172 Physiology. 



How Alcohol deceives. The alcohol dyspeptic has an 

 uncomfortable or painful sensation in the stomach. He 

 takes a drink of liquor and the pain disappears; so he 

 thinks the alcohol has benefited him. He realty knows 

 that the trouble will soon return, and worse than before. 

 The fact is, that the last dose of alcohol has, by its narcotic 

 effect, deadened sensation in the stomach. The following 

 authoritative quotations prove this. " The deceptive feel- 

 ings of ease, warmth, and comfort which cause the unwise, 

 excessive eater to think that alcohol has aided the diges- 

 tion of the mass within, are mainly deceptive feelings, due 

 to the benumbing influence of the anaesthetic poison 

 in deadening the uneasiness and pain of indigestion." 



Norman Kerr, M.D. 



"The invariable effect of alcohol when taken into the 

 stomach is that of paralysis of the nerves of sensation, the 

 amount of this paralysis depending upon the quantity of 

 the poison administered. This explains why it is that per- 

 sons feel better after having partaken of the liquid. They 

 have less feeling, and what they do have is less reliable." 



C. H. Shepard, M.D. 



Alcohol and Peristaltic Action. Alcohol at first quick- 

 ens the peristaltic action of the stomach. But after a time, 

 like the rate of heart-beat, it becomes slower than it was 

 before alcohol was taken. And the result of the continued 

 use of alcohol is sluggishness in this necessary part of 

 digestion and, of course, serious hindrance of digestion. 



Summary. i. The pharynx opens into the mouth, nostrils, wind- 

 pipe, and gullet. 



2. In breathing, air passes through the nostrils and the pharynx, 

 and enters the windpipe ; the soft palate is down and the epiglottis is 

 up. 



3. In swallowing, food passes from the mouth, through the pharynx, 



