thirds of them have been more than once committed. They are of all ages, and many 40 come over and over again to prison forty, fifty, and sixty times, for sentences varying from three to fourteen days, or a month. One woman who died not long since, had been in and out for twenty years ; another, who v/as found dead in her cell, was undergoing a short sentence for nearly the fortieth time. Numbers discharged on a Saturday, will return on the following Monday ; and often in such a sad state, the effect of their intoxication has hardly time to go off during the three days of their confinement, so that it is in many instances scarcely any punish- ment for them to be fed on bread and water, or gruel, while on the other hand they have the advantage in winter of a warmed cell, and at all times a comfortable bed, and their clothes thoroughly washed and cleansed. '' Short sentences appear utterly to fail in effecting any reformation, and show the extreme and urgent need of a sanatorium or reformatory to which women who either are or are likely to become habitual drunkards could be sentenced by magistrates for long terms, instead of as now being sent to prison over and over again for a few days ; for if sufficient time were given for the nerves to recover and gain a healthy tone, there would be great hope that many of these wretched creatures, whose lives are now a misery to themselves and others, would, under religious influence, medical treatment, and judicious care, be able to reform and become useful members of society at last. If a woman commits a felony she is liable to penal servitude for ^ve or more years (if she is shown to be an habitual criminal, she seldom gets less than seven years), and it would be a social benefit if women who drink habitually could be committed for similar periods to a reformatory 41 or ' Industrial Home,' expressly tor such cases. An institution between a prison and a lunatic asylum is what is really needed, as many of these woman would behave admirably under restraint, and are really earnest in their desire to amend ; but after a short sentence, the craving for spirits immediately returns, and without help they really lose the power to control themselves, and should to a certain extent be treated as insane or suffering from disease ; and my earnest hope is that as soon as possible an Industrial Home of this kind may be commenced, which could hereafter be certified under the provisions of an Act of Parliament ; as it is believed there are hundreds of women who would most thankfully place themselves in an institution where real help would be given them to overcome the disease. " The Visiting Justices of the Westminster Prison furnished a report not long since relating to the large and increasing number of women committed for drunkenness in the year 1875, which showed the callings pursued by the various offenders to be, charwomen 890, needlewomen 796, washers or ironers 1,330, servants 166, sewing machinists 35, bookfolders 30, artificial flower makers 28, of no occupation 1,796, women of a respectable class, such as wives of men with comfortable homes and women of small independent means 100, total during the year, 5,131, of which number 3,811 had been previously convicted. " This return, in addition to my own observa- tions as a lady Visitor for many years at West- minster Prison and St. George's Union, induce me to believe that the principal causes of drunkenness amongst women of the lower classes are overwork of body and mind, in- 42 sufficient food, want of proper dwellings, air, light, and exercise, idleness, and ignorance of religion. ^'Laundry women and cooks, wlio are especially addicted to this vice, have told me the constant heat in which they work takes appetite away, they feel sinking and must take something, so they fly to spirits as the cheapest and most easily obtainable help as they term it. Amongst the former, hours of work are excessive ; many have told me they have worked ten, twelve, and fourteen hours a-day for 2s. 6d., out of which they have to find their own food ; no care is ever taken, as far as I can learn, to provide in private laundries proper sustaining diet, which might be easily obtained by the workers, while spirits are always to be had, and in many no supervision whatever exists to separate good from bad characters. Laundries are often dens of iniquity, and during the Christmas, Easter, and Whit: sun weeks it is a common thing for employers to accept the fact as a matter of course that not one of their hands will be sober. And with regard to cooks, who are so frequently found to be confirmed drunkards, is it not far too often the case that they have to work in great heat, without sufficient air and light, very seldom finding time for rest or quiet thought, with no exercise to speak of, and very rare opportunities of going to church. " A medical man who has a large practice in London, made the remark a few days since that he was surprised to find people in such a state of excitement over Bulgarian atrocities, while there were such horrors going on unheeded at their own doors ; he mentioned the fact that in this great city numbers and numbers of domestic servants were living in rooms totally unfit for 43 human habitation, without ventilation of any sort or kind, or any regard being paid that their sleeping accommodation should be conducive to health ; thus hundreds broke down shattered in mind and body, ending their days in poverty and workhouses, after having given the best years of their lives for the comfort of their employers, an observation which will be fully confirmed by other medical men, who can state that this fact is not confined to small dwellings, but is the same in many of the larger and most important houses in the metropohs. ''In nearly all cases, I find that it is spirits rather than beer that women fly to ; rum, gin, and brandy ; even very young girls of fifteen, sixteen, and seventeen, whom I have met with in prison, see no harm in it, and as they grow older and it becomes a habit, they know not how to leave ofl* ; religion is often a mere name, self- discipline utterly unknown ; so they sink lower and lower, hopeless and wretched beyond words, but powerless to resist their fate. I have often regretted tliere is no law to prevent the sale of spirits except by order from a doctor, they cannot, except in cases of illness at any rate, be necessary for women, whose brains so easily become excitable and irritable ; and it seems strange that v^hile laws are given to prevent as far as possible self-destruction by hmiting the sale of poisons, the slower suicidal effects of alcohol are ignored altogether. " One of the most troublesome jDrisoners in the Westminster House of Correction, who though only six and twenty, has been in and out of prison for nine years for being drunk and disorderly, is at times so violent, three men are required to move her to the dark cell, she appears literally possessed by an evil spirit. 44 smashes everything she can lay hold of, and tears up her clothes, shrieks and yells out language so fearful and horrible that other pri- soners and old hands shudder, is not really a fit case for either a prison or a lunatic asylum ; neither punishment nor kindness have any influence over her during her passions ; she is really mad for the time being, and I believe quite unable to control herself ; but at other moments she will be quiet, remorseful, full of good resolutions, and though so far gone, might even yet be saved and cured by lengthened compulsory restraint in an institution especially adapted for the treatment of dipsomaniacs. She states she never could settle to anything after leaving an orphan school, so took to drinking to fill up the time ; then the craving for spirits increased on her till at times she has almost lived upon rum for a month together, scarcely taking any food. In her frenzies she will rave against drink as the cause of all her wretched- ness, and yet will return to it the instant she is free, thus hating the vice while infatuated with it. '' This is only one amongst hundreds of other cases for which a sanatorium especially adapted for the treatment of dipsomaniacs is now so urgently needed." Dr B. w. It is not alone to alcohol that the inebriate f!e.s.^ ^°"' loses station, health, and happiness. Dr. Eichard- son, in his interesting work on "Diseases of Modern Life," after an elaborate disquisition with respect to the injurious effect upon the human frame from alcohol, passes to the equally baneful effects upon the mind and body from narcotics. He states that the practice of opium-eating in this country, according to his experience, is dying out, but he adds, " The 45 reason of the decline of the practice does not indicate, however, any marked improvement in the pubHc mind. It shows, as it seems to me, the mere fact that there is what may be called a change of narcotic taste, for certainly while opium-eating is a less prominent indulgence, the use of other narcotics has signally increased, with results quite as injurious to the health and happiness of those who make the use of nar- cotics a vicious habit. " Although it is only six years since Dr. Liebreich discovered the narcotic pro- perties of hydrate of chloral, and not quite so long since I introduced his facts for the first time in this country to audiences of scientific men, there has sprung up here, and I believe in all other civilized communities where the nar- cotic has become known, a morbid habit of indulging in its use. " It is most remarkable how quickly this habit was developed, and not amongst our lower, but amongst our middle and upper classes of society. Within six months after the introduction of chloral, I have met with many instances of such abuse of it, and had become acquainted with two, in which the effect had been carried, with intention, to an all but suicidal end. " At the present time the practice of chloral intemperance is still increasing, and chloralism, as I may not inaptly designate it, is becoming capable of being classified as a distinct and serious addition to the family of induced diseases of modern life. Chloroform, ether, and chlorodine are also most imprudently used at the present time, but Dr. Hichardson observes, " a more formidable source of induced disease than any of the three last-named narcotic fiuids, and indeed, than 46 Definition of Dipsomaniacs or Habitual Drunkards. all of them taken collectively, is the fluid known and sold under the name of absinthe. Until recently the use of absinthe has been best, or rather worst, known in France, but now it is creeping into EngUsh life, and is, I fear, becoming a new and extending vice in London. Absinthe is made by adding the essence of wormwood, absintium, to alcohol. When there- fore this essence is added to alcohol, a specific influence to disease is superadded, to which extreme signifiance ought to be attached, " Indulgence in narcotics, opium, chloral, chlorodine, ether, absinthe, and all others of the class, is an entire departure from natural law. Except under the direction of skilled opinion, and for the cure of disease, the use of these agents is subversive of the animal functions, and is a certain means of embittering and shortening life. Tt is doubtful whether the freedom of the subject ought to be permitted to extend to the uncontrolled self-indulgence of these poisons. The indulgence indicates an unsound reason, which requires to be governed by sound reason, temperately enforced." The definition of a '^ dipsomaniac " or habi- tual drunkard, has been settled in a practical manner by Dr. Forbes Winslow and other medical men. Upon investigation it will be foundless diflicult than would be supposed. There is a difficulty in determining where eccentricity ends and insanity begins ; there has been almost endless controversy as to " who is a traveller," but in both cases the lesrislature has found a solution which if not altogether complete is at least sufficiently so for the administration of the statutes. There is no reason to suppose that in case of further legislation, under the same sale- guards as those contained in the Lunacy Ac^t, 47 a '' dipsomaniac " or " habitual clruDkard," might not be placed under the care of legally constituted authorities. A certificate signed by two medical men, in conjunction with one or two magistrates, would be ample in the first instance, and the inspection of either public or private institutions or establishments by Government Commissioners, and the immediate control of committees of magistrates appointed by Courts of Quarter Sessions, as in the case of the County Lunatic Asylums, would secure the safety and welfare of the patients, and prevent any abuse of the powers conferred by the Act of Parliament. Legislation. The establishment of sanatoria and reforma- Sanatoria and tories. for the reception of "dipsomaniacs" and toriesT'^' " habitual drunkards " recommended by the Special Committee, demands the earnest consider- ation of philanthropists. It must be admitted that the laws now on the statute book either to prevent or to suppress drunkenness are not effectual, and that further legislation is requisite. The Special Committee recommend legislation for the establishment of these sanatoria and reformatories, and that power should be placed in the hands of the authorities to control and detain the inmates. There is in this country on many occasions a fastidious feeling with respect to what is called the liberty of the subject. Legislation of this character may therefore not recommend itself to some persons, who look more to the convenience of the individual, than to the well-being of society. The detention for a limited period of a person who has given himself over to a life of intoxica- 48 tion, may be unpleasant to Lim personally, but on the other hand it may prove of lasting benefit to him, while he is removed from a sphere in which he is a burthen and annoyance, and where his conduct may prove a private or public scandal. It is equally if not more important that a woman who has contracted habits of intemperance should be placed under legal restraint. The very fact that a '^ dipsomaniac " or " habitual drunkard '' may be by law placed under restraint and detention, in the same manner as a lunatic, would make an impression that no argument or appeal to feeling could effect, and thus be the means of insuring the victim from a life of intemperance and degrada- tion. The description of the sanatoria established in America and the management of them will be found in the Appendix. The details were given to the Select Committee by Dr. Parrish and Dr. D. Dodge, and clearly demonstrate the great importance and value of these institutions, which it is hoped will before long be extensively adopted in this country. APPENDIX, Select Committee. On Thursday, the 8th of February, 1872, the House of Commons ordered " That a Select Committee be appointed to consider the best plan for the control and management of habitual drunkards." The Committee was composed of the following members : — Sir Harcourt Johnstone. Mr. Birley. Mr. Henry Samuelson. Mr. Wharton. Dr. Lyon Playfair. Mr. Arkroyd. Mr. Mitchell Henry. Lord Claud John Hamilton. Mr. Miller. Mr. Downing. Major Walker. Mr. Winterbotham, Mr. Clare Eead. Colonel Brise. Mr. Donald Dalrymple. This Select Committee called many witnesses, consisting of medical men, magistrates, governors of prisons, superintendents of police, and others, and in June made a valuable and interesting report. The following extracts from the Report may be considered the most important. 50 Extracts from the Eeport of the Select Committee. 1. That there is entire conciuTence of all the witnesses in the absolute inadequacy of existing laws to check drunkenness, whether casual or otherwise ; rendering it desirable that fresh legislation on the subject should take place, and that the laws should be made more simple, uniform, and strigent. This is the more requisite, as there is much evidence to show that in large towns and populous districts, the great evil of drunkenness is on the increase, attributed in some measure to the higher wages and shorter hours of labour. 2. That drunkenness is the prolific parent of crime, disease, and poverty, has received much additional confirmation. It is in evidence that a large proportion of the criminals passing through our gaols attributed their fall to drink, one witness having stated the amount as equal to 75 per cent, in a particular gaol ; about 20 per cent, of the insanity recorded in Great Britain, and about 14 per cent, in the United States, are placed to the same cause ; and nearly one half of the idiots in the latter country are stated to be the offspring of intemperate parents. 3. Suicides are most frequently caused by intemperance. 4. That small fines and short imprisonments are proved to be useless, as well as by the testimony of competent witnesses, as by the fact that the same individual is convicted over and over again, to even more than a hundred times. 5. That the absence of all power to check the 51 downward course of a drunkard, and the urgent necessity of providing it, has been dwelt upon bj nearly every witness ; and the legal control of an habitual inebriate, either in a reformatory or in a private dwelling, is recommended, in the belief that many cases of death resulting from intoxication, including suicides and homicides, may thus be prevented. 6. That it is in evidence, as well as from those who have conducted and are still conduct- ing reformatories for inebriates in Great Britain as by those who are managers of similar institutions in America, that sanatoria or inebriate reformatories are producing consider- able good in effecting amendment and cures in those who have been treated in them. The average number of cures is stated to be from 33 to 40 per cent, of the admissions, this percentage being based upon subsequent inquiry, from which the cures appear to be as complete and permanent as in any other form of disease, mental or physical. That the proportion of cures is not larger, is attributed by all the witnesses to a lack of power to induce or compel the patient to submit to treatment for a longer period, and that power is asked for by every one who has had, or still has, charge of these institutions. Without such a power it appears that the results must be imperfect and disappointing to the efforts made. Recommendations. 7. The recommendations of the Committee are : — 1. Definition. — That sanatoria or reforma- D 2 52 tories for those who, " notwithstanding the plainest considerations of health, interest, and duty, are given over to habits of intemperance so as to render them unable to control themselves, and incapable of managing their own aftairs, or such as to render them in any way dangerous to themselves or others," should be provided. 2. These should be divided into classes A and B. A. For those who are able out of their own resources or out of those of their relations, to pay for the cost of their residence therein. These, whether pro- moted by private enterprise or by associations, can be profitably and successfully conducted. The admission to these institutions should be either voluntary or by com- mittal. In either case the persons entering should not be allowed to leave except under conditions to be laid down; and the power to prevent their leavirig should be by law conferred on the manager. The patients underclass A should be admitted either by their own act, or on the application of their friends or relatives, under proper legal restrictions, or by the decision of a local court of inquiry, established under proper safe- guards ; before which, on the application of a near relative or guardian, or a parish or other local authority, or other authorised persons, proof shall be given that the party cited is unable to control himself, and incapable of managing his affairs, or that his habits 53 are such as to render him dangerous to himself or others ; that this arises from the abuse of alcohohc drinks or sedatives ; and he is therefore to be deemed an habitual drunkard. If that proof be deemed sufficient by the court of inquiry, it shall make an order for commitment to an inebriate institution for such a term as it shall think proper, not exceeding twelve months ; and shah also have power, with or without such commit- ment, to make an order for the a.pponit- ment of a guardian or trustee of the cited party, person or estate. The party cited shall have the right to be present, both in person and by council, and all the evidence shall be taken on oath. The property of the party shall be liable for maintenance ; the trustee or guardian shall be liable as in com- miitees of the person and estate of lunatics. Act 25 and 26 Vic, cap. 86. B. Persons convicted as habitual drunkards, according to the definition laid down in this report, whose means are inadequate, may be sent by magistrates by commitment to the B class of reformatories. The period of detention should be fixed by the court of inquiry, or by the magistreites, but may be curtailed upon sufficient proof being given that a cure of the patient has taken place. No manager of a reformatory, or guardian, or trustee, or committee, shall be liable to action for damages for acting under the orders of the court of inquiry or of the magistrates. 54 These reformatories, whether of class A or B, should be inspected from time to time by a committee appointed by magistrates at Quarter Sessions, of not less than five persons, of whom one at least shall be a medical man, and the inspection of these institutions whether of a private or public cha- racter, should be of a very stringent nature. Mr. Donald Dalrjmple, Cliairman of the Select Committee. " The number of institutions visited by me were nine in number ; namely, one in Canada, and eight in the United States. They comprise all that exist as wholly public, or as partly pri- vate institutions, on this continent, with the exception of one at San Francisco, to which place my travels did not extend. " T lay before the Committee areturn from each institution, furnished from the books of the superintendent ; and as they are all in form previously framed by me, I will only here quote the aggregate result. " According to the annexed statement, the grand total admissions, male and female, of the nine estabhshments since their opening, was 5,959, of whom 1,305, or nearly 23 per cent, were just admitted once ; 227, or nearly 4 per cent., were re-admitted twice ; and 9 7, or nearly 2 per cent., were re-admitted thrice. Of such admis- sions 5,515, or about 94 per cent., were volun- tary ; 144, or between 2 and 3 per cent., were admitted by the intervention of friends ; and 214, or nearly 4 per cent., were committed by Justices ; the result being that of the 5,959 who have been or were so under treatment, 2,018, or nearly 34 per cent., were cured and discharged ; 318, or over 5 per cent., received benefit; 11, or con- 55 siderably less than a quarter of 1 per cent., died; three became insane, and 378, or between 6 and 7 per cent., were returned as incurable. " The average number of years that those institutions have been at work is five years and twenty-six days, the longest period being that of the Washington House, at Boston, which has been at work fourteen years ; and the shortest period that of the Baltimore Asylum, in Mary- land, having been at work only fifteen months. I made many inquiries of persons other than those connected with inebriate institutions (medical, legal, clerical, and lay), as to the effect produced by them, and received many and various opinions ; but on the whole largely in favour of their utility." There is a law in the province of Quebec, lately introduced, by which a party can be placed under interdict, both of person and property, for habitual drunkenness. The Act is recent, and has not often been put in action, but it is effectual in preventing any interested or fraudulent application of it, by making the habitual inebriety of the party clear to a public authority. The indirect action of the law is far greater than the direct, inasmuch as tipplers will go voluntarily to the discipline of an inebriate asylum, rather than undergo an inquiry into their conduct. Dr. T. Parrish states that he is a physician in the neighbourhood of Philadelphia, Superinten- dent and Manager of a Sanatorium called Pennsylvania Sanitorium, at Media, near Phila- delphia. It was established by Act of Incorpora- tion of the State of Pennsylvania in 1 866, and was opened for the reception of inmates in 1867. It is a private asylum, it has an Act of Incorpora- tion by the State to give it legal position and Dr. T.Parrish 56 recognition, but it is managed by a Board of Corporators purely as a private enterprise. Philadelphia is the second city in the United States, and contains about 750,000 or 800,000 inha,bitants ; there are large manufactures of iron, wool, and cotton there ; the population is a mixed one, the Celtic and the Teutonic races are largely represented, as well as the negro. There are a great many coloured people ; also Irish, Scotch, and Germans. The Media Sanatorium occupies a little tract of seven acres, with a mansion upon it, which at present is able to accommodate 20 to 25 inmates, besides officers and employes of the house ; the Managers are anxious to increase the size, though they do not wish the number to exceed 50 or 60, The patients are all men. At the time of the last printed annual report, there had been about 200. The total number admitted up to the present time would be from 250 to 260 ; up to June last 235. Legally the institution is simply incorporated with power to receive, but with no power to detain, patients addicted to the use of alcoholic or opium intoxicants. There is a Board of Directors, who were originally named, or a portion of them, under the Act of Incor- poration, with power to add to their number, and till their own vacancies, without any limit as to number. The Board of Directors hold meetings, not always statedly, but frequently, daring which they examine into the affairs of the institution, and give a general oversight to its conduct. The domestic management is simply this :— There is a physician in charge, with an assistant physician. The physician in charge has the entire responsibility of the conduct of the establishment, so far as its domestic affairs are 57 concerned ; he appoints all the subordinates, both his own assistant, and all the employes ; regulates their compensation, inaugurates the discipline, and controls the members of the family, be they whom they may. The assistant in his absence is his representative, and has full power to conduct the afiairs in the same way. The patients as they come are received as members of the family ; the chief officer of the house, however, having his own private apartments with his family. The assistant physiciun is supposed to be the head of the family among the patients themselves ; he takes his meals with them in the dining hall, and gives general directions and oversight. There is also a lady matron, who has charge of the housekeepiug department, aud there are daily religious services as part of the domestic life of the home. Each person is registered as to his name, his place of residence, his age, the length of time during which he has been indulging in excess, his social condition, his domestic relations, his business, and all that the managers can consistently and respectfully draw from him. It is the duty of the assistant physician to keep a daily diary of the conduct of each inmate, so that if an inmate has been in the house for a month or a year, by reference to the diary we can tell what his conduct has been, what has been his general desire for stimulants from the time he entered. If he walks or rides unusually, or goes out on a visit, it is recorded. There is also communication maintained pretty regularly with his family by correspondence, which acts very much as a check upon him as to his conduct. Each person as he enters the house is 58 furnished with a Httle note book, which is called a house ordinance. It contains the regulations as to the hours of meals and for retiring, the use of the library, the billiard-room, and the other means of occupation and enter- tainments ; the general rules for the governing of a gentleman under such circumstances. One of these rules is, that under no circum- stances is an inmate allowed to procure intoxi- cating liquors. If he goes out, he is not allowed to bring back intoxicating liquors into the house ; if that is done the liquors are confiscated, and a deliberate repetition of that sort of behaviour subjects the person to the risk of dismissal. If a patient refuses to comply generally with the ordinances of the house, we notify him that he is not a suitable inmate for the house. Of the 235 in the return of patients admitted, 122 were admitted voluntarily, 108 at the instio:ation of their friends, and 5 were com- mitted. There is only one way of distinguishing between voluntary cases and those committed ; but the term voluntary ought not to be used except in a limited sense, because a great many gentlemen who find themselves overtaken with excess, and whose friends recommend them to go to such places, decline, unless they are threatened with being sent to some place ; thus they prefer not to go, for example, to a lunatic asylum, or to be sent off into the country in some remote place, and be separated from society. Rather than submit to such an alter- native, they consent, but it is not really an inde|.)endent act of volition. The cases committed there are sent under two laws : there is a general State law entitled, 59 " An Act relating to Lunatics and Habitual Drunkards ;" that law provides that any relative of an habitual drunkard may present his case to a President Judge of the Common Pleas in Quarter Sessions. The Judge appoints a Commissioner, gener- ally a legal gentlemen of ability in whom both parties have confidence. This Commissioner calls a jury in his own office, so as to prevent any public exposure of the case, a jury of six men. Both parties, the drunkard himself and his friends, are notified that on a certain day the case will be heard ; evidence is then brought forward to show that the man is an habitual drunkard, and incompetent to attend to his own affairs. If the evidence is satisfactory, the jury returns a verdict to that effect, and makes a report to tlie judge. The judge, under these circum- stances, appoints a committee of the man's person and his estate, or two committees, one for his person and one for his estate, as the parties themselves may determine to be best. The committee has full powers to take the inebriate and put him where they will, in a prison if he is refractorv, or in a lunatic asylum if there is any evidence of his partial or his entire lunacy, or in an inebriate asylum if he prefers it. They can transfer by power of attorney to the superintendent of the Inebriate Asylum the entire control of the individual, so that he has as much authority over him as a warder has over a convict in a penitentiary, but such extreme power is seldom exercised. Then there is another law enacted, specially with reference to the Pennsylvania Asyltnn, which describes the mode of commitment ; it is 60 a special law. " Any person addicted to the intemperate use of narcotics or stimulants, may, at the discretion of the proper officers of the institution, be received for custody or treatment, either upon voluntary presentation, or if a declared habitual drunkard, upon presentation by such person's legally instituted committee, or if having no committee, upon presentation of such person's guardian or next iriend, who produces a certificate of two physicians setting forth that they have examined the person so presented by his guardian or next friend, and the result of their examination ; which cer- tificate must be verified by the oatli taken before a judicial officer having authority to administer oaths, and have the written attesta- tion of such official officer that the physicians named are practioners in good repute, and that the signatures professing to be theirs are genuine ;" that is a law which was enacted three years since especially to cover this institution. Of the 235 who have been admitted into the Sanatorium, 82, or about one-third, have been cured ; it is impossible to determine when a man leaves whether he is cured or not. Some- times some of the most discouraging cases will turn out well, and some of the most hopeful cases end in disappointment. Dr. T. Parrish considers drunkenness a disease, and that opinion is largely entertained in America ; there is an association, he adds, entitled " The American Association for the Cure of Inebriates;" it is composed of gentlemen who are interested directly or indirectly in institutions of this kind, as managers, superin- te7) dents, directors, or trustees, as they may severally be called, and at their meeting in No- vember, 1870, held in New York, they issued 61 the following declaration of piinciples, which it may be well to read : — *' 1. Intemperance is a disease. 2. It is curable in the same sense that other diseases are. 3. Its primary cause is a constitutional susceptibility to the alcoholic impression. 4. This constitu- tional tendency may be inherited or acquired. 5. Alcohol has its true place in- the arts and sciences ; it is valuable as a remedy, and like other remedies may be abused. In excessive quantities it is a poison, and alv^ays acts as such when it produces inebriety. ^^ From an article written by Dr. George Burr, of Binghamton, one of the trustees of the New York State Inebriate Asylum, he says, "Nearly sixty years ago Dr. Both referred drunkenness to a morbid state of the will. To eflPectively treat the subjects of this disease, he recom- mended the establishment of a hospital in every city and town in the United States for the exclusive reception of hard drinkers ; ' they are, ' he remarks, 'as much objects of public humanity and charity as mad people. Esquirol distinctly recognises the existence of a disordered condition of the system which leads certain individuals to the abuse of fermented drinks. ' There are cases,' he continues, 'in which drunkenness is the effect of accidental disturbances of a physical and moral sensibility, which no longer leaves men liberty of action.' Dr. Jameson, of Aberdeen, speaks of the propensity to drunkenness as a morbid impulse, forming a variety of moral insanity referred to under the name of dipsomania. In 1853, Dr. Woodw^ard, of Worcester, Massachusetts, Insane Hospital, in a series of essays, main- tained that intemperance was a disease, and declared, from his own experience in the management of many hundreds of intemperate G2 persons, who had committed crime which ren- dered confinement necessary, or who were insane in consequence of this habit, that this disease was amenable to treatment, and tliat a large proportion of the intemperate, in a well con- ducted institution, would be radically cured, and would again go into society with health re-established, diseased appetites removed; with principles of temperance well-grounded and thoroughly understood, so that they would be afterwards safe and sober men." G^TfT^^^ Dr. Daniel G. Dodge, the physician in charge Physician' to of tlio Ncw York State Inebriate Asylum at gJ^^^T^T^^^ Binghamton. The institution is about two miles Binghamton.' and a half from Binghamton, a small city of some 15,000 inhabitants, in the county of Broome, in the State of New York, and it is about 200 miles west of the city of New York. It is a chartered institution, and was originally formed by private contribution and subscription and ultimately adopted by the State of New York. ^ Dr. Daniel G. Dodge states that the building is 365 feet in length ; width of transept 72 feet ; width of wdngs 51 feet; the building is four stories high. When completed will be capable of holding 200 patients, giving a room for each patient. It is now capable of providing for about 80 patients. It was opened for the reception of patients about nine years ago, namely, in 1863, exclusively for men. During the past year it has been wholly supported by the receipts of the paying patients It has not received any subvention for the last two years from the State ; prior to that it received for several years from lOO.OOi) dollars to 125,000 dollars a-year ; the State has appropriated in all about 600,000 dollars to the institution. 63 The total number of patients admitted from the commencement is about 1,100 ; voluutary patients, about eleven-twelfth, making 1,009 ; committed, about one-twelfth, making 91 ; the average time of the patients remaining is four months ; about 40 per cent, have been cured. The power of detention is given under an Act entitled " An Act for the better Regulation and Discipline of the New York State Inebi'iate Asylum;" it provides as follows : '^ Any Justice of the Supreme Court, or the county judge of the county in which any inebriate may reside, shall have power to commit such inebriate to the New York State Inebriate Asylum, upon the production and filing of an affidavit or affidavits, by two respectable practising physicians, and two respectable citizens, freeholders of such county, to the efiect that such inebriate is lost to self- control, unable from such inebriation to attend to business, or is thereby dangerous to remain at large. But such commitment shall be only until the examination now provided by law shall have been held, and in no case longer than tweWe months." 1'here is also something pieliminary to that law Sections 8-9 of an Act entitled " An Act to incorporate the United States' Inebriate Asylum for the Reformation of the Poor and Destitute Inebriate," are as follows : — "Said institution shall have power to receive and retain all inebriates who enter the said Asylum either voluntarily, or by order of the committee of any habitual drunkard. All poor and destitute inebriates who are received into said Asylum shall be employed in some useful occupation in or about the said Asylum ; said inebriates shall have all money accruing from their labour after the expenses of their support in said AsyJum shall 64 have been paid, which shall be sent to their famiUes monthly ; if said inebriates have no families, it shall be paid to him or her at their discharge from said institution." (Section 9, chapter IS-l ; 1857.) SectionQ. " The committee of the person of any habitual drunkard, duly appointed under existing laws, may, in his or their discretion, commit such habitual drunkard to the custody of the trustees or other proper officers of said Asylum, there to remain until he shall be discharged therefrom from such committee ;"' There is no power to retain voluntary patients, there is no legal power, but Dr. Dodge adds, "I should much prefer to have it." In reply to the following question : — The management of an establishment with eighty drunkards in it cannot be a very easy affair ; what are the main difficulties with which you have to contend ? " One of the greatest difficulties is that we have not the power to detain these patients a sufficient length of time, to give hopes of cure or perfect reformation ; another is that we have not sufficient authority to enforce proper restraint ; in other words, we have not an absolute power to enforce a strict obedience to the rules. It is imperative that these should be complied with as affording one of the principal remedies or measures in the treatment of these cases. It can all be summed up in one thing, the power to detaiii these men a sufficient time, because when we have power to detain them we have the power to enforce rules." Again, to the following question: — "Please state your views, as a medical practitioner, on the subject of habitual drunkenness, patho- logically considered, and how far those views are 65 believed by you to be entertained by the medical profession of the United States ?" " My own view, and I think the medical practitioners of the United States are almost a unit in the same belief, is that drunkenness is a disease, often remediable by medical and hygienic appliances. To obtain a correct understanding of our theory, which has been tested by several years of practical experiment, notably for eight years in the Asylum at Binghamton, in the State of New York, it will be necessary to go somewhat into detail. We have to consider in the first place the nature of alcohol, and its eflPects upon the human system. These may be briefly stated as follows : alcohol is a narcotico -irritant poison. It is the opposite of food, and there is nothing in the human system to which it corresponds, no natural want it can supply. Like other poisons, there may be cases in which it can be introduce.a to retard the ravages of disease, but it cannot in any sense be considered food. One of the ablest writers in America, Dr. Millard Parker, President of the Binghamton Asylum, in whose views on this subject I most fully concur, makes the following statement with respect to alcohol : ' Its results are first to induce a diseased condition of the nerves, which is manifest by the general symptom, depraved appetite. In the second place, entering the circulation unchanged, it impairs the vitality of the blood. Thirdly, after alcohol has produced disease of the stomach and a depraved appetite, it next expends its force upon the neighbouring organs, inducing disease of the liver and dropsy, or Bright's disease, both of which are fatal to health if not to life. The brain also, although farther from the stomach, is often diseased in functions, and at a late period in structure. E 66 " These diseases, or some of tliem, form a con- stitutional taint, to become the sad inheritance of unborn generations, as surely and widely as insanity, scrofula, or consumption. The in- herited demand or appetite for alcoholic stimu- lants will also be found to exhibit the erratic peculiarities of other diseases of inheritance, sometimes being handed down from parent to children in regular succession, sometimes over- looking individual members of the family, and sometimes lying dormant for one or two generations. Again, the development of the inherited disease will vary in form through all the degrees of idiocy to habitual and periodical drunkenness. In the institution for the treat- ment of idiots near Boston, in the State of Massachusetts, Dr. Howe reports, that of the 300 under his care, 143 are the children of drunken parents. " These views have been accepted by the medical profession in the United States for many years. Perhaps, however, the most con- N^ncing argument in favour of this view is to be found in the fact that in 185 7, before any practical results had been achieved by the success of inebriate asylums, 1,500 of the leading physicians in America sent an address to the legislature of the State of New York, in which they stated their unanimous belief that, ' with this (an inebriate) institution we can save hundreds who are now crowding our insane asylums, flooding our courts, dying in our prisons, and perishing in our streets.' '^The statistics of the Binghamton Asylum shows that a large percentage of the patients received in that institution have had intem- perate parents or ancestors. I find by referring to the record that out of 379, the whole number 67 admitted during twenty months, 189 inherited the disease from intemperate parents or ances- tors. " Numerous additions to the multitude of sporadic drunkards, of habitual and periodical drunkards, who become such voluntarily, are furnished by men of lively temperaments, strong social tendencies, the ' good fellows,' so called, who pass by a rapid gradation from prosperity to poverty, and every year by thousands are swept into the vortex of habitual drunken- ness, pitied, but never aided beyond the compassionate utterance of the common remark, ' Poor fellow I he is nobody's enemy but his own.' The stern facts of the moral census on both sides of the Atlantic show, with an overwhelming sad conclusiveness, that the difference of sex does not form a boundary line between the victims of this form of inebriation ; that the excessive strain of fashionable life on the one hand, and the established beUef that alcohol is a necessary adjunct to the wash-tub in another grade of society, is spreading habitual drunkenness as a disease at a fearful and dangerous rate among women." Dr. Dodge states that the following are the rules for governing the patients in the New York State Inebriate Asylum : — " On entering the institution, the patient is informed that all persons on becoming inmates are understood to bind themselves to observe and obey the bye-laws and rules governing the internal affairs of the Asylum. Any deliberate violation of them is considered good cause for removal from the institution. I may remark here that only those who are con- nected with institutions of this kind can know how degrading it is to an inebriate to be 68 expelled ; it seems to them beyond anything else that could happen. I am sure Dr. Parrish would bear me out in this. If an inebriate is dismissed from the Asylum, it seems as if there were no place on earth for him. This is one of the best kinds of restraint that we have over this class of men. No patient is received for a less period than three months, nor in the first instance for a longer term than one year. In order that the benefit to the patient may be permanent, the superintendent and physician, upon a full examination of the case, determines the length of time for which the patient will be received. Any inebriate having a permanent home within the State, whose circumstances render it necessary, may be admitted to a free bed at the discretion of the committee on management and discipline. If a free bed is applied for, the applicant or his friends must give satisfactory proof of the inability of the appli- cant or his family to remunerate the institution for his support during his stay therein ; and in addition to such proof, the applicant must furnish the certificate of the county judge of the county wherein he resides ; and if a resident in the city of New York, of the Mayor of that city, that he is a proper person to l3e received into the said institution as a free patient. That is simply that we may not be imposed upon. All other persons are charged according to rooms, attendance, and accommodation furnished them, taking into consideration their ability to pay. For the internal government of the institution, the following rules are prescribed by the Board of Trustees : — Hule 1 . All persons entering the institution are expected to remain at least three months, and required to pay (the highest price is 20 dollars per week) for their 69 board, medical attendaDce, and other accommo- dations. These requirements can be modified only by the special action of the committee of management and discipline. 2. Patients are expected to be prompt in their attendance at meals, and upon religious exercises of the institution ; they are required also to retire to their rooms by ten o'clock in the evening, and their lights must be extinguished by half-past ten. 3. No patient is allowed to use spirituous or fermented liquors, and the use of tobacco is decidedly disapproved. Smoking within the building is allowed only in rooms designated by the superintendent. 4. All the patients are expected to be at daily prayers in the chapel, and to attend the religious services of the Sabbath, conducted by the chaplain of the asylum. 5. Patients are not permitted to go oflP the asylum grounds except by leave of the superintendent, nor at any time witJiout such attendance as the superintendent shall appoint. 6. Every patient is expected to aid in promoting the purpose for which the asylum is established, and to aid his fellow patients in the work of reform. 7. Every patient on admission to the institution is required to sign the following pledge : — " I promise faithfully to conform myself to the above rules so long as I am an inmate in this asylum." The following supple- mentary rules have been adopted by order of the superintendent. They were adopted about a year and a half ago, and are found to work admirably :— 1 . By permission of the superin- tendent, only patients who have observed all the rules of the asylum for eight successive weeks can visit the city of Binghamton (two miles and a half distant) twice a-week without an attendant. 2. Any disobedience of the rules 70 or any abuse of this privilege, places the offender on the same footing with newly-admitted patients. 3. All other patients may make application for permission to visit town with an attendant in the carriage from the asylum on Tuesday and Saturday afternoons. 4. Dis- obedience of the foregoing rules renders a patient liable to expulsion. 5. A patient who is known to indulge in intoxicating liquors will be expelled from the institution. 6. Bringing alcoholic drinks into the asylum is considered the greatest crime known to our rules, and will be dealt with accordingly. 7. It is the duty of the secretary to inform the friends of all patients who visit the town of Binghamton without permission, or disregard any important rule of the insti- tution. With respect to the proposed Act of Parliament, entitled the " Habitual Drunkards Act " (prepared and brought in by Mr. Donald Dalrymple, Mr. Akroyd, Mr. Downing, Mr. Clare Bead, and Mr. Miller, 1872), Dr. Dodge states, " I have given a careful examination of the proposed Bill, and have been greatly impres- sed with the carefulness and practicability of its provisions. For a class of society unhappily large in all countries, the lower classes, I consider the provisions contained in the sections from 12 to 16 inclusive as embodying much needed legislation, and as offering the only hopeful solution of a difficulty which is the fruitful source of poverty, crime, and hence necessarily burdensome taxation. The cost of restraining and furnishing employment for this class of drunkards will, I am confident, be more than compejisated for by the reduction of the expenses caused by their arrest and confinement under the present mode, and above all by the 71 poor rate, which is so largely increased by the maintenance of those who are made paupers through the intoxication of husbands and parents."