ABSTRACT
Although the generally deleterious effects of excessive alcohol consumption have been recognized for millennia (Mendelson and Nello, 1992), the link between “ardent spirits” and muscular weakness was first described in 1822 by James Jackson of Harvard, who suggested that muscle weakness might recover after abstention. During the same century, the deleterious effects of ethanol on cardiac muscle were described by Bollinger (1884) and Steel (1893), and subsequently recognized by many authors.
