PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTION OF THE METHYL AND ALLIED SERIES. 415 



When the alcoholic sleep from ethylic alcohol is pushed to the fullest extent, 

 a very long time elapses after perfect imconsciousness is clevclopcd before the 

 respiratory, circulatory, aud even some of the voluntary muscles cease to act. 

 The movement of the voluntary muscles is not, however, by an act of consci- 

 ousness ; it is not reflex, and it cannot be excited by the touch. It is usually 

 an automatic movement, aud will continue in the limbs for a long time. At 

 last nothing remains to give evidence of the continuance of life except the 

 motion of the heart and diaphragm, the persistency of the action of which is 

 amongst the most curious facts in physiology. The final act rests with the 

 heart ; the heart continues to contract when the breathing has ceased, aud 

 is found contracting on the right side in both auricles and ventricles, on 

 opening the body, when all the outward indications of motion are over. 



I notice particularly that prolonged tremors do not seem to be produced by 

 ethylic alcohol. 



The appearances immediately after death from ethylic alcohol intoxica- 

 tion are very distinctive. The brain is found charged with fluid blood, the 

 sinuses distended with exudation of serum in the ventricles and in the mem- 

 branes. The small vessels of the brain are greatly injected. The lungs are 

 Avhite, free from congestion, and well inflated with air. The heart is full of 

 blood on both sides, and its air-vessels are engorged. The liver is natural, 

 and the gall-bladder is not distended. The inner surface of the stomach, 

 even when the intoxication is induced by the gradual inhalation of the vapour 

 or by subcutaneous injection, is very much congested, and a strong odour of 

 the alcohol pervades auy contents that may be within the stomach. The 

 spleen is normal, and the alimentary tract below the stomach is normal. The 

 kidneys are intensely congested, blood exuding freely from the cortical part, 

 in points or specks. The bladder is usually empty. The blood on the left, 

 as well as on the right side of the heart, is dark, but on exposure to air it 

 soon reddens, and coagulation is firm. The corpuscles undergo great changes, 

 even before death ; they are shrunken, crenate, and some are elongated and 

 flattened, with truncated ends. 



BuTTLic Alcohol. 



Butyllc alcohol, obtained by fractional distillation from fusel-oil, or from 

 the oil of beet-root, or from molasses left after distillation of ethylic alcohol, 

 differs, as our Table shows, from ethylic alcohol in the proportion of carbon 

 and hydrogen. Compared with common alcohol, its vapour-density is as '37 to 

 23, its specific gravity is as -803 to -792, and its boiling-point is as 230° P. 

 to 172°. It is a hea^de^ alcohol : it mixes indifferently with water, but is 

 not unpleasant to take when diluted and sweetened. Apphed to the lips and 

 tongue in the pure state, it burns more than ethylic alcohol, and it leaves 

 a very peculiar and prolonged local numbness, not unlike the numbness left 

 by tincture of aconite. The knowledge of this fact may prove of service in 

 the application of the alcohols for the local relief of pain. 



The physiological action of butylic alcohol is that of ethylic alcohol exerted 

 in a slower and more marked degree, and with some symptoms added. The 

 period required for producing intoxication is full double that required by 

 the ordinary spirit, and the time required for recovery is longer still. The 

 variations of temperature run parallel with those which we have seen imder 

 ethylic alcohol, and indeed, with the exception of time, there is a complete 

 parallelism up to the third degree of intoxication and the stage of recovery. 

 In the third degree, after the temperature is depressed to the minimum of 

 that degree, distinct tremors of the muscles appear. They come on at 



