PSYCHOLOGY: DODGE AND BENEDICT 
607 
processes at all levels of the cerebro-spinal system was the effect of 
alcohol on the pulse-rate. Under all the experimental conditions alco- 
hol produced a relative acceleration of the pulse. In only a few cases 
with the larger dose did this relative acceleration become a positive 
acceleration so that the pulse-rate in the periods subsequent to the 
ingestion of alcohol was faster than during the normal of the day; but 
in practically every instance alcohol prevented the regular pulse retarda- 
tion that accompanied the successive periods of moderate mental and 
physical work on normal days. This relative acceleration averaged 
approximately 3%. While this effect is intrinsically small, its regu- 
larity, the large number of records, and its concomitant variation with 
the size of the dose give the results a high degree of probability. 
The effort to determine which of the antagonistic heart-regulating 
mechanisms was responsible for the relative acceleration demanded an 
analysis of the pulse data. A comparison of the relative changes in the 
durations of systole and diastole (method of Hunt) led to a thorough- 
going consideration of the variations in the pulse cycles during the differ- 
ent experiments. The records show a consistent tendency of alcohol 
to decrease the mean variations amounting to an average of 19%. 
Since the rhythmic and arrhythmic pulse changes within the limits of 
our 12-second records could not have been conditioned by the relatively 
slow-acting accelerator, it seems necessary to regard the decrease of the 
mean variation after alcohol as caused by a decreased responsiveness 
of the inhibitor. There is some evidence in the records that this paralysis 
of the inhibitor is not an exclusive effect, and it is probable that various 
natural and experimental conditions might be found which would shift 
the preponderance of paralysis to the accelerating mechanism. The 
small amount of change, its purely relative character, and the proba- 
bility that both regulating mechanisms are affected doubtless give the 
conditions for the confusion of the scientific traditions concerning the 
effect of alcohol on the pulse rate. 
In conjunction with the pulse acceleration, the general neuro-muscular 
depression may be regarded as presumptive evidence of the effect of 
alcohol on organic efficiency. In none of our data is there any indica- 
tion of a pure facilitation effect of alcohol. Contrary to the theory of 
Kraepelin, we not only found no faciUtation of the motor processes, 
but the depression of their simplest forms in the finger and eye-move- 
ments seems to be one of the most characteristic effects of alcohol. 
Indeed it is exactly these effects that correlate most closely with the 
average of all the effects for the several subjects. Practically it seems 
to follow that these processes may serve as a readily accessible indicator 
