318 APPLIED PHYSIOLOGY 



gen enters the body, little heat is produced. If the night 

 is at all cold, the drunken man is in great danger of 

 freezing to death. It is only a step to the total cessation 

 of the action of the medulla and failure of respiration. 



In cities men often are found in the streets in the last 

 stage of drunkenness. They closely resemble cases in 

 which the action of the brain is destroyed by a severe 

 blow upon the head which leaves no external mark. 



580. Effects of long-continued drinking. Either heavy 

 or moderate drinking* may cause in the brain and mind 

 a slow change which resembles an excessively slowly 

 developed drunken state. As in drunkenness, the first 

 change is a disregard for the comfort of others. Then 

 the thoughts wander, and the mind cannot grasp a situa- 

 tion as it once could. Later the motor region is affected so 

 that the hand trembles and the gait is unsteady. All these 

 changes are like those which naturally occur in old persons. 

 Drink makes a person old too soon. In many drinkers the 

 judgment entirely disappears, and the drinker is insane. 

 He is in a continual state resembling drunkenness. Alco- 

 hol produces more insanity than all other causes combined. 



581. Effects of bad company. The low companionship which 

 a drunkard keeps, itself tends to dwarf the mind and to make one care- 

 less in morals and judgment. Men also lead each other into tempta- 

 tion. If a man were alone, one drink might satisfy him, but meeting 

 others, he lingers to talk, and so drinks again to keep company with 

 the rest. 



582. Delirium tremens. After a prolonged drunken state, or 

 after severe injury, a heavy drinker is liable to violent disturbance of 

 the mind, called delirium tremens. In it his sensory regions form 

 exaggerated memories of fantastic and hideous views, in which demons 

 and foul reptiles seem present on purpose to torment him. In his fear 

 he will cry out and will use violence in his endeavors to escape. The 

 trouble may last continually for several days, and may permit the suf- 

 ferer to take neither food nor sleep. 



