The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-07-20
sTTMULANTs AND FATIGUE.
An Engiish Doctors Interesting Exper-
 iments.

The common idea that alcoh ol. to- bacco. tea,.. and coffee relieve fatigue
 and give ability to do more or better work is In these days being subjected | to rigorous scientific scrutiny. Prob | ably the most exact investigator along | this line Is Dr. W. H. R. Rivers. leo turer on experimental psychology at 1 Cambridge University, England. pr.
 Rivers carried his impartiality to the point of giving up alcohol. tea. coffee.
 and, in fact. all stimulants- for . year | in order to At himself for his task, and
 during his experiments he so disguised
 the stimulants given to the subjects l that they did not know, what they were l taking. This effectually disposed of the. mental factors that have compfi-
 cated most of the work of this nature.
 An editorial reviewer in the British
 Medical Journal discusses his ipvesti- | Eattons as follows: s.st.t- Soon after beginning his investiga- ton Dr.. Rivers became aware of the unsatisfactory nature of previous re- searches on the capacity for muscular | work in man. and much of his work
 has been occupied in perfecting exact | methods and eliminating disturbing factors, The method he used was to
 take six series of ergrographs a day, at Intervals; of one hour, the subject not
 being allowed, to see either the weight lifted or the tracing produced. To
 eliminate physical factors the subject took control mixtures, so. that he did l not know the days when he. took the drug. This last precaution Ia obvious ly most important. but does net seem
 to have been taken by any previous worker. Prof. Dixon compounded q | mixture of gentlan and citric acid to which canfein could be added without
 altering the taste. while a mixture of eapsicum, cardanaom, and small
 amount of choloform was used to sim ulate a similar mixture containing a1- cohol, or capsicun and cardamom.
 were used to- conceal from the subject | the fact whether a small or a large | dose of alcohol was taken pr. Rivers constructed tcns ergograph which. pres il wanted extranaous smental effact.a was
 also tested by prolonged multiplicas | ot corrected and uncorrected errors in the latter being. taken aS an Indication
 of mental fatigue"
 l [ Dr. Rivers observed in himself that | symptoms of neuEasthenia, at, first fol-
 lowed the giving of, tea and coffee. His own sleep was upset by caffein.s but on
 q fellow-worEsr 1t had no such infiu-
 ence. The Doctor .is quoted as saying:
 Canein increases the capacity. for both muscular and mental work, this 1 stimulating action persisting for con- l siderable time after the substance has 1 been taken without there being any ey- l idences with moderate doses. of reac-
 ton: taken in excess, the 1 stimulating action may be SO transitory
 that it (caffein) may tegitimately be
 spoken of as an accelerator of fatigue;
 Ses experiment. suggests strongly l that. caffein Is a dangerous remedy as
 a stimulator in eases of prolonged fa- l tigue, % of that enhaneed tendency to | fatigl% which Is the characteristic fea- ture of neurasthenis.~
 l With regard to the effect on muscu- | far work Dr. Rivers says: There is
 definite evidence that small doses. va rylng from. five to twenty cubic csnti-
 meters of absolute alcohol. have no ef- i feet on the amount or nature of the 1 work performed with the ergograph. either immediately or within several
 hours of their administration. the re- suits previously obtained by other workers being almost certainly due to
 defects of experimental methods" With
 a larger dose of forty cubic centims- ters the evidence was uncertain and inconstant. With larger doses experI- | ments showed a decided falling ofH in the amount of work. Tn the case of
 mental work the. evidence points to de- | crease. but in some instances no effect | is detected and there would appear to be great individual differences. The reviewer goes on: Tt must. of course,
 be remembered that any pleasurable
 emotion excited by the ingestion of al- | cohol was excluded by pr. Rivers's
 method of disgusting the alcohol. and | that emotion and excitement undoubt- | edly- affect the work records. The er- l gographs taken after a public dinner | showed more, not less. sustained effort, which again Is a rather surprising re- suit. The effect of taking alcohol on
 prolonged fatigue. as. for Instance du- | ring 8 campaign. is the part of the l problem which most requires answer; | but what this Is can with dlfficulty be | elucidated by the exact methods of laboratory inquiry. hsivarying factors | of daily life being unavoidable. Tn the | case of a co-worker MT. Webber, the | taking of forty cubic centimenters of | absolute alcohol was followed by sweating. flushing and irritation of the | skin. some salvation, symptoms of gid- | dlness, IassItude and disinclination. to | use either body or mind. With | smaller doses of ten to twenty cubic ! centimeters (about three to six fluid | drarhs) absolute alcohol, none of these symptoms occurred.
 Tobacco proved to have a most uu- | favorable effect on muscular work, ana
 distinguished physiologist informs us l that he can, confirm this from his own experience; he found that the giving up of smoking had a most. evident ef-
 feet on his energy and power for work
 pr. Rivers is to be eongratulated. on
 the exact scientific spirit in which he
 has carried out these researches. ana
 we hope to see them carried a step fur ther."