Alcohol and the human body : an introduction to the study of the subject / by Sir Victor Horsley and Mary D. Sturge.

  • Horsley, Sir Victor Alexander Haden, 1857-1916.
Date:
1907
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Alcohol and the human body : an introduction to the study of the subject / by Sir Victor Horsley and Mary D. Sturge. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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    employing long periods to avoid errors. Research on this subject has been chiefly carried out by Professor Kraepelin and his psychological school at Heidelberg, and what he has accomplished is so valuable that it has given him a pre-eminent position of authority on the subject. The investigations have been continued for many years, partly because every new test had to be repeated many times in order that correct averages mio'ht be arrived at. It will readily be understood that the labour in- volved in this sort of research is enormous, while much skill is required in planning the experiments, which necessarily involve many considerations and possible sources of error, e.g. fatigue, individual differences in the observers, etc. The amount of alcohol given at a dose varied, of course, but as a rule it amounted to about an ounce diluted with water. Thus it is that Kraepelin's work is so important, since his results were the outcome of small doses of alcohol which, in quantity, in fact, were often far below the amount frequently taken at meals by ordinary individuals, and not infrequently termed a dietetic amount. A very important circumstance in connection with Kraepelin's experiments is the fact that two observers always co-operated in carrying out the experiment. It is impossible to give here the details of the time- recording apparatus, revolving drum, chronograph, and signals used for accurately measuring the rate of mental action in such experiments ; but we may