ALCOHOL, A NARCOTIC 



223 



that this nerve is composed of many thousands of nerve 

 fibers, and each nerve fiber that conveys messages into or 

 out of the brain is invested with an insulation jacket (sim- 

 ilar to the insulation covering an electric wire) of Lipoid 

 and thus the stimuli are prevented from scattering. 



"It may be asked, 'What has all this to do with 

 alcohol?' The connection is an important one, for only a 

 few years ago two physiological investigators, — one with 

 the English name of Overton, and the other with the dis- 

 tinctly German name of Hans Meyer, — without knowledge 

 of each other's work, discovered the principle that any 

 substance that dissolved lipoid, or, what is the same thin.;, 

 is dissolved in lipoid, is an anesthetic. Chloroform, ether, 

 and all of these agents which are used in modern surgery 

 to produce unconsciousness are dissolvers of lipoid. 



"Besides acting as anesthetics such substances act as 

 poisons to every living thing in the body as well. The 

 brain, owing to its high 



tt'iciency Onter 



Wora Centers 



Balancing Centers 

 BreathingCeM.r 



Hrtii Ccnler 



percentage of lipoid, is 

 more sensitive to the 

 action of chloroform than 

 other organs of the body. 



" When chemists and 

 physiologists found that 

 alcohol is soluble in 

 lipoid, it enabled them 

 to rank it as a narcotic 

 poison, and it is now so 

 classed. This statement 



is altogether irrespective of the effects it will produce 

 on an animal." — Osborne. 



The question of brain efficiency is further illustrated by 

 Figure 233. Long before birth the heart in the embryo 

 begins to beat and is under the control of the nervous 



Nerve to Heart 



Figure 233. — Brain Control. 



