THE NERVOUS SYSTEM 241 



temperance reformer. In the five years 1838-1842 the 

 consumption of whiskey in Ireland fell 50 per cent. ; the crimes 

 of violence falling from 64,520 to 47,027, and executions from 

 59 in the first year to 1 in the last year. (Read Note 17.) 



66. The Poisonous Effects of Alcohol. Alcohol is, in the 

 main, a narcotic poison in its effect upon human beings, 

 although the visible results vary immensely according to the 

 quantity taken. If a sufficient quantity is taken to cause any 

 visible result, a condition known as stimulation is observed.* 

 If an extremely large dose is taken, a state of stupor follows, 

 and death has been known to result in some cases. Between 

 these two extremes there may be a variety of manifestations. 

 As a stimulant, it appears to many to have a kindly action, to 

 cause a glow and sense of warmth, to increase muscular activity, 

 and to make the mind and organs of speech more nimble. Alco- 



17. Alcohol ^and Crime. "Thirty years of judicial experience have 

 taught me tliat of the crimes which judges are called upon to try, and 

 upon which sentences of the law are pronounced, more than eight-tenths 

 of them involving any degree of violence in their character are directly 

 traceable to the liquor shops. How often have I had young men look up 

 at me when I asked them what they had to say why the sentence of the 

 law should not be pronounced, and declare, 'I should never have done this 

 crime if it were not for drink. Hum was my ruin ; rum struck the blow, 

 and not my hand, that killed the man for whose death I am tried ; rum 

 has caused me to beat my wife, and injure my helpless child, and to do 

 the act which now confines me to a prison." Judge Noah Davis. 



* " Suppose, for instance, you measure your muscular strength with a 

 ' health lift ' or dynamometer (by which muscular exertion can be accu- 

 rately measured), and then take some of the drink in the strength- 

 inspiring power of which you have most confidence, and when you are 

 most exhilarated by it, and feel as if you could shoulder a large fragment 

 of Mount Olympus, measure your strength again. The drink has fooled 

 you, that is all. You. felt that you were stronger than natural ; you find 

 that the narcotic has been true to its paralyzing nature, and that you are 

 weaker. Then, after a time, when the drug has spent itself, and reaction 

 (so called) comes on, and you feel weak and prostrated, measure your 

 strength once more. Fooled again ; the stuff has fooled you twice. 

 When you felt yourself strong you were weak, and now when you feel 

 yourself weak, you find yourself stronger your natural strength is 

 returning, and what you have called reaction is in reality recovery from 

 the weakening effects of the narcotic." Dr. A. F. Kinne. 



66. Poisonous effects of alcohol ? 



