ipS THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



The brain and liver disorders induced "by alcohol thus appear to 

 be as closely correlated as those of liver and kidney. The mere 

 fact of a splitting headache following upon a debauch in the case 

 of a strong, healthy man, and a frontal or an occipital pain suc- 

 ceeding the drinking of a single glass of sherry in a nervously 

 weak one, may be regarded, I think, as proof positive of the 

 detrimental effects of alcohol on the nerve-tissues, as well as 

 lead us to suppose that it is most probably due to the compres- 

 sion of the nerve-cells and fibers, which, as I have above tried to 

 explain, may probably arise from the alcohol accelerating the 

 heart's action, and thereby increasing the circulation in the in- 

 tercranial vessels. 



This statement necessitates the making of another — namely, 

 that atheromatous degenerations of both the cardiac and cere- 

 bral blood-vessels are particularly common among men of great 

 muscular and mental activity, who are in general spoken of as 

 "good livers." 



I have now to call attention to what appears to be a reverse 

 kind of preliminary alcoholic effect on the nervous system — 

 namely, that which is observed in the incipient stage of intoxi- 

 cation, and is almost invariably spoken of as a pleasant instead 

 of a disagreeable sensation. Although I imagine that when a 

 small quantity of an alcoholic stimulant is taken, the pleasurable 

 feelings experienced may be probably entirely due to its increas- 

 ing the cerebral circulation, I nevertheless think that when the 

 amount taken is sufficient to be ultimately able to lead to com- 

 plete unconsciousness, the preliminary stage of the intoxica- 

 tion, which has been described by some as one of sweet sans 

 souci, is simply the offspring of a blunting of nerve sensibility — 

 in fact, merely a partial or incipient stage of cerebro-spinal pa- 

 ralysis ; precisely in the same way as feelings of a pleasing calm 

 are oftentimes felt to precede the total unconsciousness of re- 

 freshing sleep, and soothing sensations of agreeable beatitude 

 have been described as their feelings by persons who after a 

 lingering illness have quietly and peacefully slipped away into 

 eternity. In all of these cases the pleasurable sensations expe- 

 rienced are merely, I believe, due to the gradually increasing 

 negation of nerve-sensibility. 



Lastly, as regards the deleterious influence that small quanti- 

 ties of alcoholic stimulants exert upon the brain-tissues through 

 the power they possess of so acting on the nerve-pabulum in the 

 blood as to prevent its taking up oxygen and exhaling carbonic 

 acid, and thereby becoming fitted for the purposes of brain nu- 

 trition. Alcohol does this exactly in the same way, though to a 

 somewhat lesser extent, as opium. This is well shown by the 

 results obtained from a series of experiments I performed on the 



