CHAPTER IX.
METHOD OF CURING THE FIT OF DRUNKENNESS.
I. From Liquors.—Generally speaking, there is no remedy for drunkenness equal to vomiting. The sooner the stomach is emptied of its contents the better, and this may, in most cases, be accomplished by drinking freely of tepid water, and tickling the fauces. On more obstinate occasions, powerful emetics will be necessary. The best for this purpose, are ten grains of sulphate of copper, half a drachm of sulphate of zinc, or five grains of tartar emetic. Either of these should be dissolved in a small quantity of tepid water, and instantly swallowed. Should this treatment fail in effecting vomiting, and dangerous symptoms supervene, the stomach pump should be employed. Cold applications to the head are likewise useful. In all cases, the head ought to be well elevated, and the neck-cloth removed, that there may be no impediment to the circulation. Where there is total insensibility, where the pulse is slow and full, the pupils dilated, the face flushed, and the breathing stertorous, it becomes a question whether blooding might be useful. Darwin[26] and Trotter speak discouragingly of the practice. As a general rule I think it is bad; and that many persons who would have recovered, if left to themselves, have lost their lives by being prematurely bled. In all cases it should be done cautiously, and not for a considerable time. Vomiting and other means should invariably be first had recourse to, and if they fail, and nature is unable of her own power to overcome the stupor, blooding may be tried. In this respect, liquors differ from opium, the insensibility from which is benefited by abstraction of blood.
There is one variety of drunkenness in which both blooding and cold are inadmissible. This is when a person is struck down, as it were, by drinking suddenly a great quantity of ardent spirits. Here he is overcome by an instantaneous stupor: his countenance is ghastly and pale, his pulse feeble, and his body cold. While these symptoms continue, there is no remedy but vomiting. When, however, they wear off, and are succeeded, as they usually are, by flushing, heat, and general excitement, the case is changed, and must be treated as any other where such symptoms exist.
The acetate of ammonia is said to possess singular properties in restoring from intoxication. This fact was ascertained by M. Masurer, a French chemist. According to him, from twenty to thirty drops in a glass of water, will, in most cases, relieve the patient from the sense of giddiness and oppression of the brain; or, if that quantity should be insufficient, half the same may be again given in eight or ten minutes after. In some cases the remedy will occasion nausea or vomiting, which, however, will be salutary to the patient, as the state of the brain is much aggravated by the load on the stomach, and subsequent indigestion. It is also farther stated that the value of this medicine is greatly enhanced from its not occasioning that heat of the stomach and subsequent inflammation which are apt to be produced by pure ammonia. Whether it possesses all the virtues attributed to it, I cannot say from personal observation, having never had occasion to use it in any case which came under my management; but I think it at least promises to be useful, and is, at all events, worthy of a trial. I must mention, however, that the acetate of ammonia is seldom to be procured in the highly concentrated state in which it is used by M. Masurer. Owing to the great difficulty of chrystallizing it, it is rarely seen except in the fluid state, in which condition it is recommended by the French chemist. The form in which it is almost always used in this country, is that of the Aq. Acet. Ammon. or Spirit of Mindererus, in doses of half an ounce or an ounce, but whether in this shape it would be equally effectual in obviating the effects of drunkenness, remains to be seen.
Mr. Broomley of Deptford recommends a draught composed of two drachms of Aq. Ammon. Aromat. in two ounces of water, as an effectual remedy in drunkenness.
The carbonate of ammonia might be used with a good effect. M. Dupuy, director to the Veterinary School at Toulouse, tried a curious experiment with this medicine upon a horse. Having previously intoxicated the animal by injecting a demiletre of alcohol into the jugular vein, he injected five grains of the carbonate of ammonia, dissolved in an ounce of water, into the same vein, when the effects of the alcohol immediately ceased.
We have already mentioned that the excitement of drunkenness is succeeded by universal languor. In the first stage, the drunkard is full of energy, and capable of withstanding vigorously all external influences. In the second, there is general torpor and exhaustion, and he is more than usually subject to every impression, whether of cold or contagion. Persons are often picked up half dead in this second stage. The stimulus of intoxication had enabled them to endure the chill of the atmosphere, but the succeeding weakness left them more susceptible than before of its severity. In this state the body will not sustain any farther abstraction of stimuli; and blooding and cold would be highly injurious. Vomiting is here equally necessary, as in all other instances; but the person must be kept in a warm temperature, and cherished with light and nourishing food with soups, if such can be procured, and even with negus, should the prostration of strength be very great.
A paroxysm of periodical drunkenness may be sometimes shortened by putting such small quantities of tartar emetic into the liquor which the person indulges in, as to bring on nausea. This, however, must be done with secrecy and caution.
It may here be mentioned, though not with a view of recommending the practice, that the vegetable acids have a strong effect both in counteracting and removing drunkenness. To illustrate this fact, the following circumstance may be mentioned:—About twenty years ago, an English regiment was stationed in Glasgow, the men of which, as is common in all regiments, became enamoured of whisky. This liquor, to which they gave the whimsical denomination of white ale, was new to them—being nearly unknown in England: and they soon indulged in it to such an extent, as to attract the censure of their officers. Being obliged to be at quarters by a certain hour, they found out the plan of sobering themselves by drinking large quantities of vinegar, perhaps a gill or two at a draught. This, except in very bad cases, had the desired effect, and enabled them to enter the barrack-court, or appear on parade, in a state of tolerable sobriety. The power of the vegetable acids in resisting intoxication, is well shown in the case of cold punch—a larger portion of which can be withstood than of either grog or toddy, even when the quantity of spirit is precisely the same.