Physiological therapeutics : a new theory / by Thomas W. Poole.

  • Poole, Thomas W.
Date:
1879
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Physiological therapeutics : a new theory / by Thomas W. Poole. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    juice, and the movements of the stomach, and thus aids digestion. Although unnecessary in health, it is useful in exhaustion and de- bilit}^ 2. It increases the force and frequency of the pulse, by acting reflexly through the nerves of the stomach. 3. In large doses it impairs digestion by over-irritating the stomach. 4. It niay produce death reflexly, by shock. 5. After absorption into the blood it lessens the oxydizing power of the red blood corpuscles. This property renders it useful in reducing temperature; when constantly or very frequently present in the blood, it causes accumulation of fat, and fatty degen- eration of the organs. 6. It undergoes combustion in the body, maintains or increases the body weight, and prolongs life on an insufficient diet. It is therefore entitled to be reckoned as a food. 7. If large doses are taken, part of it is excreted unchanged. 8. It dilates the blood-vessels, increases the force and frequency of the heart, by its action on the nervous centres, to which it is con- veyed by the blood, imparts a feeling of comfort, and facilitates bodily and mental labour. It does not givQ additional strength, but merely enables a man to draw upon his reserve energy. It may thus give assistance in a single effort, but not in prolonged ex- ertions. [The last sentences apply to its use in health and not in disease.] 9. The same is the case with the heart; but in disease alcohol frequently slows, instead of quickening, the pulsations of this organ, and thus economizes instead of expending its reserve energy. '* ID. By dilating the vessels of the skin, alcohol warms the sur- face at the expense of the internal organs. It is thus injurious when taken during exposure to cold, but beneficial when taken after the exposure is over, as it tends to prevent congestion of internal organs. II. The symptoms of intoxication are due to paralysis of the nervous system, the cerebrum and cerebellum being first affected, then the cord, and lastly the medulla oblongata. It is through paralysis of the medulla that alcohol usually causes death. 12. The apparent immunity which drunken men enjoy from the usual effects of serious accidents, is due to paralysis of the nervous mechanism, through which shock would be produced in a sober condition.* 462. The foregoing is not a merely individual or isolated opinion; but is held by all but a mere fractional part of the profession. The only dissentients oi note, to the opinion which asserts the food ac- tion of alcohol, so far as we have been able to learn, are Dr. B. W * Practitioner, 1876, p. 121.—Braith. Retros., July, 1876, p. 232.