434  ALCOHOL — ITS  ACTION  AND  USES. 
— the  skin — the  liver — the  kidneys — the  lungs;  and  not  only  this, 
but  that  it  is  deposited  in  all  the  tissues,  and  can  be  extracted 
alike  from  the  substance  of  the  brain,  the  liver,  the  muscles, 
and  the  cellular  tissue,  as  well  as  from  the  blood.  It  is  right  to  ob- 
serve that,  even  when  small  quantities  of  alcohol  were  taken, 
traces  of  it  could  be  found  in  the  excretions  ;  thus  proving  that 
it  is  not  simply  when  the  substance  is  taken  in  excess  that  it 
becomes  eliminated  without  change. 
From  the  results  of  their  experiments  MM.  Lallemand,  Perrin, 
and  Duroy  think  they  are  justified  in  concluding  that  all  the 
alcohol  ingested,  with  the  exception  of  a  small  quantity  which 
they  and  other  experimenters  have  found  converted  into  acetic 
acid  in  the  stomach,  is  eliminated  from  the  body,  without  under- 
going any  change  whatever ;  and  that  in  this  respect  it  resem- 
bles in  its  action  the  various  anaesthetic  agents,  such  as  chloro- 
form, &c.  From  these  conclusions  necessarily  follows  the  in- 
ference that  alcohol  cannot  be  considered  in  the  light  of  an 
alimentary  substance. 
We  believe  Dr.  Percy  was  the  first  to  show  that,  after  poi- 
soning by  alcohol,  this  substance  could  be  found  in  the  ventri- 
cles of  the  brain,  as  well  as  in  the  brain-matter  itself ;  and  we 
are  all  aware  of  the  fact,  that  fumes  of  alcohol  are  exhaled  from 
the  lungs  even  when  only  a  small  quantity  of  the  fluid  has  been 
swallowed.  The  chief  points  that  are  new,  which  have  been 
brought  to  light  by  the  investigations  of  our  authors,  are  the 
elimination  of  the  alcohol  unchanged  through  the  medium 
of  the  skin,  the  kidneys,  &c.  ;  and  its  deposit  in  the  tissues 
generally.  It  is  true  that  Klenke  had  demonstrated  the  pre- 
sence of  alcohol  in  the  urine  and  bile ;  but  with  this  exception, 
physiologists  had  advanced  the  opinion  that  the  secreting  organs 
did  not  eliminate  the  substance. 
There  cannot  be  a  doubt  of  the  great  importance  and  value 
of  the  researches  of  M.  Lallemand  and  his  coadjutors  ;  for 
supposing  their  results  to  be  trustworthy — and  we  believe  them 
to  be  so — they  establish  beyond  a  doubt  the  fact  that,  at  any 
rate,  a  portion  of  all  ingested  alcohol  may  go  the  round  of  the 
circulation,  traverse  the  various  capillaries  of  the  body,  and 
without  undergoing  any  oxidation  whatever,  be  ejected  from 
the  system  in  the  difi'erent  secretions.    This  portion,  therefore, 
