214 RESPIRATION 



hoi, combustion will more easily take place than when the body 

 is in a normal state ; but, under any condition, the combustion 

 of the body requires a higher degree of heat than can be gener- 

 ated by the body itself, or the mere proximity of a lighted 

 candle, or any cause, of similar character. 



54. The Effect of Alcohol upon Respiration. Whenever wine, 

 or any other form of alcoholic drink, is taken into the stomach, 

 it is quite rapidly absorbed into the blood-current, and in a few 

 minutes it imparts to the breath a peculiar, offensive odor. 

 This is due to the vapor of alcohol that, little by little, is ex- 

 pelled from the body, along with the carbonic acid gas exhaled 

 through the lungs. If the quantity of drink taken has been con- 

 siderable, this disagreeable odor may continue a day or more. 



This condition is evidence that an unnatural labor has been 

 thrown upon the lungs ; namely, it is an effort on the part of 

 the general system to get rid of a poison that is hurtful to every 

 organ by which it is retained. WJiile this exhalation of alco- 

 holic vapor continues, the respiratory act is impaired, for not 

 only can less carbonic acid gas be thrown off, but there is also 

 a diminished inhalation of oxygen. 



55. Respiratory Diseases among the Intemperate. The struc- 

 ture of the respiratory organs is such that they are relatively 

 tolerant of the presence of alcohol in the body. 



Wheezy breathing and hoarseness of voice are noticeable 

 among inebriates ; but this class does not suffer greatly from 

 severe attacks of lung diseases that can be said to be directly 

 due to the liquor they drink. Indirectly, however, they suffer 

 greatly, as a class, from those diseases, because they incur ex- 

 posures of every imaginable variety, while under the intoxicant 

 influence of this powerful drug, which can, according as it is 

 taken in less or greater quantity, deprive a person of his sober 

 self-management or bring him down to utter loss of conscious- 

 ness. It is in this way that the users of alcohol fall a prey, 

 especially in the winter season, to attacks of pneumonia, or 

 lung fever, and other serious disease of the respiratory organs. 



54. Does alcohol appear in the breath ? Does it interfere with respiration ? 

 65. What respiratory diseases among the intemperate ? 



