Orangeburg news and times. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1875-1877, 1876-01-29
How Drunk Comes.
EErECrs or ALcouoL-TnE INToxI-
eating Process, PIIYs1oI.oGIcALLy
CONSIDERED.


CONSIDERED.
In n late number Of the Edinburgh
Review is an exhaustive and care
fully written paper upon the "Phy-
siologicnl influences OF alcohol" It
is culm and scientific; not emotional,
but crowded with facts and informa-
ton.
According to this article,
when q spiritrus drink is taken
into the body it docs not simply run
into the digestive cavity oftl'at body,
but it runs through the blood before
il can find any escape, and it clingsto
that blood Tor considerable period,
flowing with it round and round
through The circulating stream Of its
unccasing progress. 1t goes every
where in each fib:c, membrane and
tissue, and fills and saturatcs each
vital organ flesh, grain, heart, liver,
lang, kidney, skin and sccrcting ap-
.paratuS. Wherever there should be
blood, under the natural arrange
ments Of life, there is now blood
mingled with The alcoholic spirit
Articles Of food arc "complcx
bo,tics, built up from simpler elements
by The effort Of vegetable life" :"
Alcohol is NOT such y complex sub
st,incr, but it is a product Of the
downward degradation and decay Of
such Il complex principle" The foods
which furnish substance 70 the living
structure are, for the most part, com
posed With the aid Of nitrogen. and
have therefore al affinity with tie
vital Iars Of the human >tru c:urc.
The Gbrin ii The blood the muscular
flesh, the cari!cscs and lcndonS, !hc
membranes and the skin, The soft
nerve pup and the brain arc All SO
many examples ofnitrogcnized mat
ter" But alcohol is entirely devoid
Of nitrogen in any form. III The
exceptional eases where alcolel his
been found useful rs medicine an
unnatural condition Of tn, body
exists, and physicians should deter
nine when siinnia,,s a., IL medicine
are ncccssory.
The parts ofllsc holy which possess
the most energetic vitality, the brain,
:hc nerves, and the nervous material
Of the spinal cord, are principally
composed OF matter of.he most PUPPY
consistcncc, so SOFT that il may almost
be termed melting. This nerve pulp
is packed into minut pliny sacks and
tubes diSccr.iblc only by microscopic
aid. Through til SC tinyand almost
invisible films The blood is "iiltcrcd.'
The nerve pulp oppropratcs such
qualities Of The blood us nouriShcs life
and build up the structure, and Mt the
same time reject and throw back into
the stream their own waste particles.
Large quantities Of water enter into
The composition Of This pulpy matter,
and The first evil effects Of nlchol is to
withdraw this water. For alcohol has
an Uncomfortable impulse" to draw
water into itself. Excessive uscof
alcohol hardcns and dries up the nerve
pulp in such Il way as TO impair il not
spoil it for lis proper Office. When
excessive drinking docs not produce
intoXication it is because the nerve
pulp has become inscnsiblc rs an
"oilcd sponge"
The flushed face upon the approach
Of incbration is among the earliest
signs Of the disturbance Of these deli
cafe "iiltcrs" i'll their work, the face
being among the parts Of the body
exceptionally supplied with blood.
The restraining" or liltcring work Of
the pulpy substance is impaired, and
hence The unnatural reception Of fblood
into the pulp cells. lfthis unnatural
process is repeated or becomes habi-
tual, the blotchcd, rcd swollen and
pimplcd face is The result Of keeping
the nerve pulp saturated with alcohol,
and The delicate membranes thickcn-