f a
marked change in the medical use of alcohol.

In England the scientific temperance movement began with Dr. B. W.
Richardson, afterwards knighted by Queen Victoria for his great services
to humanity as a medical philanthropist. Dr. Richardson's success in
bringing before physicians the remarkable medicinal agent known as
nitrite of amyl, led to a request from the British Association for the
Advancement of Science that he investigate other chemical substances.
The result was that several years of study, beginning with 1863, were
given to the physiological effects of various alcohols, ethylic alcohol,
which is the active principle in wines, beers and other intoxicating
drinks, receiving special attention.

The following is taken from his "Results of Researches on Alcohol":--

"In my hands ethylic alcohol and other bodies of the same group;
viz. methylic, propylic, butylic, and amylic alcohols were
tested purely from the physiological point of view. They were
tested exclusively as chemical substances apart from any
question as to their general use and employment, and free from
all bias for or against their influence on mankind for good or
for evil.

"The method of research that was pursued was the same that had
been followed in respect to nitrite of amyl, chloroform, ether,
and other chemical substances, and it was in the following
order: First, the mode in which living bodies would take up or
absorb the substance was considered. This settled, the quantity
necessary to produce a decided physiological change was
ascertained, and was estimated in relation to the weight of the
living body on which the observation was made. After these facts
were ascertained the special action of the agent was
investigated on the blood, on the motion of the heart, on the
respiration, on the minute circulation of the blood, on the
digestive organs, on the secreting and excreting organs, on the
nervous system and brain, on the animal temperature and on the
muscular activity. By these processes of inquiry, each specially
carried out, I was enabled to test fairly the action of the
different chemical agents that came before me. * * * * *

"The results of these researches were that I learned purely by
experimental observation that, in its action on the living body,
alcohol deranges the constitution of the blood; unduly excites
the he