The Effects of Alcohol, by Dr. Wm. A. Hammond. 



45 



Among those who have assisted iu elaborating the re- 

 sults (if tlio Survey, especially the natural history, may 

 be mentioned the followinc students of science : 



Prof. R. F. BairJ, Prof. O. C. Mar-h. Prof. E. D. Cone, Prof. H. Allen, 

 Prof. G. \V. Tivon, jr., Prof. A. K. Veir.il, Prof. T. P. James, Prof. S. 

 T. Olney, l)r. G. A. Vasey, Mr. W. II. Eilwmls. Piol'. Cyrus Thinniis, 

 Jlr. K. H. Stretch, Mr. Tl'ieo. L. Me:ul, Biron Osten-Sncken, Pmf. 1'.. T. 

 (.reason. Prof. I'. S. Uhlcr. Dr. E Cones, Prof. Win. Iloldt-n, Dr. J. J. 

 WuoiiwnrJ, Dr Geo. Otis, Mr. W. G. Binnev, Prof. Q. A Allen, Prof. 

 AsaGrav. Mr. II. Ulke, Mr. J. S. Milner, Mr. G. Browu Gooile, 

 Pn f. 4. A. Ilageii, Mr. J. H. Emcrton, anil many others. 



THE EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL. 



AN ADDRESS BY WM. A. HAMMOND, M. D. 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS ON ASSUMING THE PRESIDENCY 

 OF THE NEW-YORK NEUROLOGICAL SOCIETY- 

 DELIVERED MONDAY, MAY 4 THE EFFECTS OF 

 ALCOHOL ON THE NERVOUS SYSTEM, ILLUS- 

 TRATED BY EXPERIMENTS ON MEN AND ANIMALS. 



The New-York Neuroloeical Society met on 

 May 4, at the College of Physicians and Sur- 

 geons. A large number of prominent physician s were 

 present, among whom were Prof. L. A. Sayre, Prof. 

 Willard Parker,' Drs. Leute, J. C. Peters, D. 

 B. St. John Roosa, Meredith Clymer, Murray, 

 and others. The occasion was the delivery of the 

 inaugural address on tbe " Effects of Alcohol," by 

 Prof. William A. Hammond, as President of the 

 Society. He was frequently interrupted by applause, 

 especially when displaying the delicate test for 

 alcohol in the liquor distilled from the brain, spinal 

 cord, and nerves of a rabbit wbich had been fed on 

 alcohol for several days and then killed. The 

 following foreign physicians were elected honorary 

 members of the Society : Drs. John W. Ogle, B. W. 

 Richardson, G. Fielding Blandford, J. Hughliugs 

 Jackson, F. E. Anstie, J. Russell Reynolds, Henry 

 Mandsley, and H. Cbarlton Bastian of London ; Drs. 

 T. Clifford Allbut and J. Crichton Brown of Leeds, 

 Eng.; Drs. Labbadie Lagrave, A. Brie"re de Boismont, 

 J. Baillarger, and G. B. Duchenne (de Boulogne) of 

 Paris; Drs. Albert Eulenberg and C. Westphal of 

 Berlin, and Dr. Thomas Laycock of Edinburgh. A 

 short discussion followed Dr. Hammond's address. 



T1IE ADDRESS. 

 GENTLEMEN: In returning thanks for the 



honor you have conferred upon me, in electing me to the 

 presidency of the New-York Neurological Society, I must 

 congratulate you on the auspicious awakening into life 

 which the Society has exhibited. With a roll of mem- 

 bers which in numbers aud eminence would be worthy 

 of any society in the country, it enters upon the self- 

 appointed task of studying the science of medicine in 

 all its relations to the nervous system. 



INCREASING LIABILITY TO NERVOUS DISEASES. 

 If there is any higher scientific labor than this lor a 

 physician to perform I do not know what it is, and its 

 Importance augments daily with the advance of civiliza- 

 tion and refluement, those groat factors which do not 

 stop at promoting man's intellectual and nhysical 

 development, but which, as if every good 

 thl'ig must have its attendant evil, render 

 him more liable to a class of diseases 

 before which all others are of secondary rank. The 

 thought which the statesman or the scientist elaborates 



from his brain, and which may bo of momentous weight 

 In tbe affairs of mankind, olten leaves him who gave it 

 birth with weakened or perverted mind, or I he prey of 

 some painful a flection which of llself makes life a bur- 

 den. The youth who, by ambition or the constant spur- 

 ring of his teachers, is induced to make Inordinate men- 

 tal efforts to attain distiiictiun, breaks tl:\;i mentally 

 and physically in the attempt, or el.-o gains hi.-, object 

 at a cost to his nervous system which is a dear price for 

 any possible eminence he may thereafter rc-irh. Not 

 long ago I cut from a daily newsjiap-r mi ad\ ertisemeno 

 of a school near this city, in \viiicii it was set forth us 

 the sole inducement to pare:,ts to send their sons to the 

 institution in question that at it "bovs were waked up 

 and set agoing." I thought then, and I often think now. 

 of the anguish in store for some of the "dull bovs" 

 whom the teacher, doubtless with the best intentions, 

 may " set agoing." The nervous irritability, the head- 

 aches, the sleeplessness, the confusion of ideas, the en- 

 feebled body, the premature old age, the early death 

 not, perhaps, before the intervention of some organic 

 disease of the brain or other part of the nervous organ- 

 ization which a forcing svstem is apt to produce, are 

 but a poor return for the doubtful honor of being 

 " waked up and set agoing" to say nothing of the 

 lamentable failures attendant upon the process. 



I might go en and invite your attention to many other 

 ways in which civilization affects for good aud for evil 

 those organs which in their full development place man 

 at the head of all created beings, but I am induced by 

 the preeminent importance of the subject, to limit this 

 address to the effects of alcohol upon the nervous sys 

 tern. I think I was one of the first to study the influence 

 of alcohol upon man, from the standpoint o' careful and 

 exact experiment. In the year 1856 I Instituted a series 

 of investigations on myself which yielded definite re- 

 gaits, and which placed in a very clear light the evils 

 and benefits of the powerful agent under consideration. 

 These related to the general influence of alcohol, and il 

 may be well as a preliminary to the special subject of 

 inquiry to consider, somewhat iu detail, the subject of 

 that study, and of the researches of others who have 

 pursued a similar lino of research. In go doing I shall 

 draw largely from a former publication, not now ?eadi'y 

 accessible. 



THE USB OF ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES. 



The propriety of the use of alcoholic liquors as bever- 

 ages, the lecturer said, has been a subject of discus- 

 sion for many years past, and is at the present time en- 

 gaging a great deal of attention. Pew, however, who 

 have participated in it have considered this matter 

 in its true ligut, and this is especially true of the 

 advocates of total prohibition who have generally in- 

 dulged in invection instead of argument, and whoso 

 facts are based mainly upon the immoderate use of 

 the agents in question. No one can deny that alco- 

 holic liquors, when imbibed in excessive amount, are 

 not only injurious to the individual who takes them, 

 but are also in the highest degree ruinous to society. 

 We can even go further and admit that there are cer- 

 tain alcoholic compounds such as the distilled liquors, 

 brandy, whisky, rum, &c. which, when taken habit- 

 ually even in moderation by healthy persons, exert 

 a more or less injurious effect, varying according to the 

 quantity Imbibed and the constitution and temperament 

 of the individual. It is also undoubtedly true that even 

 fermented liquors ale, wine, porter, &c. when used 1 ia 

 excess, lead to results in manv cases whU'h are decidedly 

 abnormal in character. And it is not to be questioned 

 that the habits and mode of lifo of a great many persons 



