Alcohol and public health / by J. James Ridge.

  • Ridge, J. J. (John James), 1847-1908.
Date:
1893
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Alcohol and public health / by J. James Ridge. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    fistula, which showed that alcohol in all forms of liquor retarded digestion until absorbed, and beer more so than wine, the extractive matters of the former being also injurious. Dr. Beaumont’s ex¬ periments on St. Martin also point in the same direction, and they bear emphatic testimony to the analgesic effects of the drug, as on several occasions excessive irritation could be seen which the man himself was quite unconscious of. Alcohol in these cases removes the perception of indigestion without removing the pathological condition ; nay, very often while actually producing it. 16. Nearly the whole of the alcohol imbibed is absorbed by the coats of the stomach, and most of it rapidly, a small part being taken up by the lacteals. It is conveyed by the blood to the liver, and this organ bears the brunt of it, as it is more concentrated there than after it is mixed with the rest of the blood. Cirrhosis is undoubtedly one result, chiefly of spirit-drinking continued for a considerable period. It has been found that alcohol, injected into the portal vein, can produce temporary glycosuria. Enlargement of the liver is frequently observed, and fatty degeneration, especially in large beer-drinkers. This is a consequence of direct interference with the liver cells. 17. But the alterations produced in the blood, intensified as they are in the blood of the portal vein, must necessarily affect the function if not the structure of the liver. Dr. Harley’s experiments long ago proved the nature of these alterations. He took two portions of fresh ox-blood, and, after