48 



Tribune Extra? Lecture and Letter Series. 



destruction force is generated, muscles contract, 

 thoughts are developed, organs secrete and excrete. 

 Food supplies the material for new tissue. Now, as alco- 

 hol stops the full tide of this decav, it is very evident 

 that it must furnish the force -which is developed under 

 its use. How it does this is not clear. But it is not clear 

 how a piece of iron deflects a magnetic needle when held 

 on the opposite -ide of a stone wall or a feather bed. 

 Both circumstances are ultimate facts, -which for the 

 present at least must satisfy us. That alcohol enters the 

 food and permeates all the tissues, is satisfactorily 

 proven. Lallemand, Peron, and Duroy contend that it is 

 excreted from the system unaltered. If this were 

 true of all the ak-ohol ingested, its action would De 

 limited to its effects upon the nervous system, produced 

 by actual COD tact with the nervous tissues, but there is no 

 more reason to su ppose that all the alcohol taken into the 

 system is thus excreted from the body than there is for 

 supposing that all the carbon taken as food is excreted 

 from skin and lungs as carbonic acid. It is not at all 

 improbable that alcohol itself furnishes the force 

 directly, by entering into combination with the flrst pro- 

 ducts of tissue decay, whereby they are again assim- 

 ilated without being excreted as urea, uric acid, &c. 

 Many of these bodies are highly nitrogenous, and under 

 certain circumstances might yield their nitrogen to the 

 construction of new tissue. Upon this hypothesis, and 

 upon this alone, so far as I can perceive, can be recon- 

 ciled the facts that an increase offeree and a diminu- 

 tion of the products of the decay of tissue attend upon 

 the iugestion of alcohol. 



With these imperfect remarks relative to the general 

 influence of alcohol upon the body, I proceed to the con- 

 sideration of the special subject of inquiry, the effects 

 upon the nervous system. The general action of a large 

 dose is shown in the following experiment. 

 EXPERIMENTS ON DOGS. 



I caused a dog to take mto its stomach thrse ounces 

 of strong alcohol diluted with a corresponding quantity 

 of water. Immediately on receiving it the animal 

 retired to a corner of the room and lay down. At the 

 end of five minutes I endeavored to make it walk about 

 the ap rt ueut. but it did so with evident reluctance, 

 though up to this time die gait was not staggering. I 

 should hive stated that I detected alcohol in 

 the expired air In forty-eight seconds after 

 administering the liquid. After eight minutes 

 the dog walked with some difficulty, and on carefully 

 examining tfie gait I found that the posterior extremi- 

 ties weie beginning to he paralyzed. This paralysis 

 gradually increased, the gait became more, and more 

 staggering, and at the end of fourteen minutes the ani- 

 mal could no longer stand. The paralysis had now 

 reached the anterior extremities. 



Sensitiveness was sMll present, though evidently 

 l< -rued in acuteness, loud noises were perceived, and 

 the eyes were involuntarily closed when the motion of 

 striking v as made tieforc them. The respiration was 

 hr.iTieil, ;.n<l the action of the heart was greatly acceler- 

 ated. The pupils were at ilrst contracted, but became 

 dilated In about 15 minutes, and icmaincd in that con- 

 dition throughout the experiment. In 30 minutes the 

 animal was in a state of profound coma. Sensibility 

 even of the cornea \\ as abolished, the limbs W(*e in a 

 ptafe of complete resolution, the respiration was hurried, 

 t!:e heart beat rapidly but feebly, and the temperature 



I. ad fallen from nil'- 1 , wnieli it was before tin- mgentiun of 

 tin- alcohol, to OS.5. The animal remained in a comatose 

 st'ite, and died in one hour and twenty-two minute* 

 :ift r the Ingestion of the alcohol. 



In this experiment the alchohol was administered in 

 such a large dose that the period of excitation which, 

 generally follows in a few minutes was altogether pre- 

 vented. In the following experiment the quantity was 

 smaller, and the sequence of phenomena was more 

 regular. 



I introduced into the stomach of a large dog an ounce 

 of alcohol diluted as before. Nothing occurred worthy 

 of notice during the first few minutes. Tiien the heart 

 was accelerated, as was also the respiration, and the 

 pupils became contracted. Sensibilitj' uucl the power of 

 motion were unaffected. In twelve minutes the gait of 

 the animal became uncertain, the limbs were lifted 

 higher than was natural, and th body swayed 

 from side to side, and occasionally strong 

 f fforts had to be made to maintain the erect 

 position. The pupils were still contracted, and 

 sensibility appeared to be intact. This condition lasted 

 22 minutes, and then the pupils began to dilate. The 

 posterior extremities were so far weakened as to render 

 locomotion impossible, and the sensibility of the pos- 

 terior parts of the body were materially impaired. The 

 respiration was very irregular. The pulse was still 

 rapid, but weaker than at first. In a little less than an 

 hour the animal was in a state of light coma, which 

 lasted about 20 minutes. Recovery took place grad- 

 ually, the phenomena of intoxication disappearing in an 

 inverse order to their supervention. 



Observation of the symptoms which ensue when alco- 

 hol in sufficient quantities is giveu animals shows that 

 the condition of intoxication may, as Marvaud proposes, 

 be divided into these periods or stages : 



1. Period of Excitation Uncertainty in the move- 

 ments, acceleration of pulse and of respiration, contrac- 

 tion of the pupils. 



2. Period of Perversion Muscular paralysis, beginning 

 in the posterior extremities, irregularity of pulse and of 

 respiration, dilation of the pupils. 



3. Period of Collapse Complete paralysis of motion, 

 ana?sthenia, feebleness of the pulss and of respiration, 

 stoppage of respiration and of the heart's actiou, death. 



Now, I was desirous of knowing how much of this 

 condition was due to the presence of alcohol in the 

 brain, and how much to disturbance in the quantity of 

 blood normally present in this organ. In other words, I 

 wished to ascertain whether alcohol increased or 

 diminished the amount of blood circulating within the 

 cranium. For this purpose I performed the following 

 experiments : 



I trephined a dog and screwed a cephalohalmometer 

 into the opening made by the trephiuo in the skull, i 

 then administered an ounce of alcohol diluted as in tho 

 previous experiments. In fifty seconds I detected 

 alcohol in tho expired air ; in four and a half minutes tho 

 respiration was accelerated, the action of the heart be- 

 came more rapid and strong, and the pupils were begin- 

 ning to contract, still there was no inciease in the intra- 

 cranial pressure, and I therefore knew that up to this 

 time the amount of blood on the brain had not been in- 

 creased. In six minutes and a half the dog's gait was 

 staggering, and though his movements were uncertain 

 there was no paralysis. Tho infra-cranial pressure was 

 still unaltered. 



The fluid remained stationary in tho tube of the in- 

 strument till 17 minutes had elapsed. Then it began to 

 rise slowly and wiih this increase in the intra-cranial 

 pressure, paralysis Of the posterior extremities super- 

 vened. As the amount Of blood in the craaium oecAmo 

 greater the paralysis extended, the pupils dilated and 

 coma emued. The return to 'billty and tho power 



