The Effects Of Alcohol On The Human System

Alcohol fonns no pai-t of ftie living body, and whcn taken into tho stoniach is rapidly absorbed, rathor penneatea the inembranes and the conts of thé Moodvcssels, and finds its iway into the blood, with which it forras no homogeneotts mixturo, but, alien likc, is hurriéd along in the circulation, to bo elitninated, in great parts as speedily as possible, that which ia rotained producing very equivocal offoot and in niany instances paiñfúl and fatal diseases. It escapes by tho way of the lungs, as shown in the breath of thoae who have been drinking ardent spirits or strong wines, and also. by ihe skin and kidneys. That portion of the alcohol which is retamedin tho body accumulates most readily in the brain and liver, and it has boen found in its pnre state after death in these organs, especially in the brain. The first manifest effécts of an ulcoholic liqnor are on the brain and nervous system generally, on which it íicts, in a small dose, as an excitant, and in a larger ona as a narcotic. Other parts are affected in a corresponding raaancr, boing at first stimulatcd, not strengthened, and afterward rotarded and -weakened in their action. For example, the heart, that wonderful and, during Ufe, never-ceasing pump, when its inner surfnce is raachod by the tide of blood cóntaining alcohol, works away so much the faster fo get rid of the intruder ; in so doing its machinory is needlessly strained, and if this be continued f rom day to day is more apt to, be deranged and sooner worn oxü, TTf.der tho operation of the prolonged íise of alcoholic liquors the hoart often become hypertrophied or morbidly thickened, and át other timos dilatod and thinaej1 ; in its substance ; or a still worse conditíon supci"venos - its muscular texture is converted into fatty inattor, and it fails to contract with the requisito forcé and regulaiïty, and is liable at uny moment to cease beating. In this sudden cessstion of tbo hoart's action is found an cxplanation of some of the sudden deaths of which we read. ïhese dostruotiye eifects af tho use of alcoholic liquors are not by any means confined to drunkards; they are seen. in persons wli o had he ver been intoxicated during their lives, bttt wko had boen regular drinkers of these Hquors. ïhe liver is diseascd in á similar manner from tho likc cause. - From WlIAT SHALL WsDanrxi in $i Aprü nuniber of Lipincott's Magazine.