ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES AND STIMULANTS 161 
overstimulation is not to be feared. On the contrary, the 
flavoring matter by its presence greatly helps the digestion 
of the nutritive substances in the food. These natural flavors 
of foods, as we may call them, are generally all that persons 
in good health require. Artificial flavors, as we may call the 
. various aromatics added to food, may occasionally be used 
advantageously and with comparative safety to impart to 
insipid nutrients mild flavors similar to those of natural 
foods. Strongly stimulating beverages, however, such as 
tea, coffee, and alcoholic drinks are seldom necessary to 
health, and are often injurious to adults, while to young 
people they are frequently a source of lasting evils. The use 
of substances which act so powerfully on the nervous system 
should be regulated by the advice of one’s physician. 
The effect of artificial stimulants on the human body is 
much like that of a whip on a horse. We know it to be foolish 
and cruel to whip a colt, and it may ruin his chances of ever 
becoming a good horse. It is almost as foolish and may be 
dangerous to whip a willing horse, although a sluggish horse 
may need a touch of the whip occasionally to keep him up to 
his work; and emergencies sometimes arise when a horse 
must be vigorously whipped to obtain his utmost speed at any 
risk. So to a healthy child artificial stimulants other than 
the mildest are unquestionably pernicious; to a healthy 
adult they are unnecessary and generally harmful; to persons 
out of health, sometimes beneficial and sometimes injurious; 
while on rare occasions they are regarded by many physicians 
as a necessity for saving life. In such times of special need, 
however, stimulants are useful to a person only in so far as 
he has not previously by overuse deprived them of their 
power. It often happens that an intemperate person dies 
when a person who had always been temperate would be 
saved by the stimulant upon which the physician is de- 
pending. 
