154 REPORT — 1876. 



beschriebeu -worden. Beide Genera zusammeu bilden eine besondere kleine Klasso 

 von Zoophyteu, welche der Vortragende Gastraenden neunt, und welche weder mit 

 den Spongien noch mit deu Hydroiden vereinigt werden kijnneu, da sie die unter- 

 sclieidendeu Charaktere beiden in sich vereinigeu. 



Eine ausfiibrliche, von 6 Tafeln begleitete Abhandlung iiber diese Gastraeaden 

 hat inzwischen Professor Ilaeckel verofFentlicbt in der ' Jenaisclien Zeitselirift fiir 

 Natiirwissenscbaft,' vol. xi. Heft i., 20. Marz 1877. Separat-Abdruck in den ' Stu- 

 dien zur Gastraea-Theorie.' 



On the Dynamics of the Racial Diet in India. By Surgeon-Major Jonssxox. 



On tlie Action of Alcohol on the Brain. 

 By Chakles Thomas Kingzett, F.G.S. London and Berlin, 



The question of what becomes of alcohol taken into the system has been exteu- 

 si^ely studied. 



Thudichum was the first to determine quantitatively the amount of alcohol 

 eliminated by the kidneys from a given quantity of alcohol administered, and the 

 result -which he obtained was sufficient in itself to disprove the " elimination " 

 theory at that time widely prevailing. 



Dupre and many others continued these reseai'ches, from which, to use Dupre's 

 own words, we may fairly draw three conclusions (see ' Practitioner/ March 1872, 

 being abstract of a paper communicated to the Royal Society) : — 



(1) The amount of alcohol eliminated per day does not increase with the con- 

 tinuance of the alcoholic diet ; therefore all the alcohol consumed daily must of 

 necessity be disposed of daily ; and as it is certainly not eliminated within that 

 time, it must be destroj-ed in the system. 



(2) The elimination of alcohol following the taking of a dose of alcohol is com- 

 pleted twenty-fom' hours after the last dose of alcohol has been taken. 



(3) The amount eliminated in both breath and urine is a minute fraction only of 

 the amount of alcohol taken. 



Now Dr. J. Percy in 1830 published a research on the presence of alcohol in the 

 ventricles of the brain, and, indeed, he concluded " that a kind of affinity existed 

 between the alcohol and the cerebral matter." He further stated that he was able 

 to procure a much larger proportion of alcohol from the brain than from a greater 

 quantity of blood than could possibly be present within the cranium of the animal 

 upon which he operated. 



Dr. Marcet, in a paper read before the British Association in 1859, detailed 

 physiological experiments which he considered to substantiate the conclusions of 

 Percy, inasmuch as they demonsti-ated that the alcohol acted by means of absorp- 

 tion on the nervous centres. 



Lallemand, Perrin, and Dure)' had moreover succeeded previously in extracting 

 alcohol from brain-matter in cases of alcoholic poisoning. But all these researches 

 leave us entirely in the dark as regards the true action, if any there be, of alcohol 

 on cerebral matters. And no method of investigation was possible vmtil the 

 chemical constitution of the brain was within our knowledge. 



Thudichum's recent researches in this direction, together with some more recent 

 and published investigations by Thudichum and the author, have placed within 

 reach new methods of inquiry regarding the action of alcohol on the brain. In my 

 research I have attempted this inquiry, by maintaining the brains of oxen at the 

 temperature of the blood in water or in water containing known amounts of 

 alcoliol. The extracts thus obtained have been studied in various ways and sub- 

 mitted to quantitative analysis, while the influences exerted by the various fluids 

 on the brains have been likewise studied. These influences extend in certain cases 

 to hardening, and to an alteration in the specific gravity of the brain-matter. 



Here I shall simply state in the fewest words my results and the conclusions to 

 which they lead. 



Water itself has a strong action upon brain-matter (after death), for it is capable 



