Alcohol / by C.R. Francis.

  • Francis, C. R. (Charles Richard), 1821-1901
Date:
1889
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Alcohol / by C.R. Francis. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    the softening, sometimes met with in other organs, may have a similar origin. It is commonly supposed that the brain becomes hardened in those addicted to alcohol, this being the effect of the spirit upon the organ when preserved as a specimen. But, the modus <perandi of alcohol, in the two cases, is different: in the latter alcohol abstracts the moisture from the brain, which, in consequence, is hardened. The Blood.—Alcohol is essentially a blood poison: not a single constituent of this fluid escapes. The Blood Corpuscles, of which there are two kinds—the red and the white,—are important gas carriers. The former absorb, in the lungs, oxygen from the air and convey it to every part of the body. After the oxygen has combined with the carbon, which it meets with everywhere—in the organs and tissues of every description,—causing the combustion required to maintain the heat of the body at a uniform temperature (98° Fahr.), the carbonic acid, thus formed, is conveyed back by the same carriers to the lungs, there to be eliminated in expiration. The import- ance of these corpuscles may be estimated from the fact of there being 135 in every 1000 parts of the blood, or 175 millions in the whole of it. They float, in seeming myriads, in the centre of the blood-stream, whilst the white corpuscles move more sluggishly at the side. Both are, more or less, circular in form, which is preserved by the moisture (water) which they contain. The effect of alcohol is to absorb the moisture, and, thereby, to destroy the form.* The corpuscles collapse and become oval, or star-like, or truncated, or otherwise irregular in shape, with, occasionally, crenated edges. Sometimes, they run too closely together, adhering in rolls. The effect of these several derange- ments is seriously to impair the function of the red corpuscles as “vital instruments” of the circulation. Moreover, when several are agglutinated together in masses, they do not readily pass through the minute blood-vessels: and, by impeding the blood-current, they may cause considerable local injury. The Fibrine, of which there are from 2 to 3 parts in every 1000 parts of the blood, either loses its power of coagulation in consequence of alcohol fixing the water with the fibrine, or, if the spirit extracts the waterj- determinately, the tendency is to coagulation. One or other of these results will ensue according to the degree in which the water that holds the fibrine in * Doubts having been thrown upon this fact by some who are authorities as to the pathological action of alcohol, I wrote to Dr. B. W. Richardson, who first announced it; and he very kindly replied that he had seen, what he stated to be the case, under the microscope, and that no one, so far as he was aware, had controverted the statement from his own observation. The point is important. t Dr. B. W. Richardson.
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