IN HYGIENIC PHYSIOLOGY. 195 



in quality. It is as difficult to send proper messages along a 

 nerve under the influence of alcohol, as it is to fire a train of 

 damp gunpowder. J. M. HOWIE. 



50. What is the general effect of alcohol upon the char- 

 acter ? 



(See Physiology, p. 212.) 



Alcohol exalts and excites the animal centers ; it lets loose 

 the passions, and gives them more or less of unlicensed domi- 

 nation over the whole man. " From the beginning to the end 

 of its influence it subdues reason and sets free passion. The 

 analogies, physical and mental, are perfect. That which loosens 

 the tension of the vessels which feed the body with due order 

 of precision, and thereby lets loose the heart to violent excess 

 of unbridled motion, loosens also the reason and lets loose the 

 passions. In both instances, heart and head are for a time out 

 of harmony their balance is broken. The destructive effects of 

 alcohol on the human mind present the saddest picture of its 

 influence. Memory irretrievably lost ; words and very elements 

 of speech forgotten, or words displaced to have no meaning in 

 them ; rage and anger persistent and mischievous, or remittent 

 and impotent ; fear at every corner of life ; distrust on every 

 side ; grief merged into blank despair, and hopelessness into 

 permanent melancholy. As I have moved among those who 

 are physically stricken with alcohol, and have detected under 

 the various disguises of name the fatal diseases, the pains and 

 penalties it imposes on the body, the picture has been suffi- 

 ciently cruel. But even that picture pales as I conjure up, 

 without any stretch of imagination, the devastations which the 

 same agent inflicts on the mind." RICHARDSON. 



51. Does alcohol tend to produce clearness and vigor of 



thought ? 



(See Physiology, p. 212.) 



Quite the reverse. Its effect upon the brain and nervous 

 system is strikingly opposed to clearness of judgment and log- 

 ical reasoning. See answer to preceding Question. 



52. Wliat is the general effect of alcohol on the m us- 

 cles? 



