BODY COJNTUOL AND HABIT FORMATION 363 



being produced on the other special senses. Other investigators 

 have reached like conclusions. There is no doubt but that alcohol, 

 even in small quantities, renders the organs of sense less sensitive 

 and therefore less accurate. 



Effect of Alcohol on the Ability to Resist Disease. — Among 

 certain classes of people the belief exists that alcohol in the form 

 of brandy or some other drink or in patent medicines, malt tonics, 



Table to show a comparison of chances of illness and death in drinkers and 

 non-drinkers. Solid black, drinkers. (From German sources.) 



and the like is of great importance in building up the body so as 

 to resist disease or to cure it after disease has attacked it. Nothing 

 is further from the truth. In experiments on a large number of 

 animals, including dogs, rabbits, guinea pigs, fowls, and pigeons, 

 Laitenen, of the University of Helsingsfors, found that alcohol, with- 

 out exception, made these animals more susceptible to disease than 

 were the controls. 



One of the most serious effects of alcohol is the lowered 

 resistance of the body to disease. It has been proved that a 

 much larger proportion of hard drinkers die from infectious or 

 contagious diseases than from special diseased conditions due 

 to the direct action of alcohol on the organs of the body. This 



