On the mode of action of alcohol in the treatment of disease / by Edward Smith.

  • Edward Smith
Date:
[1861]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the mode of action of alcohol in the treatment of disease / by Edward Smith. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    stage. At all periods there was a sense of impediment to re- spiration. The muscles of the limbs were inactive. There was relaxation of the muscles, and stiffness of the face, forehead, and upper lip, so that the features fell. This state of the mus- cular system followed the commencement of the effect upon the consciousness, and other functions of the brain, and, also, i! the excited state of the heart. In reference to its cessation, the power of co-ordinating the muscles was first regained, whilst the buzzing sensation and semi-cataleptic state con- tinued, and the disposition to use the muscles was regained the jj last of all. There is so close a connexion between the nervous and the muscular systems, and the complete consciousness is so essential in inquiries of this kind, that it is not easy to isolate the effect upon the muscles; but close attention to all the phenomena, the care taken to note them down at the moment of their occurrence, and the long series of experiments which we have made, assure us that muscular tone and power are greatly lessened ; that the effect is not identical upon volun- tary and upon involuntary muscles, and that it is even identical ; upon the inspiratory and the expiratory sets of muscles. (f) The effect upon the mind was also very marked and j peculiar, and would have been a valuable study to a psycho- | logist in search of facts. Rum and some other spirits made us very hilarious and talkative in about ten minutes, and during about twenty to twenty-five minutes ; so much so, that I my friend was altogether a king ; but as minutes flew away, j so did our joyousness, and little by little we lessened our gar- | rulity, and felt less happy, until at length, having gone down by degrees, we became silent, almost morose, and extremely miserable. Then, indeed, we felt the sorrows of the drunk- ard's lot, and saw, with a clearness which can only be perceived by such experience, how certain it is that he must again drink i the intoxicating draught. Never were the extremes of happi- | ness and misery brought so vividly before us, or seemed to be in such close proximity, as on those occasions, and never did we so deeply commiserate the slavish, miserable, and almost hopeless condition of the poor wretch who has become a victim I to this fearful vice. | In addition to the above, we may mention that every mental j perception was darkened, and that the dreaminess, which is not an unpleasant feature of intoxication, is a condition in which a neither thought nor imagination acquires power. Wesuspectvery j greatly the statements of those who profess that fancy is then I on her most airy wing, or that thoughts spring forth without j the efforts of parturition ; and our most charitable reply to such statements would be, that they are all a dream.
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