BODY CONTROL AND HABIT FORMATION 3G7 



lytic action. The cerebral functions which are first interfered 

 with are the power of clear judgment and reason. • No man ever 

 became witty by aid of spirituous drinks. The lively gesticula- 

 tions and useless exertions of intoxicated people are due to paraly- 

 sis, — the restraining influences, which prevent a sober man from 

 uselessly expending his strength, being removed. '^ 



The Drink Habit. — The harmful effects of alcohol (aside from 

 the purely physiological effect upon the tissues and organs of the 

 body) are most terribly seen in the formation of the alcohol habit. 

 The first effect of drinking alcoholic liquors is that of exhilaration. 

 After the feeling of exhilaration is gone, for this is a temporary 

 state, the subject feels depressed and less able to work than before 

 he took the drink. To overcome this feeling, he takes another 

 drink. The result is that before long he finds a habit formed from 

 which he cannot escape. With body and mind weakened, he 

 attempts to break off the habit. But meanwhile his will, too, 

 has suffered from overindulgence. He has become a victim of the 

 drink habit ! 



" The capital argument against alcohol, that which must even- 

 tually condemn its use, is this, that it takes away all the reserved 

 control, the power of mastership, and therefore offends against the 

 splendid pride in himself or herself, which is fundamental in every 

 man or woman worth anything.'^ — Dr. John Johnson, quoting 

 Walt Whitman. 



Self-indulgence, be it in gratification of such a simple desire as 

 that for candy or the more harmful indulgence in tobacco or al- 

 coholic beverages, is dangerous — not only in its immediate effects 

 on the tissues and organs, but in its more far-reaching effects on 

 habit formation. Each one of us is a bundle of appetites. If we 

 gratify appetites of the wrong kind, we are surely laying the 

 foundation for the habit of excess. Self-denial is a good thing 

 for each of us to practice at one time or another, if for no 

 other purpose than to be ready to fight temptation when it 

 comes. 



The Economic Effect of Alcoholic Poisoning. — In the struggle 

 for existence, it is evident that the man whose intellect is the quick- 

 est and keenest, whose judgment is most sound, is the man who is 



