412 HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY 



hydrates, and so supplies energy as food, we must never forget 

 that different constitutions may be differently affected, and condi- 

 tions as to climate, temperament, and habits of Ufe may cause 

 variations in its influence upon health and character. We can 

 never know perfectly the nature of all the innumerable strains 

 of hereditary tendency which unite to make an individual what 

 he is. Some one of these may have impressed upon the nerve 

 cells an instability, a weakness, a peculiar susceptibility to the 

 influence of alcohol, so that the first taste may arouse the insatiable 

 craving which leads to dipsomania. In another case, the inherited 

 weakness may render the child of an inebriate an epileptic, an 

 imbecile, or a consumptive. We can never foresee just how the 

 transmitted nervous weakness will manifest itself, but as a rule 

 the descendants of those whose systems are poisoned by alcohol 

 are enfeebled in body or mind or both. 



" But suppose a man to have derived from his ancestors a 

 sound constitution and to have become addicted to the moderate 

 use of alcohol; the insidious nature of the dangerous substance 

 may gradually lead him to consume, insensibly perhaps, only a little 

 more than the cells can oxidize. Without realizing it, he may 

 slowly poison his system. The primary effect is upon the brain; 

 there is congestion and overexcitement of the nerve cells there — 

 conditions which gradually extend to the nerve cells of the spinal 

 cord; inflammation sets in, and there follows fibrous degeneration 

 of the tissues, substituting an inferior form for the specialized 

 tissues which do the work of the organs in various parts of the 

 body. Paralysis may result, or epilepsy, or dyspepsia from lack 

 of the due amount of nervous influence upon the digestive organs, 

 or any one of a thousand forms of disorder, some of which have 

 been mentioned in preceding chapters. Though a man may never 

 drink to intoxication, and never realize that he is using alcohol to 

 excess, he may nevertheless become seriously diseased in conse- 

 quence of his moderate indulgence, or what he believes to be such, 

 while wondering why he is not well and strong. Still less does 

 he consider the legacy of evil which he may be laying up for his 

 children. 



" Life insurance companies have gathered an immense body 



