Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1877-01-27
How Alcohol IntOxicates.

Revie,U is an exhaustive and carefully
written paper upon 'sThe Physiolog-
ical influence or Alcohol" It il
based upon three works published in
London: Alcohol, its Action and ita
Uses, by Benjamin W. Richardson,
m. p, 1877; the Origin. Nature and
f xip y prs, :. T. ".
Thudicum and August Dupre, 1879:
and Stimulants aud Narcotics and
their Medical Relations by Francis
E. Bienstie, NJ. D., 1864. As is moi
unfrequent in the articles in leading
reviews, the writer brings to the sub
ject, knowledge drawn from other
sources. 1t would be very good
idea in the publishers of what are
known as temperance works to pro-
duce this review in a handy form;
and the more so, that it is calm and
scientific, not emotional, but crowded
with facts and information. It would
be interesting to everybody who de-
sires authentic information upon q
curious, and to most minds a very
complex subject. In the present
article some of the most striking
points are presented, in language di-
vested as far as possible, Of scientific
terms.
When a spirituous drink is taken
into the body it does not simply run
through the digestive cavity, but it
runs through the blood before it can
find any escape, and it clings to that
blood for considerable period flow
ing with it. round and round, through
the circling stream of its unceasing
progress. 1t goes everywhere, in
each fiber. membrane and tissue, and
fills and saturates each vital organ
flesh, brain, heart, liver. lung, kid
ney, skin and secreting apparatus.
Wherever there should he blood,
under the natural arrangements Of
life, there is now blood mingled ,cith
the alcoholic spirit.
Articles Of food are complex
bodies, built up from simpler ele-
ments by the effort of vegetable life. +"
Alchohol is not such complex sub
stance; but it is "product Of the
downward degradition and decay Of
such a complex principle. The
foods which furnish substance to the
living structure are for the most part,
composed of nitrogen and have
therefore an affinity with the vital
parts of the human structure" The
fibrin of tho blood, the muscular
flesh. the cartilages and tendons, the
membranes and the skin, the soft
nerve pulp, and the brain are all SO
many examples Of the nitrogenixed
matter ?" But alcohol is entirely de-
void of nitrogen in any form. In
the exceptional cases where alcohol
has been found useful as medicine,
an unnatural condition Of the body
exists, and physicians should deter.
mine when stimulants, as medicine,
are necessary. The parts OF the
body which possess the most ener.
getic vitality. the brain, the nerves
and nervous material Of the spinal
cord, are principally composed oi
matter of the most pulpy consis
tence, 60 soft thatit may almost bs
termed melting. This nsrvs-pulp il
packed into minute pliny sacks and
tubes describabls only by microscopic
aid. Through these tiny and almos'
| invisible films the blood is I" filtered.
The nerve-pulp appropriated suci
qualities of the blood as nourish lif'
and build up the structure, and q
| the same time reject and throw bacl
| into the stream their own waste par
ticles. Large quantities Of waite
enter into the composition on thi
pulpy matter, and the first evil Of
feet of alcohol is to withdraw thi
water. For alcohol has an "uncon
trollabls impulse" to draw water int
| itself. Excessive use OF alcoho
hardens and draws mp the nerve-pul
in such away as to impair IL nc
spoil it for its proper Office. Whs
excessive drinking does not produe
linto1ication il is because the nerve
pulp has become insensibls a. q
"oiled sponge"
The flushed face upon the q
proach OF inebriatioi ID among %