EFFECTS OF NARCOTICS UPON THE MIND 32! 



SUMMARY 



1. Because a small quantity of alcohol stimulates the 



heart and increases the flow of blood in the brain, 

 it stimulates the mind to greater action. This lasts 

 for a short time only. 



2. A little more alcohol is a narcotic to the brain cells 



and weakens them so that they act in an uncertain 

 manner. 



3. The first action to be disturbed is one's thoughts of 



the welfare of others, and the second is the judg- 

 ment of one's own affairs. At this stage the actions 

 are wild and foolish. 



4. Next the motor region is disturbed, and a man is now 



noticeably drunk. 



5. Next his sensory regions are disturbed so that he can- 



not see and hear and feel so well as he should. He 

 is now dull and sleepy, or dead drunk. 



6. Next the medulla is affected so that the respiration 



and action of the heart are disturbed. Then death 

 is near at hand. 



7. Continued drinking slowly overcomes the faculties of 



the mind in the same order that they are overcome 

 in drunkenness. When the cells are seriously 

 affected, the person is insane. 



8. The habit of taking alcohol may become so deeply 



set in the brain cells that it is a disease overcoming 

 the will. 



9. Sucking in tobacco smoke causes more blood to flow 



to the brain, and so slightly increases its power, but 

 the tobacco itself weakens the brain. 



10. Opium, cocaine, and all other drugs, when habitually 

 used, always weaken and destroy the mind. 



OV. PHYSIOL. 21 



