ALCOHOL : AN ENEMY OF HOME AND COMMUNITY 545 



Appetite. One of the strongest arguments against the use 

 of alcohol is that it is a habit-forming drug and many people 

 acquire an appetite which they cannot control, and as a 

 result they go to such excess that they are ruined. Many 

 people are able to control this appetite and do not go to 

 excess, but when one starts to drink he cannot tell whether 

 he will be among those who can or those who cannot control 

 the appetite. To begin the use of alcohol even in small 

 quantities is an extremely dangerous risk for a young man 

 to take, because he can never foresee where it will eventually 

 lead him. 



Differences in effect of alcohol. The effect of alcohol 

 depends on several factors, chief among them being the 

 person who uses it and the amount taken. We find here, 

 as everywhere else in life, a great difference in individuals. 

 Two persons may be drinking the same amount of alcohol, 

 and yet while one seems to be but little affected by it, the 

 other may be seriously injured. Likewise the amount of 

 harm depends on the quantity of alcohol used. The evi- 

 dence given in" this chapter indicates that even in small 

 quantities alcohol is harmful in some way. As the amount 

 used is increased, the harm done becomes greater, until the 

 point of excess is reached where the injurious effects are 

 very evident. On account, then, of this difference in people, 

 and in the amount used, one cannot make any definite 

 dogmatic statement that will apply to all people and in all 

 cases. But the evidence so far given has been largely taken 

 from positive exact experiments and statistics, and while 

 we cannot say that the same results that occurred in these 

 cases would apply in every case, yet the evidence is over- 

 whelmingly on one side, as indicating the harmful results 

 of the use of alcohol even in small quantities. 



The arguments against the use of alcohol are briefly 

 summarized by Dr. Henry S. Williams in the following 

 appeal to any one who uses alcohol habitually. 



2N 



