HYGIENE OF DIGESTION 



falls into a profound stupor he is " dead drunk." Thus 

 the heat from the oxidation of the alcohol prevents the 

 true tissue activity which is necessary for the life pro- 

 cesses, and burdens the liver with an unnecessary activity 

 in destroying the poisons. The poison, in the meanwhile, 

 has paralyzed the arterial walls and allowed the capillaries 

 to become flushed, and the warmth of the blood rapidly 

 escapes through the skin. By using up the oxygen, 

 it checks the production of heat in the usual way, while 

 the heat resulting from its own oxidation is soon lost to 

 the body, and much more of the bodily heat besides. 



472. One ounce of alcohol requires two ounces of oxy- 

 gen to oxidize it. The lungs furnish twenty-four ounces 

 of oxygen daily. How many hours will it take the lungs 

 to supply oxygen enough to oxidize one ounce of alcohol ? 

 Three drinks of whisky contain one ounce of alcohol. 

 How many drinks would be necessary to use up a day's 

 supply of oxygen ? A man would probably die long 

 before he had drunk that quantity. 



473. The Secret of the Influence of Alcohol. It is a fact 

 that we are clearly conscious only of the energy that we 

 are exerting, and not of the energy that is stored up in our 

 bodies. When alcohol is first taken, the cells treat it as an 

 intruder, and the activity excited by the attempt to expel it 

 from the body causes the man to think the alcohol is giv- 

 ing him strength, when it is only taking it away. It de- 

 ludes the drinker into thinking that he is strong, though 

 before the drink he had been feeling weak ; warm, though 

 he had been feeling cold ; it makes him careless, when he 

 had been careworn ; confident, when he had been feeling 

 timid. These are pleasant effects. But the later effects 

 of headache and depression and gloom, worse than before, 

 he does not attribute to alcohol, since they are not so 

 closely associated in time with the drinking. He does not 

 remember the crazy or idiotic scenes that were enacted when 



