On alcohol : a course of six Cantor lectures delivered before the Society of Arts / by Benjamin W. Richardson.

  • Benjamin Ward Richardson
Date:
1876
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On alcohol : a course of six Cantor lectures delivered before the Society of Arts / by Benjamin W. Richardson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    56- ■ On AIcohoL which means ihcy get away out of the body and therewith lead to exhaustion and paralysis of mo- tion. In other v/ords, the animal force which should be expended on the nutrition and sensation of the body, is in part expended on the alcohol, an entirely foreiofn expenditure. The lighter the alcohol therefore, ccetcrisparibus, the less injurious its action, and so v/e may put down methjdic alcohol as the safest of the series of bodies to which it belongs. But it is not without potency of effect, and the phenomena il: produces are sufficiently demonstrative. Its effects are de- veloped in four distinct stages. The first stage is that of excitement of the ner- vous organisation; the pulse is quickened, the breathing is quickened, the surface of the body is flushed, and the pupil is dilated. After a little time there is a sense of languor, the muscles falling into a state of prostration and the muscular move- ments becoming irregular. Thereupon the second stage follows, if the administration be continued. In this second stage the muscular prostration is increased, the breathing is labored, and is attended by deep sighnig movements at intervals of about four or five seconds, followed by further prostra- tion, rolling over of the body upon the side, and distinct signs of intoxication. From this condition the subject passes into the third stage, which is that of entire intoxication, complete insensibility to ])a'n, with unconsciousness of all external ob- jects, and with inability to exert any voluntar}^ muscular power. The breathing now becomes embarrassed and blowing, with what is techni-