IT CURSES THE BODY.--CONTINUED.
We have quoted thus freely in the preceding chapter, in order that the
intelligent and thoughtful reader, who is really seeking for the truth
in regard to the physical action of alcohol, may be able to gain clear
impressions on the subject. The specific changes wrought by this
substance on the internal organs are of a most serious character, and
should be well understood by all who indulge habitually in its use.
EFFECT ON THE MEMBRANES.
The parts which first suffer from alcohol are those expansions of the
body which the anatomists call the membranes. "The skin is a membranous
envelope. Through the whole of the alimentary surface, from the lips
downward, and through the bronchial passages to their minutest
ramifications, extends the mucous membrane. The lungs, the heart, the
liver, the kidneys are folded in delicate membranes, which can be
stripped easily from these parts. If you take a portion of bone, you
will find it easy to strip off from it a membranous sheath or covering;
if you examine a joint, you will find both the head and the socket lined
with membranes. The whole of the intestines are enveloped in a fine
membrane called _peritoneum_. All the muscles are enveloped in
membranes, and the fasciculi, or bundles and fibres of muscles, have
their membranous sheathing. The brain and spinal cord are enveloped in
three membranes; one nearest to themselves, a pure vascular structure, a
net-work of blood-vessels; another, a thin serous structure; a third, a
strong fibrous structure. The eyeball is a structure of colloidal humors
and membranes, and of nothing else. To complete the description, the
minute structures of the vital organs are enrolled in membranous
matter."
These membranes are the filters of the body. "In their absence there
could be no building of structure, no solidification of tissue, nor
organic mechanism. Passive themselves, they, nevertheless, separate all
structures into their respective positions and adaptations."
MEMBRANOUS DETERIORATIONS.
In order to make perfectly clear to the reader's mind the action and use
of these membranous expansions, and the way in which alcohol
deteriorates them, and obstructs their work, we quote again from Dr.
Richardson:
"The animal receives from the vegetable world and from the earth the
food and drink it requires for its sustenance and motion. It receives
colloidal food for its muscles: combustible food for its motion; water
for the solution of its various parts; salt for constructive and other
physical purposes. These have all to be arranged in the body; and they
are arranged by means of the membranous envelopes. Through these
membranes nothing can pass that is not, for the time, in a state of
aqueous solution, like water or soluble salts. Water passes freely
through them, salts pass freely through them, but the constructive
matter of the active parts that is colloidal does not pass; it is
retained in them until it is chemically decomposed into the soluble type
of matter. When we take for our food a portion of animal flesh, it is
first resolved, in digestion, into a soluble fluid before it can be
absorbed; in the blood it is resolved into the fluid colloidal
condition; in the solids it is laid down within the membranes into new
structure, and when it has played its part, it is digested again, if I
may so say, into a crystalloidal soluble substance, ready to be carried
away and replaced by addition of new matter, then it is dialysed or
passed through, the membranes into the blood, and is disposed of in the
excretions.
"See, then, what an all-important part these membranous structures play
in the animal life. Upon their integrity all the silent work of the
building up of the body depends. If these membranes are rendered too
porous, and let out the colloidal fluids of the blood--the albumen, for
example--the body so circumstanced, dies; dies as if it were slowly bled
to death. If, on the contrary, they become condensed or thickened, or
loaded with foreign material, then they fail to allow the natural fluids
to pass through them. They fail to dialyse, and the result is, either an
accumulation of the fluid in a closed cavity, or contraction of the
substance inclosed within the membrane, or dryness of membrane in
surfaces that ought to be freely lubricated and kept apart. In old age
we see the effects of modification of membrane naturally induced; we see
the fixed joint, the shrunken and feeble muscle, the dimmed eye, the
deaf ear, the enfeebled nervous function.
"It may possibly seem, at first sight, that I am leading immediately
away from the subject of the secondary action of alcohol. It is not so.
I am leading directly to it. Upon all these membranous structures
alcohol exerts a direct perversion of action. It produces in them a
thickening, a shrinking and an inactivity that reduces their functional
power. That they may work rapidly and equally, they require to be at all
times charged with water to saturation. If, into contact with them, any
agent is brought that deprives them of water, then is their work
interfered with; they cease to separate the saline constituents
properly; and, if the evil that is thus started, be allowed to continue,
they contract upon their contained matter in whatever organ it may be
situated, and condense it.
"In brief, under the prolonged influence of alcohol those changes which
take place from it in the blood corpuscles, and which have already been
described, extend to the other organic parts, involving them in
structural deteriorations, which are always dangerous, and are often
ultimately fatal."
ACTION OF ALCOHOL ON THE STOMACH.
Passing from the effect of alcohol upon the membranes, we come to its
action on the stomach. That it impairs, instead of assisting digestion,
has already been shown in the extract from Dr. Monroe, given near the
commencement of the preceding chapter. A large amount of medical
testimony could be quoted in corroboration, but enough has been educed.
We shall only quote Dr. Richardson on "Alcoholic Dyspepsia:"
"The stomach, unable to produce, in proper quantity, the natural
digestive fluid, and also unable to absorb the food which it may
imperfectly digest, is in constant anxiety and irritation. It is
oppressed with the sense of nausea; it is oppressed with the sense of
emptiness and prostration; it is oppressed with a sense of distention;
it is oppressed with a loathing for food, and it is teased with a
craving for more drink. Thus there is engendered, a permanent disorder
which, for politeness' sake, is called dyspepsia, and for which
different remedies are often sought but never found. Antibilious
pills--whatever they may mean--Seidlitz powders, effervescing waters,
and all that pharmacopoeia of aids to further indigestion, in which the
afflicted who nurse their own diseases so liberally and innocently
indulge, are tried in vain. I do not strain a syllable when I state
that the worst forms of confirmed indigestion originate in the practice
that is here explained. By this practice all the functions are vitiated,
the skin at one moment is flushed and perspiring, and at the next moment
it is pale, cold and clammy, while every other secreting structure is
equally disarranged."
TIC-DOULOUREUX AND SCIATICA.
Nervous derangements follow as a matter of course, for the delicate
membranes which envelope and immediately surround the nervous cords, are
affected by the alcohol more readily than the coarser membranous
textures of other parts of the body, and give rise to a series of
troublesome conditions, which are too often attributed to other than the
true causes. Some of these are thus described: "The perverted condition
of the membranous covering of the nerves gives rise to pressure within
the sheath of the nerve, and to pain as a consequence. To the pain thus
excited the term neuralgia is commonly applied, or 'tic;' or, if the
large nerve running down the thigh be the seat of the pain, 'sciatica.'
Sometimes this pain is developed as a toothache. It is pain commencing,
in nearly every instance, at some point where a nerve is inclosed in a
bony cavity, or where pressure is easily excited, as at the lower
jawbone near the centre of the chin, or at the opening in front of the
lower part of the ear, or at the opening over the eyeball in the frontal
bone."
DEGENERATION OF THE LIVER.
The organic deteriorations which follow the long-continued use of
alcoholic drinks are often of a serious and fatal character. The same
author says: "The organ of the body, that, perhaps, the most frequently
undergoes structural changes from alcohol, is the _liver_. The capacity
of this organ for holding active substances in its cellular parts, is
one of its marked physiological distinctions. In instances of poisoning
by arsenic, antimony, strychnine and other poisonous compounds, we turn
to the liver, in conducting our analyses, as if it were the central
depot of the foreign matter. It is, practically, the same in respect to
alcohol. The liver of the confirmed alcoholic is, probably, never free
from the influence of the poison; it is too often saturated with it. The
effect of the alcohol upon the liver is upon the minute membranous or
capsular structure of the organ, upon which, it acts to prevent the
proper dialysis and free secretion. The organ, at first, becomes large
from the distention of its vessels, the surcharge of fluid matter and
the thickening of tissue. After a time, there follows contraction of
membrane, and slow shrinking of the whole mass of the organ in its
cellular parts. Then the shrunken, hardened, roughened mass is said to
be 'hob-nailed,' a common, but expressive term. By the time this change
occurs, the body of him in whom it is developed is usually dropsical in
its lower parts, owing to the obstruction offered to the returning
blood by the veins, and his fate is sealed.... Again, under an increase
of fatty substance in the body, the structure of the liver may be
charged with, fatty cells, and undergo what is technically designated
fatty degeneration."
HOW THE KIDNEYS SUFFER.
"The kidneys, also, suffer deterioration. Their minute structures
undergo fatty modification; their vessels lose their due elasticity of
power of contraction; or their membranes permit to pass through them the
albumen from the blood. This last condition reached, the body loses
power as if it were being gradually drained even of its blood."
CONGESTION OF THE LUNGS.
"The vessels of the lungs are easily relaxed by alcohol; and as they, of
all parts, are most exposed to vicissitudes of heat and cold, they are
readily congested when, paralyzed by the spirit, they are subjected to
the effects of a sudden fall of atmospheric temperature. Thus, the
suddenly fatal congestions of lungs which so easily befall the confirmed
alcoholic during the severe winter seasons."
ORGANIC DETERIORATIONS OF THE HEART.
The heart is one of the greatest sufferers from alcohol. Quoting again
from Dr. Richardson:
"The membranous structures which envelope and line the organ are changed
in quality, are thickened, rendered cartilaginous and even calcareous or
bony. Then the valves, which are made up of folds of membrane, lose
their suppleness, and what is called valvular disease is permanently
established. The coats of the great blood-vessel leading from the heart,
the aorto, share, not unfrequently, in the same changes of structure, so
that the vessel loses its elasticity and its power to feed the heart by
the recoil from its distention, after the heart, by its stroke, has
filled it with blood.
"Again, the muscular structure of the heart fails, owing to degenerative
changes in its tissue. The elements of the muscular fibre are replaced
by fatty cells; or, if not so replaced, are themselves transferred into
a modified muscular texture in which the power of contraction is greatly
reduced.
"Those who suffer from these organic deteriorations of the central and
governing organ of the circulation of the blood learn the fact so
insidiously, it hardly breaks upon them until the mischief is far
advanced. They are, for years, conscious of a central failure of power
from slight causes, such as overexertion, trouble, broken rest, or too
long abstinence from food. They feel what they call a 'sinking,' but
they know that wine or some other stimulant will at once relieve the
sensation. Thus they seek to relieve it until at last they discover that
the remedy fails. The jaded, overworked, faithful heart will bear no
more; it has run its course, and, the governor of the blood-streams
broken, the current either overflows into the tissues, gradually
damming up the courses, or under some slight shock or excess of motion,
ceases wholly at the centre."
EPILEPSY AND PARALYSIS.
Lastly, the brain and spinal cord, and all the nervous matter, become,
under the influence of alcohol, subject alike to organic deterioration.
"The membranes enveloping the nervous substance undergo thickening; the
blood-vessels are subjected to change of structure, by which their
resistance and resiliency is impaired; and the true nervous matter is
sometimes modified, by softening or shrinking of its texture, by
degeneration of its cellular structure or by interposition of fatty
particles. These deteriorations of cerebral and spinal matter give rise
to a series of derangements, which show themselves in the worst forms of
nervous diseases--epilepsy; paralysis, local or general; insanity."
We have quoted thus largely from Dr. Richardson's valuable lectures, in
order that our readers may have an intelligent comprehension of this
most important subject. It is because the great mass of the people are
ignorant of the real character of the effects produced on the body by
alcohol that so many indulge in its use, and lay the foundation for
troublesome, and often painful and fatal diseases in their later years.
In corroboration of Dr. Richardson's testimony against alcohol, we will,
in closing this chapter, make a few quotations from other medical
authorities.
FARTHER MEDICAL TESTIMONY.
Dr. Ezra M. Hunt says: "The capacity of the alcohols for impairment of
functions and the initiation and promotion of organic lesions in vital
parts, is unsurpassed by any record in the whole range of medicine. _The
facts as to this are so indisputable, and so far granted by the
profession, as to be no longer debatable_. Changes in stomach and liver,
in kidneys and lungs, in the blood-vessels to the minutest capillary,
and in the blood to the smallest red and white blood disc disturbances
of secretion, fibroid and fatty degenerations in almost every organ,
impairment of muscular power, impressions so profound on both nervous
systems as to be often toxic--these, and such as these, are the oft
manifested results. And these are not confined to those called
intemperate."
Professor Youmans says: "It is evident that, so far from being the
conservator of health, alcohol is an active and powerful cause of
disease, interfering, as it does, with the respiration, the circulation
and the nutrition; now, is any other result possible?"
Dr. F.R. Lees says: "That alcohol should contribute to the fattening
process under certain conditions, and produce in drinkers fatty
degeneration of the blood, follows, as a matter of course, since, on the
one hand, we have an agent that _retains waste_ matter by lowering the
nutritive and excretory functions, and on the other, a _direct poisoner_
of the vesicles of the vital stream."
Dr. Henry Monroe says: "There is no kind of tissue, whether healthy or
morbid, that may not undergo fatty degeneration; and there is no organic
disease so troublesome to the medical man, or so difficult of cure. If,
by the aid of the microscope, we examine a very fine section of muscle
taken from a person in good health, we find the muscles firm, elastic
and of a bright red color, made up of parallel fibres, with beautiful
crossings or striae; but, if we similarly examine the muscle of a man
who leads an idle, sedentary life, and indulges in intoxicating drinks,
we detect, at once, a pale, flabby, inelastic, oily appearance.
Alcoholic narcotization appears to produce this peculiar conditions of
the tissues _more than any other agent with which we are acquainted._
'Three-quarters of the chronic illness which the medical man has to
treat,' says Dr. Chambers, 'are occasioned by this disease.' The eminent
French analytical chemist, Lecanu, found as much as one hundred and
seventeen parts of fat in one thousand parts of a drunkard's blood, the
highest estimate of the quantity in health being eight and one-quarter
parts, while the ordinary quantity is not more than two or three parts,
so that the blood of the drunkard contains forty times in excess of the
ordinary quantity."
Dr. Hammond, who has written, in partial defense of alcohol as
containing a food power, says: "When I say that it, of all other causes,
_is most prolific_ in exciting derangements of the brain, the spinal
cord and the nerves, I make a statement which my own experience shows
to be correct."
Another eminent physician says of alcohol: "It substitutes suppuration
for growth. * * It helps time to produce the effects of age; and, in a
word, is the genius of degeneration."
Dr. Monroe, from whom we have already quoted, says: "Alcohol, taken in
small quantities, or largely diluted, as in the form of beer, causes the
stomach gradually to lose its tone, and makes it dependent upon
artificial stimulus. Atony, or want of tone of the stomach, gradually
supervenes, and incurable disorder of health results. * * * Should a
dose of alcoholic drink be taken daily, the heart will very often become
hypertrophied, or enlarged throughout. Indeed, it is painful to witness
how _many_ persons are actually laboring under disease of the heart,
owing chiefly to the use of alcoholic liquors."
Dr. T.K. Chambers, physician to the Prince of Wales, says: "Alcohol is
really the most ungenerous diet there is. It impoverishes the blood, and
there is no surer road to that degeneration of muscular fibre so much to
be feared; and in heart disease it is more especially hurtful, by
quickening the beat, causing capillary congestion and irregular
circulation, and thus mechanically inducing dilatation."
Sir Henry Thompson, a distinguished surgeon, says: "Don't take your
daily wine under any pretext of its doing you good. Take it frankly as a
luxury--one which must be paid for, by some persons very lightly, by
some at a high price, _but always to be paid for_. And, mostly, some
loss of health, or of mental power, or of calmness of temper, or of
judgment, is the price."
Dr. Charles Jewett says: "The late Prof. Parks, of England, in his great
work on Hygiene, has effectually disposed of the notion, long and very
generally entertained, that alcohol is a valuable prophylactic where a
bad climate, bad water and other conditions unfavorable to health,
exist; and an unfortunate experiment with the article, in the Union
army, on the banks of the Chickahominy, in the year 1863, proved
conclusively that, instead of guarding the human constitution against
the influence of agencies hostile to health, its use gives to them
additional force. The medical history of the British army in India
teaches the same lesson."
But why present farther testimony? Is not the evidence complete? To the
man who values good health; who would not lay the foundation for disease
and suffering in his later years, we need not offer a single additional
argument in favor of entire abstinence from alcoholic drinks. He will
eschew them as poisons.