670 TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION I. 
certain conditions. The question was, Oould alcohol be taken without toxic effects 
on the tissues in general, quite apart from those on the brain and more specialised 
organs? On this point experiment had shown that alcohol appeared to behave like 
other nitrogen-free foods when substituted for other forms of food in persons not 
accustomed to its use, in that it sometimes failed to act as an equivalent for some 
days, during which the deticiency had to be made up by combustion of other 
available sources of energy, but that this effect was not proved to be toxic in its 
nature. But another series of investigations had shown that alcohol left the 
tissues in an impaired state, and that its abuse lessened the resistance to invasion 
by pathogenic organisms; the records of pneumonia in our hospitals and of cholera 
in the East indicated this beyond doubt. But they failed to show that it was 
beyond question that the habitual use of alcohol in small quantities or its thera- 
peutic use had this effect, and the whole interest of the question at present lay in 
the dietetic use of alcohol as contrasted with the drunkard’s abuse of it. The effects 
of alcohol on the central nervous system differed very considerably in different 
individuals. In the lower animals they were marked by depression; the symptoms 
were exactly similar to those of chloral and other narcotics, simple sleep being 
produced with no stage of excitement or exhilaration or intoxication so called. It 
was not sufficiently recognised how often alcohol acted thus in man as a pure 
depressant. The environment of social surroundings was largely responsible for 
the liveliness, physical excitement, and loquacity caused by drinking alcohol in 
company with others. In hospitals no such excitement or exhilaration generally 
appeared after the administration of alcohol. The effect of alcohol on the brain 
was capable of two explanations—namely, the view, at first sight appearing to be 
the more natural one, that it first stimulated the cerebral cells to greater activity 
and then depressed them, like strychnine; and the view, supported by the majority 
of experimental observers, that the stimulation of the brain was only apparent, 
and that the excitement was caused by a loss of the associations which ordinarily 
retarded the expression of mental activity. To adopt the mechanical simile of the 
brain being like an engine fitted with powerful brakes, the more closely one 
examined the engine the more evident it became that what appeared to be the 
result of increased motive power was really the effect of the removal of the 
brakes. It was generally recognised that soma of the highest functions of the brain 
were thrown out of action by alcohol administered in quantities which induced the 
phase of exhilaration. The further question was, What functions were actually 
increased in activity, and how far was this increase dependent upon the reduced 
activity of the processes which were depressed by aleoholP Many valuable experi- 
ments had shown, in this respect, that those mental processes which were ordinarily 
performed readily were less retarded than those in which the subject was less 
practised, and which required more effort—that was, the powers most recently 
acquired and most readily lost were those on which alcohol first acted, while those 
operations which had become habitual were less impaired. This was in complete 
accord with what was observed in the earlier stage of intoxication or exhilaration. 
The most recent acquisitions in adult life were the power of self-control and the 
feeling of self-respect which were manifested in regard for the conventions of life, 
and in the prudence which led one to avoid many procedures which in earlier life 
one might have indulged in without reproach. Under alcohol these were the first 
mental processes to be disordered. In vino veritas was the conclusion to which 
the latest results of experimental science had come; in intoxication, the natural 
man was exposed, stripped of the trammels of convention, and robbed of the fruits 
of experience and education. The results of these investigations on the mental 
state under alcohol, as well as many others not now discussed, appeared to place 
the theory that alcohol acted as a narcotic upon a firm basis. But this would not 
preclude its chief use in therapeutics, for, like opium, its chief therapeutic use was 
not to induce, but to repress, cerebral activity and to produce a result of cerebral 
depression. In this respect alcohol was in many points not inferior to other 
narcotics as a medical remedy. The experimental results of the effects of alcohol 
on the circulation would be discussed by Dr. Dixon, who suggested that alcohol 
might support the heart by acting as a foodstuff, and that this might increase the 
