7. Blisters to the ankles, which were followed by an unusual degree of inflammation, once suspended the love of ardent spirits, for one month, in a lady in this city. The degrees of her intemperance may be conceived of, when I add, that her grocer's account for brandy alone amounted, annually, to one hundred pounds, Pennsylvania currency, for several years.
8. A violent attack of an acute disease, has sometimes destroyed a habit of drinking distilled liquors. I attended a notorious drunkard, in the yellow fever, in the year 1798, who recovered with the loss of his relish for spirits, which has, I believe, continued ever since.
9. A salivation has lately performed a cure of drunkenness, in a person of Virginia. The new disease excited in the mouth and throat, while it rendered the action of the smallest quantity of spirits upon them painful, was happily calculated to destroy the disease in the stomach which prompts to drinking, as well as to render the recollection of them disagreeable, by the laws of association formerly mentioned.
10. I have known an oath, taken before a magistrate, to drink no more spirits, produce a perfect cure of drunkenness. It is sometimes cured in this way in Ireland. Persons who take oaths for this purpose are called affidavit men.
11. An advantage would probably arise from frequent representations being made to drunkards, not only of the certainty, but of the suddenness of death, from habits of intemperance. I have heard of two persons being cured of the love of ardent spirits, by seeing death suddenly induced by fits of intoxication; in the one case, in a stranger, and in the other, in an intimate friend.
12. It has been said, that the disuse of spirits should be gradual, but my observations authorize me to say, that persons who have been addicted to them, should abstain from them suddenly, and entirely. “Taste not, handle not, touch not,” should be inscribed upon every vessel that contains spirits, in the house of a man who wishes to be cured of habits of intemperance. To obviate, for a while, the debility which arises from the sudden abstraction of the stimulus of spirits, laudanum, or bitters infused in water, should be taken, and perhaps a larger quantity of beer or wine, that is consistent with the strict rules of temperate living. By the temporary use of these substitutes for spirits, I have never known the transition to sober habits to be attended with any bad effects, but often with permanent health of body, and peace of mind.
Footnotes:
[63] Inquiry into the causes which produce, and the means of preventing diseases among British officers, soldiers, and others in the West-Indies.
[64] Treatise on Tropical Diseases.