110 ETIOLOGY OF CIRRHOSIS. 



poisonous effects of alcohol were, a few years ago, per- 

 formed by Dr. Percy, of Birmingham, who found that 

 in dogs poisoned by alcohol, he could recover that spirit 

 from the blood, the brain, the spleen, and other organs, 

 but in far the greatest quantity from the liver. The 

 inflammation of the "areolar tissue" in the portal 

 canal. " Glisson's capsule " is most probably owing to 

 the diffusion of alcohol through it from the portal veins ; 

 and bearing in mind the volatile principle of alcohol, 

 we can readily conceive how quickly and effectually 

 it permeates animal membranes and tissues. These 

 remarkable properties of alcohol also explain the fact 

 observed by the generality of pathologists, that in cirr- 

 hosis, or the gin-drinker's liver, the whole of the liver is 

 uniformly changed in structure ; but if globules of mer- 

 cury or globules of pus find their way into the veins 

 that feed the vena porta they become arrested at some 

 particular points in the lobules of the liver, mid excite at 

 each of such points circumscribed irritation, followed by 

 inflammation, and ultimately by abscess, while the whole 

 of the remaining liver continues healthy, but it is quite 

 different with alcohol, which being of a volatile nature^ 

 mixing freely with water, becomes equally diffused 

 throughout the whole mass of the portal blood flowing 

 through the liver, and the inflammation it excites, "slow 

 though it may be," involves, as a consequence, the entire 

 organ, and its ultimate destruction. 



ETIOLOGICALLY. The form of degeneration of the 

 liver herein described has been pretty generally attri- 

 buted to a "chronic inflammation uf the gland," and the 

 chief cause to the abuse of " ardent spirits/' hence the 

 English term " gin-drinker's liver." There can, however, 



