Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1901-01-19
DAILY USE OF ALCOHOL.
a Doctor Sets Forth the Constant ana
Fearful Damage Done to the
Brain and whole Body.

{ ~ ooseryant physician of the effects
, of daily alcoholic rotations on the
, human organism the use of alcohol
, and its principal compounds, natural
or artificial, as a habitual daily bev-
erage, would be Stunned as a viper
is avoided. Daily rotations of strong
drink persevered in, except in most
! exceptional moderation, will ultimate
~ undermine the strongest constitu-
lions as insidiously as the wiles of
Delilah conquered the mighty Sam
son. Tridaily potations of strong
drink are stitches In the shroud and
| nails in the coffin of the drinker, by
which the garment of life's span is
prematurely finished and the funeral
| casket that transports us to the end
of earth is prematurely ready for us
Alcohol thus INDUCED in and not
phySiologically counteracted by an
| exceptional organism endowed with
| unusual power of resistance makes
vessels, its coverings and it's sub
stance, as well as in the heart and
other organs of the body.
The blood vessels of the brain are
the first to feel the effects of alcoholic
intemperance. They become enor-
| mously and unequally distended. and
the brain suffers from blood pressure
symptoms. Locomotion, perception
| and ideation are at first embarrassed
and finally permanently impaired or
destroyed. "We are struck" says the
author previously quoted, "by the
large number of extremely coarse di-
! lated vessels which afford us evidence
also of grave structural change"
Neither does the spinal cord escape,
for throughout its whole extent we
find increased vascularity. The change
in the vessels of the spinal cord is
like that which has long been recog-
nized in chronic Bright's disease, says
Bevan Lewis.
Through the medium of the blood
vascular system, alcohol, by its ready
absorption and permeability, Is rap
/ idly conveyed to the most distant
parts Of the organism, establishing
widespread constitutional disturb
ances; while through the peculiar Sc
lective capacity of the nervous CEN
ters for this poison it thereupon ex-
Ponds its primary and most potent
| influence. Although in all cases the
nervous centers bear the chief brunt
| Of It's attack, it by no means follows
that the subjects of chronic alcohol
ism suffer In the same way. In one,
the gastric (stomach); in a second,
the hepatic Qiver); in third, the
renal (llidneys) and cardinc (heart)
| symptoms may come TO the front;
while in others the nervous centers
| express the special virulence of the
agent in their direction.
The general effect of alcoholic ex-
cess is depravity of nutrition and inn
| pairment of the nutritioual fluids and
functions; the digestion becomes dis
| ordered, the eNcretory functions be-
come deranged and the nerves ex-
hausted or destroyed. Inc higher CEN
tiers of the brain break down in de-
| hrium tremens, insanity, dementia or
paralysis, or lesser degrees of mental
Impairment - n paresis, or lesser
paralysis, of speech or motion, and
aphasia, or speech forgetfulness, and
| memory failure in general sets in, and
thus science confirms the truth of all
observation that wine is a mocker, and
whatsoever Is deceived thereby Is not
wise, and TO him who tarrieth long
| thereat or imbibeth oft it's organic
| consequences are physical ruin and
| dissolution. This temple of the human
soul in which a god might dwell and
! angels walk about can by the unwis-
dom of the alcoholic inhabitant become
transformed into a dwelling place of
fiends and furies, can by the diseases
1t engenders be made the dwelling
place of misery and woe, OF mind and
body, as the testimony of our advan-
| cling civilization, with the human
wrecks In its dreadful wake, distort-
| ed, crippled, dethroned and dead, fear
fully prove.
Besides the mental and physical de-
struction revealed by science in the
pathway of alcohol as its immediate
effects, she points with plying finger
to woes innumerable in the aftermath
| of Its devastating violence which the
hand of municipal and individual char
ity gathers into the hospitals for the
insane, the homes for the feeble
minded, the colonies for epileptics, the
almshouses and penitentiaries of the
land.
She points the transgressor with
warning hand to the mentally and
nervously manned of the children and
children's children of the drunkard.
Alas that one should put an enemy
In his mouth not only to steal away
his own brains but to rob an unerrinp
heritage of that normal mentality
which is or should be the inherent
right OF the innocent and unfit poster
ity for the battle of life. The testi-
mony of science says: Be cautiousI
beware! For in the last 1t biteth
like serpent" 1t poisons the blood,
the heart, the brain and the nerves.
1t distorts, depraves, degenerates the
organism. 1t destroys the delicate
mechanism of the minds display and
pollutes the fountain source OF the
SOULS manifestation. It burns out the
machinery of the mind with fire in
fernal, and where a spark of divinity
might dwell it leaves but the cinders
and ashes OF once brightly glowing
and glorious mentality.
It's poisoned fangs are like unto
those Of the stealthy adder In the