>What analysis has been done on the actual >amounts, doseage and quality of the booze and tobacco Twain used? > >It's clear he was able to function very well on some levels and we >are richer for it. In Kay Redfield Jamison's "Touched with Fire, Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temprament," Samuel Clemens is identified in Appendix B as a writer with probable cyclothymia, major depression, or manic-depressive illness. All of the above go hand in hand with self-medication by way of alcohol and/or other drugs which sometimes are used to extend the fantastic highs and at other times to relieve the suffering of the sometimes fatal depression. Did Twain drink? No doubt about it. Did he drink to medicate himself and, while so medicated, continue to work? We can only guess. Marcus W. Koechig