748 PLAIN FACTS FOR OLD AND YOUNG 



It is quite useless for moderate drinkers to sup- 

 pose that by using alcohol in small quantities they 

 escape its evil effects. It is a poison in all doses. As 

 Dr. Smith says, "In whatever dose, the direction of 

 the action of the alcohol must be the same." 



Says Dr. Chambers, "The action of frequent di- 

 vided drams is to jDroduce the greatest amount of harm 

 of which alcohol is capable, with the least amount of 

 good." It may be said, without exaggeration, that 

 moderate drinking occasions all the ill effects of intem- 

 perance; for every drunkard begins his course as a 

 moderate drinker. 



James Miller, in his work on alcohol, says, "Alco- 

 hol to the working human frame is as a pin to the 

 wick of an oil-lamp. With this you raise the wick 

 from time to time, and each raising may be followed 

 by a burst of brighter flame ; but, while you give neither 

 cotton nor oil, the existing supply of both is, through 

 such pin-work, all the more speedily consumed." 



The effect of the constant action of a small quan- 

 tity of the poison is far greater than that of excessive, 

 but only occasional, quantities. Hence the habitual 

 moderate drinlvcr, even of wine, beer, or hard cider, 

 is much more subject to chronic nervous disorders and 

 degenerations of various sorts than the man who goes 

 on a spree once in two or three months. 



Hereditary Effects of Alcohol. — The drinker 

 himself is not the only sufferer from his vice. In- 

 deed, it seems in many cases that he is not the great- 

 est sufferer. He may even live out his threescore 

 years and ten, in apparent defiance of the laws of 

 nature and the warnings of friends; but look at his 

 children. Says the eminent Dr. Parker, "The heredi- 

 tary influence of alcohol manifests itself in various 



