132 ACTION OF ALCOHOL ON THE LIVER. 



with it whatever it has absorbed from the stomach. It 

 is, therefore, not strange that the liver often becomes 

 diseased from a man's taking alcoholic drinks. They 

 cause a great overgrowth of the connective tissue (p. 13) 

 of the liver, giving rise to what is known as fibrous degen- 

 eration. The true liver-substance is crushed and killed, 

 and what remains is a shrunken, hard rough mass, well 

 known to physicians as "hob-nailed," or "gin-drinker's 

 liver." 



A liver in this condition cannot, of course, secrete bile 

 properly, and thus digestion is imperfect. 



In still another way, the nourishment of the body is 

 very seriously affected. Besides making bile, the liver 

 has another duty. This is to take up from the blood 

 the sugar (much of it made from vegetable starch, p. 108) 

 which the blood has absorbed from the stomach or in- 

 testines, and turn this sugar back into a kind of animal 

 starch, which is more fitted to nourish the muscles and 

 several other organs. This animal starch is then returned 

 to the blood to be carried over the body. A diseased 

 liver cannot perform this duty, and many organs are in 

 consequence ill nourished. 



What is fibrous degeneration? Gin-drinker's liver? Result as re- 

 gards digestion ? Another use of the liver besides making bile ? 

 What becomes of the animal starch made in the liver? Result when 

 liver is diseased ? 



