THE ACTION OF ALCOHOL ON THE NERVOUS SYSTEM

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1864, 11 June 1888, Page 3

THE ACTION OF ALCOHOL ON THE NERVOUS SYSTEM

In a lecture on the abovo subject, Dr Richardson, one of the most eminent mediotl authorities of the day, said : "We will now consider what action alcohol has upon the nervous organisation. All the primary action of alcohol when taken into the body is upon the inorganic nerves, which have their centres within the trunk of the body. That is where the mlachief first begins. That is the action of aloohol. Perhaps it is from the. rapid infiuanoe exerted m the stomach upon the fine net- j work of sympathetic nerves that the chaoge begins. Anyhow the first aotion Is upon the sympathetic nerves and the action ib that of destroying their tone of power, so that they no longer exercise over the parts whioh they should govern that controlling influence which naturally belongs to them. This acoounta for all the first things wo see m the aotion of alcohol. If we take a person In health and suddenly oat away | the whole of the nerve supply, we should put him m exactly the Kama condition as we put a clock from wbioh we hare taken the pendulum. Wo should take away all control, and life itsolf would run out. No such extreme thing occurs from alcohol m the early 6tage, but we see the first steps towards it — the flush of the face and body, the controlling power of the nervous system taken off The blood vessoh become weakened to their extremest points, and then as the heart goeß on beating it injects and we get a red face. The warmth is the same. A large quantity of blood is thrown to the surface and conveyß a boobo of warmth, but when the blood goes back into the circulation it is chilled, and that accounts for tho sense of cold. It accounts also for the failure of the finer muscles, and we know that the capacity for precise action is taken away. Give Buch a man a task to perform — the threading of a needle, the adjustment of a watch, or the precise firing off a gun, and the natar-1 power is gone, because the circulation m tboae pans which are cow required to be as strong and ne steady bb possible- is nol strong, for the resistance has been taken off, and the heart is doing Its work, being under the governance it requires m order that it may respond Bteadlly to the will. Henoe we get all the phenomena of intoxication. We get the redness of the face, the flash, tho glow, the little afiercoldness, the want of precision, and, an we go on and increase the d -se, matters get worse still. Then the heart itself begins to get feeble, and fbally as we go on step by step until all that part of tin circulation which is governed by tho organ 0 nerves la thrown out of gear. That is thu tffeot upon the sympathetic system ; but how it 1b brought about Is a problem yet to be solved. Whether it is the direct absorption of aloohol into the system, or whether it la a mechanical or febri o effect from the stomach, we do not know ; we only know it Is ft distinct phenomena produoed. Other substances, such as ether, chloral, and the like, will do the same, and I oould name to you ten to twenty different chpmloal fluids of a similar kind. We must be content to accept the knowledge that this is the mode of action without attempting to explain how It fs carried out. Now we come to the effect of aloohol upon the higher sense — the brain. It fs yet an open que tion whether all ' the effectß In the brain may not be due to the primary change m the circulation. We are not certain whether it is the change In circulation of the brain that causes the effeot known as intoxication, or whether ib la the dlreot actloa of aloohol upon the brain, but this we do know m regard to all the voluntary nervous Bystem, that a series of distinctive changes take place. The firnt change Is that of excitement m the brain, and from the brain developing through the body. That, I think, is nothing more than the quick circulation through the brain, but that is followed by a want of power direct from the musoles which the brain governs, the voluntary muscles, first by an irregularity of action and want of Co- ordination, and then that is followed by want of aolual power, that into excitement — but all through the want of power — perfect and absolute Insensibility. Those are the phenomena which alcohol produces, and they are identical with the phenomena of all known narcotics. Ether does the same, only differing In Us .potion beoauee lighter. Opium does the came, only differing again, because it Is a solid substance, The action of aloohol is identical In all respects with its own physical qualities, making it vary a little m regard to time and the intensity with which it produces the phonomena which spring from It. I need not say for a moment to any sensible audlenoe that to subject the nervous system to these changes ts the height of absurdity The day will 0 )tne when, reading my leoturos and the lectures of my confreres people will say, " Oould It be believed that men oould stand up and apeak snob, things, so plain, so commonsense, that thesa mischiefs must spring from auch an agent V But we have to meet it as we can only do it, and by trying to teach people how truly absurd it is to subject a fine organisation like the nervous system to trouble for no purpose. Worst of all when the nervous system hao been often led Into this by way of mlachief, thon the automatic action comes m to tell na to repeat until that becomes a part of the nervou* work, and then tho destruction of nil true nerve aotion is complete. In a word, m the presenoo of alcohol there can be no true nervous action going on. There may be a curtain wild pleasure about the first stage, but beyond tbat there oan bo J nothing more, and I suppose the most bigoted alcohollo would not assume that It was ever good to pass beyond the first stage. There may be Borne who would go to tho first stage and no further. That is an impossibility, and even if it were possible it la a bid condition to sot up m the body. To excite the heart that little day by day and hour by hoar la bat to bring on that automatic action wbloh leads finally to tho destruction of tho nervea, and brings about most of the miseries of tho mental kind whioh we see ia those who give way to aloohol, first aa a divergence, until it becomes, to them a necessity,''