The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1893-06-08
THE EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL.

IL Acts as Poison In the Human Stomach.
All intoxicating liquors-spirits, wine,
cider, perry, beer, ale, etc-consist of
water number of other substances
dissolved in it, and alcohol. Every per-
son knows that the latter is the only
thing that causes man to drink any
kind of liquor. A quart of Madeira
wine, for instance, consists of two
pounds and little over four ounces of
water; two ounces of gummy and tar
tareous matter; a little over two ounces
of an oily, resinous substance, and
little over two ounces of alcohol. Take
out the alcohol, and the remainder of
the Madeira wine is nauseous mess,
which no one would think of drinking.
Take the alcohol out of beer, and it is
a sour slop, which no sane man would
dream of taking into his stomach.
Whisky consists of nearly equal parts
OF water and impure alcohol, the latter
containing fusil oil and some essential
oils derived from the grain, which give
it flavor 1t is the alcohol which pro-
duces intoXication, if imbibed in suffi-
Gent quantity. There is nothing else
mend it to the palate of any man.
Now, the scientific verdict as to alco-
hol is that it is a poison, no more, no
less, and, as a poison, its action is first
upon the nerve centers. It's effects in
the opening stages are modified in vari-
GUS ways by the temperament of the
individual. It's action is generally at
first to fill the person with a serene and
perfect self-complacency. His feelings
and faculties are rendered more intense
from the stimulation of the nerves by
the poison. With most persons this is
shown by increased vivacity, and
tendency to talk much more than is
usual.
As intoXication progresses, the senses
gradually become hazy, soft humming
seems to fill the pauses in the converse
ton, a fimly haze obscures the vision,
the victim finds it difficult to preserve
his equiibrium;neXt objects appear dou-
BILE, or fit confused before the eyes; the
drunkard becomes boisterous, ridicu-
lous; articulation becomes difficult, and
he finally falls to the ground insensible
that is, he is dead drunk" From
this state, after period of deep slum-
Der, he awakes exhausted, feverish,
sick, and giddy, with throbbing head,
ringing ears, and bloodshot eyes
The poison first affects the lobes of
the brain, and the other nerve centers
of the cerebro-spinal system are sue
cessfully brought under the influence
of the poison, until, in the state com
monty known as dead drunk" the
only ones that are not paralyzed are
those known as the automatic centers,
which regulate and keep up respiration
and the circulation. Enough alcohol
can be taken, however, to paralyze
these, in which case the deep sleep
of drunkenness becomes a stupor which
passes into death. There is parallel
between apoplexy and intoxication.
To be drunk is simply apopleptic. Such
is the action of alcohol upon the ner-
vous system, and its action upon the
other parts of the body is no less in
furious.
When an alcoholic drink is taken into
the stomach, the alcohol is rapidly alb
sorbed through the coats of that organ,
passes directly into the circulation, and
is carried with the blood to every part
of the system. That which goes to the
brain produces successfully the symp-
toms enumerated above; that carried
to the lungs begins to be expelled with
the expired breath of these organs.
Experiments have been tried in which
wine was administered in capsules, so
that not one particle touched the in
terror of the mouth or throat; yet in
two or three minutes the odor of alco-
hol was noted on the breath, showing
that in that short time it had been alb
sorbed, passed into the blood and was
being expelled by the lungs.
The blood loaded with alcohol, in
passing through the liver, sets up an ir-
ritation which frequently causes an in
curable disease to that very important
,organ-cilrhosis of the liver better
known as ''hoonail liver" The kid
news are stimulated and irTitated. and
long indulgence in the drinking habit
leads to incurable diseases in them.
The skin is also affected, and does its
parts in expelling the alcohol from the
system. In point of fact all the excre-
tory organs set at work as soon as the
alaobol gets into the system, in the en-