178 EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL. 



We do know that they are very dangerous substances ; and 

 there is one rule that will apply to them all : Never use them 

 except under the advice of a physician. 



" The most serious and widespread derangement of the 

 natural taste is that caused by alcoholic drinks. Alcohol has 

 been demonstrated to be a poison. Its continued use, even in 

 what is called moderate quantities, will pave the way for 

 many diseases, some of which are sure to overtake those who 

 have the habit of using drinks with alcohol in them. 



" Examples of the effect of the excessive use of alcoholic 

 drinks are numerous and revolting enough in most communi- 

 ties to make the strongest appeals against their use. 



" When it is seen that by the use of alcohol an intelligent 

 man may act without reason ; that a kind-hearted man may 

 become brutal to his most loved friends ; that it may cause an 

 honorable man to become a dishonorable one ; that it may 

 make a noble nature become one with the most depraved of 

 tastes ; when its use has over and over again been the cause of 

 disappointment, of intense suffering, and of crime, it would 

 seem that vastly stronger reasons existed against its use than 

 the mere fact that some slight changes in the tissues occur 

 which might possibly be demonstrated. It is to avoid these 

 serious results that the use of alcohol is to be shunned, and 

 not simply to avoid a differently shaped liver. 



" The physiological effects of poisons are generally much 

 greater than the visible changes which they produce in the 

 tissues would lead us to expect. Indeed, such effects can sel- 

 dom be detected by changes seen in the tissue cells. 



" Strychnin produces powerful spasms which end in death. 

 It acts, it is said, on the spinal cord, but it would be hard to 

 show any changes that it produces in the cells. And a knowl- 

 edge of the changes it produces in the cells could not make 

 us fear the poison any more than we do, who know that it 

 results in suffering and death." JENKINS. 



