38 APPLIED PHYSIOLOGY 



the body is intemperance. Almost everybody is intem- 

 perate in eating from the time he can walk, to old age. 

 Intemperance in eating is very liable to lead to intemper- 

 ance in drinking later in life. 



Eating and drinking anything for mere pleasure is in- 

 temperance and harms the body. We may not see the 

 harm of eating a single apple in the middle of the fore- 

 noon when we are not hungry ; and yet this is an act of 

 intemperance, and, if repeated, tends to overwork the 

 stomach and to produce dyspepsia, and possibly a fever. 

 Eating some other things, such as green apples, nearly 

 always produces sickness, and we at once see that it is 

 a form of intemperance. But eating the first apple was 

 intemperance just as really as eating the green one. 



A little pie or cake may be used in place of plain food, 

 but every one knows that eating much of it is intemper- 

 ance and produces sickness. 



In some cases a great deal of intemperance does not 

 seem to do harm at once, and so men will risk being sick 

 for the sake of a moment's pleasure. They do not count 

 the cost when they are feeding an appetite. 



68. Appetite for strong drink. Using drinks which 

 contain alcohol is the worst form of intemperance. It is 

 such a bad form that, when we speak of intemperance we 

 usually mean the use of strong drink. 



We can eat pie or cake or candy without being intem- 

 perate ; but any use of strong drink is intemperance, for it 

 is not needed at all by the body, but is used only for 

 pleasure. It does such harm that no one can drink much 

 without plainly showing its effects. 



When we have been intemperate in eating pie or cake 

 we feel sick and could not eat more if we would. When a 

 person is harmed by strong drink the drink often makes 



