362 BODY CONTROL AND HABIT FORMATION 



think that alcohol does stimulate the brain centers, especially 

 the higher centers, to increased activity. Some scientific and pro- 

 fessional men use alcohol in small amounts for this stimulation and 

 report no seeming harm from the indulgence. Others, and by 

 far the larger number, agree that this stimulation from alcohol is 

 only apparent and that even in the smallest amounts alcohol has 

 a narcotic effect. 



The Paralyzing Effects of Alcohol on the Nervous System. — 

 Alcohol has the effect of temporarily paralyzing the nerve centers. 

 The first effect is that of exhilaration. A man may do more work 

 for a time under the stimulation of alcohol. This stimulation, 

 however, is of short duration and is invariably followed by a period 

 of depression and inertia. In this latter state, a man will do less 

 work than before. In larger quantities, alcohol has the effect of 

 completely paralyzing the nerve centers. This is seen in the case 

 of a man " dead drunk." He falls in a stupor because all of the 

 centers governing speech, sight, locomotion, etc., have been tem- 

 porarily paralyzed. If a man takes a very large amount of al- 

 cohol, even the nerve centers governing respiration and circulation 

 may become poisoned, and the victim will die. 



Effect on the Organs of Special Sense. — Professor Forel, one of 

 the foremost European experts on the question of the effect of 

 alcohol on the nervous system, says : '^ Through all parts of ner- 

 vous activity from the innervation of the muscles and the simplest 

 sensation to the highest activity of the soul the paralyzing effect 

 of alcohol can be demonstrated." Several experimenters of un- 

 doubted ability have noted the paralyzing effect of alcohol even 

 in small doses. By the use of delicate instruments of precision. 

 Ridge tested the effect of alcohol on the senses of smell, vision, and 

 muscular sense of weight. He found that two drams of absolute 

 alcohol produced a positive decrease in the sensitiveness of the 

 nerves of feeling, that so small a quantity as one half dram of 

 absolute alcohol diminished the power of vision and the muscular 

 sense of weight. Kraepelin and Kurz by experiment determined 

 that the acuteness of the special senses of sight, hearing, touch, 

 taste, and smell was diminished by an ounce of alcohol, the power 

 of vision being lost to one third of its extent and a similar effect 



