162 EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL UPON THE HUMAN BODY. 



produces an increased secretion of an active gastric juice. When 

 this stimulation is excessive changes are set up in the mucous 

 membrane, as a result of which the gland tissue becomes less, and 

 the secretion is correspondingly diminished. Up to the point 

 where the stimulation resulting in increase of the normal secre- 

 tion ends and the pathologic changes begin, alcohol is not in- 

 jurious, but manifestly in health no such artificial stimulus is 

 needed. So long as the individual is well, the natural food is a 

 sufficient stimulus to the gastric glands and the additional stimu- 

 lation of alcohol is uncalled for, and inasmuch as the exact line 

 of demarcation between the amount of alcohol that does good and 

 that which does harm has not as yet been absolutely determined, 

 there is always a possibility that an excess may be taken and in- 

 jury result. So far as the stomach is concerned, then, there is in 

 a condition of health no useful purpose served by alcohol, but there 

 are conditions in which this property of alcohol of exciting the 

 gastric glands to increased activity may be availed of under 

 medical advice. 



Alcohol being a very diffusible substance, is mostly absorbed by 

 the blood-vessels of the stomach, which carry it into the portal 

 vein, and by this channel it reaches the liver, where its stimulating 

 action is again exercised upon the cells of that organ, and an in- 

 creased production of bile is the result. If, however, this stimu- 

 lation is excessive and long continued, degenerative changes take 

 place by which the organ ultimately becomes diminished in size 

 and incapable of performing its function. 



From the liver the blood carries the alcohol to the heart, which 

 is quickened in action, and to the brain, whose activity is also in- 

 creased. If the quantity of alcohol is excessive, the cells of gray 

 matter in the braiii are over-stimulated and great excitement re- 

 sults, and this may, if the quantity is sufficient, result in a suspen- 

 sion of the functions of the brain and a condition of unconscious- 

 ness, passing on in extreme cases to a fatal termination. But if 

 the quantity of alcohol which reaches the brain is not enough to 

 produce the fatal result, but still enough to maintain the condition 

 of over-stimulation, there result changes in the structure of the 

 brain, as there do in that of the stomach and liver, which weaken 

 the mental activities and produce the irregular and inco-ordinated 

 muscular movements so familiar to all who have observed in- 

 dividuals who have for years been addicted to drink. 



From this necessarily incomplete recital of the effects of alcohol 

 we now turn to some experimental evidence bearing upon the 

 subject. These experiments have been carried on by various 

 experimenters, and some of the results are well summarized in the 

 following quotation from An American Text-Book of Physiology 

 under the title " Alcohol in the Body." " Alcohol in the stomach 

 at first prevents the gelatinization necessary in proteid for peptic 



