The bases of the temperance reform: an exposition and appeal./ With replies to numerous objections. By Rev. Dawson Burns.

54 The?Jiysiolo,ica Effects of Alcohol
purity of the blood is maintained. (b) It is also clear that
blood impurities must increase fie tendenzcy to " catch " diseases of zymootic orzgin, such as fever, small-pox, cholera,
etc.; and it is also plain how readily the violence of these
and of all other diseases, when present, is augmented,
both by the bad condition of the blood and by the lessened capacity of the body and its various organs to
"shake off" the particular virus in operation. The weakened walls, so to say, yield to a pressure which, had they
been better cemented, they would have successfully resisted. Dr. Lionel Beale, F.R.S., physician to King's College Hospital, observes: "Alcohol does not act as food;
it does not nourish tissues; it may diminish waste by altering the consistence and chemical properties of fluids
and solids. It cuts short the life of rapidly-growing cells,
or causes them to live more slowly. The remedies which
act favorably really seem to act, not by increasing vital
power, but by decreasing the rate at which vital changes
are proceeding. This view accounts for the shrivelling of
the hepatic cells, the shrinking of the secretive structure,
and the increased hardness and condensation of the entire liver which result from the continual bathing of the
gland-structure in blood loaded with alcohol. It accords
with the gradual shrinking and condensation of tissues
which have long been accustomed to excess. The tendency to increased formation of adipose tissue may be
explained upon the same view, and the stunting which
follows its exhibition to young animals is readily accounted for,"
(6.) The nervine stimulation following the use of alcoholic drinks, so far from supplying or inducing increased
strength, is an inevitable cause of weakness. Sudden
nervous shock, more or less severe, must lead to loss of
power; and all scientific enquiry tends to assign alcohol a
place, not among the true stimuli-such as air, light, food,
and water, which act calmly and soothingly-but with
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