WASHINGTONIAN HOME AT BOSTON,

drunkenness has been regarded as a malady, which may be cured through
the application of remedial agencies that can be successfully employed
only under certain conditions; and these are sought to be secured for
the patient. The home and the hospital are, in a certain sense, united.
"While we are treating inebriety as a disease, or a pathological
condition," says the superintendent, in his last report, "there are
those who regard it as a species of wickedness or diabolism, to be
removed only by moral agencies. Both of these propositions are true in a
certain sense. There is a difference between sin and evil, but the line
of demarkation is, as yet, obscure, as much so as the line between the
responsibility and irresponsibility of the inebriate."

Doubtless, the good work done in this excellent institution is due, in a
large measure, to the moral and religious influences under which the
inmates are brought. Nature is quick to repair physical waste and
deterioration, when the exciting causes of disease are removed. The
diseased body of the drunkard, as soon as it is relieved from the
poisoning influence of alcohol, is restored, in a measure, to health.
The brain is clear once more, and the moral faculties again able to act
with reason and conscience. And here comes in the true work of the Home,
which is the restoration of the man to a state of rational self-control;
the quickening in his heart of old affections, and the revival of old
and better desires and principles.


BENEFICIAL RESULTS.