A lecture on the effects of alcoholic drinks on the human system and the duties of medical men in relation thereto : delivered in the lecture room of Rush Medical College, on Christmas Day, 1854, in compliance with the request of the class attending the college / by N.S. Davis.

  • Davis, N. S. (Nathan Smith), 1817-1904.
Date:
[1855?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A lecture on the effects of alcoholic drinks on the human system and the duties of medical men in relation thereto : delivered in the lecture room of Rush Medical College, on Christmas Day, 1854, in compliance with the request of the class attending the college / by N.S. Davis. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    II rally, thus causing a retention and accumulation in the blood of effete and excrementitious compounds. •' 3d. By retarding capillary circulation and the metamorphosis of the tissues. That alc< hoi possesses an affinity for oxygen, and readily en- ters into combination with it under favorable circumstances, is well known. M. Bouchardet, from his experiments, first sup- posed that the alcohol meeting the free oxygen received into the blood through the lungs, combined with it in such proportion as re- sulted in the formation of acetic acid and the disappearance of the alcohol. M. Duscheck more recently contended that the lat- ter, by its first union with the oxvgen, resulted in the formation of aldehyde, which, however, maintains but a temporary existence, being, by further combination with oxygen, converted into acetic, oxalic, formic, and carbonic acids. It was this supposed union of alcohol with the oxygen of the blood that led Liebig and his followers to regard such union as a combustion, and consequently the alcohol as a strong supporter of animal heat. But, admitting that the union takes place, (of which Ave are not quite certain), their conclusion by no means necessarily follows. No fact in science is better established than that the free oxygen in the blood is the great vivifying or life-sustaining agent, wljich, by its pre- sence, maintains the susceptibility and action of all the tissues of the body, and, by its chemical combinations, facilitates both the nutrition and metamorphosis of the tissues. Neither is any fact better established than that the natural temperature of the body is sustained by these same processes. Hence if it were true, as re- presented by Liebig, Duscheck. &c, that the alcohol entered into direct combination with the oxygen of the blood, and even deve- loped sensible caloric by so doing, such development would be more than counterbalanced by the diminished quantity resulting from these organic processes, which are directly impaired by the diversion of oxygen from its natural and healthy offices in the economy. Whether or not the alcohol taken into the system ac- tually enters into combination with the oxygen of the blood, thereby diverting it from its natural affinities and uses, it is certain that its presence in the blood causes a rapid accumulation of car-