SYSTEMIC EFFECTS 309 



puppies, but four lived to grow up, the rest being born 

 dead or deformed. In marked contrast to them were 

 the other two strong, happy, courageous dogs. When the 

 epidemic came, they were not even ill enough to lose 

 their appetites. Of their forty-five puppies, none were 

 born dead, but four were slightly deformed, while the 

 remaining forty-one were fine and normal. A study 

 by another scientist of ten alcoholic and of ten non- 

 alcoholic families showed that the same conditions held 

 for human beings as for dogs. 



In writing of a somewhat similar experiment upon 

 kittens, Professor Hodge says : " In beginning the experi- 

 ment, it was remarkable how quickly and completely all 

 the higher psychic characteristics of both the (alcoholic) 

 kittens dropped out. Playfulness, purring, cleanliness 

 and care of coat, interest in mice, fear of dogs, while 

 normally developed before the experiment began, all dis- 

 appeared so suddenly that it could hardly be explained 

 otherwise than as a direct influence of the alcohol upon 

 the higher centres of the brain. They simply ate and 

 slept, and could scarcely have been less active had the 

 greater part of their cerebral hemispheres been removed 

 with the knife." 1 



Practical studies. Further proofs of the bad effects 

 of alcohol are to be found in the experiences of men who 

 have watched its use by large numbers of persons. For 

 example, a writer in Manila has remarked pointedly con- 

 cerning the health of the American troops : ' ' ' It is not so 

 much the climate as the glass bottle which injures people 

 out here,' which statement is corroborated by another 

 who had seen actual service as a member of a company, 



1 The Physiological Aspects of the Liquor Problem, Committee 

 of Fifty. 



