\_From the Sixth Annual Report of the Mass. State Board of Health. ] 
INEBRIATE ASYLUMS 
OR 
HOSPITALS 
BY 
HENRY I. BOWDITCH, M.D. 
Chairman of the Board. 
BOSTON: 
WRIGHT & POTTER, STATE PRINTERS, 
79 Milk Street (corner of Federal). 
i875- INEBRIATE ASYLUMS OR HOSPITALS. 
By HENRY I. BOWDITCH, M.D., 
Chairman of the Board. INEBRIATE ASYLUMS OR HOSPITALS. 
To the Members of the Massachusetts State Board of Health. 
Gentlemen :—A few clays only before the last fatal illness 
of our excellent friend and co-laborer, Dr. Derby, he urged 
me to prepare an article on State Inebriate Asylums. I did 
not then agree to his proposition, but, since his death, I feel 
that a duty is laid upon me to carry forward any objects he 
had at heart. Surely, no man I have ever known devoted 
himself with a more self-sacrificing love or with a more intel- 
ligent zeal for a cause than he did to that which we advocate ; 
viz., the improvement of the public health. Any proposi- 
tion, therefore, made by such a man, and coming to me, as it 
were, from his open grave, becomes sanctified by death, and 
not to be refused. Were I now to decline, I should feel that 
I was recreant to the dying request of a Avell-beloved friend, 
and false to his noble example. Would that I could hope to 
prepare anything that would entirely commend itself to his 
mature judgment and his literary skill. As a tribute to his 
dear memory, I dedicate this paper, trusting that it may be 
of some service to the noble cause of temperance. 
The Subject. 
I shall not confine myself closely to the subject proposed 
by Dr. Derby, although that, viz., the necessity for the State 
to establish one or more inebriate asylums or hospitals for 
the cure of drunkards, will be my chief aim. As in my 
communications nfade to you on former occasions, I shall 
divide my present one into several parts, under different 
heads. 28 
STATE BOARD OF HEALTH. 
[Jan. 
Drunkenness Now and Formerly. 
Drunkenness is one of the roots of all evil to the person, 
to his family, his friends, and finally to the State at large. 
It ruins the health of the individual who indulges in it. It 
fills our prisons with criminals who have voluntarily deprived 
themselves of reason before their entrance on crime. Our 
State almshouses are crowded with its direct or indirect vic- 
tims, and they are a great burden to the tax-paying, temper- 
ate people of the Commonwealth. These statements seem 
truisms—I presume they will be admitted by every one. The 
records of the police,* of our courts and almshouses fully sus- 
tain them. The facts are lamented by all reasonable persons, 
even if they be temperate users of alcohol themselves. Even 
literature feels the influence of the avowed or silent anath- 
emas passed at the present day upon this great curse of hu- 
manity. We find few poets who now salute in jovial strains 
the flowing bowl. In order to get any fervent praises of 
wine, we must go back to those days when to drink deeply was 
esteemed an honorable feat, and to lie under the table after a 
dinner rout was not deemed unseemly. Again, there can be 
no doubt of the truth of the converse proposition, viz., that 
society at the present hour is permeated by the temperance 
idea to a degree that would appear ludicrous to our fathers, 
when drunkenness passed with little rebuke, save from some 
satirist like Hogarth, of England, or Troost, of Holland, who 
delighted to show out boldly upon their living canvas the 
vices of their age. The grossest and most absurd actions 
were done within the memory almost of our day, and they 
were met usually only with a laugh, as at a mere practical 
and natural joke committed while in " one’s cups,” and there- 
fore to be venially dealt with. No one lost caste " on 
’change” or in social life by the performance of acts which 
■would now be deemed disgraceful under similar circum- 
stances. Exact justice, therefore, to the past and to the 
present times, must, I think, convince every one that drunk- 
enness prevailed with the consent of the community to a 
* From 1864 to 1873 inclusive, the yearly average of drunkards noted and recorded 
by the police of Boston, was as follows :—During first six years, 17,840; during last 
four years, 19,472. (See Report by E. H. Savage, Chief of Police, p. 57, 1873.) 1875.] INEBRIATE ASYLUMS OR HOSPITALS. 
29 
much greater degree formerly than now. Almost all now 
despise drunkenness, many of us loathe the idea, and would 
consider the voluntary submission of ourselves to it as an 
act of the greatest self-degradation. Such being the estimates 
of drunkenness formerly and now, let us look a moment at 
our present opinion of the drunkard himself. 
Sentimental Regard for the Drunkard. 
Oil the threshold of this question we meet with a strange 
anomaly existing in this community. While no one is found to 
defend drunkenness, we find a very sickly sentimentalism 
about the drunkard on the part of some persons. Perhaps I 
might say that, on the part of most people, the opinion pre- 
vails that he is almost always a diseased person, and there- 
fore is, under all circumstances, to be treated as an invalid, 
with that gentleness and forbearance which wre exercise toward 
any other invalid. While admitting this plea of invalidism 
in certain cases, as, for example, where there is hereditary 
taint or under the influence of early instruction or neglect, 
and in certain dipsomaniacs, I deny the legitimacy of the 
opinion, in a majority of cases of drunken men or women. 
Treatment of the Drunkard by the Law. 
A stranger anomaly still, is the fact, that while the majority 
of the community have these sympathetic views in regard to 
the drunkard, the law still holds up its terrors and declares, 
for example, drunkenness no excuse for crime. It tries, in 
its imperfect way, to keep the State from harm by means of 
various penalties, but it does little or nothing toward reclaim- 
ing the drunkard from his evil habits. On the contrary, the 
law generally, after interfering with him, leaves him worse 
than before. It tines him, and he goes away quite as much 
disposed to get drunk as he was previously. Nay, more ! the 
public hue has degraded him; his self-respect has been seri- 
ously injured by this public censure. As a means of pre- 
venting a repetition of the offence, a fine is ludicrously inoper- 
ative. But if the man be unable to pay the tine, the matter is 
still worse; the culprit is then put into confinement in jail, 30 
STATE BOARD OF HEALTH. 
[Jan. 
often with criminals, thieves, and desperadoes of all kinds.* 
Then and there often begins his career of real crime. More- 
over, the law at this time deprives the family of the labor of 
the father, and virtually lets it starve, without a thought of 
its misery. The law, as thus administered, seems to commit 
a real crime against the individual, while it defeats its own 
best endeavor to defend the community from the evils of 
drunkenness. It may, I think, be summarily asserted, that it 
does harm to the culprit, beggars in some degree the family, 
and fails in its endeavor to prevent intemperance. 
Hitherto the Law has MxAde no Systematic Effort to 
Cure the Drunkard as one Diseased. 
Thus we find that the State, by its organic laws, gives not 
the least assistance to the wretched victim of an all-engrossing 
vice. Much less does it make any attempt to cure drunken- 
ness as a disease to which some persons are just as liable as 
they are to consumption or nervous diseases, typhoid 
fever, etc., all of which complaints are provided for by the 
establishment of public dispensaries, hospitals, etc. 
Meanwhile a certain number of persons in the community 
have gone in an opposite direction, and, filled with that ten- 
derness for the drunkard of which I have already spoken, 
seem to forget that his acts of drunkenness are real crimes 
against society. In order to prevent him from going astray, 
these persons would prohibit even the temperate and occasional 
use of any so-called intoxicating drinks. They virtually say 
to the small band of drunkards—"You cannot resist tempta- 
tion, and, therefore, the whole community should give up its 
rights, and we mean to pass the strictest sumptuary laws for 
all of us, in order to prevent you, and a small minority like 
you, from going astray.” 
A priori, it seems singular to attempt to prevent the over- 
use of any article by the few, by shutting off from all persons 
a legitimate and noil-injurious use of the same article. But, 
in this way, for more than twenty years, the State has en- 
deavored to prevent intemperance among the few by prohibi- 
tion to all. Moral suasion, and the early and persistent 
* For excellent remarks upon this subject, see tliose by Mr. Savage in Police Report 
of Boston, page 50, et seq., 1872. 1875.] INEBRIATE ASYLUMS OR HOSPITALS. 
31 
inculcation of temperance, and fitting institutions for the cure 
of the drunkard have been, comparatively speaking, lost sight 
of, in the vain hope of extinguishing one of the strongest 
impulses implanted in the human frame ; viz., a love for some 
stimulus, whether it be tea, coffee, tobacco, or alcohol, or 
some other of the numberless stimulants found on every part 
of the globe. Doubtless some good has been done by pro- 
hibitory laws in the rural districts, and in some, perhaps, of 
the larger towns; but this cannot be said of their influence in 
the larger cities, where the universal and open disregard of 
these laws, or the secret, but not less injurious evasion of 
them, has tended to lower in the eyes of the people their 
estimate generally of law. Nothing can be more fatal to the 
best interests of a free state than to pass any enactment 
whereby the keenest reverence for law on the part of the 
citizen is lessened. 
What should we do under the Present Circum- 
stances ? 
From the foregoing remarks it will be seen that, in my 
opinion, the present treatment of drunkenness and the 
drunkard by individual citizens and the State laws is, to use 
the mildest epithet, very imperfect in many respects. What 
more can be done in the premises ? It would be very pre- 
sumptuous on my part were I to claim that I can propose any 
measures capable of coping effectually with this enormous evil 
of intemperance in its blighting influence on the individual 
and the State. Knowing, as my profession teaches me (and 
modern science fully sustains the idea), the all-powerful in- 
fluences of social and climatic law, of hereditary taint, and the 
consequent peculiarities of the individual, I cannot make this 
claim, but as discussion in a reasonable way is one of the chief 
sources of progress, I propose to make a few remarks on the 
following questions, viz. : 
1st. What is a drunkard, and how does he stand toward 
the community in a free state ? 
2d. How shall the drunkard be treated ? 
If I seem to write harshly of the drunkard, it is because of 
the harshness of truth itself in its application to his crimes 
toward a long-suffering community. 32 
STATE BOARD OF HEALTH. 
[Jan. 
The drunkard voluntarily deprives himself of his highest 
attribute of reason. For the time being, he makes himself a 
mumbling idiot, not only incapable of doing rightly a good 
action, but often he may be strongly inclined to do the vilest 
deeds toward those whom he most dearly loves, or to any 
stranger he may chance to meet. By putting himself in this 
condition he contaminates the life-blood of a free state, whose 
very existence depends upon her healthy and honest hard- 
working men and womanly women. If, then, any individual, 
of either sex, voluntarily resigns that manhood, or that 
womanhood, and makes himself, or herself, a wild beast, 
wallowing perhaps like a pig, in the gutter before the door; 
such persons should be treated humanely, it is true, but they 
cannot complain if they be treated decidedly by the sovereign 
state of which they claim to be members. As they volun- 
tarily resign their reason, and thereby, for a time at least, 
destroy their power of acting intelligently, in their share of 
the public work, they surely cannot complain if their mother 
state sees fit to punish them, by depriving them, until they 
behave decently and rightly, of those very rights which they 
virtually discard by intemperance. 
I submit, therefore, that drunkards, if they be inveterate in 
their habits, should be deprived of all civil rights, in the same 
manner that the idiot, the insane, the high criminal, are 
deprived of their rights. I think that the law should allow 
any one to complain of the habitual drunkard, and on suffi- 
cient proof being given of the truth of the allegation before 
the proper court, said court should decree civil rights to be 
held in abeyance until a radical cure be effected. The best 
interests of the State seem to me, even in principle, not only 
to allow of this procedure, but to absolutely require it as a 
means of self-defence, if the republic is to continue in a state 
of purity. I believe the period will arrive when, to be drunk, 
even in private, will be deemed a misdemeanor, and to appear 
in public in a state of intoxication will justly be considered 
one of the greatest of crimes against the good order of the 
State. Any one public exhibition of this condition of mind 
will then be considered satisfactory evidence (unless valid 
Drunkards ought to be deprived of Civil Rights. 1875.] INEBRIATE ASYLUMS OR HOSPITALS. 
proof be procured to the contrary) of habitual drunkenness, 
and as such will render the offender amenable to those highest 
penalties which the State can inflict. For example, for one 
offence in public, I think that such a person should not be 
allowed to vote, or exercise his civil rights, for at least six 
months, and for a longer time on a repetition of the offence. 
This punishment may seem absurd to some, and be opposed 
by others, as wholly unjust for the amount of injury done to 
the State. Some earnest defenders of the rights of man will 
say that the error of once being intoxicated in public would 
not deserve so serious a deprivation as that of the right to act 
generally as a man in civil life. There may also be others 
who, from the way in which they use their own rights, will 
think that the deprivation of civil rights from a drunkard, will 
have but little force towards his cure. A man who will lie in 
the gutter drunk, is regardless of shame, and what cares he 
for civil rights ? I admit this argument as of some weight as 
to the efficiency of the punishment, but deny the plea of its 
injustice. But if this plan fail, what then? Shall we have 
recourse to a fine, or imprisonment in a jail, as at present, or 
shall we, in some cases at least, treat the inveterate drunkard 
as a monomaniac, and place him either voluntarily, or by force 
of law, in an asylum, where, under moral suasion and entire 
removal from all external temptations, he may be able to 
recover his manhood,—renew, in fact, his whole character, 
and endeavor to be forever afterward an abstainer from every 
species of intoxicating drinks ? That will be his sole hope .of 
salvation. Upon these topics let us have some reasoning 
together. 
Fines, as we have already decided, seem rarely to produce 
any good effects, and our jails generally prove seminaries of 
high learning in crime to our drunkards, and bring poverty 
and wretchedness to their families. All means, at times, would 
seem to fail of preventing drunkenness and of curing the 
drunkard. An early training to a manly temperance in our 
youth is not given; sincere moral suasion in later years is 
often neglected, and even prohibitory laws, acting upon the 
whole people, seem worse than useless in some large commu- 
nities. Drunkenness prevails on all sides. The question 
constantly arises: What shall be done? Is there no way STATE BOARD OF HEALTH. [Jan. 
open for a union of all who love temperance, so that we may 
escape from this vast evil ? For, notwithstanding the drunkard 
cannot be restrained by any means heretofore used, we must 
nevertheless not leave him at liberty to indulge in his vile 
habit. We must bring him, if possible, under his oivn self- 
control. In order to do this, he must for a long time, months 
or years perhaps, be separated from the evil influences to 
which he has been subjected. For the total reorganization of 
his nature, he needs some place of refuge to which he can vol- 
untarily retire, or in which he can be by law placed, provided 
he be too degraded and cannot make any voluntary effort for 
reformation. This naturally leads us to the discussion of the 
question of 
Inebriate Asylums or Hospitals.—State Institutions. 
Massachusetts has never in its own behalf, as the guardian- 
mother of every one of its inhabitants, attempted to sustain an 
asylum or hospital for the radical cure of the drunkard. It 
has, it is true, sparingly aided from its funds a well-conducted 
"Washingtonian Home,” in Boston. This institution has 
been in operation for the past sixteen years. Quietly, but 
very efficiently has it done its most noble work. It has been 
liberally sustained by private charity, eked out by the small 
fund annually granted by the State.* During the sixteen 
years' that this institution has been in operation, one hundred 
and fifty-seven thousand (157,000) dollars, have been expend- 
ed, or a little less than ten thousand (10,000) dollars annually 
for current expenses. During this period it has treated four 
thousand two hundred and ten (4,210) persons at a cost of 
about thirty-eight (38) dollars each, j It is believed that at least 
one-third of the number have been cured ; another third have 
been greatly improved. One-third have not been permanently 
changed from their evil habits, but possibly, under increased 
facilities and every convenience that a great State could 
provide, a number of this last third might be reclaimed. 
* The Washingtonian Home and its Sixteen Years of Work. Address, etc., by 
Otis Clapp. 1874. 
f Recently the corporation has been enabled to erect a commodious building in 
Boston, at an expense of $100,000. Thus the total expenditure for'this corporation, 
since its commencement, has been $257,000, of which only $61,000 have been given 
by the State in its annual grants. 1875.] INEBRIATE ASYLUMS OR HOSPITALS. 
Surely, this private experiment, in one county of the State, 
should give encouragement to the legislature to establish other 
similar institutions to be sustained as works of public neces- 
sity. New York has the honor of being the first State in the 
civilized world that has established and wholly sustained a 
State Inebriate Asylum.* Maryland has recently done the 
same. Some other States and countries are now earnestly 
examining the subject, f England has had its parliamentary 
committee and report. It has summoned from this country 
experts upon the matter. Connecticut, Minnesota, and the 
Provinces of Nova Scotia and Ontario have also had com- 
mittees on the subject. I am not aware that any movement 
has yet been made by the legislature of Massachusetts, looking 
to this desirable end. Massachusetts usually is not a laggard 
in any good work tending to the improvement of her citizens. 
I feel sure that she will not be in this instance, when once she 
comprehends its vast importance. As an individual, I take 
the ground that it is not only the bounden duty, but it is of 
the highest sanitary, as well as moral, importance to the 
State, to adopt any feasible method for more thoroughly 
dealing with intemperance. This vice so saps the health of 
individuals and of their progeny, that, as a sanitary measure, 
inebriate asylums could be urged upon the notice of the State 
with as much reason as common public hospitals were formerly 
demanded as public necessities. 
As a matter of economy in the expenses of the State, the 
estabisliment of these hospitals might be urged. A very large 
proportion, now in our almshouses, are there, either directly 
or indirectly, in consequence of drunkenness. They are there, 
and virtually left to themselves. No one seems to care for 
them; no one endeavors to lift them up, and to raise them to 
a proper self-respect, and to the beauty of a life of temper- 
* Fourth Annual Report of the managers of the New York Inebriate Asylum,, 
Albany. 1874, page P. 
f The following list comprises, it is believed, all the permanently organized Ine- 
briate Asylums in this country. Some smaller ones may exist, of which I have no 
information. 1. At Binghamton (New York State Asylum). 2. New York City 
Asylum (under Board of Charities of the city). 3. King’s County Home for Inebri- 
ates, Brooklyn, N. Y. 4. Maryland Asylum, at Baltimore, Md. 5. The Sanitarium 
for the Treatment of Inebriates, at Media, Pa. 6. Washingtonian Home, Chicago, 
111. 7. Washingtonian Home, Boston. 8. Greenwood Asylum, under Dr. Albert 
Day (recently nearly destroyed by fire), at Stoneham, Mass. STATE BOARD OF HEALTH. [Jan. 
ance. Consequently, they and their families are often left to 
regain an honorable status in society as best they may. By 
putting them into the hospitals I advocate, we shall not only 
support them, as we do now, but we shall restore a large per- 
centage of them to the rank of honorable citizenship, and they 
and their families will become a part of the working force of 
the State, instead of being an incubus upon it, as they now 
are. And we shall gain these desirable ends without a much 
greater expenditure of funds than we now make for a compar- 
atively futile purpose.* 
Classification of Drunkards in Asylums. 
Drunkards may be divided into different classes, needing 
different treatment. Doubtless each individual lias his own 
peculiar character and tendencies. Hence, each drunkard 
should be managed so as to meet his peculiarities, in the same 
manner that physicians, while guided by general principles of 
action, have to adapt their treatment to each special case 
among their patients. 
Among these classes of drunkards I will name the fol- 
lowing : 
Some have hereditary tendencies to the vice, and they are 
the most difficult of radical cure. The family taint seems at 
times to fairly overcome all efforts of the individual. Unless 
a great determination to become temperate be made by the 
drunkard himself, and the wisest course be pursued by the 
friends, such a person is doomed to spend a worse than useless 
life, disgraceful to himself and a source of endless sorrow to 
his friends. Others again seem to have periodic fits of an in- 
sane desire for drink. They will be perfectly sober and excel- 
lent men and women for several months, when suddenly, either 
from great sorrow, or some more trivial cause, or from help- 
less subjection to instinct, the liquor is seized upon to " drown 
care.” The * poor wretch then makes himself a brute for 
several days or weeks, until generally the stomach loathes all 
food ; and even the liquor, previously gloated upon, becomes 
wholly distasteful. Not infrequently the attack terminates in 
that state called in common language " the horrors.” Nothing 
* We refer to the Appendix to this paper for ample confirmation of the propriety of 
establishing inebriate asylums on economical as well as moral grounds. 1875.] INEBRIATE ASYLUMS OR HOSPITALS. 
37 
can be more pitiable than the condition of a human being 
when reduced to this dire extremity. Trembling in every 
muscle, his wild face is the fair index of the mind. He is 
no longer the drivelling idiot, but a " horror ’’-struck maniac, 
urged by terrible dreams in which, perhaps, his best friends 
seem acting the part of fiends, while their gentlest move- 
ments to overcome his terror appear to him brutal attacks 
upon his liberty or life. He trembles, and flies affrighted 
from imaginary demons who are pursuing him. He is in hell, 
even when surrounded by loving attendants, who vainly 
endeavor, by caresses, to soothe him in his fright. I wish I 
could, like the Spartans of old, introduce every young drinker 
into the presence of a poor wretch when in the height of a 
paroxysm of delirium tremens ; and, if the youth did not 
become a temperance devotee from that moment, he would 
not be moyed by any argument. If he could be persuaded to 
act as an attendant through these few days of horror, and 
vainly endeavor to restrain the wild delirium ; if he could see 
the fear manifested by the victim, and watch the sudden 
approach of death, or the slow process of cure with entire 
prostration of physical and intellectual powers, the lesson 
would, I am sure, be a good one. 
A third class, from want of an early training in a manly 
temperance, or from evil companionship, fall into habits of 
intemperance. By temperance, in this climate and country, 
I mean total abstinence in childhood, and only the occasional 
use of wine in youth, when need of body requires it, and in 
subsequent life, the more frequent, but still moderate, use of 
alcohol when health or strength call for it. 
Again, it is essential, in any definition of drunkards, for the 
purpose of ulterior treatment in asylums, to consider the 
relative amount of culture and refinement, or the reverse, 
among the different classes. I know that we are accustomed 
to consider all men as equals in this country ; and yet, save 
in God’s presence, and before human law, where all have equal 
rights, there never was a more flagrant abuse of terms, or a 
greater falsehood laid down. Of all persons born into this 
world, no two are exactly equal, physically, intellectually, 
morally, or in the surroundings of their birth. These facts 
have immense influence on all subsequent development, from STATE BOARD OF HEALTH. [Jan. 
the cradle to the grave, and they must be considered, in any 
arrangements to be made, in the treatment of drunkards. 
Finally, the intemperate may be divided into two more 
classes, viz.: those who, being fully aware of their desperate 
condition, have made up their minds, arid are anxious to 
use any and all means for a radical cure ; 2d, another class 
who, though aware of their degradation, have not the moral 
courage to withstand temptation, or who brutally refuse to 
leave off drinking;. Taking; either of these categories of 
drunkards, let us see what is necessary to meet their necesi- 
ties, in an asylum for their cure. 
I think arrangements could be made in inebriate asylums, 
as at all hospitals, for private apartments and public wards. 
Out-of-door arrangements, such as farm work, and work in 
mechanic shops, or the more quiet pleasures of intellectual 
pursuits, are likewise called fv>r. 
It seems to me that at least one asylum should be forthwith 
erected, or adequately endowed, by this State. Eventually, 
when the ideas connected with such a building become more 
thoroughly digested by the people, we shall need more, in order 
to classify the inmates ; certainly, so far as to partially, or per- 
haps wholly, separate those who voluntarily seek the asylum 
from others who are compelled to go there by law. I think, 
still further, that it would be advisable to allow those able to 
pay for larger and more commodious apartments, and fuller 
attendance, to do so, in the same Avay as the McLean Asylum 
provides the " Appleton Ward.” In this way we could give 
a more home-like feeling to some persons than can possibly 
be obtained in a large ward. I should hope, however, that 
in every asylum there would be an opportunity for all to meet 
on a common ground of the lecture room, the church, the 
library, and reading-room. I should wish for this amount of 
intercourse, because I would have the asylum, as much as 
possible, like the world at large, save in one particular, viz., 
there should be such a total abstinence from liquor as would 
gladden the heart of the warmest friend of prohibition. I 
would scarcely ever use alcohol in any form, even medicin- 
ally, and as a lotion, and never (if possible to avoid it with 
safety to human life) should it be taken internally, within 
the Avails of an inebriate asylum. 1875.] INEBRIATE ASYLUMS OR HOSPITALS. 
Sites for the Asylum. 
They should bo in the interior of the State, in a fertile spot, 
where farming would be possible and easy. They should be 
removed from the noises and temptations of the city, but 
easy of access by rail. The grounds should be extensive, and 
well laid out in roads, bridle, and foot paths. They should 
have woods near or upon them. The sites should be, if 
possible, among the most beautiful and healthful in the State ; 
they should command extensive views, so that first sight that 
would greet the eyes of the inmates, with every morning light, 
should be such as to excite pleasant and grateful thoughts. 
The houses should be commodious, of medium size, and not 
expensively or luxuriously built. They should be airy, and 
bathed in sunlight all day long ; ample space should be afforded 
by them for walking and exercise in all weathers, by means of 
piazzas, or covered corridors, carriages, etc. These sites 
should be recommended, as by law now provided that all 
sites for public institutions should be, by the State Board of 
Health, with especial reference to the various sanitary condi- 
tions best fitted for mind and body. In a word, I would have 
every arrangement in and outside of the houses so made as 
to produce cheerfulness and brightness. A tranquilizing, but 
not sad, influence should permeate and surround the whole. 
Employments of the Inmates. 
A large farm should be connected with each institution. 
This should be under the direction of an experienced farmer, 
who should ask the services of volunteers, or should require 
of non-paying inmates, whether voluntary ones or those put 
there by law, a certain number of hours of work each day. 
This work would be beneficial to the worker, and while it 
would produce a certain amount of the food for the establish- 
ment, it would also aid in the proper discipline of the 
inmates. Immediately around the house should be planted 
flower-beds, similar to those seen everywhere in England, 
which, kept in order by the inmates, would contribute much to 
the pleasure and healthful activity, if not actual profit, con- 
nected with the house. STATE BOARD OF HEALTH. [Jan. 
Work-Shops. 
Work-shops, in which carpentering, joining, painting of all 
kinds, and turning in iron and wood, could be carried on, 
should be in constant operation. They should be the general 
repair-shops for the institution. Of course, skilled workmen 
should superintend ; but the object being to afford interesting 
work to inmates, all should be urged to avail themselves of 
the privilege of more or less active work therein afforded. 
Those who by law may be confined should be required to 
labor, and might be taught some useful trade, which would 
help support them on leaving the asylum. Amongst others, 
I should hope the printer’s trade would not be neglected. A 
journal, published by the patients, would be one of the most 
effective means of pleasure and improvement for all. 
There should be amusements of every kind ; billiard rooms ; 
bowling alleys should be open; base ball, cricket, football, 
and croquet should be encouraged by the superintendent. 
The superintendent and his wife should likewise be persons 
capable of preparing evening entertainments, charades, whist- 
parties, readings, recitations, lectures and concerts. Occa- 
sional private conferences of the patients might be held, at 
which personal experiences might be told, in full confidence 
of the entire sympathy of all present; to these no outsider 
should ordinarily be admitted. Many a word of encourage- 
ment and of abounding hope might be given at these friendly 
meetings by those who have been through the " slough of 
despond,” and may have overcome all difficulties. Some 
poor soul, still struggling with the trials attendant on a weak 
nature, and while staggering almost in despair of ever reach- 
ing any sure foot-hold, from which to begin anew the work 
of life, would gain at such meetings the requisite courage and 
strength. If possible, I would have a band of music from 
among the residents, led by an experienced music-teacher. 
An adult school should bo open daily for the instruction of 
those ignorant of the common rudiments of learning. Assist- 
ants in this school, as teachers, I should expect would be 
sometimes found among the patients. A wise superintendent 
Amusements. 1875.] INEBRIATE ASYLUMS OR HOSPITALS. 
would gently but earnestly urge this duty of teaching upon 
those of the inmates who have better cultivated minds, placing 
it upon the high ground of mutual benefit, to the teacher and 
taught; for surely no employment tends more to develop the 
intellect and all manly qualities, than self-forgetful instruction 
given to those less wise than ourselves. The name of teacher, 
Agassiz considered the highest title he could assume. 
Superintendent. 
This man should be of a large and high-toned nature. He 
must be able to look upon all the inmates, however de- 
graded they may be at entrance, as fellow-mortals, born 
under the same laws as those which brought himself into 
existence, and therefore his own self-respect should lead him 
to treat those committed to his charge with respect as well as 
with authority. He should do all his work under a solemn 
sense of responsibility to God and to man; he should be no 
bigot of a sect. He should not try to proselyte to certain 
dogmas of belief, but to gently lead all to temperance. His 
object should be to induce all under him to act up to that 
inner light that dwelleth in every human being, and which 
tells him that an honest, true and temperate life is the only 
one worth pursuing. He should have a finely-cultivated 
intellect, and he should be in perfect health of body, otherwise 
his important duties would be likely to suffer. 
Dyspepsia, or debility of mind or body, are always antago- 
nistic to authority and to a true estimate of life in others. 
His presence should be a benediction as well as a power. 
Such a man would have equal laws, but no tyranny. His 
word, having been once declared, under the best light he can 
get, would govern all with justice and mercy. No common 
man could take the place. He should be selected by trustees 
appointed by the governor and council, and be removable at 
the pleasure of the trustees, under whom he would act. We 
have very few in the community capable of taking the place; 
there are doubtless many persons who would seek the place 
for the salary, and for the gratification of a petty, though 
perfect, authority the office would confer. 
If possible, a man who has had experience should be first 
selected, and his deputy, chosen or nominated by himself, 42 
STATE BOARD OF HEALTH. [Jan. 
should be gradually initiated into all proper methods of con- 
ducting the establishment. The whole should be under the 
general direction of some non-political body of trustees, 
appointed by the executive of the State. Believing that the 
treatment of intemperance is one of the greatest subjects this 
Board can consider, and looking to the far future, rather than 
to the present, I think that the duty of superintending these 
establishments, and of nominating the proper persons to be 
resident superintendents, might, with propriety, be vested in 
the State Board of Health. I hold this opinion upon these, 
among other reasons, that might be adduced for this sugges- 
tion, viz. : First: that in the original Act establishing this 
Board, the legislature ordered the Board from time to time 
to report upon the uses of alcoholic liquors by the community, 
and for the prevention of intemperance ; and second : because 
by the same act the Board was directed to advise with the 
government on the selection of sites for public institutions ; 
and third : because by its constitution the Board will generally 
be removed from party politics and partisanship. 
These should all be selected with especial reference to the 
moral rather than the physical objects of the place, and no one 
should ever be appointed to fill any place who was not fully 
alive to the high objects proposed, and hopeful of good from 
the general work of the institution. 
As great care should be used in the selection of these 
persons as is now taken in the choice of attendants in hospitals 
for the insane. The superintendent should nominate them 
to the trustees, and should be held strictly responsible for 
their good behavior. 
Attendants. 
Religious Instruction and Worship in the Place 
I would have services at certain periods, conducted by 
clergymen of the various denominations, or by laymen. 
No dogmas should be preached, but the sole object should 
be to lead the inmates to a proper self-respect, by raising 
in each a lively sense of his own responsibility to God and 
to mankind for the proper care of his own body, by living 
a temperate life; even this latter point should be rather indi- 1875.1 INEBRIATE ASYLUMS OR HOSPITALS. 
43 
rectly than directly advocated. For I would not willingly 
offend by a religious act the self-esteem of a patient in the 
asylum. No one should be obliged to attend these services, 
and no one, for non-attendance, should suffer in the estimation 
of any one or have different treatment in consequence of such 
absence. 
Pexal Asylums. 
In all I have thus far suggested, I have supposed an insti- 
tution in which the inmates have rather a voluntary than a 
forced residence. It may be asked, how I would manage 
those incorrigible, brutal drunkards, who go to the place 
from no will of their own, but simply when forced to do so 
by the arm of the law. It is evident that, at first, it will be 
necessary to use more restraint, but even with these poor 
wretches I hope that an able and skilful superintendent 
would soon be able to relax all penal arrangements. 
Especially could this be done if the court, when sending the 
victim to the asylum, should let him distinctly understand 
that if he attempt to escape, without permission, or behave 
in a manner unbecoming the institution, he will be summa- 
rily sent to a house of correction, or otherwise more severely 
treated. 
Asylum Accommodations eor Women. 
In my preceding remarks I have, while considering chiefly 
asylums for men, made many suggestions that are equally 
applicable to institutions, or parts of institutions, which 
would be devoted to the treatment of females. Of course 
the superintendent of a female institution or department of a 
general asylum should be a woman. Some modifications of 
employments would likewise be necessary, but the general 
principles of treatment of the male and female drunkard 
would be identical. 
Reports. 
Annual reports to the legislature should be made by the 
trustees early in the legislative year, with statements of 
finances, and of all other points of interest naturally 
connected with such an institution. 44 
STATE BOARD OF HEALTH. fJan. 
Conclusion . 
I liave thus, gentlemen, given you my sincere convictions 
of what the State ought to do in one direction, at least, 
toward stemming this frightful evil of intemperance, which, 
although perhaps less diffused than formerly, and certainly 
not permitted by society as it was formerly, is nevertheless 
an evil of the greatest magnitude in Massachusetts. I 
sincerely hope that the Board wi 1 unite with me in advising 
thfi legislature to enter upon this plan of reformation. The 
idea, I trust, will also commend itself to all citizens. No 
one, even if he be a temperate or intemperate user of liquor 
or a strictly total abstainer, can object to this, which has 
been proved to be a feasible plan for curing the real drunkard. 
Finally, I would suggest for your consideration the follow- 
ing resolution :— 
Voted, That this Board earnestly and unanimously recommend to the 
legislature, as a sanitary measure of the highest importance, the establish- 
ment or endowment of one or more inebriate asylums or hospitals. 
I remain, very faithfully, 
Your friend and colleague, 
HENRY I. BOWDITCH. 1875.] INEBRIATE ASYLUMS OR HOSPITALS. 
APPENDIX 
TO THE PAPER ON INEBRIATE ASYLUMS. 
Intemperance as a Cause of Pauperism. 
In December last, circulars from the Secretary of the State 
Board of Health were sent to the overseers of the poor of this 
Commonwealth, requesting answers to the following ques- 
tions, and any other information on the subject involved in 
them, in order to complete investigations being made by the 
Chairman of the Board, Dr. Henry I. Bowditch. 
1. What proportion of the inmates of your almshouse are 
there in consequence of the deleterious use of intoxicating 
liquors ? 
2. What proportion of the children in the house are there 
in consequence of the drunkenness of parents ? . 
The number of cities and towns in the State is 341, and 
replies have been received from 282. 
First Question. 
Fifty towns are without almshouses, supporting their poor in those of 
other towns, or in private families. Eighty towns report none of this 
class as inmates. The following are the results derived from the reports 
of the remainder. 
Adult inmates directly and indirectly from this cause. Eesults from 
fifty-one towns. 
Whole number of inmates, . 445 
From this cause, 192 
From other causes, ......... 253 Proportion reported by these fifty-one towns. 
Highest, .... . ..... 
Lowest, ......... ,a, 
’ ••••if 
1 town, 
i “ i 
3 towns, .... $ 
1 town, | 
1 14 
i “ if 
8 towns, .... \ 
1 town, | 
1 i 
1 “ I 
1 “ I 
6 towns, .... |- 
1 town, 
5 towns, .... \ 
8 “ -f 
2 • i 
1 town, fg 
2 towns, .... \ 
2 “ I 
2 “ 4 
2 “ i 
9 “ 1 
z 15 
1 town, 
1 “ A 
i “ A 
Average percentage of adults from this cause, 35—j—. 
Almshouses having only adult inmates, and reporting only the proportion 
from this cause. Thirty-five towns: 
Highest, M 
Lowest, .... . . . ... \ 
1 town, ..... 
1 “ 9 
1 Iff 
2 tOAvns, .... f 
3 “ f 
2 “ | 
5 “ \ 
1 town, | 
5 towns, .... £ 
5 “ i 
1 town, | 
4 towns, .... £ 
1 town, | 
2 towns, .... 
2 “ * 
Average percentage from this cause, 40-J-. 
Reports from almshouses of fifty-seven towns, giving only the proportion, 
from this cause, of all inmates, both adults and children. 
Highest, .... . . . !| 92 per cent. 
Lowest, .... . . . . = 4.8 per cent. 
1 town, |f 
1 “ 4 
2 towns, .... f 
1 town, | 
5 towns, .... f 
5 “ f 
l;town, 
1 19¥ 
4 towns, .... | 
1 town, ff 
2 towns, .... | 
3 “ i 
1 town, || 
10 towns, .... \ 
1 town, . . . . . t6? 
1 . * 
1 “ a 
1 “ i 
4 towns, .... 
1 town, i 
6 towns, . . . . \ 
1 town, £ 
i “ A 
1 “ * 
1 ■jV 
Average percentage, 41. 1875.] INEBRIATE ASYLUMS OR HOSPITALS. 
Answers not proportional. 
9 towns report “ one.” 
3 “ “ “ two.” 
1 “ “ “ five.” 
1 “ “ “ probably ten.” 
1 town reports “all, i. e. one.” 
1 “ “ “ all, i. e. two.” 
1 “ “ “ all.” 
Seventeen towns. Number reported by sixteen towns,—33. 
Second Question. 
90 towns report, No children in house. 
86 “ “ “None” from this cause. 
27 “ “ “ All ” “ “ “ 
Thirty-three towns report one hundred and forty-five such children. 
From drunkenness of parents, 105 
“ “ “ both parents, 23 
“ “ “ father, 17 
Total, 145 
Proportional Answers. 
Fourteen towns. Highest, |£ = 98 per cent. Lowest, £ = 33 per cent. 
1 town, 
l “ If 
1 “ A 
i “ A 
i “ i 
i “ f 
3 towns, .... | 
1 town, | 
1 “ * 
1 “ | 
1 “ . • • • 1 
1 “ i 
Average percentage, 72.9. 
Towns having no Almshouses. 
First Question. 
Proportional answers, five towns. Highest, £ = 50 per cent. Lowest, 
£ = 16.7 per cent. 
2 towns, .... £ 
1 town, f 
1 town, £ . 
1 “ i 
• * * • 6 
Average percentage, 35.8. 
One town reports as supporting no children, and proportion as £ = 40 
per cent. 
Eight towns report twenty adults, viz.: 
3 towns, . . . “ one ” 3 
3 “ “ two ” 6 
1 town, . . . “ five ” 5 
1 “ ... “six” 6 
20 
One town “ all,” one town nearly “ all.” One town as lodging and 
feeding ten “ tramps,” or vagrants, per diem. STATE BOAED OF HEALTH. [Jan. 
Second Question. 
' Proportional answers, three towns. One town two towns \ ; average 
62.5 per cent. 
Nine towns report thirty-five children, viz.: 
2 towns, 3, .... 6 
1 town, 10, .... 10 
2 towns, 2, .... 4 
1 town, 3, .... 3 
1 town, 1, . . . . 1 
1 “ 6, “all” ... 6 
1 “ 5, . . . . 5 
35 
One town “ all.” One town “ none.” 
Outside Aid. 
By towns having almshouses. 
First Question. 
Proportional answers, including adults and children. Six towns 
1 town, -j97 
1 “ i 
1 “ f 
1 town, . . . ... \ 
1 “ t6& 
i “ • . • m 
Average percentage, 71.4. 
1 town reports, . . 5 parents | 1 town reports, . . 3 persons 
Second Question. 
Proportional answers. Four towns. 
1 town, 
1 “ i 
1 town, \ 
i “ n 
Average percentage, 61.6. 
1 town reports, 4 children. 
1 “ ........ 12 “ 
1 “ 6 
Total, 22 “ 
Particular Answers by Towns. 
Bernardston.—No. 1. One-fourtli of tlie number and nearly half the ex- 
pense chargeable to whiskejT. 
Boston.—Nos. 1 and 2. Deer Island Almshouse and Hospital. I would an- 
swer the above (the two questions) by saying to the best of my knowledge 
and belief per 90 cent, to both questions. 
Our register shows that full one-third of the inmates received for the last 
two years are here through the direct cause of drunkenness. Very few in- 
mates (there are exceptions) in this house but what rum brought them there. 
Setting aside the sentenced boys (sent here for truancy, petty theft, etc.), 
nine-tenths of the remainder are here through the influence of the use of in- 
toxicating liquors by the parents. The great and almost the only cause for 
so much poverty and distress in the city can be traced to the use of intoxi- 
cating drink either by husband or wife, or both. 1875.1 INEBRIATE ASYLUMS OR HOSPITALS. 
49 
Chelsea.—No. 1. We have no almshouse, but are of opinion that fully one- 
half of those we aid as paupers become so by reason of using intoxicating 
liquors as a beverage. 
No. 2. The same answer can be given to this question. 
Chesterfield.—No. 1. Seven-eighths of all the inmates of our almshouse are 
there in consequence of the deleterious use of intoxicating liquors, directly or 
indirectly. 
No. 2. There is but one child that cannot be traced to intoxicating 
liquors. 
Chicopee.—No. 1. Nineteen out of twenty. If it were not for intoxicating 
liquors, we should not need any almshouse. 
No. 2. Forty-nine out of fifty. 
Danvers.—No. 1. We have no almshouse in Danvers. Our poor are mostly 
supported in private families. About one-sixth of our poor are made pau- 
pers by intoxicating liquors. 
No. 2. One-half of our children are a town charge in consequence of the 
drunkenness of their parents. 
Dedham.—No. 1. We have fifteen in our almshouse, and three-fourths of 
the whole at least are there in consequence of the use, by themselves, or others 
on whom they should have depended for support. 
No. 2. The same proportion will apply to all the children, and I think 
more. The same rule will hold good to all the poor outside the almshouse, 
and leave a margin, I fear. 
Fairhaven.—No. 1. All are directly or indirectly there on account of the 
use of intoxicating liquors. 
Gardner.—No. 1. Nearly one-half. 
No. 2.—Whole number that we have had at our almshouse. 
Gloucester.—No. 1. We have had in our almshouse this year forty-six in- 
mates,—thirty-two adults and fourteen children. Twenty-six of the adults 
were there in consequence of the use of intoxicating liquors. 
No. 2. All the children, fourteen in number, that are there and have been 
there for 1874, were there in consequence of drunken parents. 
Out of about two hundred applicants for outside relief during the year, 
fifty per cent, of them were made poor directly or indirectly by the use of in- 
toxicating liquor. 
Hancoclc.—No. 1. There has been no public sale of liquors in Hancock for 
several years, and we therefore have no paupers and no almshouse. 
Haverhill.—No. 1. We have had fifty-three at our almshouse tlip past year ; 
forty-nine are there directly and indirectly from intoxicating liquors. Thirty- 
two directly and four from other causes besides liquors. 
No. 2. We have had eight families at our almshouse with children, seven 
on account of intemperance, one from other causes. Twelve children out of 
fifteen are there from drunken parents, both father and mother. 
Huntington.—No. 1. We have no almshouse, but we have to aid som» 
every year whose poverty is partly or wholly chargeable to intemperance.. 
We have three persons who are partly chargeable to intemperance now.. STATE BOARD OF HEALTH. [Jan. 
No. 2. Two of the three above named are children. We have but five 
who are wholly chargeable now. 
Number of persons, in 1873, wTho pay a poll-tax only, is ninty-one. Num- 
ber in 1874 is eighty-five. 
Lexington.—No. 1. There are seven adults in the house, four in conse- 
quence of intemperance. 
No. 2. There is but one child in the house, and that one is owing to the 
intemperance of both parents. 
We are furnishing aid to five parents and twelve children outside of house, 
intoxication being the cause. 
Ludlow.—No. 1. Hospitals, almshouses, prisons, we have none. 
Lynnfield.—In my experience as an overseer of poor for more than twenty 
years, I find a iarge percentage of those brought to the necessity of help from 
the town to have been caused by the use of intoxicating liquors. I am also 
happy to add, that in the country towns, the children of those parents who 
have been so unfortunate as to need such assistance, through the influence 
of our schools and the changes in the customs of society, are being educated 
up to a moral standard which promises a better future and less pauperism. 
Methuen.—No. 1. There are now in the almshouse in this town thirteen in- 
mates. Nine belong to one family, which is there temporarily in consequence 
of the drunkenness of the father. The remaining inmates (four) are not 
there in consequence of the deleterious use of liquors. 
No. 2. All. 
In my five years’ experience as overseer of the poor, I should not estimate 
the number of paupers fully supported by the town of Methuen, who became 
so by the excessive use of intoxicating liquors, as more than one-fourth. 
Milford.—Nos. 1 and 2. At this date (Dec. 14, 1874), there are in our poor- 
house nine men, eight women, and eight children. Of the nine men, seven 
are habitual drunkards, two made paupers by drunken sons, who have spent 
the property of their fathers, and made them paupers. Of the eight women, 
one is a drunkard, four others had drunken husbands, one a drunken father, 
the other two we cannot find out, not being able to get their parentage. Of 
the eight children, four have drunken father and mother, two drunken 
fathers; the other two have temperate parents. Of the two hundred and 
fifty-eight persons partially aided Sept. 1,1874, we can find but eight per- 
sons who do not owe their poverty directly or indirectly to the use of intox- 
icating liquors. 
Milbury.—No. 1. Three-fourths of them. 
No. 2. We have no children at almshouse at present, but all that we have 
had in the past, to my knowledge, have been on account of drunkenness. 
Monroe.—We have no almshouse in town and no druuken inmates. No 
paupers in town that I know of. 
Montgomery.—We have no almshouse in the town of Montgomery, but 
three-sevenths of our paupers were made so from liquors. 
New Ashford.—This town has but one pauper at present, seventy-six years 
of age; he lias been a drunkard for more than fifty years; his son is a drunk- 
ard, and his grandson is ditto. 1875.] INEBRIATE ASYLUMS OR HOSPITALS. 
Newbury.—We have no almshouse, hut those that are partially supported, 
and abotft one-half of the fully supported, are all caused by intoxicating 
liquors. 
Norfolk.—Fortunate for our town, we have no almshouse, nor house where 
liquor may he obtained, hut will give this testimony : have never examined 
any case of pauperism as to its cause but found drunkenness as a family disease. 
Pittsfield.—No. 1. About one-half. 
No. 2. We have no children in our almshouse except from drunken parents. 
Raynham.—No. 1. The only two fully supported by the town, and one- 
third of those partially supported. 
Richmond.—No almshouse, no town paupers for the last three years. We 
have from one to ten vagrants or “ tramps ” each night, and many of them 
show the effect of liquor. 
Rowley.—I have been overseer of poor thirteen years, and think six- 
eighths of our pauper expense is caused by liquor, directly or indirectly. 
Russell.—No. 1. There is no almshouse in Russell, but most of those sup- 
ported become paupers on account of liquor. 
No. 2. Three-fourths. 
I believe that tobacco in all its forms has more to do in making men in- 
temperate and drunkards than any other cause. Drinking generally follows 
the using of tobacco. Boys commence young in using it, and drinking soon 
follows. 
Sandwich.—Of one hundred and forty-nine persons aided out of almshouse 
(sixty-four adults and eighty-five children), fifty-five are paupers from in- 
temperance (twenty-eight children and twenty-seven adults). Not all the 
adults were themselves intemperate, being widows and wives whose hus- 
bands are or were drunkards. 
Springfield.—No. 1. There are thirty-one adults in our almshouse, and 
twenty-one were brought there by intemperance. 
No. 2. There are fourteen children, and thirteen in consequence of 
drunkenness. 
In addition to circular, I would say that we have lodged and fed eight 
thousand and fifty-two persons that we call “tramps,” and I can seldom find 
a man among them who was not reduced to that condition by intemperance. 
It is safe to say nine-tenths are drunkards, though we have not the exact 
records; also our records show that we have aided outside the almshouse 
four hundred families, one thousand one hundred and twelve persons, out of 
which one hundred and twenty-five families, four hundred and forty-three 
persons, were brought to destitution by intemperance. 
Stockbridge.—No. 1. We have no almshouse, but one-fifth of our paupers 
are supported because of such use. 
Stoughton.—No. 2. None just now, hut during the past year one hundred 
per cent. 
Wakefield.—We have at the present time fourteen inmates of our alms- 
house. Of these, nine were brought there directly by the use of intoxicating STATE BOARD OF HEALTH. [Jan. 
liquors. Of the remaining five, three -were so weak mentally as to be in- 
capable of supporting themselves, hut whose condition was aggravated by 
the use of spirituous liquors. In short, of the whole fourteen, there are but 
two entirely free in this respect, while nine of the number were reduced to 
their present condition by this pernicious habit. 
Wales.—We have no almshouse, but we have one pauper that has been 
supported by our town over forty years in consequence of the intemperance 
of her husband; and a son of these parties is supported at the Northampton 
Hospital for the Insane, brought to his present condition on account of his 
own and his father’s intemperate habits. We have supported him about 
fourteen years. 
Westfield.—No. 1. There are two aged*men, both in consequence of in- 
toxicating liquors; seven women ; four of the husbands died drunkards. 
No. 2. Three idiotic boys ; their fathers are drinking men. 
West Newbury.—No. 1. One-eighth part of the inmates of our almshouse 
for the past year were; there in consequence of excessive use of intoxicating 
liquor, and that part indirectly. 
Winchester.—Am sorry to say that, of all that receive aid from this town, 
four-fifths are themselves addicted to the over-indulgence of intoxicating 
drink, or are the families of such. Of the seven that receive full support 
from the town, three are confirmed inebriates, one widow of an inebriate, 
two are children of a drunken father, and one from disability not caused by 
drink. 
Winthrop.—We have no poor. 
Worcester.—No. 1. From October 1st, 1873, to October 1st, 1874, there were 
in our almshouse ninety persons in all, and forty-six of them were sent there 
from the effects of intemperance. 
No. 2. We have in our almshouse seven children, all of whom are there 
from the cause of drunken parents. 
Think can safely say from records of overseers of the poor, that fully forty 
per cent, of the disbursements of the almoner of the board have gone to 
sustain drunken families. We have about fifty thousand inhabitants, and 
near fifteen thousand are foreigners, mostly Irish and Canadians. 
>State Institutions. 
South Boston (School for Idiotic and Feeble-minded Youth).—No. 1. Probably 
one-third in consequence of the indirect effect of the habitual use of strong 
drink. 
No. 2. The parent or parents of one-sixth are avowedly drunkards. Tin* 
real proportion is much higher—I should say one quarter. 
Bridgewater (State Workhouse).—No 1. Two-thirds. 
No. 2. One-third. 
Charlestown (State Prison).—No. 1. About eighty five per cent.. 
Lancaster (Industrial School).—No. 1. About five per cent. 
No. 2. About seventy-five per cent. 1875.] INEBRIATE ASYLUMS OR HOSPITALS. 
Northampton (State Lunatic Hospital).—No. 1. Patients admitted from De- 
cember 30th, 1873, to October 1st, 1874 (one year): men, one hundred and 
live; women, eighty-eight; total, one hundred and ninety-three. Intemper- 
ance alleged as the cause of insanity: men, twenty-one; women, three; 
total, twenty-four. Of at least one-half of our patients we obtain no full 
and reliable history. I think it would be fair to assume intemperance as 
the main cause in at least twenty-four cases more. 
Taunton (State Lunatic Asylum).—No. 1. Without going into close calcula- 
tion I should say, one-fifth ; certainly as many as that if you include those 
where the use of intoxicating liquors is conjoined with other causes as here- 
ditary predisposition, trouble, etc. 
Tewksbury (State Almshouse).—No. 1. Our physician says three-fourths. 
No. 2. Don’t keep any record by which we can ascertain. 
Westborouyh (State Reform School).—No. 1. Two-sevrentlis. 
No. 2. One-half plus. 
Worcester (State Lunatic Hospital).—No. 1. Five per cent, are attributed to 
intemperance, and in a few other cases intemperance doubtless was one of 
the causes. Of eight hundred and seven patients admitted during the last 
two years, just ten per cent, were caused by intemperance, and in a few 
others intemperance may have aided. 
State Workhouse, Bridgewater, Dec. 14, 1874. 
Chas. F. Folsom, M.D., Secretary of State Board of Health. 
Dear Sir :—Your circular is just received. My answer to your questions 
must of necessity partake largely of “ guessicork.” The prisoners at this 
institution are rather of the mild type of criminals. Most of them sen- 
tenced on such charges as the following, viz.: “ Idle and disorderly,” 
“Vagrant,” “Common drunkard,” “Lewd, wanton, and lascivious.” The 
first class, “ Idle and disorderly,” comprise I think two-thirds of the whole, 
'fhe children that are here, sixty in number, are mostly illegitimate—were 
born here of mothers who were sentenced for being “ lewd.” From inform- 
ation received of the inmates themselves, I should say seven-eighths of the 
adults were in the habit of using liquor to excess. 
I have answered your questions somewhat at random, but think I am not 
much out of the way. 
Yours truly, 
N. Leonard, Jr., Supt.