FOOD AND DRINK 111 



ducing warmth. This is a delusive impression, as we know, 

 by pouring a few drops of alcohol on the skin, that the ten- 

 dency of alcohol is to cool the surface whenever evaporation 

 can take place. 



48. The sensation of warmth of the face and surface of the 

 body is also deceptive. The flushing of the face, common to 

 hard drinkers, does not indicate that they have a superabun- 

 dance of animal heat, the temperature of their bodies being 

 below normal. The truejcause of the flush is a paralysis of 

 one set of nerves governing the natural action of the hair-like 

 vessels that course just below the skin. Nature has provided 

 these infinitely fine vessels with minute controlling nerves, 

 whose duty it is to regulate the flow of blood in exposed 

 positions. Alcohol paralyzes this control; the blood flows at 

 random, and the terminal vessels are overcharged with blood. 

 Hence, the high color, which is so remarkable in habitual 

 drinkers that it amounts to a disfigurement, is Nature's signal 

 of distress, showing that the circulation is deranged, and the 

 blood unduly brought into contact with the lower temperature 

 of the outer air. Alcohol, therefore, is not a producer of heat, 

 but a promoter of cold, and must be dangerous to any persons 

 taking it when they are exposed to low temperatures. (Read 

 Note 13.) 



49. The testimony of those who have had experience in 

 contact with the realms of snow and ice is unanimous against 

 the cold-resisting property of alcohol. It is recorded of the 

 men who served in Napoleon's campaign in Russia, under 

 great exposure to cold, that death was hastened by the use of 

 alcohol. The evidence of the Monks of St. Bernard is similar. 



13. Dr. Rae's Statement. "The Arctic explorer, Dr. Rae, states 

 that he found entire avoidance of alcohol necessary in the far North. The 

 moment a man had swallowed a drink of spirits, it was certain that his 

 day's work was nearly at an end. * It was absolutely necessary that the 

 rule of total abstinence should be rigidly enforced^ if we would accomplish 

 our day's task. Any use of liquor, as a beverage, when we had work on 

 hand, in that terrific cold, was out of the question.' " 



48. Of what is the flushed face of drinkers the index ? 



49. What do travelers in cold countries say of its use ? 



