INTRODUCTION. 



The experiments reported in detail in the following pages give infor- 

 mation regarding the effect of moderate amounts of ethyl alcohol upon 

 the human organism. Since numerous workers have concerned them- 

 selves with this problem, it may seem to many readers that nothing 

 remains to be said. However, the fact is that no solution seems to have 

 been sufficiently substantiated to have gained general recognition. 

 The results of the many experiments show numerous disagreements 

 and there seems no way of harmonizing many of the contradictions. 

 It is unsafe to discredit totally certain experiments that do not harmon- 

 ize with others, for each experiment must be regarded as a sincere 

 attempt to answer scientific inquiry, and it must be remembered that 

 the problem is by no means a simple one. There are many known 

 variables which exercise an influence on the results and there are doubt- 

 less as many unknown and unrecognized factors. If all the conditions 

 of performed experiments in this field were known, doubtless unex- 

 plained contradictions would still exist. 



In previous alcohol experimentation, particularly with human sub- 

 jects, there has been much variation in the experimental conditions. 

 The dose employed has ranged in amount from 10 to 100+ c.c. of abso- 

 lute alcohol, and in concentration from pure alcohol through all the 

 degrees of dilution with numerous liquids. The time of taking the dose 

 and its relation to previous ingestion of food have varied, as well as the 

 physical and mental condition of the subject. The processes measured, 

 and the indicators of the alcohol effect used by the several investigators, 

 have likewise differed. Furthermore, the subjects varied as to the pre- 

 vious taking of alcohol; some of them were habitual drinkers (a very 

 few), others were more or less irregular in their use of alcohol, and still 

 others were total abstainers previous to the experiments. Since con- 

 trol doses have rarely been used, the subjects of the experiments have, 

 in many cases, known when the alcohol has been administered; even 

 with control doses alcohol in any considerable quantity can generally 

 be recognized by certain characteristic subjective sensations. Finally, 

 the interpretation of the results is complicated by the fact that the effect 

 of a so-called " moderate" amount of alcohol is not conspicuously large 

 as measured by the usual methods. Taking into consideration all these 

 variations in the experimental conditions, it would seem that sufficient 

 complexity existed to warrant one in expecting a considerable conflict 

 in results. 



The tendency has been for each experimenter in this field to try new 

 methods of attack ; the variety of results has thus continually increased. 

 More refined methods are constantly available and should by all means 



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