Nerve Stimulants

Dr. Brunton has the following intercsting and suggestive remarks on this subject in a recent article in the Contemporary Keview : There aro two ñervos, known as the " fifth pair," which are distributed to the skin of the head and the nmeous membrane of tho eyes, nose and rumith. These nerves are olosely connected with tlie heart and raséis, and by stimulating their branches the circulation may be greatly influenced, as in tho case ot taintimr. Ii, is a curious fact that iieople of all nations are accustoined, when in any diöiculty, to sliiuulate one or anothcr braneh of the fifih nervo, and quicken their mental processes. Thus, somo persons, when puzzled, scratch their heads, others rub their foreheads, and others stroke or pull their boards, thus stimulating the occipital, frontal or mental branches of tliose nerves. Many Germana, wüen thinking, havo a habit of striking their fingers against their noses, and thus stimulating the nasal cutaneous branches; while in other countries some people stiiuulate the branches distributed to the niucous incmbrane of the nose by takiiifr snufï. The late Lord Derby, wheii translating iloiniT, was uceustomed to eat braudied chenies. üno man will eat ligs wbile composing u leading article ; anotber will suck chocolate creams ; others will smoke cigarettes, and others pip brandy and water. By these nieans they stimulate the lingual and buccal branches of the fifth nerve, and thus reflexly excite their brains. Alcohol appears to excite tho circulation through the brain reflexly Irona the month, and to stimulate the heart reflexly trom the stomMb, i'vcn befare t is absorbed itito the blood, Shortly after it bas been swallowd, howvr, it. is kbaorbed Innn iliu stomaoh, and pwsee witli tlie blood to the heart, to the brain, and to tlio other parts of the nervous system, upon which it then bagiai to act directly. Under its influenee the heart beats uiore quickly, the blood circulates more fretly, and thus the functional power of the various organs of the body is increased, so that tlifi tirain may think more rapidly, the máseles ael more ]owcrfully and the Btomacb (iifiest more ciisily. Hut with this ezeeptiou the effect of alcohol upon the nervous system may be described as ono of progressive paralysis. The higher centers suffer first, and the judgment is the first quality to be impaircd, and this be comes the more fo as the effect of alcohol progresses, although the other fáculties of th% mind may remain not only undiminished by the direct action of tlie alcohol on tbc brain, but greatly inercased by general circulation. By and by, however, the other parts of the nervous system are successively wcakened, the lega fail, and the person ralis insensible. It ia evident, then, that only the first stages of alcoholic action are at all beneficia!, the latter stages being as clearly injurious.