22 Effect of Alcohol on Psycho-Physiological Functions. 



The effort in all these experiments was to present objective results, 

 free from personal bias. It is understood that the comments con- 

 cerning the general effects of alcohol were only incidentally recorded, 

 with no intention of securing complete, introspective data. It is also 

 to be considered that, for reasons which Dodge and Benedict discuss on 

 pages 23 and 24 of their report, they abandoned the giving of a control dose 

 on a normal day. The almost certain knowledge of having taken alco- 

 hol may naturally enough have colored the introspection of some sub- 

 jects, particularly in the cases of Subject VIII (total abstainer) and 

 Subject II (very moderate user). Both of these subjects seem to have 

 usually experienced in a more marked degree than the others the gen- 

 eral effect with the 30 c.c. dose. Dose B (45 c.c. of absolute alcohol) 

 produced general effects clearly evident to all subjects; dizziness, 

 numbness, and nausea are usually mentioned as following the ingestion 

 of this quantity. (See Appendix II, p. 138.) 



Subject VI, in whom we are most immediately interested, curiously 

 enough makes his most striking comment on October 29, 1913, follow- 

 ing dose A. Considered in connection with the comments made con- 

 cerning the general effect of doses on subsequent days, it appears most 

 probable that the statement "feel half intoxicated" is an exaggeration, 

 unless by this he means simply sleepy. Otherwise some unusual condi- 

 tion must have made the subject more susceptible to the alcohol on this 

 day, as he makes almost no comment concerning any effect from dose 

 B taken three times later in the Dodge and Benedict series. It will be 

 recalled, however (see p. 20), that the subject objected to taking dose 

 B in the second series on the plea that it incapacitated him for work 

 during the remainder of the day. This subject may have been in cer- 

 tain respects somewhat more resistant to the effects of alcohol than 

 some of the others. The comments of Dodge and Benedict on his 

 experimental results give weight to this point of view, while his seeming 

 lack of experiencing the general effects may have been due to his giving 

 less expression to introspection, or the effects were possibly more 

 delayed in his case. 



From the data at hand concerning the amounts of alcoholic beverages 

 used by the different subjects in the week immediately preceding the 

 experiment (see Appendix I, p. 135), it is clear that Subjects III, VI, 

 VII, and IX, consumed the largest amounts. These same subjects, 

 according to their comments (see Appendix II, p. 138), experienced the 

 milder effects as a result of the doses given in the Laboratory. It of 

 course can not be stated whether they were actually less affected by the 

 doses given or made fewer comments because of their familiarity with 

 the effects. However this may be, three of the same group of sub- 

 jects—that is, III, VI, and VII— show experimental results as to the 

 effect of alcohol which are below the average. (See Dodge and Bene- 

 dict's report, p. 264, fig. 32.) On the other hand, Subject IX, who 



