THE CIRCULATION 113 



than is absolutely necessary. It is especially necessary to 

 keep the extremities warmly clad and dry. 



197. Effects of Alcohol upon the White Corpuscles. Dr. 

 Woodhead, of the University of Cambridge, says that the 

 white corpuscles are injured by alcohol in the blood, and 

 that they lose to some extent their activity in attacking 

 poisons and germs of disease. This gives an explanation 

 of the susceptibility of drinking men to germ diseases. 

 Persons accustomed to use alcohol are usually the first vic- 

 tims of cholera and of yellow fever ; while some abstainers, 

 under constant exposure, remain untouched. The white 

 corpuscles repair cuts and broken bones ; hence intemperate 

 persons do not recover from accidents and surgical opera- 

 tions as quickly as do total abstainers. 



198. Effect of Alcohol upon the Red Corpuscles. The 

 red corpuscles carry the oxygen. When alcohol is freely 

 taken, the red corpuscles are injured so that the blood loses 

 in part its power to carry oxygen. The injury is to the 

 red coloring matter of the corpuscles. 



199. How the Heart may beat faster without expending 

 More Strength. Prof. Destree says that increased action 

 of the heart only appears to be a stimulation, and that 

 alcohol is a narcotic (from the Greek narkonn, to benumb). 

 Its effect on the heart is thus explained : The benumbing 

 effect of the alcohol upon the constrictor nerves ( 160) of 

 the arterial walls, paralyzes these walls, allowing them and 

 the capillaries to dilate, thus lessening the friction and re- 

 ducing the blood pressure in the vessels. The heart keeps 

 on exerting the same force from habit ; and since it is pump- 

 ing against less resistance, the same exertions of the heart 

 suffice to make it pump faster for a time and send the blood 

 over the body faster. When a dam is broken down, the 

 water flows faster for a time ; the force of the flow, how- 

 ever, is not supplied by the weakness of the dam in break- 

 ing down. 



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