appetite, are now passing downward on this descending sliding scale. The
greater portion of them have already passed over the bounds of
self-control, and the varied preliminary symptoms of melancholy, mania,
paralysis, ideas of persecution, etc., etc., are developing. As to the
question of responsibility, each case is either more or less doubtful,
and can only be tested on its separate merits. There is, however,
abundant evidence to prove that this predisposition to inebriety, even
after long indulgence, can, by a skillful process of medication,
accompanied by either voluntary or compulsory restraint, be subdued; and
the counterbalancing physical and mental powers can at the same time be
so strengthened and invigorated as in the future to enable the person to
resist the temptations by which he may be surrounded. Yea, though the
powers of reason may, for the time being, be dethroned, and lunacy be
developed, these cases, in most instances, will yield to medical
treatment where the surrounding conditions of restraint and careful
nursing are supplemental.

"We have observed that in many instances the fact of the patient being
convinced that he is an hereditary inebriate, has produced beneficial
results. Summoning to his aid all the latent counterbalancing energies
which he has at command, and clothing himself with this armor, he goes
forth to war, throws up the fortifications of physical and mental
restraint, repairs the breaches and inroads of diseased appetite,
regains control of the citadel of the brain, and then, with shouts of
triumph, he unfurls the banner of 'VICTORY!'"

Dr. Wood, of London, in his work on insanity, speaking on the subject of
hereditary inebriety, says:

"Instances are sufficiently familiar, and several have occurred within