THE EVOLUTION OF A METAPHOR

-- Scientific truth:
Ethanol depresses the central nervous system.

-- Anonymous, Emaré, 14th century (a messenger gets drunk, he is drugged in that manner, and he is unconscious): loss of reason / theft of reason:

He made hym well at ese and fyne,   
Bothe of brede, ale and wyne,
And that berafte hym hys reson.    (took away from him his reason)
                                                                       (or: stole his reason) 
When he was on slepe browght...
In modern English:
He was well at ease with bread, ale, and wine,
and lost his senses.
And when he was asleep...


-- William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Othello, 17th century (a young lieutenant falls from grace, having drunk too much on duty): theft of reason:

CASSIO:  I remember a mass of things, but nothing distinctly;
a quarrel, but nothing wherefore. O God, that men
should put an enemy in their mouths to steal away
their brains!

-- Eliza Cook, "The Sacrilegious Gamesters", 19th century (a young gambler is suddenly awakened from his intoxication): dethroning and reinstatement of reason:

But now the charm hath lost its spell, 
The heated fumes have passed; 
And banished reason to her throne, 
Usurped, advances fast.

- Anonymous, "The Student's Fall", 19th century (a lightweight young student is coaxed by his friends to drink): also dethroning of reason:

At length, by the persuasions of one of his dearest friends, he took the first glass, and finding that his spirits became more buoyant, he took another and another, until Alcohol usurped the throne from which Reason had fled abashed... and the proud scholar fell drunk upon the floor.



-- Sandra Dermark, "Star-Crossed Lieberecht", 21st century (a young Prussian lieutenant, prisoner of the Austrians, is given brandy as a truth drug and betrays state secrets): dethroning of reason by force, violently:

His sight was clouded, and the effect of liquor quenched the firelight of his reason. A coup d'état had taken place within his system.

--Sandra Dermark, "The Tragedy of Othello," 21st century (a young lieutenant falls from grace, having drunk too much on duty): dethroning of reason by force, violently:

CASSIO (doubtfully sipping):
This real amber nectar of a liquor
will thrust bright reason off
her rightful throne!