Abstract
IN a paper on this subject (Brit. J. Inebriety, July–October), Dr. J. D. Bolleston remarks that with the exception of Hovorka and Kronfeld's great work on comparative folk medicine no writers have dwelt at length on folk–lore in relation to alcoholism. He has therefore collected the folk–lore of this condition, as he has recently done in the case of general medicine, dermatology and pulmonary tuberculosis. His paper deals with the nomenclature, popular phraseology, superstitions and leechcraft connected with alcoholism and alcohol, the term ‘leechcraft’ being that commonly employed in the language of folk–lore to indicate popular methods of prevention and treatment. In a previous paper on “Alcoholism in Classical Antiquity”(Brit. J. Inebriety, 24, 101; 1927) he directed attention to the numerous synonyms for inebriated or bibulous persons, both in Greek and Latin, as well as in English, which contained about seventy such terms, only a minority of which could be called slang, whereas there are more than 280 slang synonyms for the word ‘drink’, 160 for the verb ‘to drink’, and 150 for various forms of intoxication. Popular interest in the consumption of alcohol, especially in excess, was further demonstrated by the great variety of similes connected with the subject. After dealing with the superstitions and popular errors connected with alcohol and alcoholism, which are legion, Dr. Rolleston discusses the popular methods of prevention and cure for inebriety, which he classifies under the headings of animal remedies, including coprotherapy, plant remedies, of which a large proportion are mentioned by Pliny, mineral remedies, invocation of patron saints and water.
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Folk–lore of Alcoholism. Nature 148, 748 (1941). https://doi.org/10.1038/148748c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/148748c0