The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1894-01-17
ORGANIC DISEASE DUE TO DRINK.


A far-reaching and significant address on
The Alcohol Question from Medical Point
OF view was delivered by DIR. Adolph Strum-
pen at the second general session OF the re.
cent siNty-hnh convention OF German Ma
iurallsts and Physicians At Nurnburg. Wo
give this extract:
believe most physicians agree with mo
IN the view that Inflammation Of the stomach
ana bowels in adults is almost invariably due
to alcoholic poisoning
But alcohol eXerts its essential and most
significant influence on the vital organs by
being taken up in the circulation and thus
brought into direct contact with their cellu-
TAR tissue. We have no clearer evidence OF
the direct action OF poison in producing
PRIMARY cell death than is afforded by the
action OF alcohol on the liver. producing
iiver-cirrhose. Typical liver-cirrhose was
found in three per cent. otall the male bodies
examined at the Leipsic Pdthologlc Institute
but the organic changes which my own
experience compels me to place in the first
rank as denoting the most Injurious effects
OF alcoholic indulgence are the diseases OF the
muscles oithe heart and its nervous apparatus
and diseases ofthe arteries and ofthe kidneys
But while il has long been known that de.
hrium tremens, neurosis and cirrhose liver
owe their existence to alcoholic poisoning II
Is by no means generally recognized that
chronic heart and kidney diseases arc due 10
thssanle cause. And yet the practical sig
ntfcance OF precisely this form OF alcoholic
poisoning, apart even from its frequency il
OF the highest, from the fact that these dis.
eases are induced not so much by the use OF
concentrated alcohol but especially by heavy
beer drinking. This habit OF excessive beer
drinking is very widely prevalent among the
cultivated classes, and claims its victims
among men who regard the drinking of
schnapps as an act OF moral degradation. II
is not only that the quantity OF alcohol con
sumed by heavy beer drinkers is excessive.
but the consumption OF liquid involved in the
habit is no less excessive and Injurious To
this, too, must be added as hardly less preju-
dicial the consumption OF an extra and un-
due amount OF nutritive matter contained In
the beer.
''All these con litions tend TO that disease
which is rarely absent in steady beer drink
ers. The prime anatomical change exhibits
itself as hypertrophy OF the muscles of the
heart, especially OF the left yentricle. This
is the result OF continuous overtaxing of
the hearts powers. The prime factor hero
ls the excessive amount OF water which, be-
fore 1t can again be given OF by kidneys,
skin and lungs must bs taken up by the
blood and maintained in motion by the heart.
The excess OF nutritiye matter furnished by
the beer contributes to the same result
kidney diseases as result OF alcoholism
are still more frequent, and with wine and
beer drinkers the extra labor imposed on the
kidneys by excess OF fluid renders them es-
pscially susceptible to the largo influence OF
the accompanying alcohol.
Finally, there is another interesting group
OF diseases resulting from alcoholic action in
disturbing and upsetting the chemical pro-
cesses of assimilation. The leading types OF
diseases due to this cause are gout, dia-
betes and fatty degeneration Of the heart ;ani
while allowing that in many cases alcoholic
action may be supplemented by contributary
causes, think IL will be apparent that the
sum OF the evils properly ascribable TO alco-
hol is such as to warn us physicians that
here is n matter in which all our forces
should be enlisted. Where the foe has once
obtained a secure foothold II may be beyond
our powers 10 dispossess him and undo the
evil he has wrought. But prevention Is in
principle so easy. Nothing is needed but in
sight and good will Shall we then not
gladly embrace the opportunityto avert such
endless misery and no longer stand supinely
by while one worthy life after the other falls
n victim TO the insidious foe2'