Evening star., 1934-09-02
SCIe0Ce at last hdS 0ISC0Vefe0
---fron, a study Of tadpoles!---
the exact changes which alcohol
produces in the nerve structure
BY JANE STAFFORD.

- HOSE long cool drinks you slipped in
this first Summer of repeal-what
have they done to your nerves?
The answer-learned from a study
of tadpoles-depends on how you
did your drinking. One mint julep
at the end Of a hot day or even every not oay
probably did not affect your nerves, but II you
went ON a drinking spree every week end or
holiday, the answer is quite different.
little daily drinking of alcoholic beverages,
even when done over prolonged period Oh
time, does little or no perceptible harm to your
nerves. The damage, If any, Is soon repaired.
But the amount Of alcohol consumed on spree
may permanently damage these important
tissues.
These facts are the latest scientific discov-
cries about the effects Of alcohol on the body
Medical scientists have long known in gen.
eral way that the nervous system and the
digestive tract are the only parts Of the body
affected to any extent by alcohol as bev-
erage.
You don't have to be scientist to know
that alcohol dulls the senses slows the mental
processes and the co-ordinating mechanism be-
tween mind and muscles. Unless you are
scientist, however, you may not realize that
these results of drinking alcohol are evidence
of the drugs effect on the nerves. (Alcohol
taken internally may be beverage to you, but
it Is narcotic drug to the scientiSt.)
Because the mental processes the senses, the
co-ordinating mechanism and control OF mus
cles and movements are intimately related to
the proper functioning of the nerve cells, it is
important to know just what happens to the
nerves during alcoholic intoxication.
DROF CARL c. SPEIDEL of the University
of Virginia has found the changes which
alcohol produces in the very structure of the
nerves. His studies will probably explain why
a drunken man cannot walk or talk straight
and is more or less insensible to pain.
For years Prof. Speidel has been closely
watching the behavior of nerves in living or
ganisms He used small frog tadpoles because
their nerves are constructed essentially on the
same plan as mans and because the trans
parency of their tail fms makes it easier to
study their nerves.
What he did was anesthetize the animal
slightly and place it on q specially prepared
microscope slide. Then. using very high mag
MITIGATION, he observed the individual nerve
hbers in the transparent tail fin, clearly visible
under the microscope
From this observation DR. Speidel made .
map of the nerves in each tadpole's tail The
animal was then put back into pond water and
On the next day the same region and the same
nerves were studied again. BY this method he
obtained histories Of individual nerve fbers
over o period Of several months
He learned how nerve fbers grow through
living tissues, how they repair themselves when
injured, and most recently how they are af-
fected by alcohol He has even taken moving
pictures of the nerve growth so that he could
show it to fellow scientists.
As pictured and explained by Prof Speidel.
nerve growth Is pioneered by what are known
as growth cones" on the ends of the nerve
hbers. These are thickenings Of the tips which