94 OUR BODIES AND HOW WE LIVE 



either to destroy life or impair the functions of one or more 

 of the bodily organs. Again, a poison which especially 

 affects the brain centers, producing stupor, is called a nar- 

 cotic poison. Now, as we shall learn later, the primary 

 effect of alcohol is to deaden the great nerve centers, and 

 hence it is usually classed as a narcotic poison. 



When we read about poisons we are apt to think only 

 of those substances that may cause death in a very short 

 time. Among them are laudanum, strychnine, and car- 

 bolic acid. But we must remember that there are many 

 poisons which do their work very slowly. Thus, arsenic in 

 large doses may destroy life in a few moments or it may be 

 taken day by day in such small amounts that many months 

 or even years may elapse before death results. 



Lead used by painters may be absorbed so slowly that it 

 may take months before its victims learn by severe cramps 

 in the bowels and the "wrist drop" that the poison has 

 been slowly accumulating in the tissues before any outward 

 sign of its action was evident. 



138. Alcohol a Poison. Alcoholic liquors may be taken 

 in such quantities at a single dose, either by accident or 

 design, as to paralyze the great nerve centers and cause 

 immediate death. Thus, cases are on record in which 

 whisky has been drunk on a wager and gin taken in igno- 

 rance by children in such quantities as to produce deep 

 stupor and death. While alcohol may thus act in large 

 quantities as a quick and powerful poison, in the vast 

 majority of cases it is, of course, taken in comparatively 

 smaller amounts. 



Hence, while this action of the narcotic is slower, it is 

 none the less subtle and deadly in its poisonous effect 

 upon the various tissues of the body. 



