256 PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL. 



tity of muscular work is a purely individual matter and varies within 

 wide limits in different individuals. It is a significant factor in the 

 organic personal equation of the individual. At different times and 

 under different conditions of health the pulse of the same individual 

 shows changes of excitability. But, other conditions being constant 

 within the same organic equation, two different kinds of work giving 

 rise to the same pulse conditions may be provisionally expected to be 

 physiological equivalents. Conversely, if the kind of work remains 

 the same, difference in the pulse in successive experiments will indicate 

 subjective changes. 



Such subjective changes are clearly shown in our records in the 

 adaptive process, as indicated by the pulse during the association 

 experiments. That the same moderate physical activity is accompanied 

 by a higher pulse-rate after alcohol is abundantly proved by our pulse- 

 records. Still more significant is the fact that notwithstanding de- 

 pressed neuro-muscular action the pulse-rate is uniformly higher for the 

 same kind of mental work after alcohol than it is without it. It does 

 not seriously modify the meaning of the correlation if we should abandon 

 the probable but debatable implication of increased metabolism for a 

 given amount of mental work. Even if it should prove true that the 

 local action of alcohol on the circulation centers disturbed the normal 

 correlation between metabolism and the heart-rate, the fact of increased 

 heart-rate for a given kind and amount of mental work absolutely 

 prohibits us from regarding the neuro-muscular depression incident to 

 alcohol as a conservative process like sleep. 



TEMPORAL INCIDENCE OF THE EFFECT AFTER THE INGESTION OF 



ALCOHOL. 



The beginning of the effect of alcohol on our measurements is found 

 within the 30-minute period after ingestion. Our experiments were 

 not designed for a closer approximation. It is doubtful if, with our 

 present techniques, the problem of a differential beginning of the effects 

 of alcohol can be investigated profitably, since the first relatively slight 

 effects will be obscured by, or confused with, the normal accidental 

 variations. The beginning of the effect of alcohol will probably be 

 studied in the future as in the past on some particularly favorable 

 indicator. As will appear later in this chapter, of all the techniques 

 which are used in this investigation, the eye-movements are not only 

 the most consistent for the entire group, but they correlate most closely 

 with the average results for each individual, and can be repeated 

 indefinitely without significant practice effects. Of all our measure- 

 ments they are consequently the most likely to show the beginning of 

 the effects of alcohol. That, however, is a problem for the future. 



In addition to the fact that the beginning of the effect of alcohol 

 occurs within the first period, our present data show that the maximum 

 effect and the beginning of recovery usually occurs within the 3-hour 



