THE PKOBLBM OF THE PHYSIOLOGIST 425 



in excesses of various kinds. He laughs immoderately at 

 remarks only slightly humorous and in many ways shows 

 that his powers of judgment are becoming dulled. Grad- 

 ually this dullness spreads. His speech becomes thick and 

 uncertain and a stage of dullness and drowsiness of all his 

 mental faculties follows. He may still be able to walk, but 

 his inclination is to be quiet, and, if permitted to do so, he 

 passes rapidly into a stupid, drunken slumber. Finally, 

 the loss of control over his speech spreads to include the 

 centers of voluntary movement. He loses control of his 

 legs and is no longer able to walk, staggering blindly when 

 he attempts to do so. Such a condition represents what 

 are usually the final stages of acute intoxication or drunk- 

 enness. If, however, the doses of alcohol are still con- 

 tinued they reach a point when the involuntary centers 

 which control the breathing and movements of the heart 

 become affected, and in this case death of course must re- 

 sult. 



The problem of the physiologist. — The problem of the 

 physiologist is to account for these well-known effects and 

 to tell exactly what is the action of the alcohol at each step 

 of the process. All are agreed that alcohol in large or con- 

 tinued doses ultimately dulls or paralyses the nervous cen- 

 ters, and that this narcotic effect is felt first in the higher 

 centers. After these centers are dulled the paralysis grad- 

 ually spreads until it includes the motor centers and ulti- 

 mately the vital processes, such as breathing and heart 

 beat. Thus, in the description given, it is easy to see that 

 the centers of judgment are the first to become dulled, and 

 that the effect of this is to remove the speech and motor 

 centers from control so that they seem to be stimulated. 

 That this is not a true stimulation, but the first step in 



