Indian Medicine (Medicin), translated by C. G. Kashikar c15.8

c15.8

§ 92. Intoxication and Delirium tremens :-Spirituous drinks (*madya*) act like ambrosia by proper use, and like poison by improper use. Of the three or four stages of intoxication (*mada*) the first sharpens intelligence, memory and appetite, causes serenity etc., the second produces weakness of mind and memory, indistinctness of speech, sleepiness and the like, by the third stage a person does not remain responsible for his actions, so that he lets out secret, eats prohibited things, commits incests and the like, at the fourth stage he lies senseless on the ground like a piece of wood or a corpse. From drunkenness the diseased condition *madātyaya* arises with the following general symptoms : deafness, pain in the chest, diarrhoea, continuous thirst, fever, loss of appetite, trembling of the head, sides, bones and the heart, phantasy, bad dreams etc. As special signs by vāta Mādhava mentions : hiccup, breathlessness.