196 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



course of their daily vocations than printers, who are as a rule 

 not subjected to anything like a similar class of petty annoy- 

 ances during their work, no matter how arduous it may be. 



That after the liver and the heart the brain should be the 

 next organ of the body which suffers most from the injurious 

 effects of alcohol when taken in small quantities at a time is no 

 m.ore than what might be expected. Indeed, I think it is even 

 less, seeing that alcohol acts injuriously upon nerve-tissues in 

 three distinctly different ways : First, through its chemical ac- 

 tion upon the blood ; second, by disordering the liver's functions 

 and causing the bile to accumulate in the circulation, and there- 

 by poison the brain and nerves ; and, third, by its accelerating 

 the heart's action, and thus sending an increased supply of blood 

 to the brain — every increase in an organ's blood-supply being as- 

 sociated with a corresponding increase in the functional activity 

 of the organ. 



The increase of the cerebral circulation consequent upon the 

 increase in the heart's action from the imbibition of small quan- 

 tities of alcohol acts prejudicially, however, upon the brain in 

 yet another way — namely, by its causing an engorgement and 

 dilatation of the cerebral arteries. For, seeing that Nicol and 

 Mossop found that so small a quantity as two teaspoonfuls of 

 absolute alcohol caused marked congestion of the retinal blood- 

 vessels — which derive their blood-supply from the same source 

 as the cerebral vessels — it is natural to infer that even the small 

 quantity of two teaspoonfuls of alcohol will induce the same 

 amount of congestion in the branches of the blood-vessels with- 

 in the cranium as it does in those immediately outside of it ; 

 and if so, seeing that the organ is confined within a limited 

 space and surrounded on all sides by unexpansible ridged walls, 

 by their engorgement and dilatation they must of necessity press 

 injuriously upon the brain-substance. The pressure thus exerted 

 on the nerve-cells and fibers will not only prevent their perform- 

 ing their functions properly, but at the same time interfere with 

 their nourishment, and consequently lead to a degeneration of 

 their constituents. The deleterious effects of congestion of the 

 intercranial blood-vessels are rendered apparent to us in yet an- 

 other way — namely, by the feelings of fullness or tightness of 

 the head experienced by many persons after partaking of alco- 

 holic stimulants. Moreover, it appears to me that the facts just 

 alluded to afford a reasonable explanation of why it so often 

 happens that persons who indulge in small quantities of s^jirits 

 while engaged in arduous mental labor frequently suffer from a 

 sudden mental breakdown, notwithstanding that the immediate 

 effect of the stimulants had appeared to be beneficial to them by 

 increasing their brain-power. My explanation of the cause of 



