ALCOHOL IN RELATION TO BIOLOGY 519 



The whole case is thus summarized by Dr. Brubacher of 

 Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, " Alcohol deranges the 

 activity of the digestive system, lowers the body temperature, 

 impairs muscular power, diminishes the capacity for mental 

 work, and leads to actual changes in the tissues of the brain 

 and other organs." 



Alcohol and Disease. Not only does alcohol have the specific 

 effects already mentioned but injures the general health in two 

 ways: 



1 . It is a direct cause of certain diseases. 



2. It lowers bodily resistance to nearly all diseases. 

 Examples of the first case have been mentioned in connection 



with the various organs, such as: 



Heart diseases, enlargement or fatty degeneration. 



Inflammation of the liver, " hobnailed liver." 



Inflammation of the stomach, indigestion. 



Insanity. 



Far more important, however, is the effect of alcohol in lower- 

 ing the resistance of the body to external attack, and in creating 

 abnormal internal conditions, which make the course of many 

 diseases more serious, though they were not caused by the use of 

 liquor. 

 This predisposition to disease is brought about in two ways: 



1. The white corpuscles, which defend us against bacterial at- 

 tack, are destroyed, and the ability of the blood to provide anti- 

 toxins is lessened. 



2. By the various disarrangements of nerve control, blood and 

 food supply, alcohol overstrains certain organs, and interferes 

 with the action of others, so that diseased conditions are produced. 



Statistics compiled by the Life Insurance Companies of the 

 United States covering a period of twenty-five years, show some 

 remarkable results, as follows: More than twice as many users of 

 liquor died of pneumonia as abstainers, the ratio being 18 to 39, 

 and Dr. Osier states that " Alcohol is perhaps the most potent of 

 all predisposing causes of pneumonia." The same is true of tuber- 

 culosis, the ratio here being 9.9 to 21.8: that is, for every 31.7 



