Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1861-09-11

drunkards at thirty per cent. over that Of
healthy blood Huss finds the arteria as
well as the veinous blood of dram-drinkers
loaded with fat, and containing unchanged
alcohol, willie deficient both in blood
globules and in solid constituents.
Alcohol passes directly from the stom-
ach and intestines into the blood part
of it may there be decomposed, but part
is carried directly through the intestinal
veins, where much is exhaled, while the
remainder passes in the arterial system,
and is difused over the whole body. The
kidneys receive it abundantly, as appears
from observations like the following:
A man aged forty seven, while intoxica-
ted, threw himself into the water. The |
body was recovered in less than an hour,
and examined fourteen hours after DEATH !
Half an ounce of urine from the bladder |
was being heated in an iron spoon over
the flame of candle, to ascertain if it
contained albumen, when the flame set fire
to the vapor rising from the fluid. Moles-
chott accounts for the lessened demand for
food and solid nourishment among topers
by the spontaneous slow combustion of al
cohol in their blood, where it is converted
into carbonic acid and water This pre-
vents the oxygen of the blood from COM
bining with the organic mass of solid It's
sues, and retards their normal and constant
metamorphosis.
Becker's analyst of the blood in five
drunkards show in one thousand parts of
blood, compared with the average standard
of healthy blood:
Drunkards vs. Healthy.
soldid constituents after reno
val of fbrin, 202.180 2st.OOO
Blood globules, 122.4s4 14I.i0O
Albumen, 1864 69.400
Extractive matters and soluble
salts, 1854 6SOO
Connected with these changes in the
blood are others in the heart and arteries,
which contribute to vitiate the circulation
of dram drinkers. In eleven of DIR. Og-
ston's seventy three cases, the walls of the
heart were loaded with fat in FIVE cases,
the leftyentricle was morbidly enlarged
in eleven others, the whole heart was so
the right yentricle was dilated and thinned
in nine the valves were diseased in four
teen cases, the mitral valve in eight, the
aortic in two, the tricuspid in four; the
aorta was dilated in four cases, and weak
ened by fatty and bone earth deposits in
four. Forty-one per cent. of all examined
showed disease of the heart, aorta and
pericardium. These are to be attributed
in part to the gouty and rheumatic affec
tions engendered or developed by alcoholic
fluids. Associated with the precited blooC
changes are certain deteriorations in tht
nervous system. At the post mortens o
sixty-seven drunkards examined by Drs
Peters, Goldsr,ith and Moses In '42 and 4 3
the membranes of the brain were inva-
riably congested, with efusion of watel
| under them. The brain substance was un
, usually firm, as though it had been in al
! cohol an hour or two; and this firmnes
: was the more remarkable in cases wher,
2 decomposition Of the rest of the body hat
made considerable advance. Typhus fcve
: is the only disease, save induration of tn
t brain, in which like firmness is often oh
!, served, SAYS DR.. Peters, who records th
pathological changes with minuteness G
J. detail highly interesting to the profession
! but which would be lost upon the public
< Corresponding to these, we observe in liz
: ing drunkards the following alteration
t from the healthy functions of the brain :
e Hallucinations, melancholy with inclina
: tion to suicide, mania with propensity t
:, murder, in other cases, to incendiarisn
$ feroeiy, stupidity, imbecility.
SPECIAL SENSES.
Sight.-Alcohol acts most powerful
!, on that tract of the brain whence the Opt
= :. nerves take their origin. Hence drum
= kards see double, or think they see vari
J riety of objects, men, animals, angels G
: demons. The eyes are bloodshot and lool
bilious.
:. Hearing.-Singing and roaring in th
ears are not uncommon, nor are the ilu
sions of voices talking or shouting whic
occur in chronic alcoholism, most freqnen
IS ly in the evening and about midnigh
is They combine with the illusions or sigi
II in deliriuna tremefs. We have known
h drunkard menaced by the trees as b
IF walked The big pine trees soughed
of base tones, DAMN YOUR EYES! an
d the little pine tree sighed in soprano I'll
/. same refrain, Damn your eyes ~
d SmeA.-The nose is generally vel
st tolerant sense in the subjects of ALCOHOL
Of They sometimes, however, imagine tn
k their rooms are full Of sulphur vapors,
le that the devil has defiled their beds.
Tdste.--The mouth is generally We
le dry, although in delirium trenseas ii
to tongue is often moist. Sometimes all drinl
L. taste of alcohol. The appearance of Il
or tongue varies in the same person as
MS drinks more or less, or as the stomach,
ne more or less irrita.ed. The cracks or fu
bit rows in it, whether small! or deep, straigI
A or crooked, always run from its midd
tn line towards its edges. The surface ma
on be furry, but it is oftener scraped and as
> vanished, flesh red, aud with enlarged p
O. piil@ at the tip. The tongue of the drum
.ss ard treml les; and this trembling Of Il
IL noble organ of speech, like the stamme
ing that prevents his articulate ntteranc
betray degradation below the hum;
level.
~ His breath smells offensive, especial
'e' during digestion, this being due in part
'se the filth which accumulates> between Il