The Cure of Alcoholism
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" The reason for the existence of this book is to call attention to the fact that the efforts commonly made in opposition to alcoholism are too specialized ; they try to plant sobriety in a soil not fitted for it. Sobriety is only a part of temperance , and temperance itself is but one indivisible phase of that spiritual unity called the cardinal virtues. The drunkard must aim at the acquisition in the natural order of all the cardinal virtues, or their reception in the supernatural order, since he is lacking in each of these almost as much as he fails in temperance , and temperance will never come to anyone unaccompanied by the other virtues. When the drunkard, striving toward a new life , acquires these virtues, sobriety is added as a matter of course.
Again , it is impossible , short of a miracle of grace , to cure a drunkard whilst the physical effects of the drug he is taking are present , therefore before applying moral treatment , physical elimination of the poison must be accomplished. The first five chapters explain the physical side of alcoholism and the medical treatment , and the last five the moral treatment. The book is meant for medical , clerical , and lay readers, hence the medical treatment most successful at present is explained, since it has not yet been published in books . The pathology of alcoholism is given only in outline as that is intended for the reader who is not a physician , and as a deterrent ; physicians will find the technical details in medical treatises .
The explanation in Chapter VII of the morality of general anaesthesia differs in its physical data from the statements made by moral theologians. The cure of morphinism , cocainism , and similar drug addiction s is , medically and morally , the same as that of alcoholism , therefore an appendix concerning these vices is added. " as quoted from Preface
Contents / Chapters :
Chapter 1 :
The physiology and pathology of alcoholism * The various alcoholic
beverages , and alcoholic patent medicine s * The action of ethylic
alcohol on the circulation , respiration , digestion , muscular , and
mental energy , and the thoracic organs * Alcoholism and the infectious
disease s
Chapter 2 :
Alcoholism and heredity * Nature of the nervous system * The marks of
insanity * Symptoms common to various forms of alcoholic insanity *
Delirium tremens * Alcoholic melancholia , mania , persecutory insanity ,
and amnesia * Korsakow ' s / Korsakow's psychosis
Chapter 3 :
Alcoholism & heredity * Exaggeration of the influence of heredity in
morality * Parental alcoholism and physical degeneracy in offspring *
Alcoholism and insanity * Racial alcoholic insanity * The special tendency
to insanity in Irish alcoholics an the causes of this tendency * The
influence of the American climate on northern Europeans
Chapter 4 :
Idiocy , imbecility , crime , pauperism , occupation and alcoholism *
Legislative opposition to alcoholism * The treatment of alcoholism in
English and American institutions
Chapter 5:
The physical or medical treatment of alcoholism * The use of belladonna
and catharsis * The treatment of delirium tremens , wet brain , and acute
alcoholic hallucinosis
Chapter 6:
Intemperance and free will * The nature of intemperance of which
drunkenness is only a part * What morality is and why it must be observed
* Man has free will and can observe the moral law
Chapter 7 :
The ethics of drunkenness , general anesthesia , and chronic alcoholism *
Chapter 8 :
The natural moral means for curing drunkenness in the man that is not a
Christian * The classification of drunkards * After the physical craving
for alcohol has been removed by medical means, the patient must aim at the
acquisition of the four cardinal virtues to secure sobriety * The error of
concentrating on sobriety alone
Chapter 9 :
The supernatural moral means for curing drunkenness * Fundamental notions
of the supernatural life , grace , sin , redemption * What grace is , how
it is acquired , the gifts of the Holy Ghost , the supernatural virtues ,
the sacraments * The use of all these means by the person striving for
sobriety
Appendix :
Addiction to opium , morphine , cocaine , and other narcotics * Cannabis
Indica or Hasheesh * Opium smoking * Opium drinking * Morphinism and its
treatment * Cocainism * Ether intoxication