EFFECT OF ALCOHOL ON THE STOMACH by James Gray Jewell, M. D.

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Apr 14, 1887

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 13, No. 15.

EFFECT OF ALCOHOL ON THE STOMACH.

By James Gray Jewell, M. D.

We frequently read in the daily press accounts of a sudden death, after drinking a quantity of liquor—say a pint of whisky. Dr. Taylor relates the case of a man who died in half an hour, after drinking a bottle of gin—something over a pint. Dr. Seaverns speaks of a child which died in twenty-four hours, after swallowing one ounce of rum. A few ounces of strong alcohol—say six ounces—taken into the stomach, and absorbed into the system, will kill a very strong man, in a very short time. Where these facts are known people wonder why Smith, Brown, and Jones do not die, as they are very hard drinkers. It is because alcoholic liquors, used as a beverage, are composed of alcohol very much diluted with water. Ordinary good whisky or brandy, if there can be anything good in that which is bad, contains about forty per cent to fifty per cent of alcohol, i. e., they are about half water. But notwithstanding they are so much diluted, so powerful is the poison of alcohol that when taken into the stomach, even in this diluted state, congestion of the coats and vessels of that organ almost immediately ensues.

How do we know that this action occurs? I answer, from experiments made in many cases by eminent authorities, but especially by Dr. Beaumont, of the United States Army, in 1822, through an opening in the stomach, made by a gunshot wound, in the left side of a Canadian lad, named Alexander St. Martin, tearing away the integuments and muscles, perforating the stomach, leaving an aperture two and one half inches in circumference, through which the whole process of digestion, and the action of liquids and solids, could be studied. Thus it was proven by experiments, that when alcohol, in any form, was taken into the stomach, it produced congestion, by acting as an irritant. If there be food in the stomach when alcohol is taken, as was proven also by Dr. Monroe, of London, digestion is immediately stopped, until the alcohol is absorbed. The alcohol, being antiseptic, stops fermentation, hence stops digestion. And thus it is that an habitual user of alcoholic beverages must become a dyspeptic. The walls of the stomach become hardened, thickened; the peptic glands, which secrete the gastric juice, become atrophied, are rendered inactive, and the supply of the gastric juice, which is so essential to digestion, is materially diminished. It does more—it precipitates the pepsin from the gastric juice, and renders that fluid useless.

In nearly all cases of chronic alcoholism we will find inflammation of the stomach, resulting in foul ulcers, and cancerous diseases of that organ. The functions of the stomach, in cases of this kind, are entirely suspended. The power to digest food, and every process of waste and repair, is weakened. The patient does not willingly take food; may not have taken any for days and weeks. If food is forced upon him the stomach rejects it. Nausea and vomiting are present. He cannot even retain water, except in very small quantities. Sometimes a large quantity of clotted blood is ejected. If the patient dies with delirium tremens a post-mortem examination will generally reveal the stomach black with mortification.—James Gray Jewell, M. D., resident physician Home for Inebriates, S. F., Cal.