HABIT-FORMING AGENTS 43 



which makes boys sick the first time they use tobacco. 

 Cigarettes are usually made of poor tobacco dipped in a 

 solution of nicotine and other narcotics, often some form 

 of opium. These additional narcotics in cigarettes are 

 "as harmful to the users of them as the nicotine. 



Smokers in high school and college rank on the average 

 from 10 per cent to 25 per cent lower in their studies than 

 the non-smokers. In college the percentage of smokers 

 who take athletic honors and scholarships is lower than 

 that of non-smokers. "As a rule, the non-smoker is 

 mentally superior to both the occasional and the habitual 

 smoker." (Edwin C. Clarke.) 



Alcohol is made by the yeast plant. The process 

 is known as fermentation. Alcohol is in all fermented 

 and distilled liquors and is the active principle that 

 causes intoxication or drunkenness. Distilled liquors or 

 whiskeys are made by distilling fermented grains and 

 fruits. They contain from 40 per cent to 60 per cent of 

 alcohol. Fermented drinks are made by allowing 

 various fruit juices to ferment. They contain from 5 

 per cent to 14 per cent of alcohol. Sometimes alcohol is 

 added to wines and so they may contain 25 per cent of 

 alcohol. Malt liquors, such as beer, are made by allow- 

 ing yeast to ferment barley mixed with hops. They 

 contain from 3 per cent to 5 per cent of alcohol. The per 

 cent of alcohol in root beer, usually a homemade drink, 

 depends on the amount of yeast used and the time per- 

 mitted for fermentation. Many of these drinks, sold by 

 the saloons and sent out by the distillers to the con- 

 sumers, are adulterated with narcotics which are more 

 injurious than alcohol itself. 



The best physicians of the world have said that alcohol 

 is a narcotic poison even in the smallest amounts and 



