406 INDIRECT ACTION OF ALCOHOL. 



its exhibition you will see the vessels of the conjunc- 

 tiva contract, the maculae become rose coloured, and 

 the patches of skin on dependent portions of the 

 body lose their dark livid hue. Keep this, then, in 

 mind the lesion in fever for which you give wine, is 

 the lesion of circulation ; and if this function from 

 debility require it, you must give it under all circum- 

 stances of derangement of other functions."* 



2. Indirect Action of Alcohol on the Blood and on the 

 Bioplasm of the Tissues. 



In order that a correct idea may be formed of the 

 manner in which the indirect action of alcohol upon 

 the constituents of the blood and upon the bioplasm 

 in fever and inflammation is effected, it is necessary 

 to direct the reader's attention to some questions of 

 scientific detail, some of which may appear only very 

 remotely connected with the subject, but which are 

 nevertheless important, partly because they indicate 

 precisely the change which is effected by the agent, 

 partly because they enable us to correct erroneous 

 theories which have hitherto been acted upon. And 

 first as regards the conclusions formerly taught, and 

 still to some extent believed, concerning the value of 

 bleeding in fever and inflammation.f 



* " Lectures on the Nature and Treatment of Fever," by Sir D. J. 

 Corrigan, Bart. Page 58. Fannin & Co., Longmans, 1853. 



t The views put forward in the following pages have been taught by 

 me since the year 1860, and will be found published in the British 

 Medical Journal to? 1863. 



