THE BLOOD AND ITS CIRCULATION 69 



little food to the cells. Men who drink become thin and 

 weak. But beer drinkers take a great amount of water 

 in the beer, and this makes them heavy and large. They 

 look fat and healthy, but there is little strength in their 

 flesh. 



When alcohol takes oxygen from the body, the real food 

 is half burned. The poisons which are produced remain 

 in the blood and are carried to the cells and still further 

 weaken them. So the drinking man can be injured by 

 causes which would have no effect upon him if he did not 

 drink. It is not true that alcohol helps any one to resist 

 disease ; the truth is that the drinker is very liable to be- 

 come sick. * 



130. Alcohol and the arteries. The oxidation of alcohol 

 makes a large amount of heat suddenly. To get rid of 

 it the muscles of the arteries suddenly loosen and let the 

 tubes become larger. So more blood flows through to the 

 capillaries. This happens in the skin more than anywhere 

 else, and so more blood touches the air and the heat is 

 lost. When the arteries have often been made larger, 

 their muscles lose the power of acting, and so they remain 

 too large permanently. After a while a drinker's face and 

 nose are red all the time. If his flesh is cut, an extra 

 amount of blood is needed to heal the cut; when the 

 arteries cannot regulate the amount of blood, the cut 

 heals slowly. If any part of the body is diseased, the 

 extra quantity of blood cannot be sent to the part, and so 

 it gets well slowly. During sickness or a surgical opera- 

 tion a drinker is always in greater danger of his life than 

 he would have been if he had let drink alone. 



131. Alcohol and the heart. Alcohol acts as a stimulant, 

 and compels the cells of the body to do more work ; but 

 gives them no extra strength with which to do it. 



