Hygienic Physiology : with Special Reference to the Use of Alcoholic Drinks and Narcotics

Part 14

Chapter 143,673 wordsPublic domain

If, on the other hand, you take into your stomach a little alcohol, it receives no such welcome. Nature treats it as a poison, and seeks to rid herself of the intruder as soon as possible. [Footnote: Food is digested, alcohol is not. Food warms the blood, directly or indirectly; alcohol lowers the temperature. Food nourishes the body, in the sense of assimilating itself to the tissues; alcohol does not. Food makes blood; alcohol never does anything more innocent than mixing with it. Food feeds the blood cells; alcohol destroys them. Food excites, in health, to normal action only; alcohol tends to inflammation and disease. Food gives force to the body; alcohol excites reaction and wastes force, in the first place, and in the second, as a true narcotic, represses vital action and corresponding nutrition.--If alcohol does not act like food, neither does it behave like water. Water is the subtle but innocent vehicle of circulation, which dissolves the solid food, holds in play the chemical and vital reactions of the tissues, conveys the nutritive solutions from cell to cell, from tube to tube, and carries off and expels the effete matter. Water neither irritates tissue, wastes force, nor suppresses vital action: whereas alcohol does all three. Alcohol hardens solid tissue, thickens the blood, narcotizes the nerves, and in every conceivable direction antagonizes the operation and function of water--LEES.] The juices of the system will flow from every pore to dilute and weaken it, and to prevent its shriveling up the delicate membranes with which it comes in contact. The veins will take it up and bear it rapidly through the system. Every organ of elimination, all the scavengers of the body-- the lungs, the kidneys, the perspiration glands, at once set to work to throw off the enemy. So surely is this the case, that the breath of a person who has drunk only a single glass of the lightest beer will betray the fact.

The alcohol thus eliminated is entirely unchanged. Nature apparently makes no effort to appropriate it. [Footnote: It was formerly a question considerably discussed, whether alcohol exists in the brain, or in the fluid found in the ventricles, in intoxicated persons. This was settled by Percy, who found alcohol in the brain and liver of dogs poisoned with alcohol, and of men who had died after excessive drinking. In these experiments, the presence of alcohol was determined by distillation, and the distilled substance burned with a blue flame, and dissolved camphor.-- FLINT'S _Physiology of Man_.] It courses everywhere through the circulation, and into the great organs, with all its properties unmodified.

Alcohol, then, is not, like bread or beef, taken hold of, broken up by the mysterious process of digestion, and used by the body. [Footnote: Because of the difficulties of such an experiment, we have not yet been able to account satisfactorily by the excretions for all the alcohol taken into the stomach. This remains as yet one of the unsolved problems of physiological chemistry. To collect the whole of the insensible perspiration, for example, is well-nigh impossible. It was supposed at one time that a part of the alcohol is oxidized--_i. e._, burned, in the system. But such a process would impart heat, and it is now proved that alcohol cools, instead of warms, the blood. Moreover, the closest analysis fails to detect in the circulation any trace of the products of alcoholic combustion, such as aldehyde and acetic acid. "The fact," says Flint, "that alcohol is always eliminated, even when drunk in minute quantity, and that its elimination continues for a considerable time, gradually diminishing, renders it probable that all that is taken into the body is removed."] "It can not therefore be regarded as an aliment," or food.-- FLINT. "Beer, wine, and spirits," says Liebig, "contain no element capable of entering into the composition of the blood or the muscular fiber." [Footnote: The small amount of nutritive substance, chiefly sugar derived from the grain or fruit used in the manufacture of beer or wine, can not, of course, be compared with that contained in bread or beef at the same cost. Liebig says, in his Letters on Chemistry, "We can prove, with mathematical certainty, that as much flour as can lie on the point of a table knife is more nutritious than eight quarts of the best Bavarian beer."] "That alcohol is incapable of forming any part of the body," remarks Cameron, "is admitted by all physiologists. It can not be converted into brain, nerve, muscle, or blood."

EFFECT UPON THE DIGESTION. [Footnote: The medical value of alcohol in its relations to digestion is not discussed in this book. The experiments of Dr. Henry Munroe, of Hull, published in the London _Medical Journal_, are here summarized as showing that the tendency to retard digestion is common to all forms of alcoholic drinks.

--Experiments tend to prove that alcohol coagulates and precipitates the pepsin from the gastric juice, and so puts a stop to its great work in the process of digestion.

The greed of alcohol for water causes it to imbibe moisture from the tissues and juices, and to inflame the delicate mucous membrane. It shows the power of Nature to adapt herself to circumstances, that the soft, velvety lining of the throat and stomach should come at length to endure the presence of a fiery liquid which, undiluted, would soon shrivel and destroy it. In self-defense, the juices pour in to weaken the alcohol, and it is soon hurried into the circulation. Before this can be done, "it must absorb about three times its bulk of water"; hence, very strong liquor may be retained in the stomach long enough to interfere seriously with the digestion, and to injure the lining coat. Habitual use of alcohol permanently dilates the blood vessels; thickens and hardens the membranes; in some cases, ulcerates the surface; and, finally, "so weakens the assimilation that the proper supply of food can not be appropriated." --FLINT. [Footnote: The case of St. Martin (p. 168) gave an excellent opportunity to watch the action of alcohol upon the stomach. Dr. Beaumont summarized his experiments thus: "The free, ordinary use of any intoxicating liquor, when continued for some days, invariably produced inflammation, ulcerous patches, and, finally, a discharge of morbid matter tinged with blood." Yet St. Martin never complained of pain in his stomach, the narcotic influence of the alcohol preventing the signal of danger that Nature ordinarily gives.]

EFFECT UPON THE LIVER.--Alcohol is carried by the portal vein directly to the liver. This organ, after the brain, holds the largest share. The influence of the poison is here easily traced. "The color of the bile is soon changed from yellow to green, and even to black;" the connective tissue between the lobules becomes inflamed; and, in the case of a confirmed drunkard, hardened and shrunk, the surface often assuming a nodulated appearance known as the "hobnailed liver." Morbid matter is sometimes deposited, causing what is called "Fatty degeneration," so that the liver is increased to twice or thrice its natural size.

EFFECT UPON THE KIDNEYS.--The kidneys, like the liver, are liable in time to undergo, through the influence of alcohol, a "Fatty degeneration," in which the cells become filled with particles of fat; [Footnote: Disabled by the fatty deposits, the kidneys are unable to separate the waste matter coming to them for elimination from the system. The poisonous material is poured back into the circulation, and often delirium ensues.--HUBBARD. Richardson states that his experience "is to the effect that seven out of every eight instances of kidney disease are attributable to alcohol."] the vessels lose their contractility; and, worst of all, the membranes may be so modified as to allow the albuminous part of the blood to filter through them, and so to rob the body of one of its most valuable constituents. [Footnote: This deterioration of structure frequently gives rise to what is known as "Bright's Disease."--RICHARDSON.]

DOES ALCOHOL IMPART HEAT?--During the first flush after drinking wine, for example, a sense of warmth is felt. This is due to the tides of warm blood that are being sent to the surface of the body, owing to the vascular enlargement and to the rapid pumping of the heart. There is, however, no fresh heat developed. On the contrary, the bringing the blood to the surface causes it to cool faster, reaction sets in, a chilliness is experienced as one becomes sober, and a delicate thermometer placed under the tongue of the inebriate may show a fall of even two degrees below the standard temperature of the body. Several hours are required to restore the usual heat.

As early as 1850, Dr. N. S. Davis, of Chicago, ex-President of the American Medical Association, instituted an extensive series of experiments to determine the effect of the different articles of food and drinks on the temperature of the system. He conclusively proved that, during the digestion of all kinds of food, the temperature of the body is increased, but when alcohol is taken, either in the form of fermented or distilled beverages, the temperature begins to fall within a half hour, and continues to decrease for two or three hours, and that the reduction of temperature, in extent as well as in duration, is in exact proportion to the amount of alcohol taken.

It naturally follows that, contrary to the accepted opinion, liquor does not fortify against cold. The experience of travelers at the North coincides with that of Dr. Hayes, the Arctic explorer, who says: "While fat is absolutely essential to the inhabitants and travelers in arctic countries, alcohol is, in almost any shape, not only completely useless, but positively injurious. I have known strong, able-bodied men to become utterly incapable of resisting cold in consequence of the long-continued use of alcoholic drink."

DOES ALCOHOL IMPART STRENGTH?--Experience shows that alcohol weakens the power of undergoing severe bodily exertion. [Footnote: Dr. McRae, in speaking of Arctic exploration, at the meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, held at Montreal in 1856, said: "The moment that a man had swallowed a drink of spirits, it was certain that his day's work was nearly at an end. It was absolutely necessary that the rule of total abstinence be rigidly enforced, if we would accomplish our day's task. The use of liquor as a beverage when we had work on hand, in that terrific cold, was out of the question."] Men who are in training for running, rowing, and other contests where great strength is required, deny themselves all liquors, even when they are ordinarily accustomed to their use.

Dr. Richardson made some interesting experiments to show the influence of alcohol upon muscular contraction. He carefully weighted the hind leg of a frog, and, by means of electricity, stimulating the muscle to its utmost power of contraction, he found out how much the frog could lift. Then administering alcohol, he discovered that the response of the muscle to the electrical current became feebler and feebler, as the narcotic began to take effect, until, at last, the animal could raise less than half the amount it lifted by the natural contraction when uninfluenced by alcohol.

EFFECT UPON THE WASTE OF THE BODY.--The tendency of alcohol is to cause a formation of an unstable substance resembling fat, [Footnote: The molecular deposits equalizing the waste of the system do not go on regularly under the influence of alcohol; the tissues are not kept up to their standard; and, in time, their composition is changed by a deposit of an amorphous matter resembling fat. This is an unstable substance, and the functions of animal life all retrograde.--HUBBARD, _The Opium Habit and Alcoholism_.] and so the use of liquor for even a short time will increase the weight. But a more marked influence is to check the ordinary waste of the system, so that "the amount of carbonic acid exhaled from the lungs may be reduced as much as thirty to fifty per cent."--HINTON. The life process is one of incessant change. Its rapidity is essential to vigor and strength. When the functions are in full play, each organ is being constantly torn down, and as constantly rebuilt with the materials furnished from our food. Anything that checks this oxidation of the tissues, or hinders the deposition of new matter, disturbs the vital functions. Both these results are the inevitable effects of alcohol; for, since the blood contains less oxygen and more carbonic acid, and the power of assimilating the food is decreased, it follows that every process of waste and repair must be correspondingly weakened. The person using liquor consequently needs less bread and beef, and so alcohol seems to him a food--a radical error, as we have shown.

ALCOHOL CREATES A PROGRESSIVE APPETITE FOR ITSELF.--When liquor is taken, even in the most moderate quantity, it soon becomes necessary, and then arises a craving demand for an increased amount to produce the original effect. No food creates this constantly augmenting want. A cup of milk drank at dinner does not lead one to go on, day by day, drinking more and more milk, until to get milk becomes the one great longing of the whole being. Yet this is the almost universal effect of alcohol. Hunger is satisfied by any nutritious food: the dram-drinker's thirst demands alcohol. The common experience of mankind teaches us the imminent peril that attends the formation of this progressive poison habit. A single glass taken as a tonic may lead to the drunkard's grave.

Worse than this, the alcoholic craving may be transmitted from father to son, and young persons often find themselves cursed with a terrible disease known as alcoholism--a keen, morbid appetite for liquor that demands gratification at any cost--stamped upon their very being through the reckless indulgence of this habit on the part of some one of their ancestors. [Footnote: The American Medical Association, at their meeting in St. Paul, Minnesota (1883), restated in a series of resolutions their conviction, that "alcohol should be classed with other powerful drugs; that when prescribed medically, it should be done with conscientious caution and a sense of great responsibility; that used as a beverage it is productive of a large amount of physical and mental disease; that it _entails diseased and enfeebled constitutions upon offspring_, and that it is the cause of a large percentage of the crime and pauperism of our large cities and country."]

THE LAW OF HEREDITY is, in this connection, well worth consideration. "The world is beginning to perceive," says Francis Galton, "that the life of each individual is, in some real sense, a continuation of the lives of his ancestors." "Each of us is the footing up of a double column of figures that goes back to the first pair." "We are omnibuses," remarks Holmes, "in which all our ancestors ride." We inherit from our parents our features, our physical vigor, our mental faculties, and even much of our moral character. Often, when one generation is skipped, the qualities will reappear in the following one. The virtues, as well as the vices, of our forefathers, have added to, or subtracted from, the strength of our brain and muscle. The evil tendencies of our natures, which it is the struggle of our lives to resist, constitute a part of our heirlooms from the past. Our descendants, in turn, will have reason to bless us only if we hand down to them a pure healthy physical, mental, and moral being.

"There is a marked tendency in nature to transmit all diseased conditions. Thus, the children of consumptive parents are apt to be consumptives. But of all agents, alcohol is the most potent in establishing a heredity that exhibits itself in the destruction of mind and body. [Footnote: Nearly all the diseases springing from indulgence in distilled and fermented liquors are liable to become hereditary, and to descend to at least three or four generations, unless starved out by uncompromising abstinence. But the distressing aspect of the heredity of alcohol is the transmitted drink- crave. This is no dream of an enthusiast, but the result of a natural law. Men and women upon whom this dread inheritance has been forced are everywhere around us, bravely struggling to lead a sober life.--DR. NORMAN KERR.] Its malign influence was observed by the ancients long before the production of whiskey or brandy, or other distilled liquors, and when fermented liquors or wines only were known. Aristotle says, 'Drunken women have children like unto themselves,' and Plutarch remarks, 'One drunkard is the father of another.' The drunkard by inheritance is a more helpless slave than his progenitor, and his children are more helpless still, unless on the mother's side there is an untainted blood. For there is not only a propensity transmitted, but an actual disease of the nervous system."--DR. WILLARD PARKER. [Footnote: The subject of alcohol is continued in the chapter on the Nervous System.]

PRACTICAL QUESTIONS.

1. How do clothing and shelter economize food?

2. Is it well to take a long walk before breakfast?

3. Why is warm food easier to digest than cold?

4. Why is salt beef less nutritious than fresh? [Footnote: The French Academicians found that flesh soaked in water so as to deprive it of its mineral matter and juices, lost its nutritive value, and that animals fed on it soon died. Indeed, for all purposes of nutrition, Liebig said it was no better than stones, and the utmost torments of hunger were hardly sufficient to induce them to continue the diet. There was plenty of nutritive food, but there was no medium for its solution and absorption, and hence it was useless.] 5. What should be the food of a man recovering from a fever?

6. Is a cup of black coffee a healthful close to a hearty dinner?

7. Should iced water be used at a meal?

8. Why is strong tea or coffee injurious?

9. Should food or drink be taken hot?

10. Are fruitcakes, rich pastry, and puddings wholesome?

11. Why are warm biscuit and bread hard of digestion?

12. Should any stimulants be used in youth?

13. Why should bread be made spongy?

14. Which should remain longer in the mouth, bread or meat?

15. Why should cold water be used in making soup, and hot water in boiling meat?

16. Name the injurious effects of overeating.

17. Why do not buckwheat cakes, with syrup and butter, taste as well in July as in January?

18. Why is a late supper injurious?

19. What makes a man "bilious"?

20. What is the best remedy? _Ans_. Diet to give the organs rest, and active exercise to arouse the secretions and the circulation.

21. What is the practical use of hunger?

22. How can jugglers drink when standing on their heads?

23. Why do we relish butter on bread?

24. What would you do if you had taken arsenic by mistake? (See Appendix.)

25. Why should ham and sausage be thoroughly cooked?

26. Why do we wish butter on fish, eggs with tapioca, oil on salad, and milk with rice?

27. Explain the relation of food to exercise.

28. How do you explain the difference in the manner of eating between carnivorous and herbivorous animals?

29. Why is a child's face plump and an old man's wrinkled?

30. Show how life depends on repair and waste.

31. What is the difference between the decay of the teeth and the constant decay of the body?

32. Should biscuit and cake containing yellow spots of soda be eaten?

33. Tell how the body is composed of organs, how organs are made up of tissues, and how tissues consist of cells.

34. Why do we not need to drink three pints of water per day?

35. Why, during a pestilence, are those who use liquors as a beverage the first, and often the only victims?

36. What two secretions seem to have the same general use?

37. How may the digestive organs be strengthened?

38. Is the old rule, "after dinner sit awhile," a good one?

39. What would you do if you had taken laudanum by mistake? Paris Green? Sugar of lead? Oxalic acid? Phosphorus from matches? Ammonia? Corrosive sublimate? (See p. 265.)

40. What is the simplest way to produce vomiting, so essential in case of accidental poisoning?

41. In what way does alcohol interfere with the digestion?

42. Is alcohol assimilated?

43. What is the effect of alcohol on the albuminous substances?

44. Is there any nourishment in beer?

45. Show how the excessive use of alcohol may first increase, and, afterward, decrease, the size of the liver.

46. Will liquor help one to endure cold and exposure?

47. What is a fatty degeneration of the kidneys?

48. Contrast the action of alcohol and water in the body.

49. Is alcohol, in any proper sense of the term, a food?

50. Does liquor strengthen the muscles of a working man?

51. Is liquor a wholesome "tonic"?

52. Is it a good plan to take a glass of liquor before dinner?

VII.

THE NERVOUS SYSTEM.

"Mark then the cloven sphere that holds All thoughts in its mysterious folds, That feels sensation's faintest thrill, And flashes forth the sovereign will; Think on the stormy world that dwells Lock'd in its dim and clustering cells; The lightning gleams of power it sheds Along its hollow, glassy threads!"