iv DRINKS AND NARCOTICS 37 



careful experiments, yet because of its harmful effects 

 it cannot be classed with those things that go to make 

 muscle and brain, to give us strength, to keep us warm, 

 and to make us useful, happy, healthy individuals. 



40. The Appetite for Alcohol. If any of the bev- 

 erages containing alcohol are used occasionally, even in 

 small quantities, the body becomes accustomed to them 

 and craves them when they are not regularly provided. 

 More than that, they create an artificial appetite, a crav- 

 ing, which can be satisfied only by taking a constantly 

 increasing amount. That is not true of food. Our 

 appetite for potatoes, bread, or beefsteak can be as 

 readily satisfied to-day as a year ago, and it will not take 

 a larger quantity a year hence. Anything we eat or 

 drink for which such an artificial appetite is acquired 

 must be looked upon with great suspicion. Total absti- 

 nence is the only real safeguard against the unnatural 

 craving for alcohol. We shall learn in later chapters of 

 the effects of alcoholic drinks upon the various organs 

 of the body. 



41. Tobacco. No one claims that tobacco is a food 

 or a necessity for our well-being. All regard it as a 

 luxury, and an expensive one at that. Tobacco contains 

 nicotine, a violent narcotic poison, to which its harmful 

 effects are due. Smoking and chewing are useless, 

 expensive, and injurious habits. 



While an adult may not be aware of the harmful 

 effects due to the constant use of tobacco, a young per- 

 son cannot conceal the injuries to both body and mind 

 that result from its use. Physicians tell us that it 



