racteristic of the persistent effects of spirit, become
prominent and permanent. Then the external surface becomes darkened and
congested, its vessels, in parts, visibly large; the skin becomes
blotched, the proverbial red nose is defined, and those other striking
vascular changes which disfigure many who may probably be called
moderate alcoholics, are developed. These changes, belonging, as they
do, to external surfaces, come under direct observation; they are
accompanied with certain other changes in the internal organs, which we
shall show to be more destructive still."

CHAPTER III.

IT CURSES THE BODY.--CONTINUED.

We have quoted thus freely in the preceding chapter, in order that the
intelligent and thoughtful reader, who is really seeking for the truth
in regard to the physical action of alcohol, may be able to gain clear
impressions on the subject. The specific changes wrought by this
substance on the internal organs are of a most serious character, and
should be well understood by all who indulge habitually in its use.

EFFECT ON THE MEMBRANES.

The parts which first suffer from alcohol are those expansions of the
body which the anatomists call the membranes. "The skin is a membranous
envelope. Through the whole of the alimentary surface, from the lips
downward, and through the bronchial passages to their minutest
ramifications, extends the mucous membrane. The lungs, the heart, the
liver, the kidneys are folded in delicate membranes, which can be
stripped easily from these parts. If you take a portion of bone, you
will find it easy to strip off from it a membranous sheath or covering;
if you examine a joint, you will find both the head and the socket lined
with membranes. The whole of the intestines are enveloped in a fine
membrane called _peritoneum_. All the muscles are enveloped in
membranes, and the fasciculi, or bundles and fibres of muscles, have
their membranous sheathing. The brain and spinal cord are enveloped in
three membranes; one nearest to themselves, a pure vascular structure, a
net-work of blood-vessels; another, a thin serous structure; a third, a
strong fibrous structure. The eyeball is a structure of colloidal humors
and membranes, and of nothing else. To complete the description, the
minute structures of the vital organs are enrolled in membranous
matter."

These membranes are the filters of the body. "In their absence there
could be no building of structure, no solidificat