Inhibition of function and autointoxication should not be vague terms. They cause and are measurable by definite clinical evidence. They display manifest phenomena and symptoms, and become increasingly defined material entities as the clinician looks for them as such. Much of inhibition of function and autointoxication and of their manifestations, has been recognized and taught under their own heading and in connection with conditions other than narcotic drug addiction-disease. That the influence and importance of inhibition of function and autointoxication in the development, and manifestations of the narcotic drug addict has escaped general and widespread recognition, is evidence of the small amount of unbiased clinical study, and of analytical clinical interpretation of material physical phenomena, hitherto accorded to narcotic drug cases. I would not have it concluded that all symptoms and manifestations arising in the handling of a drug addict are due to the factors and elements I have discussed in this chapter. It must be always in the mind of the intelligent and conscientious physician, that he has in his care a human being with the same medical and psychical possibilities that must be taken into careful and complete account, as in the handling of any other sick person. There is an unfortunate tendency to overlook concurrent, or complicating or pre-existing conditions in the handling of the narcotic drug addict. These cases are often extremely complex and difficult to analyze, and for adequate comprehension and handling of them, the symptoms and manifestations they show should be appreciated in their true origin and character as they occur in each individual case. CHAPTER V REMARKS ON METHODS OF TREATING NARCOTIC DRUG ADDICTION