Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-03-24
MEDICALLY VIEWED.
The Physical Effects of Alcohol Upon
the Human System.
DOCTOR BRUMBAUGH'S LECTURE.
There is No Necessity, He Says, to Give
Whisky to Sick Persons.
HOW THE HEART is AFFECTED BY IT.

At the School of Anatomy yesterday aft
ernoon, DR.. S. o. Brumbaugh, Assistant
Surgeon of the Eighteenth Regiment, n.
g. P, lectured on "Alcohol and Tobacco, ="
and DR.. E. c. Matson delivered a talk on
the Head and Neck" In his address the
former said;
The American people are to-day confronted
by "a question of political and social import
fully as grave as the question of slavery, which
not quarter of a century ago shook this nation
of ours from center to circumference, and
spilled the life blood of more than 100000 of
our people. The grasp which alcohol to-day
maintains upon our national and social life
is even more far reaching than that of her Sis
ter evil-slavery.
In the sick room alcohol is potent power by
which youth, beauty and virtue are snatehed
from death, but in the barroom a power of
greater potency by which youth rapidly ages,
beauty fades and sweet virtue is violated.
Men everywhere are apt to view subject
strongly in the light of their special callings.
From the pulpit it is viewed like gigantic
evil, pregnant with moral depravity, social
disruption and intellectual distortion.
This verdict from the pulpit is
versed at the bar. where the lawyer
has to practice the tactics of his profession.
No greater parody has ever been enacted upon
the much vaunted dignity of the profession of
law than where her votaTies stand up in the Lii
cense Court and attempt upon principles of
logic and justice to support the cause of the sa-
loon keeper.
DRAWING IT SEVERELY.
One needs but to CLEAN at the daily report of
proceedings and the hollow mockery of the
word justice as there applied becomes pain
fully apparent If ever the Goddess OF Justice
needs to veil her bushes, it is when she places
in the hands of an ignorant and unscrupulous
individual the license to run liquor saloon.
Alcohol, in the hands of Conscientious and
reputable physicians, has important role to
play. When administered in answer to a
proper indication it is powerful stimulant to
the brain, spinal cord and heart muscles.
The capacity for the consumption of alcohol
varies with the state of bodily nutrition and
with the individual. That the drug is of food
value is proven both by chemical observation
and physiological experiment. Two processes
are constantly at work in the maintenance of
the standard OF bodily nutrition. One of them
is process of waste, and the other process of
repair Nutrition may be increased either by
reJarding the process of waste or by adding
material TO hasten the process of repair. Pro-
longed and repeated experimentation upon
man and the lower animals has eStab-
hshed the fact that alcohol pro-
duces marked lessening In the excretion
and when ingested it undergoes oxidization by
the blood and yields to the body correspond
ing amount of power which the system utilizes.
In the drug We have most powerful means
of sustaining the system during the strain of
any acute disease. If alcohol is of food value
to the system, why should it not be constantly
used? 1t is not an unusual thing to administer
to patient in the late stage of typhoid fever
as much as a ounces of brandy in "a hours and
thereby save life. In such a case the vital
powers are exhausted. The processes of ad-
ministration have failed and the rapidly vast
ing tissues give warning that the moment of
complete exhaustion is rapidly approaching.
IT'S RESTORATIVE QUALITY.
The drug at once arrests the wasting powers
and stimulates to renewed effort the tagging
forces of nature, bridges over the final crisis
and tides back the nearly spent life. The
alcohol is quickly and completely consumed by
the hungry tissues. 1t produces no symptoms
of intoxication and It's odor cannot be detected
on the breath
On the other hand if man in good health
and well nourished was to take "A ounces of
brandy in "A hours he would speedily develope
the symptoms of acute drunkenness. The drug
in this case acts solely as a stimulant; it is not
Oxidized by the blood and the fumes of liquor
on the breath give evidence of the efforts upon
the part Of the system to get rid of the drug.
The American people are habitually overfed, |
and they consequently suffer more from the |
effects of alcohol than the people Of any other |
nation. The Germans and French habitually 1
drink more and suffer less than the average |
American. This is particularly true and can |
be noticed more with the peRsantry of those |
countries. Their food is most meagre in guam |
tity and crude in quality
The influence of alcohol on digestion in the |
healthy individual is divided into phases. The |
1rst is characterized by marked retardation of |
digestion and the second begins after the es- |
cage of the alcohol, when the secretion of gar !
tric juice is so increased by the stimulating ac-
tion of the drug upon the stomach. |
In the end the food is digested as soon or soon
er than if alcohol had not been ingested There |
is, therefore little or nothing to be gained by ]
the use of alcohol in indigestion, and it must |
not be forgotten that the drug does harm if |
used where the ordinary ingestion and diges. |
tion of food is sufficient
COMPARISON TELLS.
Among the French conscripts 1t may be no |
ticed that young peasants who drink from
childhood fall below the military standard, |
while those who are sober develop abb |
normally. In every country where a |
standard of development is required
for military service, the reflections in
crease as the drunkenness increases This |
lowering of physical development is the result |
of certain morbid changes which constantly |
follow the habitual use of alcohol. The most |
constant of the changes thus produced is the |
tendency toward the development of fat tissue |
throughout the body. The normal muscular
hber is replaced and encroached upon by fat.
This results in a weakening of the power of the |
muscles, and the individual becomes weak, |
easily tired out and incapable of prolonged
muscular eHOrL. Inc muscular nber OF the |
heart being similarly affected there results a |
weakness of the hearts action; the blood |
is imperfectly circulated, and in conse-
quence the ultimate processes of nutrition
are interfered with. The patient gets spells of
faintness becomes short of breath, the skin |
takes on leaden hue the appetite fails and
the craving for drink grows stronger. The
liver, spleen and kidneys undergo fatty change
and in time lose their power of functionating
The brain and spinal cord are likewise affected
and the individual is tortured with pains in the
extremities and around the body: increasing
loss of reflex activity, and sluggish and irregu-
lar muscular movements, dullness of intellect
bordering on dementia. trembling of the limbs
tottering gait and hesitating speech.
SOLITARY CONFINEMENT A CURE.
The speaker closed his address bv saying
that the proper method of treatment for
confinement and give them no liquor what
ever Their cravings could be satisfied bv
the use of strong medicines
DR.. Matson's lecture was very interesting.
and was listened to with rapt attention by
the audience. He described the different
parts of the head and neck, and by means
of models showed their construction. Four |
teen parts of the skull are developed out of |
the vertebr@. The neck is the most COM |
pllcated OF these parts, on account of the |
extreme perplexity of the anatomy. 1t is |
very difficult to operate on BY surgeons on |
account of the great number of vessels to |
be encountered, by the severing of which |
the life to be saved is destroyed.
Great TwO-Day sale.
Now that all our spring goods are on our |
counters we find it wculd be advisable to |
sell certain lots ofsuits and overcoats at once.
Not only would it be the best Ad. we ever |