274 ELEMENTS OF PHYSIOLOGY 



495. What this leads to. He adopts the use of poison- 

 ous stimulants that, in the effort to rid themselves of the 

 poisons, the cells may have an incentive to activity, and 

 the awakening of his weakening system may give him 

 the feeling of power and enable him to stick to his work 

 and his unhealthy life. Coffee, tea, tobacco, wine, beer, 

 whisky, form a gradual progression toward ruin. He 

 may feel worn out, but a strong cigar, sending the poison- 

 ous fumes of nicotine into his delicate thin-walled lungs, 

 will so set his nerves on fire that he feels vigorous, and 

 says, " What nerve-strength comes from tobacco ! " For 

 it seems we feel vigorous only when we are expending 

 energy very rapidly, even if the store of energy is nearly 

 exhausted. He feels discouraged and weak, and takes a 

 glass of whisky; this disturbance to the system, with 

 the great amount of energy expended in getting rid of 

 it, makes him think he has had a sudden accession of 

 strength, for he forgets the work that the faithful old 

 stomach has been doing in storing away food in the cells 

 (alcohol is never stored in the cells, but all foods are) ; he 

 forgets the industrious lungs and the oxygen they have been 

 storing in the blood and cells. He is like the man who has 

 piled up money in a bank and draws it out with checks 

 and says : " What a wonderful thing a check is ! How 

 valuable is my check book ! " But, if he were to lose the 

 check book, the bank would give him another for nothing. 

 The check, when written, is only a sign that money must 

 come out of the bank, and the alcohol when taken into the 

 body is only a sign that strength must come out of the body 

 in expelling the enemy. No wonder the man has a bad 

 headache the next morning. 



496. Spendthrifts of Vitality. Did you ever know per- 

 sons who could not keep any money or property ? Dollars 

 seem to burn holes in their pockets. They do not know 

 how to economize when funds are low, but are always get- 



