O'SHEA ASPECTS OF MENTAL ECONOMY. 123 



"A second series, of 1,000 balls, November, 1896, in which Bum and 

 Nig, were tested, gave similar results. Nig shows fifteen per cent, ot 

 Bum's fatigue. Expressed in other words, Bum lies down to rest 

 6.7 times to Nig's once." 



In discussing the results of these experiments, Dr. Hodge 

 quotes Professor Gaul£ to the effect that once during the strain 

 of his Staatsexamen he suddenly stopped his wine and beer and 

 was surprised to find how much better he could work. An emi- 

 nent Leipsic professor has said that German students could do 

 twice the amount of work if they would let their beer alone. 

 Dr. August Smith found that moderate doses of alcohol not 

 sufficient to intoxicate lowered psychic ability to memorize as 

 much as seventy per cent. * 



From whatever position, then, we regard the influence of 

 alcohol upon the force-generating power of the organism, we 

 find on every occasion that it has only a deleterious issue, ex- 

 cept of course when it is employed as a therapeutic agent. 2 The 

 practice in which students ofttimes indulge of exciting good 

 cheer by a few glasses of beer or wine must certainly in the 

 long run lessen the efficiency of mind and body. When a great 

 feat is to be undertaken, as upon the football field, alcoholic 

 beverages are absolutely prohibited the contestant. A student 

 should regard his daily tasks as all being great ones for which 

 he must prepare himself most effectively mentally and phys- 

 ically. The ordeals of the student in his immediate class- 

 room duties and in the more important businesses of post-uni- 

 versity life should demand as clear and vigorous a brain and 

 a^ agile and serviceable a body as the athlete requires to meet 

 the difficulties which he will encounter in the arena. 



§ 4. The Influence of Tobacco Upon the Production and Ex- 

 penditure of Force in the Organism. — While alcohol operates 

 to throw off the brakes which nature places upon the organism 



1 Hodge, op. cit., p. 25. 



*Atwater's investigations already referred to seem to present alcohol in a more 

 favorable light. Small quantities of alcohol are not injurious, says Atwater, but 

 yet there are grave dangers in its use, since it is difficult for the habitual 

 drinker to avoid excesses. 



