native vigor of his mind and body. At
the time of his death, the body was opened by Dr. Hosack, who found that
the liver did not exceed its usual dimensions, but was astonishingly
hard, of a lighter color than natural, and that its texture was so dense
as to make considerable resistance to the knife. The blood-vessels,
which, in a healthy condition, are extremely numerous and large, were in
this case nearly obliterated, evincing that the regular circulation
through the liver had long since ceased; and tubercles were found
throughout the whole substance of the organ.

I have met with several cases in the course of my dissections, in which
the liver was found smaller than natural, shrivelled, indurated, its
blood-vessels diminished in size and number, with the whole of its
internal structure more or less changed. In consequence of these morbid
changes in the liver, other organs become affected, as the spleen, the
pancreas, etc., either by sympathy or in consequence of their dependence
on the healthy functions of the liver for the due performance of their
own.

6. Of _the brain_ and its functions. Inflammation and engorgement of
this organ are frequent consequences of intemperance, and may take place
during a debauch--or may arise some time after, during the stage of
debility, from a loss of the healthy balance of action between the
different parts of the system. This inflammation is sometimes acute, is
marked by furious delirium, and terminates fatally in the course of a
few days, and sometimes a few hours. At other times it assumes a chronic
form, continues much longer, and then frequently results in an effusion
of serum, or an extravasation of blood, and the patient dies in a state
of insensibility, with all the symptoms of compressed brain. Sometimes
the system becomes so saturated with ardent spirit, that there is good
reason to believe the effusions, which take place in the cavities of the
brain, and elsewhere, are composed, in part at least, of the alcoholic
principle. The following case occurred, not long since, in England, and
is attested by unquestionable authority.

A man was taken up dead in the streets of London, soon after having
drank a quart of gin, on a wager. He was carried to the Westminster
Hospital, and there dissected. "In the ventricles of the brain was found
a considerable quantity of limpid fluid, distinctly impregnated with
gin, both to the sense of smell and taste, and even to the test of
infl