THE UTILIZATION OF FOOD IN ANIMALS 353 



does not stimulate, but depresses. Even a small amount 

 makes a man less accurate, less rapid in his movements, 

 and less reliable in his judgments. A company working con- 

 scientiously to give the maximum wages and to shorten the 

 day of work cannot afford to employ a staff which is con- 

 stantly working at less than its best efficiency. A traveling 

 salesman needs all his wits if he is to do his best for the 

 company he represents. A soldier needs a clear brain if his 

 marksmanship is to be accurate. In tests which were recently 

 made in Sweden it was found that a group of soldiers who 

 averaged twenty-three hits out of thirty shots on days when 

 they had no alcohol averaged only three hits out of thirty 

 shots on days when they had moderate amounts of alcohol. 

 It is one of the curious effects of alcohol that a person's 

 judgment in regard to his own accomplishments is not re- 

 liable. A person who drinks alcohol seems to himself to be 

 " stimulated," to be thinking more clearly, and to be working 

 faster and more accurately, when the results show that the 

 opposite is the case. A man slightly under the influence of 

 liquor may seem to himself very witty, when to the sober 

 onlooker he seems merely silly. Alcohol removes those 

 inhibitions which are the safeguards of proper conduct. 



358. Alcohol and long life. If alcohol be a food, then the 

 continued use of it should in no wise shorten the life of the 

 one who uses it. Life-insurance companies refuse to insure 

 the lives of drunkards, and by keeping careful records have 

 found that moderate drinking shortens life. 



359. Alcohol and the nation. There have been people for 

 many years who have been fully conscious of the damage 

 caused by the use of alcoholic beverages. In the last few 

 years a large amount of clear thinking has been done not 

 only by social workers and physicians, who see the effect of 

 alcohol on the individual and his family, but also by the 

 leaders of industry, who are coming to realize the fright- 

 ful waste to industries and the state for which alcohol is 



