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POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
Adopting the lowest estimate which has been given of the 
daily work done by the heart, viz., as equal to 122 tons lifted 
one foot, the heart, during the alcoholic period, did daily 
work in excess equal to lifting 158 tons one foot, and in the last 
two days did extra work to the amount of 24 tons lifted as far. 
The period of rest for the heart was shortened, though, 
perhaps, not to such an extent as would be inferred from the 
number of beats ; for each contraction was sooner over. The 
heart, on the fifth and sixth days after alcohol was ’ left off, 
and apparently at the time when the last traces of alcohol were 
eliminated, showed in the sphygmographic tracings signs of 
unusual feebleness ; and, perhaps, in consequence of this, when 
the brandy quickened the heart again, the tracings showed a 
more rapid contraction of the ventricles, but less power, than 
in the alcoholic period. The brandy acted, in fact, on a heart 
whose nutrition had not been perfectly restored.” 
It is difficult, at first glance, to realize the excessive amount 
of work performed by the heart under this extreme excitement. 
Little wonder is it that, after the labour imposed upon it by six 
ounces of alcohol, the heart should flag ; still less wonder that 
the brain and muscles which depend upon the heart for their 
blood supply should be languid for many hours, and should 
require the rest of long sleep for renovation. It is hard physical 
work, in short, to fight against alcohol ; harder than rowing, 
walking, wrestling, carrying heavy weights, coal-heaving, or the 
tread-wheel itself. 
While the heart is thus labouring under the action of 
alcoholic stimulation, a change is observable in the extreme 
circulation — that circulation of blood which by varying shades 
of colour in exposed parts of the body, such as the cheek, is 
visible to the eye. The peripheral circulation is quickened, the 
vessels distended. We see this usually in persons under the 
influence of wine in the early stage, and we speak of it as the 
flush produced by wine. The authors I have already quoted 
report upon it in definite terms. “ The peripheral circulation 
(during alcoholic excitement) was accelerated, and the vessels 
were enlarged, and the effect was so marked as to show that this is 
an important influence for good or for evil when alcohol is used.” 
By common observation the flush seen on the cheek during 
the first stage of alcoholic excitation is supposed to extend merely 
to the parts actually seen. It cannot, however, be too forcibly 
impressed on the mind of the reader that the condition is 
universal in the body. If the lungs could be seen they, too, 
would be found with their vessels injected ; if the brain and 
spinal cord could be laid open to view they would be discovered 
in the same condition ; if the stomach, the liver, the spleen, 
the kidneys, or any other vascular organs or parts could be laid 
