t. Conscience, the feeling of accountability, the
sense of right and wrong, all become deadened, while the passions are
aroused and excited."

"What an awful disease!" exclaimed one of the listeners.

"You may well call it an awful disease," returned the doctor, who,
under the influence of a few glasses of wine, was more inclined to talk
than usual. "It has been named the mother of diseases. Its death-roll
far outnumbers that of any other. When it has fairly seized upon a man,
no influence seems able to hold him back from the indulgence of his
passion for drink. To gratify this desire he will disregard every
consideration affecting his standing in society, his pecuniary
interests and his domestic relations, while the most frightful
instances of the results of drinking have no power to restrain him. A
hundred deaths from this cause, occurring under the most painful and
revolting circumstances, fail to impress him with a sense of his own
danger. His understanding will be clear as to the cases before him, and
he will even condemn the self-destructive acts which he sees in others,
but will pass, as it were, over the very bodies of these victims,
without a thought of warning or a sense of fear, in order to gratify
his own ungovernable propensity. Such is the power of this terrible
malady."

"Has the profession found a remedy?"

"No; the profession is almost wholly at fault in its treatment. There
are specialists connected with insane and reformatory institutions who
have given much attention to the subject, but as yet we have no
recorded line of treatment that guarantees a cure."

"Except," said one of his listeners, "the remedy of entire abstinence
from drinks in which alcohol is present."

The doctor gave a shrug:

"You do not cure a thirsty man by withholding water."

His mind was a little clouded by the wine he had taken.

"The thirsty man's desire for water is healthy; and if you withhold it,
you create a disease that will destroy him," was answered. "Not so the
craving for alcohol. With every new supply the craving is increased,
and the man becomes more and more helpless in the folds of an enslaving
appetite. Is it not true, doctor, that with few exceptions all who have
engaged in treating inebriates agree that only in entire abstinence is
cure possible?"

"Well, yes; you are probably right there," Dr. Angler returned, with
some professional reserve. "In the most cases isolation and abstinence
are no doubt