230 Life and Health 



It is better, as a rule, not to engage in severe study 

 just before bedtime. One hour of morning or day study 

 is worth a much longer time late at night. It is, therefore, 

 an economy both of time and of nerve force to use the 

 day hours and the early evening for study. 



The so-called " cat naps " should never be made to serve 

 as a substitute for a full night's sleep. Late hours are 

 usually associated with exposure, excitement, and various 

 other drains upon the nerve force, and hence are injurious. 



350, General Effect of Alcohol upon the Nervous System. 

 We have learned in the preceding chapters that alcohol 

 tends to a serious disturbance of the tissues of the body. 

 The direct influence of this narcotic upon the nervous 

 system is marked even when taken in small quantities. 



In the early stages, alcohol acts upon the nervous tissues 

 as does ether, to excite both the cerebral and the spinal 

 centers. This is rapidly followed by a marked depressant 

 action upon both the sensory and motor nerves. 



351. Effect of Varying Amounts of Alcohol upon the 

 Brain. Scientific investigation has ascertained numerous 

 facts concerning the influence of alcohol, when used in 

 varying amounts, on the structure and function of the 

 brain. A single small dose half a pint of beer has 

 been shown to weaken the mental power required to carry 

 on the processes of adding, committing to memory, asso- 

 ciation of ideas ; also the power of perception and of atten- 

 tion to simple sense impressions. Larger quantities cause 

 a more rapid decrease of power, and the evil effects continue 

 longer, sometimes until the evening of the next day. 1 



1 Dr. A. Forel, formerly professor of psychiatry in the University of 

 Zurich, says concerning the effect* of beer drinking upon the students of 

 Germany: "One only needs to study in Germany the beer jokes, beer con- 

 versation, and beer literature. They have stifled in Germany the idealism, 



