INTOXICATION OIL. intoxientin, from in toxienre. to poison. from Lat. in. in tnxieutn, from Gk. .ro,;m6c. to.rikon, originally that poison in which arrows were dipped, front rw,r,K6c, to.rikoR, relating to a bow, front tozon, bowl. In medicine, poisoning by any agent ; colloquially. a eondition of impaired will and undermined control resulting from drinking alcoholic beverages. Intoxiention is as correctly used of serious disturbance of mental and physi cal equilibrium by the use of opium, ehloral, belladonna, cannabis indica. or by the ingestion of kid, as of the poisoning resulting from the use of liquor. Alcoholic intoxication may be acute, subacute, or chronie. Acute intoxication follows drinking it considerable quantity of liquor at t ince. Profound insensibility follows speedily, with stertorous breatliing, purplish face, frothing at the mouth, weak pulse, and inereas ing coma. An active purge, such as Croton oil, put on the root of the tongue or introduced into the rectum, together with hypodermic injections of strychnine, both used after the employment of the stomach-pump, may be efficacious and save life. This form of intoxication is rarely seen. The subacute form is the usual drunkenness, of mild or serious type. It is the form observed in those who drink alcoholic beverages for the exhilaration they feel, or in those who drink till they are stupefied. Slight intoxication anuses increased activity of the circulation and of ner vous and mental processes, as well :1.4 in eases derangement of the digestive apparatus. Heavy drinking results in delirium, staggering (due to cerebellar disturbance), loss of intja. enlar power. and finally stupor. Vomiting, depression. and tremor appear when the person awakes or become. conscious. An emetic, :‘ cathartic, and a Turkish bath often rouse 1111 intoxicated person when becoming drowsy, and prevent the occurrence of the ennui which threat ens. But after repeated indulgences these meas•
tires fail. Ammonia and strychnille are both very serviceable in treating the conditions exist ing after the patient is from his unconsciousness. Habitual intoxication results in delirium tremens in some eases. (See DE taiiirm.) In others, it leads to alcoholic ifl,a11 lit.. (See INSANITY.) Serious organic diseases result from the use of alcohol, such as cirrhosis of the liver, eirrhosis of the kidneys with sceond ary heart disease. and arteriosclerosis, all of which are discussed under their proper titles. The will becomes undermined, judgment becomes impaired. and the idea of moral responsibility diminished or lost.
INEnnirrv. This is the diseased menial condi tion resulting from the use of alcohol. There may have been an underlying neurasthenia. has led the patient to seek some agent which will re move his weakness and lack of endurance. Re peated recourse to alcoholic stimulation frequently results le inebriety in stadia case, heredity plays a prominent ride in the causation of inebriety. In ebriety or insanity is found in the ancestry of about half the cases. Race has a certain influence. Denmark and 'Belgium suffer from the greatest amount of inebriety in the Continental countries; Russia and Germany come next. and France, Sweden, Austria. and Switzerland follow. The .\11glo-Saxon seems very susceptible to the dis ease. The Italian is singularly free from it, and the Spaniard has nearly as good a record. The Jewish people present an example of general freedom from inebriety wherever they are found. A hot, moist climate fat-ors inebriety by redue ing general nervous resistance. Exposure and occupation have also an evident influence. The mortality front alcoholism is stated by Norman Kerr to he 40.000 annually in Great Britain. Ile quotes Lankester as saying that one-tenth of the entire mortality in Great Britain is due to alcoholism.