ALCOHOL. 105 



In the present state of our knowledge, alcohol cannot be 

 regarded as an aliment ; but it is undoubtedly capable of 

 profoundly affecting the nervous system, and, in its passage 

 through the organism, has a decided influence on the process 

 of nutrition. 



Taken in moderate quantity, alcohol generally produces a 

 certain amount of nervous exaltation, which passes off as it 

 is eliminated. In some individuals the mental faculties are 

 sharpened by alcohol, while in others they are blunted. 

 There is nothing, indeed, more variable than the immediate 

 effects of alcohol on different persons. In large doses the 

 effects are the well-known phenomena of intoxication, delir- 

 ium, more or less anaesthesia, coma, and sometimes, if the 

 quantity be excessive, death. As the rule, the mental ex- 

 altation produced by alcohol is. followed by reaction and de- 

 pression, except in debilitated or exhausted conditions of the 

 system, when the alcohol seems to supply a decided want. 



The views of physiologists concerning the influence of a 

 moderate quantity of alcohol on the nervous system are 

 somewhat conflicting. That it may temporarily give tone 

 and vigor to the system, when the energies are unusually 

 taxed, cannot be doubted; but this effect is not produced 

 in all individuals. The constant use of alcohol may create 

 an apparent necessity for it, producing a condition of the 

 system which must be regarded as pathological. 



The immediate effects of the ingestion of a moderate 

 quantity of alcohol, -continued for a few days, are decided. 

 It notably diminishes the exhalation of carbonic acid and the 

 discharge of other excrementitious principles, particularly 

 urea. These facts have long since been experimentally 

 demonstrated; 1 but recently, very important observations 



ited period is apparently small, and is estimated with great difficulty. It is by 

 these avenues particularly that we should suppose that so volatile a principle as 

 alcohol would be chiefly thrown off. 



1 The influence of alcohol on the exhalation of carbonic acid has already been 

 considered (see vol. i., Keapiration) ; and its effect on the quantity of urea dis- 

 charged will be more fully treated of in connection with excretion. 



