612 



The Philosophy of Drunkenness. [JUNE, 



charged from the stomach the free use of vegetable acids; sfctefa as lemon, 

 tartaric acid, or common vinegar. 



The extent of the extracts which we have already given compels us to pass 

 over the " consequences of drunkenness ;" which are described, however, 

 very forcibly by Mr. Macnish, in a distinct chapter the fifth, we believe 

 of the pamphlet. 



The liver, the stomach, the eyes, the general health of the system, and, 

 almost as commonly, the brain, become affected by this horrible practice. 



Liquors (says the writer) have, from the earliest ages, been known to 

 affect the liver : 



" Man is not the only animal so affected. Swine which are fed on the refuse of 

 breweries, have their livers enlarged in the same manner. Their other viscera be- 

 come also indurated, and their flesh so tough, that, unless killed early, they are 

 unfit to be eaten. Some fowl dealers in London are said to mix gin with the food 

 of the birds, by which means they are fattened and their liver swelled to a great 

 size. The French manage to enlarge this organ in geese, by piercing it shortly 

 after the creatures are fledged. 



** Like the liver, the stomach is more subject to chronic than acute inflammation. 

 It is evident that here the indurated state of thisviscus can only proceed from a long 

 continued slow action going on within its substance. The disease is extremely 

 insidious, frequently proceeding great lengthy before it is discovered. The organ is 

 often thickened to half an inch, or even an inch ; and its different tunics so matted 

 together that they cannot be separated. The pyloric orifice becomes, in many 

 cases, contracted. The cardiac may suffer the same disorganization, and so may 

 the oesophagus ; but these are less common, and, it must be admitted, more rapidly 

 fatal. When the stomach is much thickened, it may sometimes be felt like a hard 

 ball below the left ribs. At this point there is also a dull uneasy pain, which is 

 augmented upon pressure." 



The affection of the eyes may be either acute or chronic : 



" Almost all drunkards have the latter more or less. Their eyes are red and 

 watery, and the expression of these organs is so peculiar, that the cause can never 

 be mistaken. The eye, and a certain want of firmness about the lips, which are 

 loose, gross, and sensual, betray at once the toper. Drunkenness impairs vision. 

 The delicacy of the retina is probably affected ; and it is evident that, from a long 

 continued inflammation, the tunica adnata, which covers the cornea, must loose 

 its original clearness and transparency. 



" Most drunkards have a constant tenderness and redness of the nostrils. This, 

 I conceive, arises from the state of the stomach and resophagus. The same mem- 

 brane which lines them is prolonged upwards to the nose and mouth, and carries 

 thus far its irritability." 



Again : 



" Emaciation is peculiarly characteristic of the spirit-drinker. He wears away, 

 before his time, into the "lean and slippered pantaloon" spoken of by Shakspeare 

 in his " Stages of Human Life." All drunkards, however, if they live long enough, 

 become emaciated. The eyes get hollow, the cheeks fall in, and wrinkles soon 

 furrow the countenance with the marks of age. The fat is absorbed from every 

 part, and the rounded plumpness which formerly characterized the body, soon 

 wears away. The whole frame gets lank and debilitated. There is a want of due 

 warmth, and the hand is usually covered with a chill clammy perspiration. 



" Malt liquor and wine drinkers are, for the most part, corpulent, a circumstance 

 which rarely attends the spirit-drinker, unless he be at the same time a Ion vivant. 

 In drunkards, the first parts which become emaciated are the lower extremities : 

 they fall away even when the rest of the body is full. This is a bad sign, and a 

 sure proof that the stamina of the constitution are gone." 



Women who drink are constantly subject to hysteric affections : 



