348 THE HUMAN 130DT. 



alters for the worse nearly every important organ. The 

 organ first or most seriously attacked varies with the form 

 in which the alcohol is taken, with the amount consumed 

 daily, and with the constitution of the individual. Prob- 

 ably no one individual ever suffered from all the diseased 

 states produced by alcohol described in the following 

 pages ; but habitual drinkers are very apt to experience 

 one or more of them. The diseases produced by alco- 

 hol after absorption into the blood come on so grad- 

 ually (except in the case of obvious drunkards) that the 

 victim rarely perceives them until serious if not irreme- 

 diable damage has been done: indeed, physicians have only 

 recently come to clearly recognize that men who in com- 

 mon phrase "were never in their lives under the influence 

 of liquor" may nevertheless be drinking enough to do 

 them grave injury. 



Absorption of Alcohol. When alcohol (so diluted as not 

 to cause active inflammation of the stomach) is swallowed, 

 it is quickly absorbed by the capillary blood-vessels of the 

 gastric mucous membrane.* These pass it on to the portal 

 vein, which carries it (p. 208) direct to the liver. Collected 

 from the liver by the hepatic veins it is conveyed through 

 the inferior vena cava to the right auricle of the heart. 

 Thence it passes on in the general blood-flow (pp. 198, 199, 



Can a man who drinks but is never drunk be injured by alcohol? 



By what vessels is alcohol first absorbed? To what vessel do 

 they carry it? Describe its further course to the right auricle of the 

 heart. From there to the left auricle. 



* An exception to the rapid absorption of alcohol sometimes occurs when a large 

 quantity of raw spirits is taken. Many cases are recorded where men have for 

 a wager drunk a bottle of whiskey or brandy. The result is often sudden death ; 

 but sometimes no effect is noticed for fifteen or twenty minutes ; then there is 

 sudden unconsciousness, passing into stupor, which ends in death. In such cases 

 the large quantity of strong spirits seems temporarily to paralyze the absorbing 

 power of the stomach. 



