Bulletin of the American Medical Temperance Association, Volume 2, Issue 3

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Modern Medicine Publishing Company, 1895 - Medicine

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Page 39 - This error is simply one of the results of the paralytic influence mentioned above ; as the power of criticizing one's self diminishes, self-complacency increases. The lively gesticulations and useless exertions of intoxicated people are due to paralysis, the inhibitory influence, which prevents a sober man from uselessly expending his strength, being removed. Associated with this is the increased frequency of pulse, which is commonly cited as an instance of the stimulating power of alcohol; it has...
Page 40 - The uselessness, if not harmfulness, of even moderate doses of alcohol rests on better evidence than scientific deductions and experiments. In connection with the sanitation of armies, thousands of experiments upon large bodies of men have been made, and have led to the result that, in peace and war, in every climate, in heat, cold, and rain, soldiers are better able to endure the fatigues of the most exhausting marches when they are not allowed any alcohol at all.
Page 46 - We cannot, therefore, believe that alcohol, theine, &c., which produce such powerful reactions on the nervous system, belong to the class of substances which are capable of contributing towards the maintenance of the vital functions. We see this, for instance, in the case of alcohol, which when taken with the food diminishes the pulmonary exhalation instead of augmenting it. Vierordt, like Prout, found that the excretion of carbonic acid is both absolutely and relatively diminished even after a moderate...
Page 44 - How important it is for a nation to know that any excess in muscular work, as in the forced marches of an army, is rendered far more difficult by the use of alcohol ; that it not only fails in giving power in the work of the muscles of the heart but acts distinctly as a depressant; that it never enhances the temperature of the body ; and that in its pure state it is in no sense a food. All this knowledge has been gained by the observation of medical men.
Page 39 - The cerebral functions which are first interfered with are the power of clear judgment and reason. No man ever became witty by aid of spirituous drinks. The lively gesticulations and useless exertions of intoxicated people are due to paralysis, — the restraining influences, which prevent a sober man from uselessly expending his strength, being removed.
Page 40 - That mental exertions of all kinds are better undergone without alcohol is generally admitted by most people who have made the trial. Alcohol, then, makes no one stronger ; it only deadens the feeling of fatigue.
Page 39 - Alcohol has invariably a paralyzing . influence. All the results which, on superficial observation, appear to show that alcohol possesses stimulant properties, can be explained on the ground that they are due to paralysis.

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