RESPIRATION AND EXCRETION 395 



from the seat of the congestion. For this reason hot baths (which 

 call the blood to the skin), the avoiding of drafts (which chill the 

 skin), and warm clothing are useful factors in the care of colds. 



" The Bodily Heat as affected by Alcohol. — Alcohol lowers the tem- 

 peratiire of the body by dilating the blood vessels of the skin. It does 

 this by means of its influence on the nervous system. It is, therefore, 

 a mistake to drink alcohoUc beverages when one is extremely cold, because 

 by means of this more bodily heat is allowed to escape. 



" Because alcohol is quickly oxidized, and because heat is produced 

 in the process, it was long believed to be of value in maintaining the heat 

 of the body. A different view now prevails as the result of much obser- 

 vation and experiment. Physiologists show by careful experiments that 

 though the temperature of the body rises during digestion of food, it is 

 lowered for some hours when alcohol is taken. The flush which is felt upon 

 the sMn after a drink of wine or spirits is due in part to an increase of heat 

 in the body, but also to the paralyzing effect of the alcohol upon the capil- 

 lary walls, allowing them to dilate, and so permitting more of the warm 

 blood of the interior of the body to reach the surface. There it is cooled 

 by radiation, and the general temperature is lowered." — Macy, Physi- 

 ology. 



Effect of Alcohol on Respiration. — It has been shown that alcohol tends 

 to congest the membranes of the organs of respiration. This it does by 

 relaxing the membranes of the throat and lungs. 



" Those who have injured themselves with alcohol show less power of 

 resistance against influences unfavorable to health, and are carried off by 

 diseases which other people of the same age pass through safely, especially 

 in cases of inflammation of the lungs." — Birch-Hirschfeld. 



" The action of alcohol upon the muscular walls of the arteries, which 

 has been already more than once referred to, is especially important in the 

 capillaries of the lungs. When they are dilated by the paralyzing effect of 

 alcohol, their expansion reduces the size of the air cells in the lungs and 

 leaves less room for the air which the lungs need, so that less oxygen is sup- 

 phed to the blood. When the capillaries are often or continuously dis- 

 tended in this way, their walls are likely to become permanently thickened, 

 and the interchange of gases which normally takes place there, by which 

 carbon dioxide passes from the blood while the purifying oxygen is taken 

 into the blood, is impeded. Serious disease even may result, such as a 

 peculiar and quickly fatal form of consumption found only among drinkers 

 of alcoholic fluids. 



" Dr. Legendre, a Paris physician, has recently published, for public 

 distribution, a leaflet, in which he says : ' Alcohol is a frequent cause of 

 consumption by its power of weakening the lungs. Every year we see 

 patients who attend the hospital for alcoholism come back after a period 

 to be treated for consumption.' " — London Lancet. 



