A Practical Physiology Part 31

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 122.--Trunk of the Left Pneumogastric.

(Showing its distribution by its branches and ganglia to the larynx, pharynx, heart, lungs, and other parts.)]

It is better, as a rule, not to engage in severe study during the hours just before bedtime. Neither body nor mind being at its best after the fatigues of the day, study at that time wears upon the system more, and the progress is less than at earlier hours. One hour of morning or day study is worth a much longer time late at night. It is, therefore, an economy both of time and of nerve force to use the day hours and the early evening for study.

The so-called "cat naps" should never be made to serve as a subst.i.tute for a full night's sleep. They are largely a matter of habit, and are detrimental to some as well as beneficial to others. Late hours are usually a.s.sociated with exposure, excitement, and various other drains upon the nerve force, and hence are injurious.

It is better to sleep on one or other side than on the back. The head should be somewhat raised, and a mattress is better than a feather bed.

The bedclothes should be sufficient, but not too heavy. Light tends to prevent sleep, as do loud or abrupt sounds, but monotonous sounds aid it.

291. Alcohol and the Brain. The unfortunate effects which alcoholic drinks produce upon the brain and nervous system differ from the destructive results upon other parts of the body in this respect, that elsewhere the consequences are usually both less speedy and less obvious.

The stomach, the liver, and even the heart may endure for a while the trespa.s.s of the narcotic poison, and not betray the invasion. But the nervous system cannot, like them, suffer in silence.

In the other parts of the body the victim may (to a certain extent) conceal from others the suffering of which he himself is painfully conscious. But the tortured brain instantly reveals the calamity and the shame, while the only one who may not fully realize it is the victim himself. Besides this, the injuries inflicted upon other organs affect only the body, but here they drag down the mind, ruin the morals, and destroy the character.

The brain is indeed the most important organ of the body, as it presides over all the others. It is the lofty seat of power and authority. Here the king is on his throne. But if, by this malignant adversary, the king himself be dethroned, his whole empire falls to ruins.

292. How Alcohol Injures the Brain. The brain, the nerve centers, and the nerves are all made up of nerve pulp, the softest and most delicate tissue in the whole bodily structure. Wherever this fragile material occurs in our bodies,--in the skull, the spine, the trunk, or the limbs,--the all-wise Architect has carefully protected it from violence, for a rough touch would injure it, or even tender pressure would disturb its function.

It is a further indication of the supreme importance of the brain, that about one-fifth of the entire blood of the body is furnished to it.

Manifestly, then, this vital organ must be tenderly cared for. It must indeed be well nourished, and therefore the blood sent to it must be highly nutrient, capable of supplying oxygen freely. This condition is essential to successful brain action. But intoxicants bring to it blood surcharged with a poisonous liquid, and bearing only a limited supply of oxygen.

Another condition of a healthy brain is that the supply of blood to it shall be equable and uniform. But under the influence of strong drink, the blood pours into the paralyzed arteries a surging tide that floods the head, and hinders and may destroy the use of the brain and the senses.

Still another requirement is that whatever is introduced into the cerebral tissues, having first pa.s.sed through the stomach walls and thence into the blood, shall be bland, not irritating. But in the brain of the inebriate are found not only the distinct odor but the actual presence of alcohol.

Thus we plainly see how all these three vital conditions of a healthy brain are grossly violated by the use of intoxicants.

"I think there is a great deal of injury being done by the use of alcohol in what is supposed by the consumer to be a most moderate quant.i.ty, to persons who are not in the least intemperate, and to people supposed to be fairly well. It leads to degeneration of the tissues; it damages the health; it injures the intellect. Short of drunkenness, that is, in those effects of it which stop short of drunkenness, I should say from my experience that alcohol is the most destructive agent we are aware of in this country."--Sir William Gull, the most eminent English physician of our time.

293. Why the Brain Suffers from the Alcoholic Habit. We do not find that the alcoholic habit has produced in the brain the same coa.r.s.e injuries that we see in other organs, as in the stomach, the liver, or the heart. Nor should we expect to find them; for so delicate and so sensitive is the structure of this organ, that a very slight injury here goes a great way,--a disturbance may be overwhelming to the brain that would be only a trifle to some of the less delicate organs.

Alcohol has different degrees of affinity for different organs of the body, but much the strongest for the cerebral tissues. Therefore the brain feels more keenly the presence of alcohol than does any other organ.

Almost the moment that the poison is brought into the stomach, the nerves send up the alarm that an invading foe has come. At once there follows a shock to the brain, and very soon its paralyzed blood-vessels are distended with the rush of blood. This first effect is, in a certain sense, exhilarating, and from this arousing influence alcohol has been erroneously considered a stimulant; but the falsity of this view is pointed out elsewhere in this book.

294. Alcohol, the Enemy of Brain Work. The healthy brain contains a larger proportion of water than does any other organ. Now alcohol, with its intense affinity for water, absorbs it from the brain, and thus condenses and hardens its structure. One of the important elements of the brain is its alb.u.men; this also is contracted by alcohol. The nerve cells and fibers gradually become shriveled and their activity is lowered, the elasticity of the arteries is diminished, the membranes enveloping the brain are thickened, and thus all proper brain nutrition is impaired. The entire organ is slowly hardened, and becomes unfitted for the proper performance of its delicate duties. In brief, alcohol in any and every form is the enemy of successful and long-continued brain work.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 123.--Nerve Trunks of the Right Arm.]

295. Other Physical Results of Intoxicants. What are some of the physical results observed? First, we note the failure of the vaso-motor nerves to maintain the proper tone of the blood-vessels, as in the turgid face and the congested cornea of the eye. Again, we observe the loss of muscular control, as is shown by the drop of the lower lip, the thickened speech, and the wandering eye. The spinal cord, too, is often affected and becomes unable to respond to the demand for reflex action, as appears from the trembling hands, the staggering legs, the swaying body, and the general muscular uncertainty. All these are varied results of the temporary paralysis of the great nerve centers.

Besides, the sensibility of the nerves is deadened. The inebriate may seize a hot iron and hardly know it, or wound his hand painfully and never feel the injury. The numbness is not of the skin, but of the brain, for the drunken man may be frozen or burned to death without pain. The senses, too, are invaded and dulled. Double vision is produced, the eyes not being so controlled as to bring the image upon corresponding points of the retina.

296. Diseases Produced by Alcohol. The diseases that follow in the train of the alcoholic habit are numerous and fatal. It lays its paralyzing hand upon the brain itself, and soon permanently destroys the integrity of its functions. In some the paralysis is local only, perhaps in one of the limbs, or on one side of the body; in others there is a general muscular failure. The vitality of the nerve centers is so thoroughly impaired that general paralysis often ensues. A condition of insomnia, or sleeplessness, often follows, or when sleep does come, it is in fragments, and is far from refreshing to the jaded body.

In time follows another and a terrible disease known as _delirium tremens_; and this may occur in those who claim to be only moderate drinkers, rarely if ever intoxicated. It accompanies an utter breakdown of the nervous system. Here reason is for the time dethroned, while at some times wild and frantic, or at others a low, mumbling delirium occurs, with a marked trembling from terror and exhaustion.

There is still another depth of ruin in this downward course, and that is _insanity_. In fact, every instance of complete intoxication is a case of temporary insanity, that is, of mental unsoundness with loss of self-control. Permanent insanity may be one of the last results of intemperance. Alcoholism sends to our insane asylums a large proportion of their inmates, as ample records testify.

297. Mental and Moral Ruin Caused by Alcoholism. Alcoholism, the evil prince of destroyers, also hastens to lay waste man's mental and moral nature. Just as the inebriate's senses, sight, hearing, and touch, fail to report correctly of the outer world, so the mind fails to preside properly over the inner realm. Mental perceptions are dulled. The stupefied faculties can hardly be aroused by any appeal. Memory fails. Thus the man is disqualified for any responsible labor. No railroad company, no mercantile house, will employ any one addicted to drinking. The mind of the drunkard is unable to retain a single chain of thought, but gropes about with idle questionings. The intellect is debased. Judgment is impossible, for the unstable mind cannot think, compare, or decide.

The once active power of the will is prostrate, and the victim can no longer resist the feeblest impulse of temptation. The grand faculty of self-control is lost; and as a result, the baser instincts of our lower nature are now uppermost; greed and appet.i.te rule unrestrained.

But the moral power is also dragged down to the lowest depths. All the finer sensibilities of character are deadened; all pride of personal appearance, all nice self-respect and proper regard for the good opinion of others, every sense of decorum, and at last every pretence of decency.

Dignity of behavior yields to clownish silliness, and the person lately respected is now an object of pity and loathing. The great central convictions of right and wrong now find no place in his nature; conscience is quenched, dishonesty prevails. This is true both as to the solemn promises, which prove mere idle tales, and also as to property, for he resorts to any form of fraud or theft to feed the consuming craving for more drink.

298. Evil Results of Alcoholism Inherited. But the calamity does not end with the offender. It may follow down the family line, and fasten itself upon the unoffending children. These often inherit the craving for drink, with the enfeebled nature that cannot resist the craving, and so are almost inevitably doomed to follow the appalling career of their parents before them.

Nor does this cruel taint stop with the children. Even their descendants are often p.r.o.ne to become perverse. As one example, careful statistics of a large number of families, more than two hundred descended from drunkards, show that a very large portion of them gave undoubted proof of well-marked degeneration. This was plain in the unusual prevalence of infant mortality, convulsions, epilepsy, hysteria, fatal brain diseases, and actual imbecility.[42]

It is found that the long-continued habitual user of alcoholic drinks, the man who is never intoxicated, but who will tell you that he has drunk whiskey all his life without being harmed by it, is more likely to transmit the evil effects to his children than the man who has occasional drunken outbreaks with intervals of perfect sobriety between. By his frequently repeated small drams he keeps his tissues constantly "alcoholized" to such an extent that they are seldom free from some of the more or less serious consequences. His children are born with organisms which have received a certain bias from which they cannot escape; they are freighted with some heredity, or predisposition to particular forms of degeneration, to some morbid tendency, to an enfeebled const.i.tution, to various defective conditions of mind and body. Let the children of such a man attempt to imitate the drinking habits of the father and they quickly show the effects. Moderate drinking brings them down.

Among other consequences of an alcoholic inheritance which have been traced by careful observers are: Morbid changes in the nerve centers, consisting of inflammatory lesions, which vary according to the age in which they occur; alcoholic insanity; congenital malformations; and a much higher infant death rate, owing to lack of vitality, than among the children of normal parents.

Where the alcoholic inheritance does not manifest itself in some definite disease or disorder, it can still be traced in the limitations to be found in the drinking man's descendants. They seem to reach a level from which they cannot ascend, and where from slight causes they deteriorate. The parents, by alcoholic poisoning, have lowered the race stock of vitality beyond the power of ascent or possibility to rise above or overcome the downward tendency.

Of course these effects of alcoholics differ widely according to the degree of intoxication. Yet, we must not forget that the real nature of inebriety is always the same. The end differs from the beginning only in degree. He who would avoid a life of sorrow, disgrace, and shame must carefully shun the very first gla.s.s of intoxicants.

299. Opium. Opium is a gum-like substance, the dried juice of the unripe capsule of the poppy. The head of the plant is slit with fine incisions, and the exuding white juice is collected. When it thickens and is moulded in ma.s.s, it becomes dark with exposure. _Morphine_, a white powder, is a very condensed form of opiate; _laudanum_, an alcoholic solution of marked strength; and _paregoric_, a diluted and flavored form of alcoholic tincture.

300. Poisonous Effects of Opium. Some persons are drawn into the use of opium, solely for its narcotic and intoxicating influence.

Every early consent to its use involves a lurking pledge to repeat the poison, till soon strong cords of the intoxicant appet.i.te bind the now yielding victim.

Opium thus used lays its benumbing hand upon the brain, the mind is befogged, thought and reasoning are impossible. The secretions of the stomach are suspended, digestion is notably impaired, and the gastric nerves are so deadened that the body is rendered unconscious of its needs.

The moral sense is extinguished, persons once honest resort to fraud and theft, if need be, to obtain the drug, till at last health, character, and life itself all become a pitiful wreck.

301. The Use of Opium in Patent Medicines. Some forms of this drug are found in nearly all the various patent medicines so freely sold as a cure-all for every mortal disease. Opiates are an ingredient in different forms and proportions in almost all the soothing-syrups, cough medicines, cholera mixtures, pain cures, and consumption remedies, so widely and unwisely used. Many deaths occur from the use of these opiates, which at first seem indeed to bring relief, but really only smother the prominent symptoms, while the disease goes on unchecked, and at last proves fatal.

These patent medicines may appear to help one person and be fraught with danger to the next, so widely different are the effects of opiates upon different ages and temperaments. But it is upon children that these fatal results oftenest fall. Beyond doubt, thousands of children have been soothed and soothed out of existence.[43]

302. The Victim of the Opium Habit. Occasionally persons convalescing from serious sickness where anodynes were taken, unwisely cling to them long after recovery. Other persons, jaded with business or with worry, and unable to sleep, unwisely resort to some narcotic mixture to procure rest.

In these and other similar cases, the use of opiates is always most pernicious. The amount must be steadily increased to obtain the elusive repose, and at best the phantom too often escapes.

Even if the desired sleep is procured, it is hardly the coveted rest, but a troubled and dreamy slumber, leaving in the morning the body quite unrefreshed, the head aching, the mouth dry, and the stomach utterly devoid of appet.i.te. But far worse than even this condition is the slavish yielding to the habit, which soon becomes a bondage in which life is shorn of its wholesome pleasures, and existence becomes a burden.

303. Chloral. There are other preparations which have become instruments of direful and often fatal injury. Chloral is a powerful drug that has been much resorted to by unthinking persons to produce sleep. Others, yielding to a morbid reluctance to face the problems of life, have timidly sought shelter in artificial forgetfulness. To all such it is a false friend. Its promises are treason. It degrades the mind, tramples upon the morals, overpowers the will, and destroys life itself.

304. Cocaine, Ether, Chloroform, and Other Powerful Drugs. Another dangerous drug is Cocaine. Ether and chloroform, those priceless blessings to the human race if properly controlled, become instruments of death when carelessly trifled with. Persons who have been accustomed to inhale the vapor in slight whiffs for neuralgia or similar troubles do so at imminent hazard, especially if lying down. They are liable to become slowly unconscious, and so to continue the inhalation till life is ended.

There is still another cla.s.s of drugs often carelessly used, whose effect, while less directly serious than those mentioned, is yet far from harmless. These drugs, which have sprung into popular use since the disease _la grippe_ began its dreaded career, include _phenacetine_, _antipyrine_, _antifebrine_, and other similar preparations. These drugs have been seized by the public and taken freely and carelessly for all sorts and conditions of trouble. The random arrow may yet do serious harm.

These drugs, products of coal-oil distillation, are powerful depressants.

They lower the action of the heart and the tone of the nervous centers.

Thus the effect of their continued use is to so diminish the vigor of the system as to aggravate the very disorder they are taken to relieve.

305. Effect of Tobacco on the Nervous System. That the use of tobacco produces a pernicious effect upon the nervous system is obvious from the indignant protest of the entire body against it when it is first used. Its poisonous character is amply shown by the distressing prostration and pallor, the dizziness and faintness, with extreme nausea and vomiting, which follow its employment by a novice.

The morbid effects of tobacco upon the nervous system of those who habitually use it are shown in the irregular and enfeebled action of the heart, with dizziness and muscular tremor. The character of the pulse shows plainly the unsteady heart action, caused by partial paralysis of the nerves controlling this organ. Old, habitual smokers often show an irritable and nervous condition, with sleeplessness, due doubtless to lack of proper brain nutrition.