Temperance prize essays / By Drs. Mussey and Lindsly.

Date:
1835
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Temperance prize essays / By Drs. Mussey and Lindsly. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    29/210 (page 23)
    ec Cee * EFFECTS ON THE ANIMAL EGONOMY. 23 brain, the fluidity of the blood in the heart and great vessels, and perhaps the deep red upon parts of the lining membrane of the stomach, are to be regarded as the effects of the last or fatal fit of in- toxication; while others, as the striking firmness confidently alleged by some anatomists to have’ been observed in the superficial parts of the brain ;—the thickening, induration, contraction, and ulceration of the stomach and intestines—the enlargement, unevenness, hardness, fatty deposits, and orange color of the liver—-the unnatural color, size, and flabby texture of the kidneys, must have resulted from the more gradual opera- tion of the habitual use of strong drink. It is well known, that often in cases of death by lightning, the blood does not co- — pjooa re. agulate, but remains in the form of a ™ains fluid. homogeneous fluid, the principle of life having been suddenly and wholly extinguished by the electrical shock. The same thing is observable when death takes place from the influence of cer- tain poisons, as the woorara, ticunas, and tobacco. This is also the case when a draught of alcoholic liquor proves fatal. The blood in the heart, the large vessels, and the lungs, is entirely fluid; so effectual is this poison in preventing the last na~ tural act of vitality in the blood, its coagulation. A difference of opinion has existed among phy- siologists as to the manner in which odes _ by alcohol acts upon the animal machine Wah. *Pitt in producing its peculiar effects. The effects, sudden exhilaration and glow in distant organs, occasioned by the swallowing of a small quantity of it, result, probably, from the impressions made