THE NERVOUS SYSTEM 233 



stage of intoxication, which is that of mental excitement. 

 This brief period of excitement is usually followed by the 

 depressant or narcotic action of alcohol. It is incorrect, 

 therefore, to call that which produces progressive paralysis 

 of the center of the nervous system, both sensory and 

 motor, a stimulant. 1 



314. The Power of Self -Control weakened by Alcohol. 

 The power of self-control, which is the most difficult of the 

 human faculties to acquire, and the last to be fully attained, 

 is the first to be weakened by alcohol. In this fact lies the 

 danger of the use of alcohol as a beverage. For example, 

 some men intend to take only one drink on some social occa- 

 sion; but that one drink so weakens their mastery of them- 

 selves that they drink glass after glass. Others set out to 

 use alcoholic drinks moderately everyday; but usually as 

 time passes they allow themselves increasing limits. Self- 

 control weakens under the repeated contact of alcohol with 

 the brain cells. 



This is the history of practically every drunkard ; while the 

 example of those who drink but do not become drunkards 

 leads astray thousands of others whose nervous systems 



1 Helmholtz, at the celebration of his seventieth birthday, spoke of ideas 

 " flashing up from the depth of the unknown soul " that lies at the founda- 

 tion of every truly creative intellectual production, and closed his account 

 with these words : " The smallest quantity of alcoholic beverages seems to 

 frighten them away." 



Some people imagine that after the use of alcohol they can do things 

 more quickly, that they are brisker and sharper, but exact measurement 

 shows that they are slower and less accurate. Men believe that they are 

 wiser and brighter, but their sayings are more automatic and apt to be 

 profane. To quote T. Leander Brunton, M.D., of London, England, " It 

 produces progressive paralysis of the judgment," and this begins with the 

 first glass. Men say and do, even after drinking a single glass of liquor, 

 what they would not say or do without it, and therefore it clearly affects 

 the brain and diminishes self-control. G. SIMS WOODHEAD, M.D. 



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