A staggering 1860s photo series illustrates the '5 stages of inebriation'

Stage one.

Image: State Library of New South Wales

This sequence of photographs illustrating the ability of alcohol to transform a fine upstanding citizen into a staggering wreck was produced by Australian photographer Charles Percy Pickering at his studio in Sydney.

It is possible that the pictures were commissioned by a local temperance organization, perhaps as visual aids for literature on the evils of drink.

Stage two.

Image: State Library of New South Wales

Though Australia never enacted full prohibition like the United States, organizations such as the Independent Order of Rechabites campaigned against alcohol beginning in the mid-1800s. Read more...

More about Beer, Australia, Drinking, Alcohol, and History

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