336 Our Surroundings 



that the group which had no alcoholic drink accomplished from 

 eighteen to twenty per cent more work than the other group. 



In order to make the experiment more conclusive, Doctor 

 Parkes allowed the second group to have the beer, while the first 

 group worked without it. Again the group which had no alcohol 

 did more work. 



Experiments were made in regard to the effect of alcohol on 

 the muscular activity of dogs. Four dogs, as nearly alike as 

 possible in age and size, were selected for the experiments. To 

 measure their daily activity a kind of pedometer, an instrument for 

 measuring distance traveled, was fixed hi each dog's collar and 

 was read at regular intervals. Alcohol was given to two of the 

 dogs in their food. The other dogs were not fed alcohol and so 

 served as a check, or control. It was noted again and again that 

 the normal dogs were playing actively while the dogs that had had 

 the alcoholic diet were quiet. 



In order to test the comparative ability of the dogs as to 

 strength, endurance, and resistance to fatigue, they were taught to 

 return a ball when it was thrown. When a test was to be made, 

 they were all taken to the university gymnasium and a rubber 

 ball was thrown across the room, a distance of one hundred feet, 

 as often as it could be returned. 



A record was kept of all the dogs that started for the ball 

 and of the ones that brought it back. One hundred throws con- 

 stituted a test and the throwing took about fifty minutes. 



The first series of tests consisted of 1,400 throws, 100 on 

 each of fourteen successive days. The two dogs that had taken 

 no alcohol in their food returned the ball 922 times, the alcoholics, 

 478 times. This result shows an efficiency of only 51.9 per cent 

 in the alcoholic as compared with the non-alcoholic dogs. 



It is a well-known fact that trainers of men for athletic con- 

 tests insist that they shall abstain totally from the use of all 

 alcoholic drink during the period of their training. It is said that 

 the men who never taste alcoholic drink of any kind are perma- 

 nently in a better muscular state, and do not need to go into such 

 strict training for contests, as those who have been in the habit 

 of using it. The testimony of military experts is that soldiers who 



