You will recall in a preceding chapter the description of the circulation
of the blood, and of its first passage through veins and arteries for
cleansing, before a second round could make it food for the whole complex
nervous system. Alcohol taken in excess, it has been proved in countless
experiments by scientific men, possesses the power of coagulating the
blood. The little corpuscles adhere in masses, and cannot force themselves
through the smaller vessels, and circulation is at once hindered. This,
however, is the secondary stage. At first, as many of you have had
occasion to notice, the face flushes, the eyes grow brighter, and thought
and word both come more freely. The heart beats far more rapidly, and the
speed increases in proportion to the amount of alcohol absorbed. The
average number of beats of the heart, allowing for its slower action
during sleep, is 100,000 beats per day. Under a small supply of alcohol
this rose to 127,000, and in actual intoxication to 131,000.
The flush upon the cheek is only a token of the same fact within; every
organ is congested. The brain has been examined under such circumstances,
and "looked as if injected with vermilion ... the membrane covering both
brains resembling a delicate web of coagulated red blood, so tensely were
its fine vessels engorged.
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