IN THE ANIMAL ORGANISM. 239 



cannot be supposed to take place without the co- 

 operation of oxygen. 



Accordinof to all the observations hitherto made, 

 neither the expired air, nor the perspiration, nor the 

 urine, contains any trace of alcohol, after indulgence 

 in spirituous liquors ; and there can be no doubt 

 that the elements of alcohol combine with oxygen 

 in the body ; that its carbon and hydrogen are given 

 off as carbonic acid and water. 



The oxygen which has accomplished this change 

 must have been taken from the arterial blood ; for 

 we know of no channel, save the circulation of the 

 blood, by which oxygen can penetrate into the inte- 

 rior of the bodv. 



Owing to its volatility, and the ease with which 

 its vapour permeates animal membranes and tissues, 

 alcohol can spread throughout the body in all direc- 

 tions. 



If the power of the elements of alcohol to com- 

 bine with oxygen were not greater than that of the 

 compounds formed by the change of matter, or that 

 of the substance of living tissues, they (the elements 

 of alcohol) could not combine with oxygen in the 

 body. 



It is, consequently, obvious, that by the use of 

 alcohol a limit must rapidly be put to the change 

 of matter in certain parts of the body. The oxygen 

 of the arterial blood, which, in the absence of alco- 

 hol, would have combined with the matter of the 

 tissues, or with that formed by the metamorphosis 



