EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL ON NERVOUS SYSTEM. 253 



the laborer, and those who excessively exert their physical 

 system, have unnatural longings for something to restore 

 the exhausted energies of mind and body. 



"The excessive worry of one man, the exhausting ex- 

 cesses of another, and the overwork of others, lead to 

 organic lesions and nervous defects, and the disease 

 inebriety, an ungovernable craving for alcoholic drinks, is 

 the result. 



" When a man drinks to excess, even though forced to 

 do so by a diseased nervous system, Christian communities 

 usually brand him as a criminal, as an outcast, and say, 

 ' We have no sympathy for you ; stop drinking and be a 

 man,' when in reality the man should be cared for, and 

 treated as other diseased human beings. The fact that the 

 desire for alcoholic drinks is often a disease which may be 

 either inherited or acquired is overlooked by those who 

 condemn the drunkard. Our ancestors have for ages been 

 addicted to habits of intoxication, and we, their descend- 

 ants, are tainted with the disease inebriety." 



MORAL DETERIORATION PRODUCED BY ALCOHOL. 



[PROFESSOR H. NEWELL MARTIN.] 



" One result of a single dose of alcohol is that the con- 

 trol of the will over the actions and emotions is temporarily 

 enfeebled ; the slightly tipsy man laughs and talks loudly, 

 says and does rash things, is enraged or delighted without 

 due cause. If the amount of alcohol be increased, further 

 diminution of will power is indicated by loss of control 

 over the muscles. Excessive habitual use of alcohol 

 results in permanent overexcitement of the emotional 

 nature, and enfeeblement of the will; the man's highly 

 emotional state exposes him to special temptations, to 



