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DRUNKENNESS
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DRUNKENNESS , a See also:term signifying generally a See also:state resulting from excessive drinking, and usually associated with alcoholic See also:intoxication, or See also:alcohol poisoning. It may represent either an See also:act or a See also:habit, the latter consisting in frequent repetitions of the former. As an act it may be an See also:accident, most usually arising from the incautious use of one or other of the commonly employed intoxicating agents; as a habit (as in the See also:form of chronic alcoholism) it is one of the most degrading forms of See also:vice which can result from the enfeeblement of the moral principle by persistent self-See also:indulgence. What appears to be " intoxication " may arise from many different causes (e.g. See also:epilepsy, fractured See also:skull, intracranial See also:haemorrhage, and the toxaemic See also:coma of See also:diabetes and uraemia), and the See also:close resemblance between the pathological and the toxic phenomena has been the cause of many untoward accidents. See also:Cold alone may produce such See also:peculiar effects that See also:Captain See also:Parry said in his See also:Journal, " I cannot help thinking that many a See also:man may have been punished for intoxication who was only suffering from the benumbing effects of See also:frost; for I have more than once seen our See also:people in a state so exactly resembling that of the most stupid intoxication, that I should certainly have charged them with the offence had I not been quite sure that no possible means were afforded them on See also:Melville See also:Island to procure anything stronger than See also:snow See also:water." The same confusion is frequently found in cases which come before the See also:police-courts, people being arrested as " drunk and disorderly " who can prove that the symptoms were not due to over-indulgence in drink at all. Some individuals have, moreover, a See also:special See also:idiosyncrasy or susceptibility to alcohol, due to See also:heredity or to one of the sequelae of See also:sunstroke or See also:cranial injury. The See also:children of drunkards are usually very susceptible to the See also:poison, becoming intoxicated by a far smaller quantity than is needed by a normal See also:person. But, as a See also:rule, the phenomena of drunkenness are actually due to excessive See also:consumption of some intoxicating liquid. The physiological See also:action of all such agents may be described as a cumulative See also:production of See also:paralysis of various parts of the See also:nervous See also:system, but this effect results only in doses of a certain amount—a dose which varies with the See also:agent, the See also:race and the individual. Even the See also:cup so often said to " cheer, but not inebriate," cannot be regarded as altogether See also:free from the last-named effect. See also:Tea-sots are well known to be affected with palpitation and irregularity of the See also:heart, as well as with more or less sleeplessness, See also:mental irritability and See also:muscular tremors, which in some culminate in paralysis; while See also:positive intoxication has been known to be the result of the excessive use of strong tea. In See also:short, from tea to haschisch we have, through hops, alcohol, See also:tobacco and See also:opium, a sort of graduated See also:scale of intoxicants, which stimulate in small doses and narcotize in larger,—the narcotic dose having no stimulating properties whatever, and only appearing to possess them from the fact that the agent can only be gradually taken up by the See also:blood, and the system thus comes primarily under the See also:influence of a stimulant dose. In certain circumstances and with certain agents—as in the production of See also:chloroform narcosis—this precursory See also:stage is capable of being much abbreviated, if not altogether annihilated; while with other agents—as tea—the narcotic stage is by no means always or readily produced. No subject in See also:modern times has led to more extreme opinions than this of indulgence in " intoxicants " to any degree whatever. It is well to remember that (in spite of apparently authoritative modern views to the contrary) there is not a See also:shadow of See also:proof that the moderate use of any one of these agents as a stimulant has any definite tendency to See also:lead to its abuse; it is otherwise with their employment as See also:narcotics, which, once indulged in, is almost certain to lead to repetition, and to a more or less rapid See also:process of degradation, th Thgh there are many exceptions to this latter statement. It is interesting to know that a former See also:English See also:judge, who lived to nearly ninety years of See also:age, believed he had prolonged his See also:life and added greatly to his comfort by the moderate use of See also:ether, which he was led to employ because neither See also:wine nor tobacco agreed with him; while the immoderate use of the same agent has given rise to a most deleterious form of drunkenness, both in parts of See also:Ireland and in some of the large See also:industrial centres in See also:Great See also:Britain. Various modern biologists have discussed, with more or less See also:acceptance in certain circles, the See also:historical conditions in various races and in different countries as to the use and abuse of in-toxicants, and have See also:drawn varying conclusions from their theories. It has even been contended, with much show of learned authority, that since drunkenness leads to disease and See also:early See also:death, the proneness to strong drink in the See also:long run causes the elimination of the unfit, and results in a See also:general sobering of the community, a race being therefore temperate in proportion to its past sufferings through alcohol. But on this subject it may be said that, at least, no agreement has been reached. The effects of intoxicants are variously modified by the temperament of the individual and the nature of the inebriant. When that is alcohol, its action on an See also:average individual is first to fill him with a serene and perfect self-complacency. His feelings and faculties are exalted into a state of great activity and buoyancy, so that his See also:language becomes enthusiastic, andhis conversation vivacious if not brilliant. The senses gradually become hazy, a soft humming seems to fill the pauses of the conversation, and modify the tones of the See also:speaker, a filmy haze obscures the See also:vision, the See also:head seems lighter than usual, the See also:equilibrium unstable. By-and-by See also:objects appear See also:double, or flit confusedly before the eyes; See also:judgment is abolished, secretiveness annihilated, and the drunkard pours forth all that is within him with unrestrained communicativeness; he becomes boisterous, ridiculous, and sinks at length into a See also:mere See also:animal. Every one around him, the very houses, trees, even the See also:earth itself, seem drunken and unstable, he alone sober, till at last the final stage is reached, and he falls on the ground insensible—dead drunk (alcoholic coma)—a state from which, after profound slumber, he at last awakes feverish, exhausted, sick and giddy, with ringing ears, a throbbing heart and a violent headache. The poison primarily affects the cerebral lobes, and the other parts of the cerebro-See also:spinal system are consecutively involved, till in the state of dead-drunkenness the only parts not invaded by a benumbing paralysis are those automatic centres in the medulla oblongata which regulate and maintain the circulation and respiration. But even these centres are not unaffected; the paralysis of these as. of the other sections of the cerebro-spinal system varies in its incompleteness, and at times becomes See also:complete, the coma of drunkenness terminating in death. More usually the intoxicant is gradually eliminated, and the individual restored to consciousness, a consciousness disturbed by the secondary results of the agent he has abused, which vary with the nature of that agent. Whether, however, directly or in-directly through the nervous system, the See also:stomach suffers in every See also:case; thus See also:nutrition is interfered with by the defective ingestion of See also:food, as well as by the mal-assimilation of that which is ingested; and from this cause, as well as by the peculiar See also:local action of the various poisons, the various organic degenerations are induced (cirrhosis of the See also:liver, &c.) which in most cases shorten the drunkard's days. The See also:primary discomforts of an act of drunkenness are readily removed for the See also:time by a repetition of the cause. Thus what has been an act may readily become a habit, all the more readily that each repetition more and more enfeebles both the will and the judgment, till they become utterly unfit to resist the temptation to indulgence supplied by the knowledge of the temporary See also:relief to suffering which is sure to follow, and in spite of the consciousness that each repetition of the act only forges their chains more tightly. From this See also:condition there is no See also:hope of relief but in enforced See also:abstinence; any one in this condition must be regarded, as temporarily insane (see See also:INSANITY and NEU1tOPATHOLOGY), and ought to be placed in an inebriate See also:asylum till he regain sufficient self-See also:control to enable him to overcome his love for drink. Numerous " See also:cures " have been started in See also:recent years, which have often succeeded in individual cases. An See also:anti-alcoholic serum obtained from alcoholized horses has been advocated by Dr Sapelier. For the See also:law concerning drunkenness the reader is referred to See also:INEBRIETY, LAW OF. Its prevalence as a vice has varied considerably according to the state of See also:education or comfort in different classes of society. In considering the extent to which intemperance has prevailed, the See also:statistics of prosecutions upon which such comparisons are usually based are far from being completely satisfactory, but, inasmuch as they constitute the only possible data for such comparisons, we are compelled to accept them. The following table gives the average number of persons per moo of the See also:population proceeded against for drunkenness in See also:England and See also:Wales for quinquennial periods, dating from 1857, the first See also:year of the Judicial Statistics: 1857-1861 4.28 1862-1866 4.78 1867-1871 5.47 1872-1876 7.83 1877-1881 7.25 1882-1886 6.90 1887-1891 6.19 1892-1896 5.84 1897-1901 6.42 1902-1906 6.51 The figures, it will be seen, show a steady decline from 1872-1876 (when the consumption of alcohol was quite abnormal) to 1892-'896. After that year, however, the figures again See also:rose. The increase was especially marked in 1899, when a See also:tide of exceptional prosperity was again accompanied by great drunken-. ness: It is also disquieting to discover that the average number of prosecutions for drunkenness in the three years 1897-1899 was 51% higher than the average for 18,57-1861, and 35% higher than the average for 1862-1866. That the increase was partly due to more efficient police See also:administration is probable, but that this is not a complete explanation of the figures is made evident by an See also:analysis of the general statistics of See also:crime during the same See also:period, from which it may be seen that, while crime generally (excluding drunkenness) decreased 28% in England and Wales since 1857-1861, drunkenness increased 51%. Speaking generally, it may be said that in the See also:United See also:Kingdom drunkenness appears chiefly prevalent in the seaport and See also:mining districts. If a See also:line be drawn from the mouth of the See also:Severn to the See also:Wash, it will be found that the " See also:black " counties, without exception, See also:lie to the See also:north-See also:west of this line. The worst counties in England and Wales in the See also:matter of drunkenness are See also:Northumberland, See also:Durham and See also:Glamorganshire, while See also:Pembrokeshire and See also:Lancashire follow close behind. The most sober counties, on the other See also:hand, are See also:Cambridgeshire, See also:Suffolk, See also:Oxfordshire and See also:Wiltshire. Averages based upon the returns of entire counties do not, however, afford a complete See also:guide to the See also:distribution of drunkenness, inasmuch as offences are not equally distributed over the whole See also:area of a See also:county. A heavy ratio of drunkenness in a small See also:district may often give a county an unfavourable position in the general averages, notwithstanding favourable conditions in the See also:rest of its area. Analysis of the prosecutions for drunkenness shows that about 24% of the See also:total number of offences are committed by See also:women. In the larger towns the proportion, as a rule, is higher. In See also:London, 38% of the drunkenness is attributable to women; in See also:Manchester, 36%; in See also:Belfast and See also:Glasgow, 32%. In See also:Liverpool, on the other hand, the proportion is only 24%. The much-controverted question as to whether intemperance is increasing among women can hardly, however, be decided by an See also:appeal to the criminal statistics. So far as these statistics throw any See also:light at all upon the question, they suggest important local See also:differences. A more See also:direct See also:clue is afforded by the registrar-general's See also:annual returns of deaths directly attributed to in-See also:temperance. The figures are given below. In See also:order to eliminate accidental See also:variations, the comparison is based upon the average mortality during consecutive periods: Years. Average No. of deaths See also:Males See also:Females (England and Wales). per cent. per cent. 1877-1881 1071 69 31 1882-1886 1320 66 34 1887-1891 1710 64 36 1892-1896 2044 61 39 1897-1899 2577 61 39 1899 2871 6o 40 For the ten years ending 1904, out of 26,426 deaths from alcoholism, 59'34% were males and 40.66% females. The figures are certainly striking. They show, it will be noticed, that out of every too deaths from alcoholic excess in England and Wales women contributed nine more at the end of the See also:century then they did in 1880. If, instead of taking the total number of deaths, we take the ratio per million persons living, the increase is seen even more clearly: Years. Males per Females per million living. million living. 1877-1881 6o 25 1882-1886 67 32 1887-1891 79 42 1892—1896 86 51 1897-1899 103 63 1899 See also:II2 70 It appears that, while the ratio of mortality from alcoholic excess increased 87% among males during the last two decades of the century, among females it increased by no less than '8o%. See also LIQUOR See also:LAWS and TEMPERANCE. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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