A dictionary of hygiene and public health : comprising sanitary chemistry, engineering, and legislation, the dietetic value of foods, and the detection of adulterations, on the plan of the 'Dictionnaire d'hygiene publique' of Professor Ambroise Tardieu / by Alexander Wynter Blyth.

  • Blyth, Alexander Wynter, 1844-1921.
Date:
1876
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A dictionary of hygiene and public health : comprising sanitary chemistry, engineering, and legislation, the dietetic value of foods, and the detection of adulterations, on the plan of the 'Dictionnaire d'hygiene publique' of Professor Ambroise Tardieu / by Alexander Wynter Blyth. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

    52/700 (page 36)
    PROPORTION of Absolute Alcohol by Weight in 100 parts of Spirit of different specific gravities at (Mr F. (15*5 0.)—continued. 1 Alcohol per cent. Speclflo Gravity. Alcohol per cent. Specific Gravity. 39 •941C. 55 •9069 40 •9396 56 •9047 41 •9376 57 •9025 42 •9356 58 •9001 43 •9335 59 •8979 44 •9314 60 •8956 45 •9292 61 •8932 40 •9270 62 •8908 47 •9249 63 •8886 48 •9228 64 ■8863 49 •9206 65 •8840 50 •9184 66 •8810 51 •9160 67 •8793 52 •9135 68 •8769 53 •9113 69 •8745 54 •9090 70 •8721 Alcohol per cent. Specific Gravity. 71 72 73 74 75 70 77 78 79 80 8L 82 83 84 85 •8090 •8072 •8049 •8025 •8003 •8581 •8557 •8533 •8508 •8483 •8459 •8434 •8408 •8382 •8357 Alcohol per cent. 80 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 90 97 98 99 100 Specific Gravity. •8331 •8305 •8279 •8254 •8228 •8109 •8172 •8145 •8118 •8089 •8001 •8051 •8001 •7909 •7938 See Alcoholism, Alcoholometky, Alcoholic Beverages. Alcohol, Effects of; Alcoholism— 1. Effects of Alcohol in Health. — The amount of absolute alcohol taken by tem- perate people, in the twenty-four hours, in the different forms of beer, wine, and spirits, varies generally from one to two ounces. More than this, at all events in the great majority of peopde, causes slight alcoholic symptoms. If the excess of this quantity is small, the symptoms will be in no way evi- dent to others, but may be appreciated by the individual himself, and consist in firstly a slight excitement of the faculties of the brain, a feeling of warmth and pleasure, followed by a general feeling of torpor and transient drowsiness, with a slight blunting of the sensibilities. The couple of pints of beer, four or five glasses of wine, or two ounces of brandy, that men and women engaged in the ordinary business of life take daily, have not been proved to exercise the slightest injury— in most people, indeed, digestion is aided, and more work done, by these moderate doses. On the other hand, the slightest habitual excess, that excess which we have spoken of, the symptoms of which are not perceptible to others, all evidence—historical, pathological, and physiological—shows to be injurious. The experiments of Anstie, Parkes, and Count Wol- lowicz, appear to show that any quantity of alcohol exceeding an ounce and a half taken by an adult, showed itself in the urine, which these writers consider a sign that the system has taken more alcohol than can be used in the body itself. The action in slight doses is, that it has a sedative effect upon the nerves, and reddens slightly the lining membrane of the stomach, stimulates the secretion of the gastric juice, and thus may in small doses, and no doubt does, promote the appetite. In excess, ‘ all these effects are turned to evil, an inflam-ji matory condition of the stomach supervenes,! compression of the gland-ducts, from thicken-If ing of the tissue around it, excessive mucous S secretion, and great loss of appetite. When .] carried into the circulation, it greatly increaseaj] the force of the heart’s action, and at the same time paralyses, as it were, the inhibitory ner- vous supply to the arteries and small vessel: so that they no longer oppose themselves to the blood-current, but dilate. This action, to a small degree, occurring in persons of a weak and languid circulation, is no doubt beneficial; on the other hand, when in excess, it is the most dangerous, and is a cause of a greater portion of the diseases of the heart and great vessels. There appears to be a slight fall of tempera- ture with moderate doses of alcohol, a very < decided fall with excessive doses; the muscu- lar and nervous system are transitorily stimu- lated,, and may do more work when sma doses are given in cases of fatigue, but in other cases there is a marked torpor of the nervous, and a want of co-ordination of the muscular system. The pathological changes have been well studied by Dickinson and others. Dickinson in a paper “ On the Morbid Effects of Alcohol in Persons who trade in Liquor,” gave the result: of an examination of 149 traders in liquor, a* compared with 149 persons of various trades. The general results were, diseases of the liver, , mostly cirrhosis, more common in the alco*