136 ELEMENTARY BIOLOGY 



167. Alcohol and work. Experiments made with lower 

 animals, and with muscles taken from the bodies of animals, 

 showed that in small quantities alcohol has a slight stimulating 

 effect. But when the use of alcohol is continued, muscular 

 activity is actually reduced. The results of these experiments, 

 made on dogs and on students and soldiers, are in agreement 

 with the observations of army officers in Germany, in this 

 country, and in South Africa (British army), which agreed in 

 the conclusion that while a small quantity of alcoholic drink at 

 first stimulated the soldiers to brisker marching, the effect 

 wore off in about three miles (less than an hour) and that they 

 were then less able to continue the march than the soldiers 

 who had not taken alcohol. Where dogs were used in the 

 experiments, the total amount of muscular activity of the 

 alcoholic dogs was considerably less than that of the non- 

 alcoholic ones. The total work and the endurance are therefore 

 reduced by the use of alcohol. One point worth noting here 

 is that although the first effect is to make the action more 

 vigorous, the after effect more than counterbalances the gain. 

 This will be referred to again later. 



