TEMPERANCE COLUMN.

Otago Witness, Issue 2923, 23 March 1910, Page 13

TEMPERANCE COLUMN.

HOW CHILDREN ARE MADE DRUNKARDS. By William Lee Howard, M.D. The other day I attended the funeral of a dear friend and patient. When 20 years of age he promised to be one of the literary lights of this country. The pace he set for himself was not rapid for an individual physiologically balanced, yet he could not maintain it without artificial assistance. So he was compelled —mark you, I say compelled—to keep propped oy stimulants. It is a long story to a short end. The sad termination came at 38. His mother, sister, and closest friends dould snot account for this fine boy's merging into the drunken man. I worked hard over that boy ! But I had nothing to build upon. His nervous structure was sand —quicksand. " But," said his mother to me, " how eould Robert become such a slave to drink ? What was this cause ?" Of course, there was a cause; there must be a cause for every effect. I did not know it, but I determined to find it. The essential thing to know when treating instability is the family history of the patient. In this case the family history . was excellent. He came of sturdy Scotch stock. No nervous affliction on. either side as far back as could be traced. Grandparents, father, and mother were all temperate people. The sister, three years older than the brother, ,was a normal woman, the mother of three healthy boys, athletes and strictly temperate in all things. Yet here we had an extraordinarily brilliant young- *man, whose career was ruined because he had to have stimulants. He abhorred the stuff, made mighty efforts ..to get along without it, but it was a physiological impossibility. After long and minute investigations, I discovered the truth. The mother had allowed the delicate, baby nerve-cells to be poisoned, distorted, by opium and alcohol —innocentl/, ignorantly, of course. This mother of Robert was very ill immediately after his birth. He was given to a supposedly responsible nurse. The best-intentioned nurse cannot feel the future responsibility to the child. If the child disturbs., her rest and annoys her by its cries;,, what is more natural than that she should give the baby a dose of one < of .'■ the much-advertised "harmless soothing ■■syrups?'■' Of course, baby sleeps quietly : he is in an opium sleep. Of course, he looks fat and wellnourished : he is drug-bloated. In this case I found that a little gin was frequently put into the baby's milk. ," It is good for the kidneys," the old nurse said. Then she said that it was the custom to give a little " soothing syrup" to all. babies. "It helps to soften up the -gums." It did. And it also helped to soften up the delicate tissues of the brain. When the mother recovered, the babe was given to her. But he missed his opium; he yelled and went into spasms; every tiny nerve-cell was crying out for its poison. • But there was a " cure " for his agony. ~ A ■,,," soothing syrup " was given to him,, and he "sweetly" slept, only to be poisoned again when the.effect had worn off, and he cried for more. So we buried this young man—a man poisoned by drugs when a babe, and astracised as a drunkard when a man, because his nerve-cells never grew to manhood's necessities. How many mothers, and good mothers too, are innocently and ignorantly allowing their s6ris"and daughters to start on a drunkard's career, commencing at the cradle in the' same way! These mothers forget one tiling : that every healthy baby should cry and kick. That is its way of filling, .the lungs and developing the muscles',,; Jo '•' soothe " it with anything but pure food, fresh air, and loving arms is to send it out into the world an undeveloped, helpless being. To give a baby any. of the so-called '" soothing syrups " is worse than murder—a living "■ death. For, mark you this .well : the principal ingredient in . the average " soothing syrup" is some form, some derivative, : .6f opium, laudanum, or morphine. There may be one of two exceptions, but ; don't even allow these in the house. . If it is called " tincture," remember that the average tincture contains alcohol. The sad part of this drugging of in'fants is that it occurs for the greater part among those who need all the advantages of pure food, fresh air, and hygienic" attention. The ignorant mothers believe the delusive advertisements, have implicit, faith- in the unscrupulous druggist, and the baby is opiumed from the day of its birth. It is useless to look for moral and mental defects in-.the public school children when the 'real cause, drugging in the cradle, is overlooked. Nor is this cruel murder of children confined to one class. Who is most to blame—the woman of wealth who simply, gives her child over to a hired nurse, and does not take the trouble to give her baby the soothing caresses that soon lull it to sleep, or the worn-out mother of. the tenement who, seeing her fretting child, ignorantly gives it opium or gin—or, in other words, a " soothing syrup." THE DEADLY SOOTHING SYRUP. I know a man whose mother believed in '" soothing syrups." She would not believe that they were dangerous. So, whenever the child cried, it was given a spoonful of the " syrup." Of course, it made him sleep. When his" soothing syrup " days had passed by, she; discovered that he .was nervous- and fretful."•" He was given _a " tonio '.''■ to "tone him up "—the' tonic contained opium, again, and alcohol. Of course, it "toned him up." But soon the eyatem refused to respond to the '' tonic." (ft was not strong, enough, and yet the moment he stopped the "tonic" he became listless and incapable of work. he had to resort to the next more jjowerful drug—morphine. He became a

morphine fiend. He had reached a desirable professorship—one of the most successful professors in the college. But soon it was noticed that the brilliancy of his eye was unnatural, and, to make a long story short, the truth came out. He lost his professorship, he got morose, his mother died from a broken heart, and the man is to-day in an insane asylum. There you have a direct line from the "soothing syrup" of the cradle to the "morphine" of the man, and to the asylum. Quite frequently you will find a nurse who is feeding a child, who takes a glass of beer with her meals and at night. She tells you that her doctor told her she needed some such tonic to keep up her strength. Now, it is not probable that a glass of beer at mealtimes will have any appreciable effect on the milk. Nevertheless, it is tampering with a dangerous possibilitv. . The human system can, physiologically, burn up a certain amount of alcohol during 24 hours. But just what that quantity is for different'individuals is uncertain. One nurse may be able to consume several bottles of beer during the 24 Jiours, and use up in her system every drop of the alcohol, so that none is left in the secretions But—and here_ is the important point-she may at any time exceed this amount. She may take in more alcohol than the tissues can burn, and the residue will be found in the secretions. In the nursing woman the milk secretions are the most active: hence, here the excess alcohol will be found, and vour little baby gete its first poisonous drink. And if your baby is getting any of the byproducts of beer or whiskv, it will soon become fretful and irritable. It is then only a short step to the bottle of " soothing syrup." ....