CHAPTER XXIII. 



THE ACTION OF ALCOHOL AND OTHER STIMULANTS 

 AND NARCOTICS UPON THE HUMAN BODY. 



Introductory. We have already seen (p. 121) that alcohol 

 is not to be regarded as either a tissue-forming or a force- 

 giving food. 



By causing a transference of heat from internal parts to 

 the skin, in which the main organs of the temperature- 

 sense (p. 333) are located, it produces a temporary feeling 

 that the body is warmer; but the, final result is a loss of 

 animal heat to the air, and a decrease of the temperature of 

 the body as a whole. Experiments made on men under 

 military regimen and discipline have proved that alcohol 

 does not increase the power of sustained muscular work, 

 though it may for a brief time stimulate to unhealthy 

 activity. The relative amount of energy liberated in the 

 body for its own use may be very fairly calculated by com- 

 paring the amount of oxygen absorbed by the lungs on one 

 day with the amount absorbed on another. We have learned 

 that on the days when alcohol is taken the oxygen absorbed 

 is not increased. Alcohol seizes some of the oxygen which 

 the foods and tissues would have utilized in its absence ; 

 and what it takes they lose. Most authorities even main- 

 tain that alcohol prevents oxidation, and therefore tissue 



How does alcohol make one feel warmer? What is the result? 

 What have experiments on soldiers shown as to the effect of 

 alcohol on muscular work? How is the absorption of oxygen 

 affected on days when alcohol is taken? What does alcohol do with 

 some of the oxygen? Why do some authorities believe that alcohol 

 directly checks tissue activity? 



343 



