ALCOHOL— ITS USE AND ABUSE 385 



that a larger qnantity of physical work may be performed. This is fol- 

 lowed, however, by a period of depression during which the quantity of 

 mechanical energy which may be expended by the individual is greatly 

 reduced. The sum total of the effect is very decidedly to reduce the 

 amount of mechanical work which can be accomplished during the day. 

 It is on this account that alcohol is no longer given to soldiers on the 

 march in the hope of increasing their endurance. The actual result 

 would be quite the contrary. 



Experiments regarding the action of the brain after taking alcohol 

 as compared with its action before taking alcohol have been made by 

 Kraepelin. Typesetters were used as subjects. It was found that those 

 who had partaken of alcohol made a greater number of errors and 

 worked less rapidly than those who were abstemious. Kraepelin has 

 found that this effect lasts as long as twenty-four hours after alcohol 

 has been taken. Curiously enough, those who had taken alcohol thought 

 they were doing their work to better advantage than those who had not. 



Other experiments have been made upon people, the test being the 

 length of time which was required to memorize twenty-five lines of 

 poetry. Here, when alcohol was taken before breakfast, it was found 

 that the length of time required to memorize was increased 69 per cent. 

 Also, when these individuals were requested to repeat the lines which 

 they had learned, it was found that they did so less readily and made 

 more errors when they had previously taken alcohol, than when they 

 were free from the effect of this drug. 



It is very apparent from such experiments as these, that alcohol 

 does not stimulate to mental activity. The theory of Schmiedeberg is 

 that the effect of alcohol is always a depressant one. The first de- 

 pression upon the mind acts upon those highest faculties which are 

 developed latest in life. That is, the faculties of self-control and self- 

 respect. If these faculties are paralyzed first through the depression of 

 alcohol, then it is as Cushny has pointed out, as though the brakes were 

 removed from the mind, and the man becomes a child again. He be- 

 comes regardless of the ordinary conventions of life, regardless of the 

 feelings of other people, regardful of himself alone. It is easy to see 

 that where restraint is removed from the mind so that the normal ac- 

 tion of self-control is abolished, the individual becomes open to all 

 kinds of suggestions which he otherwise would not suffer. The mental 

 condition is truly pathological. 



It is thus that alcohol becomes the principal power behind prostitu- 

 tion. It is thus that the saloon in politics becomes dominant. The 

 saloon through the alcohol which it furnishes is perfectly able to re- 

 duce the self-respect of the individual to such a level that he is glad and 

 willing to accept a bribe for his action with regard to a political matter. 

 It is easy to see to what extent alcohol becomes the auxiliary of crime. 



