That the function of the brain is entirely suspended, for a time at least, needs no argument, because all will power is arrested, the nerves of special sense cease to act, all nerve-centers suspend operation, and the nerve-fibers no longer act as conductors of either motion or sensation. And the muscular tissues are no longer capable of irritation, stimulation, or coördination; contraction, flexion, and extension have been temporarily annihilated; the force, the power, and the action have succumbed to the harmful influence of alcohol. And the cause of it all is—too much carburetted Hydrogen and the absence of Oxygen. This has unbalanced the elements that normally enter into the composition of the tissue both of muscle and nerve.
The master tissues, the nervous and muscular, that get drunk, they are the first to feel the stimulation, become excited, depressed, and exhausted.
And finally let us sum up some of the effects of alcohol on the system:
1. It is a source neither of heat nor of energy, nor can it be stored up for future use, nor can it be assimilated in the tissues.
2. Alcohol retards the motion of the blood.
3. It induces specific action after the manner of cumulative poisons.
4. By the veins and absorbents alcohol mixes with the blood, and immediately acts as a stimulant on all the tissues with which it is brought in contact.
5. It causes the retention of substances which ought to be eliminated.
6. It is shown by abundant testimony that the blood becomes surcharged with unchanged and unused material, and contains more Carbon than normally, at times as much as 20 to 30 per cent.
7. Alcoholic blood coagulates slowly and extravasates easily.