The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1890-05-01
TEMPERANCE NOTES.
I NATURE or ALCOHOL,

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NATURE Or ALCOHOL.
5Hev It Is Tr.nsm tied. Through tie
SIS blood to Al Parts of the BODY.
When we use the word .'alcohol" we
require to be clear as to the meaning
of the word and the thing. We know
now that the term is employed by he
chemists to indicate long serie. of
chemical bodies having certain prop
critics In common and exhibiting the
same chemical constitution in respect to
the elements which enter the COMPOSE
tton OF them. These elements, three in
namber-carbon, hydrogen and oxy-
gen-never:vary except in quantity Of
amount, and lone Of them, the oxygen,
remains always the same, even in
amount, In every member of the family.
The other two elements, the hydrogen
and the carbon invariably present, ex-
list IN different quantities in different
members Of the family and it is on this
difference that the family differences
depend. In he3drst, or primary. mem
Der of the family. the elements stand in
the following form: There is one pro-
portion or part of carbon, four Of hydro
gen and one of oxygen. This alcohol,
called ,aethylic alcohol or acood-spirit, is q
light fluid which boils at 40 degrees
Fahrenheit, and is so far volatile that
have succeeded in putting warm-blool-
ed animals to sleep by making them in
hale its vapor.
! We have in this methylic alcohol the
}lightest of the family group. If we pass
to the thirtieth of the group we find q
solid alcohol called melytic, or by
some, melissic, really q wax-like sub
stance. The proportion of oxygen is
just tie same in this variety as in the
last named, sbut the proportions of car
bon and of hydrogen have so greatly
changed that the change in the quality
of the substance need not to be WON
dered at The heavy element, carbon,
has increased from one part in the
methyhc alcohol to thirty in the melytic,
and tho hydrogen has risen to sixty
one.
If we go back in the series we shall
find another alcohol, the fifth from the
metbylic, called usually amyhc alcohol,
fusel OIL or, sometimes, potato-spirit.
This is a heavy oily fluid of Disagree
able odor and of high boiling point, 21o
degrees Fahrenheit. Itdiffers from the
wood-spirit in its weight, being very
much heavier. 1t is composed OF five
parts of carbon and twelve of hydrogen,
with the usual unit Of oxygen.
The variations here noticed extend
all through the series, and all through
in regular sequence, the carbon increas-
ing one part and the hydrogen two
parts each step. If we could add one
more of carbon and two more of hydro
gen to methylic alcohol we should get
another alcohol composed of two parts
of carbon, six parts of hydrogen and
one part oxygen, and this would be the
common alcohol of commerce-ethyhc-
alcohol-the spirit which forms the sta
pie of all the wines, spirits, ales and
other so-called spurious drinks supplied
in such large quantities to our COM
munities for drinking purposes.
All the alcohols are products or re-
fermentable substance. The common
or ethylic alcohol is the product of the
fermentation of grain and of fruit, and
is by far the largest product of any,
because, by what has become the almost
universal consent of the civilized world,
it has been and is demanded as a bev-
erage and stimulant. We may say of it
practically that it alone is the alcoholic
drink of those who indulge in the use
of stimulant; for although it is true
that amylic alcohol and some other al
nNh01C rot roivn1 hvr oooi1nrt
lessness or it may be sometimes by de-
sign, with common alcohol, they are
not supposed to be present in it, and the
general effect, of alcoholic Drinking arc
attribute BILE to it alone.
With the few facts above stated clear
~ before us on the position of common
alcohol, from chemical point of view,
we may turn to the study of the effects
OF it on man and other living things
subjected to it's influence. For all liv-
ing things it has certain physical af-
fnity, for the simple reason that all liv-
ing things contain, and, as a rule, are
largely made up of acater. for which the
alcohol has strong affinity. Itself a
mobile fluid, it mixes with water in all
proportions, and with the utmost readi-
ness; in fact, it is by virtue of this read
mess that it is received into the body.
No one would ever learn to drink alco-
hol under any circumstances, unless it
were first largely diluted with water, as
it is in wine, beer, brandy, rum, gin,
whisky and other spirits. When in any
OF these, it is present in great strength,
it is again diluted by the addition of
more water, because if it were not so
diluted it would create burning sensa-
ton in the mouth and throat and would
inf1ict serious injury on the stomach.
Diluted with water, it enters the body
of man or animal with the water, and
soon diffuses through the body wherever
there is water in the. tissues. Thus,
for short time after a portion of
alcohol has entered the body, and before
1t has had the opportunity of
being removed, it can be de-
tected in all the fluid secretions.
The late DIR. Percy discovered it
present in the fluid of the ventricles of
the brain. 1 have found it in the same
fluid, in the blood, in the urine, in the
fluids which have the Serious men,
branes; and, in short, in all the fluids
derived from the blood. With some of
the tissues it maintains very close
affinity, especially with the tissues of
the liver and the brain. So close is its
affinity for the brain-substance that it
becomes most difficult, nay, even an
impossible task, to distil from brain.
matter all the ethylic alcohol with
which it can be saturated. Hence, in
confirmed alcoholic inebriates it be-
comes, vertically; part and parcel, so to
say. of the cerebral Organization.
The usual mode of taking alcohol into
the living body is to imbibe it by the
mouth, as sa;drink, but it can be effect
lively introduced in other ways. If it
be diluted and injected into the cellular
tissue, under the skin, it will be alb
sorbed from there. 1 found by expert
ment that it is rapidly absorbed from
the peritoneal surface of a lower ami
NAL when it is freely diluted with water.
l also found that at a sufficiently high
temperature the vapor of it could he