In consequence of this pumping power of the heart, the blood in the vessels is under considerable pressure, which is naturally increased if the blood-vessels are narrowed or contracted, and diminished if the blood-vessels are expanded or dilated.
Gradual deterioration in the heart power is a cause of premature death. One of the early indications that the foregoing changes may be occurring in a heart is a sense of fatigue and breathlessness on slight exertion, or a feeling of disinclination for normal effort. The result of such depression of the efficiency of the heart is often seen when the individual is attacked by some disease; she succumbs to heart failure, instead of being able to resist the disease. This probably accounts for a great many deaths between forty and sixty years of age.
Further, it must be remembered that all the nutritive action of the blood depends on its power of rapidly filtering through the walls of the blood-vessels to the tissues, and, conversely, its power of drawing off the waste-products of the tissues depends on the facility with which such products can penetrate its walls.
As soon as degeneracy sets in, the walls of all vessels tend to become thickened, and the active transference through them, more and more prevented; the nutrition of the body is thus gravely hampered, and, with the advance of this thickening of the walls, the vessels are less able to adjust themselves to the variations in pressure from within; and, finally, when unable to withstand the pressure, they rupture, causing hemorrhage and apoplexy, which, when occurring in the brain, cause paralysis and mental decay.
A similar degeneration takes place in old age, but the point is, that many persons, instead of waiting until old age comes to them, deliberately precipitate these senile changes.
The Effect of Alcohol on the Kidneys.—The elaborate mechanism of the kidneys consist of a filtering system of thousands of tubules, arranged closely side by side, whose function it is to carry away from the body the waste material, which otherwise would interfere with the vitality of the different organs.
The part played by the kidneys in rapidly eliminating effete material cannot be too carefully safeguarded. Anything which interferes with its work will sooner or later cause a retention of waste-products in the system, and will also permit of the escape of valuable albuminous materials of the substance of the blood through the filtering apparatus. The effect of alcohol upon the kidneys can only be described as disastrous. In proportion as the kidney shrinks, there is a diminution of the excretion of urine, and, finally, the condition known as Bright’s disease is established.
The Effect of Alcohol on the Muscular System.—The muscular tissue forms 43 per cent. of the body weight. It has been proved that under the moderate use of alcohol the muscles become flabby and less vigorous and effective; that troops cannot work or march on alcohol; that in training for athletics, for races, or for other sports, total abstinence is always practised; the true sportsman depends quite as much on his brain as on his muscles for success. In England it is recognized that total abstinence is a necessity where great exertions are concerned, and it is now beyond all question that alcohol, in even so-called dietetic quantities, diminishes the output of muscular work, both in quantity and quality, and that the best physical results are obtained under total abstinence from its use.
Alcohol actually lowers the temperature of the body from three-fourths of one degree to three degrees. This depression of temperature is not transient, but lasts for several days, so that its use, when the person is exposed to intense cold, is extremely hazardous to life.
The Effects of Alcohol on the Nervous System.—Kraepelin has carried out a series of experiments to prove the effects of small doses of alcohol on the output of work. In all mental work there are two elements to be considered, namely, quality and speed. Now, all observers are agreed that the quality of mental work is affected even before speed, more mistakes being made. Tests were made in reading aloud; in adding figures in various combinations; in type-setting; and in memorizing; in all these instances it was found that, after taking moderate doses of alcohol for a number of consecutive days, the work done was less, was less accurate, and that there was a decrease in the power of memorizing.
Another series of investigations, made by Rudin to determine how long the intellectual abilities continue to be depressed after the effects of alcohol pass off, showed that the effects of a single dose of alcohol persisted until noon or evening of the next day.
Von Helmholtz, one of the greatest observers and thinkers of the nineteenth century, noted on himself the effect of alcohol in interfering with the highest powers of thought and conception. Describing the conditions under which his highest scientific thoughts had matured and come to fruition, he said: “As far as my experience is concerned, they never come to a wearied brain or at the writing-desk; they were especially inclined to appear to me while indulging in a quiet walk in the sunshine or over the forest-clad mountains, but the smallest quantity of alcohol seemed to drive them away.”
Professor Sikovsky’s testimony is that “alcohol diminishes the rapidity of thought, makes the imagination and the power of reflection commonplace and deprived of originality, acts upon fine and complex sensations by transforming them into coarse and elementary ones, provokes outbursts of evil passions and dispositions, and in this predisposes men to strife and crime, and upsets habits of work and perseverance.”
Self-control is one of the highest functions of the brain, and the racial power which results to a people as a consequence of the individual practice of self-control cannot be too highly estimated. Therefore, children are trained as far as possible to control their emotions and actions. Alcohol diminishes and breaks down this power of acquired self-control, undoing the work of parents and educationalists. Quite small doses are often responsible for reckless and self-pleasing actions, which are far reaching in their results in loss of moral tone and self-respect. The ideals of duty are lost sight of, and, at best, leave the individual in a laissez-faire attitude. Among the depressant effects of alcohol are intellectual lethargy and a sense of fatigue, which, combined with the other factors, lessen the capacity for genuine enjoyment and pleasure.
FOOTNOTES:
[4] Compiled from Tibbles’ “Dietetics, or Food in Health and Disease.”