South Australia - Social Matters
- Censorship
- Charity
- Children and Youths
- Dancing and Other Sins
- Domestic Servants
- Early Closing
- Marriage and Divorce
- Men
- Old Age Pensions, etc
- Smoking
- Village Settlements
Gambling
- Card "Sharping"
- Horse Racing
- Miscellany
- State Lotteries
- Totalizator
Temperance and Allied Matters
- Alcoholism and Drunkenness
- Barmaids
- Local Options
- Miscellany
- Shouting
- Sunday Drinking
- Teetotalism and Prohibition
- Treatment of Inebriates
- Miscellany
Temperance and Allied Matters
Treatment of Inebriates
Also see Belair and Place names - Kalyra.
When is a Man Drunk?
(Taken from the unpublished reminiscences of A.R. Calvesbert, edited by Geoffrey H. Manning - copy in State Library)
- Drunk or Not Drunk? Before the days of the breathalyser, which was introduced in South Australia on 11 October 1965, this question was raised in police courts throughout the world. At the Adelaide police station the police officer relied upon his eyes, ears and nose to answer the question. An allegedly drunken man was taken to the watchhouse and appeared before the officer in charge who took the final decision. Dilated eye pupils, thickness of speech, alcoholic odour and absence of control of the body were generally enough to tell the sergeant whether a man was drunk or not. In one case out of a thousand, if there was doubt, the captive was asked to walk a chalk line or stand on one leg and these were looked upon in Adelaide as unfailing and sufficient test of sobriety.
One man, representative of his class, said that he could not possibly be drunk as he had only had 20 pints of beer from the time of getting out of bed until he was arrested some time before noon, while another declared that he had only three drinks on the day of his downfall. Cross examination, however, showed him to be a poor mathematician, another half-dozen drinks being unearthed by a clever lawyer.
It was often the case that persons who had most stoutly maintained their sobriety on the night of their arrest, pleaded guilty in different light of the 'morning after' which brings to mind an old verse:
-
If I were drunk and knew I were drunk,
Why, then I was not drunk.
But if I were drunk and did not know I was drunk,
Why, then I was drunk, indeed.
Returning to the watchhouse he recounted the story of his thrilling chase, his discourse being interrupted by much puffing and blowing. 'And what were you going to arrest him for?', a fellow policeman asked. 'Mit drunkenness, of course,' came the reply, 'but I could not him catch!'
General Notes
Inebriate asylums are discussed in the Register,
6 January 1874, page 5a,
18 and 21 February 1874, pages 5a and 5b,
8 and 29 January 1875, pages 5b and 6d.
Statistics of Drunkenness" is in the Register,
4 October 1876, page 5a,
"Habitual Drunkards" on
9 January 1879, page 4f.
"Drunkenness in SA" is in the Register,
16 September 1884, page 4g.
"Drunkards in SA" is in the Register,
24 July 1888, page 4h.
The treatment of inebriates is discussed in the Advertiser,
30 January 1894, page 4e,
17 December 1903, page 6d,
"Drink as a Disease" on
7 December 1897, page 4h,
"Habitual Inebriates" on
19 March 1898, page 6d.
"The Gothenburg System" is in the Register,
30 July 1894, page 4f,
6 December 1894, page 6h,
28 March 1899, page 3g,
24 July 1899, page 3h.
"What Should be Done with Habitual Drunkards?" is in the Observer,
2 April 1898, page 13a.
"A Cure for Drunkenness" is in the Register,
30 December 1899, page 6g.
Cartoons are in The Critic,
2 August 1902, page 17,
11 October 1902, page 17.
"The Law and the Drunkard" is in the Register,
31 January 1903, page 6d.
"Reforming Drunkards" is in the Register,
27 April 1904, page 4c,
21 March 1908, page 7g.
"Drink Disease - How to Cure the Malady" is in the Register,
15 May 1905, page 3a,
"Doctors and Intoxicants" on
15 May 1905, page 4c.
"Treatment of Inebriates" on
11 November 1905, pages 6d-10e,
31 March 1908, pages 6d-9c,
Advertiser,
9 August 1909, page 6d.
"Drink Disease - Proposed State Retreat" is in the Advertiser,
6 and 11 July 1906, pages 8h and 6c,
"The Treatment of Inebriates" on
28 November 1906, page 6c,
12 February 1907, page 6c,
"The Cause and Cure of Alcoholism" is in the Register,
3 July 1906, page 3g; also see
7 and 11 July 1906, pages 8d and 6c,
"The Drink Disease - By One Reclaimed" on
17 September 1906, page 5h.
"The Drink Disease - By One Reclaimed" is in the Register,
17 September 1906, page 5h.
"The Inebriates' Bill" is discussed in the Register on
14 October 1907, page 6c,
25 November 1907, page 6b.
"Saving Drunkards from Themselves" is in the Register,
9 and 12 October 1907, pages 4c and 7h,
"Drunkenness, Drugs and Hypnotism" on
3 February 1908, page 4d.
"Reforming Drunkards" is in the Register,
21 March 1908, page 7g,
"Hypnotism and Drunkenness" on
10 August 1908, page 10i,
"Drunkards" on
24 August 1908, page 4c.
"Hypnotism and Drunkenness" is in the Register,
10 August 1908, page 10i,
"Drunkards" on
24 August 1908, page 4c.
"Treatment of Inebriates" is in the Advertiser,
29 September 1911, page 9b,
27 December 1912, page 8e,
22 August 1913, page 8c,
24 January 1914, page 7g.
"Inebriates' Home - Land Purchase for Site" is in the Observer,
16 May 1914, page 49c.
A poem on alcoholism is in the Register,
16 January 1920, page 9e.
