272 



PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL. 



VII. Nutrition (Metabolism) continued. 

 7. Heat regulation. 



a. On resting subject. Secure normal diurnal variation, i. e., after lying down for 

 some time to avoid temperature rise due to muscular activity. 



(1) Does alcohol administration alter character of the curve taken from min- 



ute to minute? Rectal temperature by thermo-element. 



(2) Body-temperature rise produced by muscular work. 

 Is it affected in intensity or time by alcohol? 



(3) Body-temperature fall after work. 



(a) Rapidity of fall. 



(b) Level after work. 



(4) Sensitivity to temperature. Local plotting of skin area to temperature 



reaction. (Tigerstedt's lab. technique.) Is physiological zero altered? 

 (Aesthesiometer tests should be of interest.) 



(5) Reaction to exposure to cold air 15 C. 

 Shivering keeps up temperature. 



Will shivering take place after alcohol is given? 



Get body-temperature curve of subject and expose to cold air by dis- 

 robing. Is curve altered? 



Is alcohol given before it is altered? 



Same experiments on drunken man. What effect of disrobing on tem- 

 perature curve? 



PSYCHOLOGICAL PROGRAM. 

 [PREPARED BY RAYMOND DODGE, EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGIST OF THE NUTRITION LABORATORY.] 



It is assumed without discussion that any 

 complete investigation of the effects of the 

 ingest ion of ethyl alcohol mupt include not 

 only its immediate and remote effects on the 

 general metabolism of the body, but also, 

 as far as possible, its effects on special tissues 

 that are influenced in any peculiar way by 

 that particular kind of alcohol. 



It seems obvious further that among those 

 special tissues, nervous tissue and the end 

 organs of sense and motion are of particular 

 importance because of their intimate con- 

 nection with intelligence, personality and 

 conduct, and their bearing on social welfare 

 and economic efficiency. Unfortunately, 

 only the simpler and the more elementary 

 neuro-muscular processes can be studied 

 directly by present laboratory technique. 

 Of the important higher mental and moral 

 processes there is at present pcant probability 

 for securing expeiimental data of scientific 

 reliability. Modifications of the moral con- 

 trols, of business judgment, tact and relia- 

 bility, of mental stability and balance, are 

 not experimentally measurable in any direct 

 way. They must be studied, if at all, by 

 some indirect method. This technical de- 

 fect is a serious limitation to all experimental 

 investigations of the psychological effects of 

 the ingestion of alcohol since it is in precisely 

 these directions that general experience indi- 

 cates that the effects of alcohol are probably 

 mo^t serious. It is consequently all the 

 more necessary to choose the lines of direct 



investigation with experimental tact for 

 probable correlations. The direct investi- 

 gations must not only be reliable in them- 

 selves, but they should indicate as much of 

 the higher and more complex mental mech- 

 anism as possible. Consequently, of the 

 indefinite number of expei imental facts con- 

 cerning elementary processes that might be 

 collected, actual experimentation should be 

 determined by the following principles: 



(1) The technique must be scientifically 

 adequate to the precise purpose in view and 

 reliable with respect to instrumental con- 

 stants, latency, variability, etc. 



(2) Relatively elementary neuro-muscular 

 processes should be investigated in their 

 simplest forms so far as possible. Complex 

 processes should be so chosen as to be defi- 

 nitely related to the elementary processes 

 and directly or indirectly analyzable into 

 their several factors. 



(3) All experiments should directly con- 

 tribute to a systematic analysis of neuro- 

 muscular processes and their variations. 

 The real value of an adequate test consists 

 in its correlation s or possibility of correlation. 



(o) It is of the utmost importance that 

 there should be the highest possible com- 

 parability of data obtained from different 

 individuals and from the same individuals 

 under different conditions. All instrumental 

 const ants should be known and the technique 

 should be reproducible. 



