Alcohol and the human body : an introduction to the study of the subject, and a contribution to national health / by Sir Victor Horsley and Mary D. Sturge, with a chapter by Arthur Newsholme.

  • Horsley, Victor, Sir, 1857-1916.
Date:
1911
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Alcohol and the human body : an introduction to the study of the subject, and a contribution to national health / by Sir Victor Horsley and Mary D. Sturge, with a chapter by Arthur Newsholme. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    and precision. For instance, the improvement of the microscope and of histological methods has rendered possible the discovery of changes in organs and cells which fifty years ago were undreamed of; and such discoveries alone are fast altering the whole aspect of the alcohol question. The interest of men of science in the subject, although at its origin purely abstract, has in some cases developed into a patriotic desire to discover the actual facts about a liquid so largely consumed by mankind, and which, therefore, must inevitably rank as an important factor in the national welfare either for good or evil.^ Indeed their discoveries have not infrequently had the unexpected effect of making them advocates of temperance reform. For instance. Professor Kraepelin of Munich states that as a result of his prolonged investigations ^ into the effects of very small quantities of alcohol on the nervous system and the mind he has become “ an opponent of alcohol.” Some of the results of this research work we propose to lay briefly before our readers, purposely giving, in the more obscure and complicated parts of the subject, the general conclusions arrived at^ by competent observers rather than detailed proofs, which would require far more space than is at our disposal in this volume. For the same retison, in several chapters we have touched upon the elements of physiology with extreme brevity; in others we have omitted them entirely. We may refer the student to one or more small and excellent books for wider study of this part of the subject.^ Looked at from a pixrely scientific standpoint, the question of the effect of alcohol is one of fact alone, and not even the tragedies and the poverty which result from its habitual use can prejudice its consideration. Therefore, though all .scientific ^ In Holland and in Belgium, the State, realising the great evils wrought hy the drinking of spirits, has recently forbidden its sale at all railway stations. This is practicable, because the railways all belong to the State. “The official index of the literature of the alcohol question in Switzerland (including the practical and social questions as well as the scientific investiga- tions) contains 172 pages.”—Hellenics. “ Made chiefly at Heidelberg. * As, for instance. Hill’s Elementary Physiology (price Is. 3d., post free), or Elementary Physiology, by Ernest Starling, M.D. Lond. (price Is.), or any other small manual in which the elements of physiology are explained.