THE RELATION OF ALCOHOL TO EFFICIENCY 449 



Self-Testing Exercise 



(1), (2), and (3) (4) are necessary 



to keep brain cells healthy. Change of occupation is good for exhausted 



neurons but (5) is better. The most frequent abuses to the eyes 



are reading in a (6) (7) (8) or in a (9) . 



PROBLEM IX. WHAT ARE SOME EFFECTS OF THE DRINK 



HABIT? 



The drink habit. Although prohibition has made it harder for 

 all people to obtain liquors, many still drink and some seemingly 

 cannot help it. Let us see why. 



The first effect of drinking alcoholic liquors is that of exhilaration. 

 After the feeling of exhilaration is gone, for this is a temporary 

 state, the drinker feels depressed and less able to work than before 

 he took the drink. To overcome this feeling, he takes another 

 drink. The result is that before long he finds a habit formed from 

 which he cannot easily change. 



The economic effect of alcoholic poisoning. In the struggle 

 for existence, it is evident that the man whose intellect is the quick- 

 est and keenest, whose judgment is most sound, is the man who 

 is most likely to succeed. The deadening effect of alcohol upon the 

 nerve centers must place the drinker at a disadvantage. 



Dr. Parkes experimented with two gangs of men, selected to be 

 as nearly similar as possible, in mowing. He found that with one 

 gang abstaining from alcoholic drinks and the other not, the 

 abstaining gang could accomplish more. On taking away the 

 alcohol from the one gang and giving it to the other, the same 

 results were obtained. Similar results were obtained by Professor 

 Aschaffenburg of Heidelberg University, who found, experimentally, 

 that men " were able to do 15 per cent less work after taking 

 alcohol." Many other experiments along the same lines have 

 been made. In typewriting, in typesetting, in bricklaying, and 

 in the highest type of mental work, the result is the same. The 

 quality and quantity of work done by men on days when they 

 take alcohol is less than on days when they take no alcohol. 



The relation of alcohol to efficiency. We have already seen 

 that neither is work done as well nor is as much accomplished by 



