174 HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY 



picture show. He may witness a rapid succession of 

 strange and exciting scenes the order and personnel of 

 which he could by no means have anticipated. They 

 pass from his recollection, for the most part, as quickly as 

 the views on the screen. Perhaps they constitute a legit- 

 imate recreation. 



Alcohol. While we are dealing with the hygiene of 

 the nervous system some attention may be given to this 

 much debated subject. Alcohol has other relations to 

 human life than the influence which it exerts upon the 

 brain but this is by far its most important aspect. It 

 is a potential food, a relish, and sometimes a drug, but 

 it is not much sought for these properties. It is prized 

 chiefly as a comforter, that is to say, for its tempera- 

 mental effects. These effects are apt to be described 

 as stimulation but it is doubtful whether the word is 

 wisely used. 



A group of men who have had some wine at dinner 

 are observed to become talkative and animated. They 

 gesticulate and laugh more than they would ordi- 

 narily. They may become decidedly uproarious. Is 

 this not stimulation? It has been generally held to be, 

 but another interpretation can be offered. The sug- 

 gestion has been made that what we are witnessing is 

 a withdrawal of inhibition, the paralysis of the highest 

 centers with a consequent release of the lower from 

 their regulation. If a train is descending a grade there 

 are two ways to account for an increase of speed: more 

 power may have been applied by the engine or the brakes 

 may have been taken off. The action of alcohol has 

 been defined by most writers as a taking off of the cerebral 

 " brakes." 



It may be an open question whether this removal of 

 inhibition is always an evil. Able thinkers have justified 

 the artifice. Men have resorted to it for ages to secure 

 social ease and to banish cares. But it does seem as 

 though abandoning oneself to convivial pleasures should 

 be a simple act of the will rather than a reaction secured 



