THE EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL. 113 



These canker-like eruptions seen here, first eat 

 through the inner coat, then the outer is attacked 

 and the painful sores cause great suffering. Ulti- 

 mately it can no longer accommodate itself to the 

 condition of things. It gives up in despair. It can 

 no longer retain and much less digest food. Its con- 

 dition and appearance is shown here on the chart. 

 A long and painful disease follows, and at last death 

 relieves the poor slave to appetite. 



Let us observe right here, how gradual is the pro- 

 cess. How small and seemingly insignificant the 

 beginning. And yet how certainly does the gratifi- 

 cation of one thirst create the next. We would all do 

 well to accept as our motto: " Touch not, taste not, 

 handle not." 



We have just seen how alarming is the 

 effect of alcohol on the stomach. But 

 the liver, the healthy action of which 

 we have found so necessary in the food-preparing 

 and blood-purifying processes, suffers fully as much 

 from the use of alcoholic drinks. 



It is probable that most of the alcohol taken into 

 the stomach is there absorbed and carried directly 

 to the liver without passing into the intestines. A 

 proper secretion of the bile in the liver demands that 

 the cellular structure of that organ remain un- 

 changed. Alcohol causes a change of these cells to 

 fatty tissue, and an enlargement of the organ follows. 

 Its tissues then become lumpy or knobbed, and pro- 

 duces what is known as u gin, or hobnailed liver." 



