The drunkard is particularly subject to attacks of dropsy. This disorder very frequently arises from hepatic disease. The blood is obstructed in the veins, lymph is in consequence, thrown out from their extremities, which, in its accumulated state, forms the diseased condition under consideration. The general debility of the system which is induced by intemperance, forms another 'not uncommon cause of this distressing disease. Dr. Rush enumerates, among other effects of indulgence in spirituous liquors, dropsy of the belly and limbs, and, finally, of every cavity of the body. Emaciation is another result of intemperance, and, in particular, of such intemperance as is occasioned by indulgence in ardent spirits. This pernicious habit impairs and destroys the sources of nutrition and health. The conversion of food into healthy chyle is thus prevented or obstructed; and, in many cases, even if the appetite and digestive process are occasionally improved, the vessels by which the nutriment is to be conveyed into the system, are more or less diseased, and thence become inactive and torpid. Corpulence or unnatural increase of size, forms another kind of disease which afflicts, in particular, a certain class of drinkers. This disease seldom occurs among grossly intemperate characters. It is in general found among those publicans and others, who are of indolent habits, and who indulge freely in gross meats, in addition to other causes, favourable to this morbid state. The blood is loaded with an unhealthy and superabundant mass of fat which it deposits through the whole system, but more especially on the omentum and muscles of the abdomen. Hence, the abdominal protuberance for which this class of persons are remarkable.* This state is so essentially one of disease, that even when its unfortunate subjects are rapidly sinking through the effects of free living, and all the other parts of the system are in a state of comparative emaciation, the bulky appearance of the abdomen remains. limiting him to aqueous drinks. Under this regimen, to which, being a man of strong resolution, he cheerfully submitted, in four or five weeks he nearly recovered the use of his paralyzed limbs, and, what was not to be expected, at his advanced age, he recovered flesh. I heard this day (Oct. 16th) that he has had no return of the pain since he ceased to take wine.”. A Second Letter on the Effects of Wines and Spirits, page 8. * A case in point is related in Rust's Journal. The muscular substance was converted into fat, and had accumulated to an enormous extent in all the cavities. A nauseous sweet smell issued from the whole body.-Rust's Migazin für die gesammte Heilkunde xxi. 522. 1830. Shakspeare alludes to this fact, in a reproof which he gives to one of his most celebrated characters.* It is not unlikely that a considerable portion of this corporeal enlargement arises from a deposition of gaseous and liquid matter into the various interstices of the system. The bloated appearance of the drunkard, renders this hypothe. sis not improbable. Bulk, we may further observe, is no certain indication of weight. Many cases have fallen under my observation of persons, who, after they have abandoned for a few months the use of intoxicating liquors, have considerably diminished in bulk, but at the same time have weighed much heavier, and have displayed more solidity and firmness in their muscular developments. This fact has been demonstrated by accurate and numerous experiments. The. reason is obvious: the muscular parts of the system have received more nutriment, and thus acquired greater solidity, while nature has divested itself of the morbid redundancy of semi-putrescent and unnatural fat. 4. The heart and its functions.-Diseases and derangement of the organs of circulation from indulgence in strong drink, are of much more frequent occurrence, than is generally supposed. The heart, which forms the centre of circulation, is peculiarly subject to undue excitement. Excessive palpitations of that important viscus are of frequent occurrence. This distressing complaint, is generally accompanied with most painful sensations, and alarming symptoms. In a state of health the natural action * CHIEF JUSTICE. -" Do you set down your name in the scroll of youth, that are written down old, with all the characters of age? Have you not a moist eye, a dry hand, a yellow cheek, a white beard, a decreasing leg, an increasing belly? Is 'not your voice broken, your wind short, your chin double, your wit single, and every part about you blasted with antiquity; and will you call yourself young?' Fie, fie, fie, Sir John !”—King Henry IV. act 1, scene 2. | Bennett, in his " Wanderings of a Naturalist,” relates an interesting in. stance of the weight acquired by the system during a period of abstinence from inebriating liquors. It is well known that the servants of the settlers [in New South Wales] are convicts, and, in general, greatly attached to the use of spirituous liquors. It is a common practice with them to feign sick. ness, in order to get a trip to the capital, one hundred miles off, by way of holiday. One of these individuals having been convicted of some offence, was sentenced to three months' hard labour at the chain gang in the laboris ous work of road making. His companions, by way of amusement, weighed him before his departure, and chalked the amount on the barn door. Notwithstanding, adds the writer, the far harder labour he had to perform, yet the salutary influence of good Adam's Ale, and regular diet, instead of his former spirituous potations, was such, that on his return, being again weighed, they found he had gained about twenty pounds. a of the heart ought to go steadily on without any sensible consciousness of its operations. The presence however of a stimulating ingredient in the blood, and its repeated application, produces a state of unnatural excitement in its functions, which is distinctly and painfully evidenced to the unfortunate sufferer. Great difficulty of breathing, and determination of blood to the head, accompanied, of course, with excited and accelerated pulsation, form its most prominent and characteristic symptoms. This state not unfrequently terminates, in a thickening of the lining membrane of the heart, in addition to ossification of its elastic valves, or in other words, their conversion into a bony substance. Hence the blood cannot circulate with its usual freedom, and on occasions of great excitement, when a rush of the blood takes place to these valves or gateways, its progress is suddenly impeded, and thus in many cases, sudden death is the inevitable consequence. The arteries, both large and small in intemperate persons are frequently subjected to ossification, as is often found on post mortem examinations. The injurious consequences of vinous indulgence on the circulation, however, are most palpably evidenced in the important changes which it effects on the blood itself, some of which have already been adverted to. The blood of the drunkard is much darker than natural, having lost its red or arterial properties, and contains a large quantity of serum ; in fact, it approaches as near as possible to the character of venous blood. Thus it has been deprived of some of the principal properties of that blood which is capable of affording nourishment to the system, and energy to the whole of the animal functions In this state, the circulation is slow and languid. The blood moreover is incapable of affording that natural stimulus to the vessels, which it possessed in a state of health ; and the entire system is characterized by loss of tone and energy, productive of an irregular and sluggish action. In this stage of morbid debility the system is necessarily rendered peculiarly liable to disease and dissolution.* * * That death from intemperance may be immediately produced by spas. modic affection of the heart, is shown from the following example. A large athletic man, long accustomed to the use of ardent spirit, on drinking a glass of raw whiskey, dropped instantly dead. On the body being carefully dissected, no adequate cause of the sudden cessation of life could be found in any part except the heart. This organ proved to be free from blood, and was hard and firmly contracted, as if affected by spasm. “I am convinced," adds the intelligent physician who relates this case, " that many of those cases of sudden death, which take place with intemperate persons, are the result of spasmodic action of the heart, from sympathy with the stomach, or some other part of the system.”-Address by a Physician, p. 7. 5. The lungs and their functions.--Disease of the organs of respiration is a frequent consequence of indulgence in the use of intoxicating liquors. One injurious effect of this practice no doubt arises from the irritation occasioned to the mucous membranes of the trachea, bronchial vessels, and air cells of the lungs, by the direct application of alcoholic stimulus. This membrane is highly sensible, and as alcohol is known to be conveyed to the lungs through the medium of the circulation, it necessarily comes in contact with the parts in question, on being exuded on their surface, through the exhalent vessels. Coughing, and laboured respiration, is the inevitable consequence. Continued intemperance produces a disorganized state of the mucous membrane and structure of the lungs, frequently preceded by attacks of inflammation, which generally end in fatal consumption. The copious expectoration produced in the first instance, is thrown off from the inflamed surface, and is indicative of the serious amount of injury which is going on. The lungs are also affected by sympathy with other organs in a diseased condition. The liver and stomach when in a disordered state, easily affect the lungs, from the intimate and sympathetical relation which subsists between those organs. This circumstance is familiar to every prac. titioner in medicine. It is a well known fact, that an irritated state of the lungs, is commonly removed by regulating and restoring the healthy functions of the stomach.* There is little doubt that if the subject was thoroughly investigated, it would be found that a very large proportion a of the cases of pulmonary consumption, which occur in this country originate in the use of intoxicating liquors. The injurious transitions from excitement to depression, which those who are habituated to their use, are subjected, forms no doubt the predisposing cause. Hence the delicate and highly susceptible mucous membrane of the lungs, continually labours under irritation and subacute, inflam. *"I have met with many cases,” remarks the writer before quoted," in the course of my practice, of cough and difficult breathing, which could be relieved only by regulating the functions of the stomach, and which soon yielded, on the patient ceasing to irritate this organ with 'ardent spirit. I have found the liver still more frequently the source of this affection; and on restoring that organ to its healthy condition, by laying aside the use of ardent spirit, all the pulmonary symptoms have subsided.”—Address of a Physician, p. 8. mation, which eventually ends in destructive and hereditary disease. The erroneous notion so generally entertained in regard to the cold opposing influence of alcoholic stimulants, is a common cause of this fatal disorder. Hence spirituous liquors are most freely indulged in at those seasons when the effects of cold require to be guarded against. The remedy, however, awfully increases the disease! Respiration is materially interfered with, and impaired by the use of, inebriating compounds. Alcoholic liquors considerably excite and increase the action of respiration. Divers, for instance, cannot remain under water for so great a length of time after they have taken ardent spirits, as when they are not under its influence. Mr. Spalding, the celebrated diver, observed, that when he drank spirituous liquors in his diving bell, he consumed the oxygen of the atmosphere in a much shorter space of time than when he abstained from them. The same effect, he observed, also to arise from the use of fermented liquors. On this account, he found it necessary on these occasions to restrict himself to the use of simple water alone. 6. The skin and its functions.Habitual topers are commonly observed to be subject to cutaneous eruptions. These vary both in their nature and in their character. A brief examination of the most prominent of these, is not only an important but a necessary branch of our inquiry. The Guttæ Rosacea or florid eruptions on the face, and in particular on the nose, are too familiar and characterís, tic objects of attention to pass unnoticed by the general reader. These are really“ signals which nature holds out, and waves in token of internal distress.' They exhibit the fearful conflict of the physical powers with their mor, tal enemy, which has been going on within ; and are the safety valves which nature herself has formed for partial protection and relief. Shakspeare denominates these marks of bacchanalian indulgence bubucles, whelks, and rosy drops, and characterizes the unfortunate subject of them as the knight of the burning lamp."* Dr. Rush speaks of them by the name of “ rum buds.”. They are produced, however, by free indulgence in any of the strong kinds of al. coholic drinks. The appearance of the face differs according to the temperament, and the stage at which the disease has arrived. It has been observed, that, in the redfaced * The description of Bardolph's nose, contains some witty allusions to this well known fact. Henry IV., act 3, scene 3. ) |