STIMULANTS AND NARCOTICS 75 



facts as to the cost to our country of the abuse of alcohol. 

 During the year 1880 (and the same figures would doubtless 

 hold true for any other year), it was found that three fourths 

 of all the pauperism, one fourth of all the insanity, and three 

 fourths of all the crime in the United States were directly 

 caused by intoxicating drinks. Hence if the use of intoxi- 

 cating liquor could be abolished, the "heavy expense of main- 

 taining the police force, the crinunal courts, insane asylums, 

 and charity organizations, would be very greatly reduced. 



101. Concluding remarks on the use of alcoholic bev- 

 erages. — "In the foregoing pages we have stated the sali- 

 ent facts concerning the physiological action of alcohol 

 and alcoholic drinks. It only remains to point out for. the 

 student the obvious conclusions to be drawn from them and 

 from the long and on the whole very sad experience of the 

 race with alcoholic drinks. The first is that, except in sick- 

 ness and under the advice of a physician, alcoholic drinks are 

 wholly imnecessary, and much more likely to prove harmful 

 than beneficial. The last is that their frequent, and especially 

 their constant, use is attended with the gravest danger to 

 the user, no matter how strong or self-controlled he may be. 

 . . . The only absolutely safe attitude toward alcoholic 

 drinks is that of total abstinence from their use as bever- 

 ages." — Hough and Sedgwick, " The Human Mechanism." 



III. Tobacco 



102. Effect of tobacco on growth. — In discussing the 

 effects of tobacco, it is important, as was the case with tea and 

 coffee, to distinguish between the results of its use by the 

 young and by adults. Just because his father seems to be 

 using tobacco without harm is no reason why a boy can safely 

 smoke. We have already called attention to the complex 



