THE SPECIAL SENSES. 145 



But far short of this pitiable condition, the eye and ear of 

 the chronic drunkard may become impaired. Dimness of 

 vision and a lack of acuteness in sight are recognized affec- 

 tions of the eye, which may be produced both by alcohol and 

 tobacco, especially by the latter. One physician reports the 

 case of a man who persisted in using a strong " navy plug " 

 tobacco until it led to " nearly total blindness." Another 

 physician says a refined lady who had learned to smoke " to 

 keep her husband company," found her sight rapidly failing 

 from its use. 



A general hardening of the walls of the arteries all over 

 the body, alluded to in the chapter on Circulation, with 

 weakness of their coats from alcoholic liquors, may have its 

 outcome in rupture of a blood-vessel anywhere. This may 

 happen to a small blood-vessel in the retina, with bleeding 

 into the eye, and consequent loss of sight. The same hard- 

 ened condition of the coats of the arteries may affect the 

 hearing, producing spells of "giddiness," and sometimes a 

 "buzzing" in the ears. Deafness from a "dry catarrh" of 

 the middle ear, and many other affections of this organ, are 

 aggravated by the use of alcohol and tobacco. 



Color-blindness is sometimes produced by alcohol, and is 

 more common among heavy drinkers than among total ab- 

 stainers. It is, therefore, doubly important for engineers on 

 railway trains, and others on whom many lives depend, to 

 avoid all intoxicating liquors. 



The two senses, taste and smell, so closely allied and partly 

 dependent upon each other for efficiency, are both more or 

 less depraved by the smoking and drinking habits. A man 

 whose calling requires of him an acute sense of taste and 

 smell, a professional "tea-taster," for example, knows he 

 cannot use either tobacco or alcohol in any form and retain 

 those faculties with any degree of accuracy. 



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