Remarks on the history and treatment of delirium tremens / [John Ware].

  • Ware, John, 1795-1864
Date:
1831
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Remarks on the history and treatment of delirium tremens / [John Ware]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    give themselves up almost at once to unlimited indul¬ gence, are commonly broken down within a few years, their constitutions fail them in early manhood, and among other bad consequences they are pecu¬ liarly liable to attacks of Delirium Tremens. Those, on the contrary, who have formed the habit gradually, who have used ardent spirits moderately in the first instance, and have come slowly to their excessive use, do not suffer nearly as much in health and con¬ stitution, do not sink so easily under the same degree of excess, and are less liable to be affected by the disease of which we are speaking. It is a common belief, that Delirium Tremens is immediately occasioned by abstinence from ardent spirits, whether this abstinence be forced or volun¬ tary. It is not intended to deny that abstinence may sometimes produce this effect ; yet I feel very certain, that in a large proportion of cases, it has nothing to do with it. The symptoms of this affec¬ tion frequently ensue shortly after a course of ex¬ cessive indulgence. In this case it is not that the discontinuance of the indulgence occasions the dis¬ ease ; but that the access of the disease creates a distaste for liquor, and is the occasion of the dis¬ continuance of its use. The disease occurs also in individuals, whose habit of drinking has never been suspended at all, but has continued up to the very commencement of the delirium. It happens, also, that a few glasses of spirit will be sufficient to induce a temporary attack of it in an individual