News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1901-10-02
ALCOHOLIC DISEASE.
THE EFFECTS OF LIQUOR ON THE
NERVOUS SYSTEM.

DIR. Charles L. Dana Finds That the
Drunkard Generally Lives Less
Than Fifteen Years After AcquIr-
ing the Drink Habit.
An important discussion on the infu-
ence of alcohol on the nervous system
took place at the New York Academy
of Medicine not long ago when vari-
Gus eminent physicians recorded their
observations and experiences. DR..
Charles L Dana, in Introducing the
subject, regarded It both in its prac-
teal and scientific aspects.
He based his observations on the
careful study OF $50 cases Of alcoholism
at Bellevue hospital. The most fire.
quent form of alcoholism was period
zeal dipsOmania, and the next was
pseudo dipsomanla. Over two-thirds
of the total number of patients had be-
gun to drink" before the age of 30
years and all of.them before 80 years.
"As rule" said DIR. Dana, THE drunk
ard did not live more than ID years,
and it was seldom that the human or
ganism could outlive more than 5000
intoXications."
Death in alcoholics usually occurred
from pneumonia, meningitis, deliriun
tremens, alcoholic insanity or demen-
tia. Dr. Herman Biggs stated that in
10 years the cases he had seen of
drink were those resulting from indul-
in ytyln i-l-
of patients taking two or three glasses
of whisky and four or five pints of beer
daily.
In these cases cirrhosis Of the liver
was relatively less frequent, while the
degenerative effects, such as disease Of
the heart, blood vessels and kidneys,
were much more common. Looking
over the records of the health depart
ment OF New York he found a short
time ago that whereas during 20 years
the population had increased by from
so to 80 per cent, the number of deaths
recorded as due to degenerative dis
eases of the heart and blood vessels,
most frequently of alcoholic origin, had
increased by nearly $50 per cent, and
almost the same was true of kidney
diseases.
The excessive consumption of lager
beer in the United States, as in Germa-
ny, produced renal disease and cerebral
accidents. Professor NJ. Allen Starr
said that of the various alcoholic bever-
ages champagne produced eXhilaration
of spirits and stimulation of the flow
of ideas, while burgundy made a per-
son think more slowly and by no means
added to the feeling of conviviality
Alcohol seemed to affect the brain
more than it did other parts of the. nerv-
Gus system. There was practically no
known disease of the spinal cord pro-
duced by alcoholism, but neuritis or in
fammatiOn of the nerves was common.
The pathology of alcoholic insanity is
today clear and characteristic.
The researches of various observers,
especially AndriezeA and Berkeley, show
that the alcoholic poison produces de
struction of the epidendritic gem
mules belonging to the nerve cells Of
the brain, thus rendering the organ rel
atively incapable of receiving impulses,
weakening reaction time and producing
loss of memory in general, features
which were characteristic Of nearly all
forms of chronic alcoholism.
The neurasthenia of the chronic
drunkard is dependent on degenerative
changes in the protoplasm of his brain
cells Such persons are little open to
medical treatment, but are more sus-
ceptible to social and religious intlu-
enceS.