Dr. Armstrong, in his lectures, speaks of a chronic inflammation of the brain and its membranes, proceeding, among other causes, from the free use of strong wines and liquors. According to him, it is much more common after, than before, forty years of age, although he has seen several instances occurring in young persons. The brain gets diseased, the diameter of the vessels being diminished, while their coats are thickened and less transparent than usual. In some places they swell out and assume a varicose appearance. The organ itself has no longer the same delicate and elastic texture, becoming either unnaturally hard, or of a morbid softness. Slight effusions in the various cavities are apt to take place. Under these circumstances, there is a strong risk of apoplexy. To this structure is to be ascribed the mental debasement, the loss of memory, and gradual extinction of the intellectual powers. I believe that the brains of all confirmed drunkards exhibit more or less of the above appearances. IV. _State of the Kidneys._—During intoxication the action of the kidneys is always much increased; and this is a favourable circumstance, as, more than any thing else it carries off the bad effects of drinking. The kidney, however, in confirmed drunkards, is apt to become permanently diseased, and secretes its accustomed fluid with unusual activity, not only in the moments of drunkenness, when such an increase is useful, but at all periods, even when the person abstains from every sort of indulgence. The disease called diabetes is thus produced, which consists in a morbid increase of the secretion, accompanied with a diseased state of the texture of the kidneys. This affection is mostly fatal. V. _State of the Bladder._—Drunkenness affects this organ in common with almost every other; hence it is subject to paralysis, spasm, induration, &c., and to all bad consequences thence resulting—such as pain, incontinence, and retention of urine. VI. _State of the Blood and Breath._—The blood of a professed drunkard, as already stated, differs from that of a sober man. It is more dark, and approaches to the character of venous. The ruddy tint of those carbuncles which are apt to form upon the face, is no proof to the contrary, as the blood which supplies them is crimsoned by exposure to the air, on the same principle as that by which the blood in the pulmonary arteries receives purification by the process of breathing. The blood of a malt-liquor drinker is not merely darker, but also more thick and sizy than in other cases, owing, no doubt, to the very nutritious nature of his habitual beverage. The breath of a drunkard is disgustingly bad, and has always a spirituous odour. This is partly owing to the state of the stomach, which communicates the flavour of its customary contents to respiration; and partly, also, there can be little doubt, to the absorption of the liquor by the blood, through the medium of the lacteals.