ESSAY ON THE EFFECT OF ALCOHOL ON THE BODY.

White Ribbon, Volume 20, Issue 236, 18 February 1915, Page 12

ESSAY ON THE EFFECT OF ALCOHOL ON THE BODY.

NGAHRF SCHOOL, STANDARD \. (Ivor Saunders, under Iyears.) Drinks such as beer, wine, and spirits have a harmful effect on the body, because they contain alcohol, a narcotic poison. If a person is in the- habit of drinking alcohol, his digestion is affected, fen, if alcohol i" taken, the stoma* h < innot do its work well. The flow of gastric juice is increased, hut it i> of poor quality and doc*" not dissolve the food properly. Nitrogenous food- as

meat and eggs, become hardened if alcohol i> drunk with them. The liver, which is an organ which purifies the blood, becomes inflamed at first, and afterwards grows hard, so that it cannot perfoim its function properly. The blood is thus sent through the 1 body in a !<•"*' pure condition, causing disease in different parts. The red corpuscles are weaker and less able to take up the necessary amount of oxygen. Alcohol is very bad for the lung*., and breathing becomes weaker after it" u-e. Some forms of consumption are caused by drinking alcohol. The fir"t effect of alcohol on the* heart i" to stimulate' it ; that is, it cause*" it to work harder; hut soon its beats become weaker than before. More blood i" forced through the blood-vessels, causing the reel face anel blood-shot eyes of die drunkard. If a person is very 'll, the* doctor orders a stimulant, and it may he* brandy and water, but if the person is a drunkard, hi" heart will not respond to the* stimulant, and hr may die. Some people think that after a drink of alcohol they can work harder, hut thi" is not true*. After the drink a person may be* able to work well for a time*, but afterwards he becomes weaker. W hen alcohol i" taken, it irritate*" the "kin, which does not rid the body of waste so thoroughly .i" usual. If the skin is hurt, it will not heal so c|ui< kly with a drunkard a" it would with a total abstainer. The work of the kidneys is to rid the blood of certain waste matters, and if alcohol is taken, they will not do their work well, and the* blood is diluted with poisonous matters. Excitement, loss of memory and feeling, and even insanity arc* the* common results of taking too much alcohol. It has been proved that from thirty-five to forty per cent of all cases of disunity arc caused by alcohol.