ITS EFFECTS ON THE HUMAN nODY. 



335 



Dr. Gluzinski* came to tte following conclusions : 



1. That alcohol (as in wino and dilute spirits) disappears 

 rapidly from the stomach. 



2. Tliat there are two j)hasos of its action : («,) a marked 

 decrease in the power of digesting allmminons bodies; but 

 (&) after this, when the alcohol has been absorbed, digestion 

 is more rapid than normal, and there is a more abundant 

 production of hydrochloric acid. 



3. That those two phases do not seem to occur regularly 

 in diseased conditions, and in most forms of dyspepsia wine 

 is bad. 



4. That a small quantity of dilute alcohol {e.g. wino) exerts 

 a favourable influence on digestion in healthy persons. 



In the main I consider the above correct, but should 

 slightly modify Nos. 3 and 4, thus : In health, a sinall quantity 

 of good wine does no harm ; in dyspepsia, with congestion 

 or free secretion of gastric juice, it is probably bad ; in 

 dyspepsia, with antemia and insufficient movement of the 

 stomach and small secretion of gastric juice (as in many 

 people leading sedentary lives), sometimes good.f 



When absorbed into the blood, the ethers of wine seem 

 to be rapidly eliminated ; the alcohol forms with haemo- 

 globin a new compound which takes up and gives off oxygen 

 less easily ; hence wine in moderately large doses (1) 

 prevents oxidation and waste of the tissues, and (2) lowers 

 the temperature of the body by dilating the vessels of the 

 skin and causing an increased flow of warm blood on the 

 exposed surfaces. 



Wino — and indeed alcohol in all forms — is almost unani- 



* " Dent. Archiv. klin. Mod.," vol. xxxix. 1886. 



+ It is impossible to lay down infallible general rules on this subject. 

 Statements are constantly made in an ex cathcdi-A manner, but must, like 

 tbe above, bo received with caution. 



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