The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1888-06-08
TEMPERANCE.
DRINKING IN MODERATION.

Lancet. after giving some comparative
death-rate statistics of drinkers and
non drinkers, makes the following
statements respecting the evil effects
OF alcohol on the human system:
EFFECTS ON SkE LIVER.
notwithstanding the familiarity of med
icai men with the fact that many cases of
hepatltls, chronically enlarged liver and
clrrhosis are directly traceable to inebriety,
lew, l fancy, can have been prepared,
without some special acquaintance with
the subject, for the information furnished
by the foregoing mortality tables of the
potent action of alcohol on the liver when
only taken in small quantities at time.
And, although 1t may at first sight appear
strange that the liver, of all the organs of the
body, should be most potently affected by
moderate drinking, l think one can scarce
ly be surprised at this if he is acquainted
with the peculiar action of alcohol intro
duced into the liver by the portal vein
For 1t requires, think, but small amount
OF reflection on the part Of those acquaint-
ed with the mechanism of digestion to I'M
derstand how alcohol, when taken into the
stomach even in small quantities at time,
Is powerful agent in the production of
hepatlc disease. Seeing that most of the
nquld products of our food is carried di-
rectly iron the inteStines to the liver by
the portal vein, it consequently follows that
almost every drop of the alcohol, be
II small or be it great, taken into the
stomach must be directly conveyed by the
portal vein to the liver and compelled to
litter through its tissues before it can pos
slbly get into the general circulation and
reach any OF the other organs of the body
The knowledge of the fact that all the i'm
bibed alcohol is directly conveyed to the
liver by the portal circulation not only
gives clew to why alcoholic stimulants
are so prone to induce hepatitis, as well as
to increase the formation of sugar and ae-
gravate diabetes, but to bring about an at
tack of govt, seeing that the liver is re-
garded as the main source of both sugar
and uric acid-the supposed gout-forming
material. In addition to which, the direct
conveyance of alcohol to the liver affords
us reasonable explanation of why alcohol
taken along with the food is so much less
detrimental to the constitution than when
it is taken on an empty stomach. More
over, it is now well known fact that the
continuous excitement of the liver, kept up
by habitual "nipping," is far more injuri-
Gus to its functions than an occasional out
burst OF drunkenness followed by intervals
OF strict sobriety. 1t equally accounts for
the fact that the liver is not alone the first
organ of the body that becomes affected,
but is at the same time the one most seri-
ously disordered by moderate drinking.
EFFECT ON THE KIDNEYS.
The effects on the kidneys of moderate
the liver; nevertheless, they are sufficient
ly marked to merit attention. The reason
why the kidneys suffer so much less from
the lmbibed alcohol when it is taken in only
small quantities at time is sufficiently OBJ
vious, seeing that large quantity of what
passes through the liver never reaches the
kidneys at all, from a considerable part of
it having been eliminated by the breath
during its passage in the blood through the
lungs. That intemperance is fruitful
source Of Bright's disease has long been
known, and the reason of this is not far to
seek, seeing that it is the special duty of
the kidneys to eliminate alcohol from the
general circulation, as they do all other
foreign materials. And the more work
that is thrown upon an organ, the more
prone are it's tissues to become degenerated.
neys eliminate the imbibed alcohol (from
its being met with in urine), but
we likewise know, that alcohol as
alcohol saturates the renal tissue to such
an extent that and others have been able
to obtain pure alcohol from the kidneys of
persons who have died intoxicated by the
simple process of distillation. Besides all
this, however, there is special reason
fhn IL CHI Is
in so-called moderate, drinking, and that
is on account of the circulation being in
cessantly increased in them, as it is else
where, from the accelerated hearts action
induced by the repeated imbibation Of
stimulants in small quantities. For no
doubt the diameter of the renal blood
vessels is augmented by their engagement,
and consequently they exert a deleterious
pressure on the lntervascular tissues,
which will interfere with their proper nour-
ishment. While, further, this engorge-
ment of the renal vessels will render the
effects of chills; and chills are, as
is well known, the most fruitful cause
of kidney disease. This view of
the case appears to me to give not only the
clew to the reason why Bright's disease is
so particularly common among the inc
briate, but likewise why transient attacks
of albuminuria are SO frequently met with
in moderate drinkers. among both men and
women. Spirit-drinking is said to be main
ly instrumental in inducing the variety of
renal disease named glanular kidney;
while beer-drinking is, on the other hand,
thought to be most potent in bringing
about fatty degeneration of the renal It's
Sues Be that as it may, Iwell know from
long experience of urinary affections, that
even small quantities of alcohol habitually
INDUCED in sometimes bring on most
troublesome forms Of albuminuria, with
out there being any well-marked symptoms
of the existence of either granular or fatty
degeneration of the tissues of the kidneys
i. ALCOHOL AND THE HEARTS ACTION.
Alcohol, when taken in small quantity,
is in general said to act as a direct cardiac
stimula,tt,' and it's stimulating effect is
supposed to be due to its possessing the
faculty of increasing the muscular power
Of the heart. take an entirely different
view of the matter, and shall now endeavor
to show how the increase in the force of
the heaRt's movements, the quickening Of
the pulse, the flushing of the face, the con-
gestion Of the retina1 blood vessels, as we'll
as all the other visible appearances of &C I
CELEBRATED cardiac functional activity, are
in reality in no wise due to the stimulating
action of alcohol, either ON the hearts
muscular tissue or the nerves supplying it,
but actually to the very reverse, viz; It's
paralyzing effect. en- the cardiac nerve
mechanism. This may appear strange
idea. to those unfamiliar with the advanced
theories regarding the accelerating
and RESTRAINING heart's nerve forces.
Nevertheless, it is quite ccnsonant; with
the results of modern, physiological in
vestigaSions, which go far to prove that
every function of organic life-no matter
whittier it be the expulsion. of the urine,
the peTistaltic movements of the intestines,
the throbbings of the heart, or involuntary
respiration-acts under the immediate in
fluence of a bifold nerve mechanism. For
example, the human heart is endowed with
two entirely different and opposing centerssl
of nerve-force,. and SD retroactive are their
respective functions that the sole duty of
the one appears to be to regulate and con-
troll the functions Of the other. To the
former has been given the name of inhibi-
tory, or restraining mechanism; to the
latter that Of the exciting" or accelerating