THE ACTION OF ALCOHOL 555 



The effects of alcohol on the central nervous system differ 

 very considerably in different individuals. In the lower animals 

 they are marked by depression, the symptoms being exactly 

 similar to those of chloral or of the other narcotics. Occasion- 

 ally, a transient excitation occurs, but this is due to the irritant 

 action in the stomach, and is absent when more dilute solutions 

 are administered, or when the alcohol is ingested in small 

 repeated doses. In human beings the same depressant effect 

 is often seen, the first symptoms being more or less drowsiness 

 and heaviness, which subsequently pass into slumber. But in 

 the majority of cases the first effects elicited are feelings of 

 good fellowship, well-being, and liveliness, with increased con- 

 fidence in the mental and physical powers. The face is flushed, 

 the eyes bright, and the pulse and respiration are accelerated. 

 Larger quantities lead to uncertainty and inco-ordination of 

 the movements, shown in difficult and stammering speech 

 and staggering gait, and still larger amounts induce sleep 

 and narcosis, which may pass into complete anaesthesia, and 

 eventually prove fatal. The symptoms of intoxication, there- 

 fore, appear to differ in the lower animals and in man, for 

 while in the former there are generally no signs of excitement, 

 in the latter this feature may be very marked in the beginning. 

 And even in man the effects of alcohol offer marked contrasts 

 in different individuals, and in the same individual at different 

 times. For the excitement is very much more marked when 

 drinking is indulged in in company with others, while when 

 alcohol is taken with less exhilarating environments or in 

 solitude, the excitement stage is very much less marked or 

 may be entirely absent. 



The effects of alcohol on the brain have been explained 

 in two different ways : the view which appears at first sight 

 to be the more natural one, is that it first stimulates the 

 cerebral cells to greater activity and then depresses them ; 

 that is, alcohol is believed to act on the cerebral grey matter 

 in the same way as strychnine on the spinal cord. And this 

 view, that alcohol is a central nervous stimulant, is still widely 



feel that this paragraph requires modification. The very moderate use of alcohol 

 (by which I mean the habitual daily consumption of one or two glasses of port one 

 or two pints of beer, or a glass of whiskey) appears from the researches of these 

 authorities to induce definite deterioration of the tissues, and to render them more 

 susceptible to attack by disease. 



