or the same reason," answered the Doctor, "the liver acts as a
substitute for the lungs--just as the skin acts vicariously for the
kidneys."

"Not a word of this do I understand," said the merry-faced guest.

"Well, then," continued the Doctor, "I will endeavor to explain it. By a
wonderful provision of nature, which appears to come under the law of
compensation, when one organ, by reason of decay, is unable to perform
its functions, another undertakes its functions, and, to a certain
extent, supplies its place. You all know that blind people acquire a
preternatural delicacy in the sense of touch, which did not escape the
philosophical observation of Wordsworth, who speaks of

"A watchful heart,
Still couchant--an inevitable ear;
And an eye practised like the blind man's touch."

"Now, it is the office of the vessels of the skin to throw off by
perspiration the watery parts of the blood; the kidneys do the same; and
under a great variety of circumstances which must be familiar to all,
these organs frequently act vicariously for one another. The office of
the liver, and the lungs also, is in like manner to throw off carbon
from the system, and when during a residence in a tropical climate the
lungs are unable, from the state of the atmosphere, to perform their
functions, the liver acting vicariously for this organ is stimulated to
undue activity, and becomes consequently diseased. Applying these
remarks to the spirit drinker, it is obvious that the excess of carbon
introduced into the system by alcohol is thrown upon the liver, and by
stimulating it to undue activity produces a state of inflammation."

"This I understand," observed the Clergyman, "but how does it act upon
the brain? Does the alcohol itself actually become absorbed, and enter
into the substance of the brain?"

"The effect of an excess of carbon, in the blood-vessels of the brain,
is to produce sleep and stupor; hence the drunkard breathes thick, and
snores spasmodically, and after this state, ends in confirmed apoplexy
and death--just as dogs become insensible when held over the Grotto del
Cane, in Italy, where they inhale this deleterious gas. But in addition
to this it has been clearly proved, that alcohol does enter into the
substance of the brain, for it has been detected by the smell, upon
examining the brain of persons who have died drunk; besides which,
alcohol, after having been introduced by way of experiment, into the