The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1885-10-03
TEMPERANCE READING, Z
ALCOHOL IN THE SYSTEM

The familiar phenomenon of blusbino
is produced by some emotion, either
agreeable or other V. A. S. Ifilrs
Rhetorics, p. A. The circulatory svs-
tenn, consisting of heart, arteries, veins
and capillaries, is supplied with nerves
from the sympathetic system. When
these nerves are in their normal copdi-
ton, they maintain a certain tension in
the muscular walls of the arter,os and
| veins. Ii from any cause the synna-
thetic nerve is paralyzcd, the tens on Is
removed from the blood-yessels whicb
it supplies, and the result is an in
! creased flow of blood in the arteries. SO
that the small capillaries become
gorged with blood Such is the case
when some sudden emotion takes pos
session OF the mind; not flush Is feIt
the skin grows red. Sometimes these
changes are confined to the cheeks
only, or they extend to the roots of
| the hair" or "all over
Alcohol produces the same results.
Very soon after alcohol is taken into
the system it paralyzes the sympathetic
! blood-vessels is lost; an increased flow
of blood finds its way into the small
capillaries which gives the7slzin OF tndS
face and neck especially, a flushed apf
| pearance. When alcohol is habitualIy
taken, the elasticity of the muscular
/ walls of the blood-yessels is, in large
| measure, lost; so that after the immedi-
ate effects of the alcohol have passed
/ away the blood-yessels fail to resume
/ the + normal size, and the flashed APP
pearance of the face becomes per-
manent.
Now, the heart is pump, filing the
/ arteries which lead from it with blood.
When the normal tens on is removed
from these arteries and they become
enlarged. it takes more blood to fill
them. So that, whereas in healthy
state the arteries by their tensions are
4 check upon the action of the heart
under the diseased condition produced
by alcohol. that check is removed and
the fiabby walls OF the arteries, crying
for more blood offer no resistance to
the action of the heart. In a healthy
person the heart beats seventy times
per minute, or about 100, 900 in q day.
Careful experiments show that two
ounces of alcohol, the amount very
moderate ale or whisky drinker takes
daily, increase the heart beat5 5000 in
tWenty-four hours. So then the heart
OF moderate drinker beats 106, 900
times, instead of 100 600 times in day.
The force eNerted 10y the heart in beat
inc 5000 times would lift a weight of
to Igs - s
ting the result in another form, the
heart is driven to do extra work equal
TO lifting 655 pounds one foot high each
hour. Is it any wonder that a feeling
Of Ianguor succeeds, or that reaction
follows when the immediate effects OF
the alcohol have passed off?
/ The effect of alcohol upon albumen
can readily be seen by dropping an egg
into glass of alcohol. Ii is immedi-
ately cooked. Albumen forms a large
part of the tissues of the body. Alcohol
hardens the albumen in the tissues, Just
as it hardens it in the egg. This SEefyN
delicate walls of the ar-cells If the
lungs are thus thickened and hardened.
When the impure blood is brought to
the lungs, to exchange its carbonic acid
and other waste products for oxygen,
it finds between it and the fresh air
thickened, hardened membrane through
which the exchange can be made but
slowly and imperfectly. The blood
must return to the tissues of the body
still filed with impurities. The cor
puscles still charged with carbonic acid
are enlarged, and thus the blood is
made thick.
Alcohol has a strong affinity for wa
ter. 1t DIR nks up all the moisture of the
bOdy'and causes inordinate thirst Al
cOhOl begets a strong appetite for it
self, so that the thirst which it produces
is generally slakcd for the time being
by more copious draughts from some
drink containing alcohol, thus only
augmenting the evil.
Alcohol is not assimilated by the
body, but must be thrown of as waste
matter. This is the opinion of many
eminent physicians on both sides of the
Atlantic. 1t is true that few physi-
clans of acknowledged authority main
tain that small amount of alcohol may
be Incorporated into the body. Yet in
the amount of alcohol that very mod
I crate drinker takes daily, this can be
but an exceedingly small per cent. I'm
doubtedly almost the entire amount of
alcohol taken into the system remains
a foreign element until it is thrown off
! by the eXcretory organs. Alcohol thus
enta Is upon the excretory organs an
undue amount of labor which they are
not calculated to perform.
| The effects of alcohol upon the brain
are easily fOreseen when we reflect that
the brain is composed largely of albu-
men. 1t is not matter of speculation,
but of actual experiment The brains
of drunkards are upon examination
found to be hardened. The delicate
! structure is destroyed. The mental eff
feet produced by alcohol leading on to
the most dreadful of al diseases of the
nerves, are well known.
The celebrating effects of alcohol
are only apparent. For a short time it
produces, as we have seen, an increased
activity of the circulatory organs, but a
reaction follows. Under its continued
use the tone of the system is lowered.
Persons addicted to the use of alcoholic
liquors are in more danger from cpl
denies than temperance people. The
system that is clogged by alcohol, so
that the heart is Overworked, in which