68 MEMOIRS NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, VOL. X, NO. 3. 



of the circulation. A scientific journal like the present is hardly the place for a discussion of 

 problems of practical medicine, but it may be allowable to point out how this new knowledge 

 relates itself to the action of the drug upon the cerebrum. There is, on the one hand, at present- 

 no sufficient proof that alcohol is a direct cerebral stimulant such as caffeine, unless it be in 

 exceptional cases of exhaustion or of narcotic habit it does not sensibly augment the working power 

 of the brain. Again, so far as consciousness is concerned, its tendencies are to produce sleep 

 rather than wakefulness, whilst the true cerebral stimulant, augmenting the functional activity 

 of the cortical centers, lessens their tendency to go into a condition of functional rest, i. e., sleep. 

 On the other hand, any habitue* of feasts where alcoholic drinks circulate freely knows full well 

 the increase of amount and brilliancy of conversation which occurs pari passu with the flushing 

 of the cheeks. Evidently it is probable that this cerehral excitement and increased activity is 

 due not to the direct action of the drug upon the brain but to the enormously increased now of 

 blood running riot through the cerebrum. 



