122 THE HUMAN BODY. 



Is Alcohol a Tissue-Forming Food ? To this the answer 

 is certainly no; so far at least as useful tissue is concerned. 

 It often leads to excessive and harmful overgrowth of con- 

 nective tissue and fat, but it does not lead to development 

 of muscle or brain or gland. 



Is Alcohol a Strengthening Food ? To this the answer is 

 also no. Alcohol in small doses is a stimulant to brain 

 and muscle, and may for a short time excite them to over- 

 work or to work when they should be resting. But as it 

 nourishes neither of them, the final result is bad. The 

 brain and muscle are left in an injured state. As regards 

 the brain, the consequence is often insanity (Chap. XXIII.). 

 As regards the muscles, very careful experiments have 

 been made on soldiers who were given definite tasks to 

 accomplish. The result was that on the days on which 

 they were supplied with spirits, they could neither use 

 their muscles as powerfully, nor for as long a time, as on 

 the days when they got no alcoholic drink. 



Does Alcohol keep up the Heat of the Body? To this 

 question, also, the answer is no, though this may seem 

 strange in view of the fact that a drink is often taken " to 

 warm one up." The apparent inconsistency is easily ex- 

 plained. Our feeling of being warm depends on the nerves 

 of the skin (p. 333). We have no nerves which tell us 

 whether heart or muscles or brain are warmer or cooler. 

 These inside parts are always hotter than the skin, and if 

 blood which has been made hot in them flows in large 

 quantity to the skin, we feel warmer because the skin is 



What is said of alcohol as a tissue-forming food? 



Is alcohol a strengthening food? How may it lead to overwork? 

 Results? What were the results of experiments made on soldiers as 

 to the action of alcohol on the muscles? 



Does alcohol maintain the heat of the body? Why does a drink 

 sometimes make a person feel warmer? 



