Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-08-17
Science Has at Last. Found a Use for
the Drunkard.
SUBJECT OF LABORATORY TESTS
Effect of Alcohol on the Organs
of the Body.
INTERESTING CONCLUSIONS
Written for The Evening Star.

great demand as a laboratory subject. Sci
ence is becoming rapidly more economical
and is allowing nothing, good or bad, to go
to waste. Sometimes she shocks the hui
manitarian element by her proposition to
vivisect condemned criminals and helpless
lunatics But even the hyperchickenheart-
ed cannot take exception to the newly
devised laboratory tests through which the
inebriate Is being put.
The new science of man-study is one In
which mans own observation is little trust
ed. DIAGNOSES are machine made. The
new man-study laboratories, fast being es-
tablished all over the world, are equipped
with scores of automatic, mechanical sci
entists who do the work with an accuracy
which defies human competition. They feel
the pulse, count the breathing, keep tally
of the minutest trembling, gauge the acute
ness OF the senses and even time the brains
action. They write their own records in a
hieroglyphical language OF curves and an
in the wee, small hours of the early MORN
to face his better three-quarters may
chance to conceal his true condition from
her. But the automatic scientists of the
modern man-Study laboratories are all
perceiving and cannot be fooled.
Thought-Speed Of Drunkard.
The timing Of the alcoholic brain and
u
thinking organs Is an experiment now en-
gaging the attention of laboratory expert
mentors throughout the world. The writer
is indebted to DR.. 4. D. Crothers, the we'll
known specialist in inebriety, for the latest
reports on this work.
You can try a very simple brain-timing
test upon your friends by forming them
into an endless chain, of which you are
link, all taking mold of hands. Place a
w
hand reaches the sixty mark press the hand
OF your neighbor to the right, he being in
structed to communicate the message i'm
mediately to his neighbor, and SO on
around. Note by the watch when the sig
nal comes back 10 your left hand. The
number of seconds divided by the number
of persons gives the time required by the
brain of the average person in the ring to
receive a signal and obey it. Were you to
make this experiment upon number Of
people who had not tasted alcohol for
week and then repeat it after they had
each imbibed, even a small amount, you
would note some interesting results. But
perhaps it would not be best to make this
test excuse for holding social tipple.
Brain-timers, comprising stop-clocks,
which measure time in thousandths of
a signal and electric attachments which
note the instant 1t is carried out. have
been devised for making this test upon
solitary individual. The clock is set in mo-
ton by the signal and stopped by an cleo
trio key in the hand Of the subject. These
instruments have recently been applied to
many men, first while the latter have been
perfectly sober, later while they have
been under the influence Of our old &C
Quaintance, 20. b. Joyful" tE
That speed Of thought is slowed by even
minute doses Of alcohol. is shown by the
tabulated results. of all repetitions of this
experiment thus Ear recorded. One inter-
esting fact developed in the tests is that
SIIh hell hra hoe
been working more quickly under the in
huence Of the alcohol whereas the stop
clock emphatically declares that the speed
of brain action has been retarded.
To test the influence of alcohol upon the
brains power of perception, laboratory sub
jects are required to read through a small
slit In screen a continuous series of
meaningless syllables and indscriminately
behind the slit. So far, the experiment
indicates that even one ounce of alcohol
will greatly reduce the perceptive powers
Alcohol Tests With Students.
Pupils studied while under the influence
Of alcohol recently revealed some further
interesting information concerning the eff
feet Of strong drink upon mind action.
These tests-rather bold, to be sure-were
made by Professor krapelin Of the Univer-
sty of Heidelberg. Two and half glasses
of port wine were considered as a me-
dunn dose, the students being men. It is
found that alcohol increases the speed of
reading and accelerates learning by heart,
but paralyzes the minds power Of assO-
ciating ideas with words, of making math-
ematlcal calculations and Of approaching
time
The largest drink of alcohol which can
be taken without appreciate effect upon
the average man is discovered, through
these tests to be 7E grams, the amount
contained in half wine glass Of port or
one-fifth Of pint of ale
The effect Of alcohol upon muscular
strength is being tested in various labora-
tories by aid of an ingenious apparatus de-
signed to tire muscle and write upon pa
per the speed with which fatigue conQuers
its endurance. The subject takes his seat
at one end Of table and extends his arm
through series OF chamois-padded vices
or clamps, tightly screwed together. To
his middle finger is attached thimble of
leather. from which extends a cord attach
ed to little car rolling upon a brass
another cord passing over a pulley at the
far end of the track and suspending a
weight over the end of the table farthest
from the subject. Attached to the car is
at the same time scraping white lines upon
revolving cylinder, coated with smoked
paper The length and rapidty of the
cars movements, when 1t is pulled by the
finger, are recorded In a Worm-fence scrawl
upon the smoked paper. When the angles
or these jagged markings become wider
the speed of the fnger-movement is shown
to be lessened. When the individual lines
are seen to grow shorter the power Of the
finger to draw up the weight is known to
be diminishing.
Alcoholics Tire Sooner.
First while sober, and later while under
the influence Of alcohol. subjects are SUBJ
jected to this test 1t is being discovered
that after a man has drunk from one
sixth to two-thirds of an ounce there is
favorable effect for about fifteen minutes
After this paralyzing effect sets in and
the ability of the finger to lift the weight
declines much more rapidly than when in
fuenced by mere fatigue. Repetitions of
the experiment while the subject is not
thus stimulated show that the total work
obtained under the influence Of the stimu-
liant is less than that accomplished with
out it.
That the hand-grip is Influenced In the
same manner by alcohol il being proved by
ala OF little instrument closely related to
the lift testers exhibited by fakirs at our
county fairs and amusement resorts. The
palm squeezes together two bars in the
handle OF the device, and whatever pres
sure Is exerted Is measured by q clock hand
revolving upon round dial graduated in
ounces or Kilograms. The whole device is
now made Of aluminium, and to offset any
loss OF energy due to maintaining the eQui-
ttn~y