348 PHYSIOLOGY AND HEALTH. 



799. After the brain and nervous system have been fre- 

 quently excited, and their control of the muscular actions 

 interrupted with stimulating spirits, they do not recover the 

 complete command of the muscles when the fits of intoxica- 

 tion pass away. Therefore old drunkards, even when sober, 

 walk with a faltering step and work with an unsteady hand 

 They lose their power of skilful workmanship. If they are 

 nice mechanics, they impair their skill by their intemperance, 

 and are then compelled to apply their hands to coarser work ; 

 and some are obliged to give up their handicraft altogether, 

 and betake themselves to the rudest of common labor. 



800. There was a very skilful worker in iron. He was 

 remarkable for the dexterous use of his hands, and the beauty 

 and fitness of his manufactured articles. But he became in- 

 temperate, and, after some years, lost the exact command of 

 his hands, and the power of exact adaptation of his tools to the 

 material on which he worked. He gave up his nice work, 

 and manufactured coarser articles. In process of time, his 

 muscles became less and less under his control, and he gave 

 up his shop and trade altogether ; and, for the rest of his life, 

 he sawed wood, dug in the ground, carried the hod for 

 masons, doing nothing b'ut the roughest work, which required 

 the least discipline of the brain and command of the muscles. 



801 In this undisciplined condition of the brain, and ab- 

 sence of command of the muscles, the intemperate man 

 loses the power of self-protection, and consequently meets 

 with more accidents than other men. When he walks, he 

 makes missteps, he loses his balance, and stumbles over small 

 obstacles. If he drives a nail, he is not sure to direct the 

 hammer so as to strike the head; he may often hit his fin 

 gers. If he uses sharp tools, he may strike in a wrong 

 direction, or his instrument may slip and cut his own flesh. 

 A mechanic, when he wounded his knee with an axe, com- 

 plained of his very frequent ill luck. He said he was al- 

 ways meeting with accidents. But a short time before, he 

 bruised his finger with a hammer while driving a nail ; then 

 he cut his foot ; now he had cut his knee. He was intern- 



