HEALTH COLUMN.

Otago Witness, Issue 1823, 29 October 1886, Page 36

HEALTH COLUMN.

Alcohol and the Blood Circulation.

In chills or in cases of sudden cold, the blood fails to reach the surface and produce or keep up the needed external waTmth. If at such times alcohol be taken into the stomach, it at once increases to action of the heart, andarteries about one-fifth, thus driving with an unnatural force the blood to the surface and producing there the needed glow of warmth.

But, under the same law of cause and effect, if we make an habitual use of alcohol in any of ' its numerous forms, we unnecessarily increase the circulation, and by frequent potations keep up a flow of blood to the surface faster than the veins can carry it back. Hence, the countless capillaries, whose minuteness make them invisible under ordinary conditions, soon become distended with impure blood, and are kept in a state of permanent congestion. This impure blood will soon give rise to pimples and blotches, especially upon the face and nose. These are the " toddy blossoms " which are so disgustingly prpminentonthefaceandnose of the hard drinker. If the pimples do not appear, a permanent and noted redness shows itself, as an emblazoned signal, proclaiming to every visitor the tippling habit of the person. The sameaction of the heart, and in the same manner, produces headache, a coated tongue, an impaired appetite, disturbed sleep, &c. All these things should be taken as notes of warning that the whole system is diseased, and is fast being prepared for a drunkard's grave. The Medical Reporter, in referring to the same matter, says :

"It is a medical fact that as the influence qf alcohol reddens the dram drinker's nose and changes its appearance, so it reddens and changes the appearance of every organ of the body ; and as the nose thus affected is not in a natural and healthy condition, so every organ of his body is changed from a natural and healthy condition to an unnatural and diseased condition ; and as the skin of the nose takes on unhealthy action, so the substance and coverings of the internal organs take on diseased action, which results in the full development of] incurable diseases such as insanity, diseases of the heart, Bright's disease of the kidneys, hobnail liver, and slow inflammation.of the stomach. All these diseases exist at the same time lin the dram drinker, but the organ most diseased is apt to take the lead in the morbid action." . What is Catarrh? Catarrh is a mucopurulent discharge caused by the presence and development of the vegetable parasite amoeba in the internal lining membrane of the nose. This parasite is only developed under favourable circumstances, and these are : — Morbid state of the blood as the blighted corpuscle of tubercle, the germ poison of syphilis, mercury, (■oxoemea, from the retention of the effete matter of the skin, suppressed perspiration, badly-ventilated sleeping apartments, and other poisons that are germinated in the blood. These poisons keep the internal lining membrane of the nose in a constant state of irritation, ever ready for the deposit of the seeds of these germs, which spread up the nostrils and down the fauces or back of the throat, causing ulceration of the throat ; up the eustachian tubes, causing tieafness ; burrowing in the vocal chords, causing hoarseness ; usurping the proper structure of the bronchial tubes, ending in pulmonary consumption and death. Many attempts have been made to discover a cure for this distressing disease by the use of inhalants and other ingenious devices ; but none of these treatments can do a particle of good until the amoeba arc either destroyed or removed from the mucous tissue.