A poor man feels rich when in the condition of serai-intoxication, especially if he is in the bar-room surrounded by companions in a similar state. The bright glare of the lights reflected by mirrors. the noise, the gesticulations and excited conversation, all tend to heighten the effect which is, nevertheless, evanescent. Then the stage of stupor comes on, and, after it has worn off, with the morning conies misery, headache, tremor, thirst, and nervous irritability, all goading and harassing him. Again he seeks relief, and again whips his jaded nervous system with alcohol. Again it responds, if there is sufficient vitality left in it, and possibly the phantasmagoria of the night before are even heightened in their intensity, and so each succeeding stage of debility is, for a time, relieved by another debauch, and thus he traverses a vicious circle until outraged nature rebels, and his inflamed stomach will no longer tolerate the fiery poison, and the disordered brain and nerves conjure as children of their own disease, frightful demons, which haunt him night and day, until, either through medical aid or rest, his equilibrium is in a measure restored.

Then, as the memory of his sufferings wears off, the elements of bodily and mental disease engendered by the previous debauch cause him mental depression and, posstbly, bodily unrest, and again he seeks relief, and again passes through the same cycle of joy and sorrow. This is the usual experience of the man who goes on sprees.

There is another class of men, who, while they do not intoxicate themselves to the extent just described, use a large amount of liquor every day. They keep it up for years, and die with some disease which results from the prolonged abuse of their systems. Possibly the heart may be exhausted, or the liver or the kidneys give out, or the weakened bloodvessels yield at some point in the brain, and apoplexy results. Or some contagious disease carries him off because he has burned up the resisting power of his system.

There is another class of alcoholics, the so-called real dipsomaniacs. These individuals are certainly mentally and physically degenerate, for if left to themselves they will consume as much liquor as they can get. One spree follows upon another in quick succession, until the victim is taken either to the mad-house or the prison, or until he wears out the lives of devoted friends in providing for his useless existence. There are many variations in this type.

From careful study and experience it seems to me that the larger majority, but by no means all of the men and women who use alcohol to excess, possessed originally the so-called neurotic temperament (diathesis). In other words, their nervous systems were unfit to stand the wear and tear of life, and, directly or indirectly, they sought to make up for their weakness by stimulation.

That healthy individuals may induce by drink a similar condition of weakness is well known. Their systems are much more easily restored to the healthy balance, all other things being equal.

When the word neurotic is used it does not mean nervous irritability, for, as is well known, very phlegmatic people may have a very poor mental equipoise.

Having discussed in general the temperament and condition of those addicted to the alcoholic habit we now come to the question, what are the excitiug causes which lead men to drink? They are legion. Association plays an active part. Among the causes are the habits of study and the class of books which men read. Too many novelists, alas! present to their readers enticing pictures or ludicrous descriptions of the effects of alcohol. The splendid novels of Dickens and Thackeray, and those of many other writers, possibly the majority of the writers of light fiction, are too often marred with conviviality in its most seductive form. This is true in a greater degree of the poorer classes of books which are greedily devoured by the young. They naturally react upon sensitive nervous youths and arouse all sorts of curious imaginings in their brains. These fancies lead them to try the liquid magic, and the excited brain calls for more excitement, and more trashy romance is served up, with or without whisky.

In an extensive hospital and dispensary practice, I talked with a large number addicted to the excess of alcohol, and their familiarity with convivial writings was astonishing.

The mind, while it has certain tendencies, certain traits, which are inherent in it, surely is, to a great extent, moulded by its dealings and experiences with the external world.

Study everywhere the lives of the young and not one will be found that cannot be more easily poisoned by bad suggestion than benefited by good training and good example. While all sorts of tendencies exist in children, while in some the bad ones may be irresistible, more can be accomplished in curing them than has ever been dreamed of by those dealing with the social problems of the day.

It will follow from what has been said that if the alcoholic habit is acquired as the result of so many widely different causes, no one remedy can relieve all cases, not even hypnotism will prove a universal specific. Some of the newspapers have contained, within the last few months, a number of extravagant articles by men who knew nothing about the subject, advocating hypnotism as a universal cure for drunkenness. To one familiar with the disease in all of its many forms, the presumption and arrant conceit which many of these writers show, would be disgusting did they not produce results which are even more appalling. Men who never knew intimately a dozen intoxicated men in their lives, will write high-sounding phrases in praise of some great cure about which they know absolutely nothing. That this may, in a way, be productive of good I admit. That it may be productive of immense harm, is equally true.

Hypnotism has its place, and I shall endeavor, so far as may be, to make it clear. I have in twelve years treated 159 persons who were addicted to the excessive use of liquor. Ten of these cured themselves independently of hypnotism by the moral force of their own characters. Fifty-four were lost sight of because they would not attend to any system of treatment long enough to give it a fair trial. Nineteen of the remainder were dipsomaniacs, i. e., they were inherently degenerate and gave evidence in a great many ways of mental unsoundness. Hypnotism, combined with physical restraint and remedies directed to relieve the organic disease which existed in some of them, cured four of the nineteen. Of the remaining fifteen, four are dead. Six were in insane asylums, and the remaining five have been lost sight of. Out of the 159-cases, 121 of them were men. They ranged from nineteen to sixty-five years of age. Their average was forty-five. The total number of cases benefited was thirty-seven, about 23 per cent.; the total number of cases apparently cured was twenty-nine, about 11 percent.; the total number treated by hypnotism alone without other remedial agencies was fifteen; the total number cured by hypnotism, unaided by medicine, was five.