The physiological influence of alcohol / by James Edmunds, esq., M.D., late senior physician to the British Lying-In Hospital, physician to the London Temperance Hospital.

  • Edmunds, James, M.D.
Date:
[1873?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The physiological influence of alcohol / by James Edmunds, esq., M.D., late senior physician to the British Lying-In Hospital, physician to the London Temperance Hospital. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    oxydised in the system, and by those data the food-value of alcohol must be determined. The question, therefore, now is how far those data can be defined in reference to the oxydation of alcohol ] It is well known that shortly after a small draught of any alcoholic beverage has been swallowed, a vinous odour may be recognised in the breath, and this odour is so distinct that the particular beverage which has been taken can generally be predicated by a person of keen smell, provided that his own blood is free from alcoholic admixture. Moreover, after the vinous odour of the breath ceases to be discernible, the presence of alcohol in the excretions of the lungs, of the skin, of the breasts, and of the kidneys, can be demonstrated for some hours longer by means of the usual chemical tests. This proves that even when taken in small quantities, as a dietetic beverage, the entire thermic power of alcohol is not elicited, in the system, inasmuch as a portion of the alcohol is excreted unchanged from the blood. As to the remainder, it may be said that the burden of proof lies with those who assert that the undetected alcohol is oxydised to supply force to the system. On this point Professor Frankland, F.R.S., the well- known authority, has favoured me with his opinion in a letter now lying on the table, in which he says :— As to the oxydation of alcohol in the system conclusive evidence is still want¬ ing; but there appears to be considerable probability that some at least is oxydised. I do not know of any reliable data which will carry us further on this point ; but if we estimate that one-third of the alcohol is certainly excreted in an unchanged condition, its possible food-value will not, I think, have been under-estimated. Again, besides the vinous odour of the breath of alcohol drinkers, there is a well-known fetid odour due to impaired oxydation of effete matters. These effete matters have a positive thermic value, and the extent to which their oxydation is arrested must be counted as a set-off against the food-value of any alcohol which may be oxydised. The presence also of such imperfectly oxydised refuse in the blood lowers the general tone of the system and causes loss of appetite, thirst, lassitude, and sometimes vomiting; while during the course of any severe disease, such as typhus or pneumonia, these putriscible matters must largely conduce to the fatality of the symptoms. Apart from its merely caustic or irritant effects, all authorities are agreed that alcohol in large doses is a powerful narcotic ; but the fact is scarcely realised that probably more persons are killed suddenly by alcohol than by all other poisons put together. The effects of a large dose of brandy are simply coma, general stupefaction, and universal paralysis, ending, when the respiratory muscles are included, in a mode of death which is indistinguishable from the coma of apoplexy, fracture of the skull, or opium-poisoning. In alcoholic intoxication, short of coma, all the senses are blunted, the higher mental faculties are in abeyance, and the power of directing and harmonising the muscles is more or less completely paralysed. In fact, all the energies of the system are obviously lowered, and these effects, though less profound and less extensive, are, in kind, the same as in the stage [of coma. Under the influence of a still smaller dose the prostration of