ACTION OF ALCOHOL ON THE INTERNAL ORGANS. 

Action on the stomach.

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The action of alcohol on the stomach is extremely dangerous because it becomes unable to produce the natural digestive liquid in sufficient quantity and cannot absorb food that it digests imperfectly. An alcoholic will always experience a state marked by nausea, emptiness, prostration and distension. This results in a disgust for food and a desire to drink more. This is how a permanent disorder called dyspepsia is born. Disastrous forms of confirmed indigestion arise from this practice. 

How the liver is affected.

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The organic deterioration caused by the continuous use of alcohol is often fatal. The organ that most frequently suffers structural changes due to alcohol is the liver. Normally, the liver has the capacity to retain active substances in its cellular parts. In cases of poisoning by various toxic compounds, we analyze the liver as if it were the central repository of the foreign material. The same is practically true of alcohol. The liver of an alcoholic is never free from the influence of alcohol and is too often saturated with it. The tiny membrane or capsular structure of the liver is affected, preventing proper dialysis and free secretion. The liver enlarges due to the dilation of its vessels, the overloading of fluid materials and the thickening of the tissues. This follows the contraction of the membrane and the shrinking of the whole organ into its cellular parts. Then the lower parts of the alcoholic become gouty because of the obstruction offered by the veins to the return of blood. The structure of the liver may be loaded with fat cells and undergo what is technically called "fatty liver." 

How the kidneys deteriorate.

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The kidneys also suffer from excessive alcohol consumption. The vessels in the kidneys lose their elasticity and ability to contract. The tiny structures they contain undergo fatty changes. Albumin from the blood passes easily through their membranes. The result is a loss of power in the body, as if it were gradually draining of blood.  

Congestion of the lungs.

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Alcohol easily relaxes the vessels of the lungs, which are the most exposed to fluctuations in heat and cold. When subjected to the effects of a rapid change in atmospheric temperature, they become easily congested. During the severe winter seasons, sudden fatal lung congestion easily affects an alcoholic. 

Alcohol weakens the heart.

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Alcohol consumption greatly affects the heart. The quality of the membranous structures that cover and line the heart changes and becomes thickened, cartilaginous or calcareous. The valves then lose their flexibility and what is called valvular disorder becomes permanent.  The structure of the envelopes of the large blood vessel that leaves the heart undergoes the same structural changes, so that the vessel loses its elasticity and its power to supply the heart by the recoil of its distension, after the heart, by its attack, has filled it with blood. 

Similarly, the muscular structure of the heart weakens due to degenerative changes in its tissue. The elements of the muscle fiber are replaced by fat cells or, if not replaced, are themselves transferred into a modified muscle texture in which the power of contraction is greatly reduced. 

Those who suffer from these organic deteriorations of the central and directing organ of the blood circulation learn the fact so insidiously that it only reaches them when the disease is already well advanced. They are aware of a lack of central power due to such slight causes as overwork, unrest, lack of rest or too long an abstinence from food. They feel what they call a "dejection," but they know that wine or some other stimulant will immediately relieve this sensation.

So they seek to relieve it until they finally discover that the remedy fails. The tired, overworked, faithful heart can't take it anymore. It has done its time and the governor of blood flow is broken. The current overflows into the tissues, gradually damming up the courses, or, under the effect of a slight shock or an excess of movement, stops completely at the center.