he stomach of a drunkard, in which the organ did
not manifest some remarkable deviation from its healthy condition. But
the derangement of the stomach is not limited to the function of
nutrition merely. This organ is closely united to every other organ, and
to each individual tissue of the body, by its sympathetic relations.
When the stomach, therefore, becomes diseased, other parts suffer with
it. The functions of the brain, the heart, the lungs, and the liver,
become disordered; the secretions are altered, and all the operations of
the animal economy are more or less affected.

5. The _liver_ and its functions. Alcohol, in every form and proportion,
has long been known to exert a strong and speedy influence on this
organ, when used internally. Aware of this fact, the poultry-dealers of
England are in the habit of mixing a quantity of spirit with the food of
their fowls, in order to increase the size of the liver; so that they
may be enabled to supply to the epicure a greater abundance of that part
of the animal, which he regards as the most delicious.

The influence of spirit on the liver is exerted in two ways: first, the
impression made upon the mucous coat of the stomach is extended to the
liver by sympathy; the second mode of action is through the medium of
the circulation, and by the immediate action of the alcoholic principle
on the liver itself, as it passes through the organ, mingling with the
blood. In whichsoever of these ways it operates, its first effect is to
increase the action of the liver, and sometimes to such a degree as to
produce inflammation. Its secretion becomes changed from a bright yellow
to a green or black, and from a thin fluid to a substance resembling tar
in its consistence. There soon follows also an enlargement of the
liver, and a change in its organic structure. I have met with several
cases in which the liver has become enlarged from intemperance, so as to
occupy a greater part of the cavity of the abdomen, and weighing from
eight to twelve pounds, when it should have weighed not more than four
or five.

The liver sometimes, however, even when it manifests great morbid change
in its organic structure, is rather diminished than increased in its
volume. This was the case in the person of the celebrated stage-actor,
George Frederick Cook, who died a few years since in the city of New
York. This extraordinary man was long distinguished for the profligacy
of his life, as well as for the