286 INOEGANIC AGENTS 



the same stages may be observed. The stages include the 

 stimulant, depressant and paralytic. The law of dissolution 

 is demonstrated by alcohol, as the more highly organized 

 centres, and those more recently developed in the process 

 of evolution, are the first to succumb, and following out this 

 order the medulla, the first of the higher centres to be devel- 

 oped, is the last to be influenced by the drug. In accordance 

 with this law the cerebrum is first acted upon. The period 

 of excitement is brief and is due in a considerable degree 

 to the increased cerebral circulation and flushing of the 

 brain. It is essential to emphasize the fact that by far the 

 most apparent and decided action of alcohol is one of depres- 

 sion ujDon the nervous system as a whole. Many experi- 

 menters — as Schmiedeberg and Bunge — afiirm that alcohol 

 acts only as a depressant to the nervous system from the 

 very outset. An increasing mass of evidence corroborates this 

 view. The apparent enhanced mental activity in man is, ac- 

 cording to this theory, simply due to lack of inhibitory con- 

 trol over the higher cerebral centres. Hence the freedom 

 of speech and lack of modesty. Similarly the activity of the 

 spinal reflex centres is thought to follow failure of inhibition. 

 The mental excitement in man is chiefly due to exciting 

 surroundings and does not occur in many persons nor in 

 animals. 



While the fact that alcohol is no more a nervous than 

 a circulatory stimulant is now being generally accepted, the 

 author has not yet seen fit to change his original statements 

 in this book. 



Alcohol has certainly an apparent primary stimulating 

 effect on nerve centres and it is yet to be positively proven 

 that alcohol has no real actual stimulating effect on the 

 nervous system. The stimulating influence of alcohol 

 upon the spinal centres is more marked in the lower 

 animals than in man, because the brain is proportionately 

 small and poorly developed in the former. The primary 

 stimulating effect of alcohol is shown in man by increased 

 mental activity and apparent brilliancy, but acute reason- 

 ing and judgment are not enhanced, and in many cases 

 there is almost immediate mental confusion and drowsi- 

 ness induced. In man there is emotional excitement and 

 the functions of speech and imagination are stimulated 



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