68 Physiology. 



weakening the heart. Experiments show that the first 

 effect of alcohol on the heart is to weaken the force of 

 the beat, though the rate is usually quickened. This indi- 

 cates a deadening effect, such as is often seen in disease. 

 Frequently the approach of death is indicated by a quick- 

 ened but enfeebled heart-beat. 



Alcohol Overworks the Heart. " Even what is called 

 moderate drinking has a greater share than is generally 

 supposed in not only increasing heart diseases, in cases 

 where they already exist, but also in inducing their develop- 

 ment in those constitutionally and hereditarily predisposed 

 to become affected by them." Dr. George Harley, Lon- 

 don Lancet, 1888. 



Alcohol Exhausts the Heart. " The action of spirits 

 on the heart in a number of experiments yielded startling 

 results. The number of beats was increased, usually run- 

 ning up eight or ten a minute, but always dropping down 

 below the normal level. If at eighty in health, the alco- 

 holic impulse would send it up to ninety in the first hour, 

 but the next hour it would drop to seventy, usually going 

 below the health level as far as it went above." T. D. 

 Crothers, M.D. 



Alcohol Injures the Structure of the Heart. " The 

 heart from continued over-action becomes dilated, and its 

 valves relaxed. The membranous structures which en- 

 velop the organ are thickened, rendered cartilaginous, and 

 occasionally calcareous. The valves, which consist of folds 

 of membrane, lose their suppleness, and valvular disease 

 has come to stay. These derangements are likely to cause 

 death from sudden failure of the heart itself. There is 

 always danger of the heart failing to do its work, for alco- 

 hol has made it inefficient." H. H. McMichael, M.D. 



