The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1911-02-09
GREAT ILLS OF ALCOHOLISM
Professor strumpel, Leading Authority
on Nervous Diseases, Gives In
teresting Experiences.

Professor Strumpel, leading au.
thorlty on nervous diseases In Eu.
rope, has been giving his medical col
leagues some interesting experiences
OF his researches in the field OF al.
coholism as Viewed From the Medical
Standpoint" says a correspondent OF
the Chicago Daily News. In private
talk before the most noted medical
scientists in Vienna the professor
outlined In an impassiyely judicial
manner an appalling number and
variety of physical and mental dis.
eases resulting from the excessive use
OF alcohol He confined himself
chiefly to the subject of chronic alco-
holism, as acute alcoholism was gen.
erally the result of isolated cases OF
intoXicaton, the effects Of which were
usually only temporary and without
any lasting consequences.
In the beginning he pointed out
that persons who regularly INDUCED
In large quantities Of alcohol suffered
from chronic catarrh of the throat,
stomach and intestines, but, serious
as these were, they didn't usually de
velop further complications and,
therefore, to the doctor, we're OF less
interest. But II was another thing
altogether when II concerns that or
gan which first introduces alcohol
into the blood-that Is, the liver. As
sufferers from liver diseases are for
the most part alcohollsts one may
with justice assume an original con.
nectlon between such diseases and
the use Of alcohol; all the more so as
the patients are usually imbibers OF
schnaps' and spirits and not of beer
or wine, so that is evident the connec.
tion depends largely upon the quantity
and intensity of the alcohol con.
sumed. Through the liver the alco.
hol enters the great arteries and cir
culates through the whole body. Thus
1t begins an insidious attack upon the
vast network of blood vessels. devel.
Oping later into calcination Of the
arteries and blood vessels. This dis.
ease Is frequently found among drunk.
ards. But It would be scientifically
wrong to attribute the calcination OF
the arteries solely to alcoholism, as
1t may also result from excessive
smoking, extraordinary overwork.
chronic infections, insufficient nutri.
ton and other causes.
A second symptomatlc disease
among drinkers Is TIE beer heart"
This consists in an extraordinary en-.
largement Of the heart, with all the
indications of heart disease. Men
with beer hearts" almost invariably
die at an age in which healthy men
have scarcely attained full power BY
Incorporate consumption OF nourlsh.
ing matter fat is produced which can.
not be got rid of in the same degree.
consequently 1t accumulates internally
and is responsible for the bloated cor.
pulency of beer drinkers. Respiratory
diseases and cases OF suffocation are
the next consequence.
Professor Strumpel passed over the
effects of alcohol upon the nervous
system and the horrible mental dis
orders, delirium tremens and the like,
as these he said, had been so fire.
quently and emphatically set forth.
He went on to discuss the effects OF
alcohol in disturbing the general func.
tional workings of the body NANTES.
ted in such complaints as gout, dia.
betes and kidney diseases, all which,
he said, were found largely among
drinkers.
Among the indirect consequences OF
alcoholism were an increased sensi.
tiveness with weakened power OF
resistance in the physical system, ren.
uering the subject liable to number
of ravaging diseases, chief among
which is tuberculosis 1t had been
abundantly proved that whereas in
ordinary cases of Inflammation of the
lungs normal persons recover, to hard
drinkers the disease almost always
proves fatal.