Intemperance

During the 19th and early 20th centuries, intemperance—specifically regarding alcohol—became a significant focus of social reform and medical study.

Focus specifically on the in the 19th century.

: Poe's works, such as "The Black Cat," illustrate how intemperance combines with traits like cruelty and perversity to produce "haunting" outcomes. He often surveyed the "long catalogue of victims" offered up to the "idol" of intemperance. intemperance

: In works like The Pickwick Papers and The Drunkard's Death , Dickens provided medically precise descriptions of alcohol abuse, depicting its "detrimental effects on both mental and bodily health".

: Societies implemented laws to suppress intemperance, including penalties for those who allowed excessive drinking or gaming in their establishments. Intemperance in Literature He often surveyed the "long catalogue of victims"

In ethical philosophy, temperance is seen as the rational control of these appetites, necessary for a "harmoniousness of soul". Intemperance, therefore, is the disruption of this harmony, where sensual pleasures are no longer subordinate to reason. Historical and Medical Perspectives

: Early medical writers began to classify habitual drunkenness as a "disease," even when it was initiated by a "vicious" act of choice. Reformers like Benjamin Rush argued that victims deserved compassion similar to those afflicted with other maladies. Intemperance in Literature In ethical philosophy

: Excessive eating, drinking, or sleeping.