274 EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL. 



The testimony of persons rescued from drowning, and other 

 similar experiences, goes to show that the record was yet in 

 the mind. We may fail to Recollect, but we ever remember. 



EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL ON THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 

 [Treatise on Hygiene, STEVENSON and MURPHY.] 



" The physiological effects of alcohol which have been con- 

 sidered are quite subsidiary to its effects on the central nervous 

 system, as there is no doubt that it is for this effect on the 

 brain that alcoholic beverages are so universally taken by man- 

 kind. The first effect that alcohol has on the brain is that 

 of a stimulant, and it probably acts as such in two ways ; 

 namely, by increasing the circulation of blood through the 

 brain, which is thus roused to greater vigor, and by directly 

 stimulating the nerve-cells of the nerve centers. This stimu- 

 lating effect is observed chiefly after medium or dietetic doses ; 

 and its result is seen in many individuals by an increase of 

 mental and bodily activity, and of acuteness of perception 

 by the special senses. This beneficial physiological effect is, 

 however, soon replaced by poisonous symptoms if the dietetic 

 doses are too often repeated, or a large quantity of alcohol 

 is taken at once ; for alcohol then becomes a depressant and 

 paralyzer of the central nervous system, and symptoms of in- 

 toxication appear. This depressant effect is, as Brunton points 

 out, one of progressive paralysis. The higher centers of the 

 brain are first affected, then the lower. The perceptive cen- 

 ters are paralyzed, so that correct judgment is no longer pos- 

 sible, while the emotions are uncontrolled and thrown out 

 of working gear, fits of boisterous hilarity and of emotional 

 depression being common symptoms. Speech becomes disor- 

 dered, and symptoms of incoordination, due probably to an 

 effect on the cerebellum, appear. The respiratory center in 



