PRIZE ESSAYS.

White Ribbon, Volume 22, Issue 260, 19 February 1917, Page 5

PRIZE ESSAYS.

(By J. K. McPherson.)

STANDARD V., BLUFF SCHOOL

Alcohol is one of the more dangerous narcotic poisons. Without it, beer, wines, and other intoxicants would be rendered practically harmless to the system of the body. As it is dangerous to the health of the person who has taken it, it is a greater power to be fought against than even Germanv. If taken in large quantities, alcohol has the power to re nder the heart incapable of carrying out its proper functions; that iS, pumping of blood, which, if stopped, c auses heart failure. A famous English statesman, in a temperance address which he made, said that if all the* alcoholic beverages, within the boundaries of (treat Britain, were thrown into the sea the nation would be a country almost free from criminals. As a number of liquors contain alcohol, I think it advisable to mention the percentage of alcohol used in the manufacture of strong drink. Beer contains 5 per cent., wines 9 per cent., to 23 per cent., spirits 40 per cent, to 50 per cent. If the alcohol used in the making of strong drink was used in making explosi.es, 1 think that it would be far more useful. Every bottle of beer, wine, whisky, etc., is going against Britain’s winning the war.

Being a narcotic poison, alcohol is a danger to a person’s health, as well as to the organs of the* body. The health is seriously tampered with in a way that no doctor can remedy; a stupor is brought about; bodily illness is present; and the powers of endurance are lowered. Digestion is practically impossible, as the alcohol makes the food tough, thus not allowing the conveyance of it to the different parts of the body requiring it. Substances which are valuable to the body are allowed to pass out of it, while waste material is retained. W hen alcohol is taken it goes to the heart. This causes the heart to have a large accumulation of fat, which interferes with the muscle that pumps the blood to rhe limbs of the body. Thus the flow of blood is irregular, and the* heart's action is slower than it was before the alcoholic beverage was taken into the system. The white corpuscles, which

drive away disease germs and such like, are weakened in their power, so that these germs find a much more easy entry into the body than before. As well as the white corpuscles there are red ones, whic h carry oxygen to the tissues, and take away carbon dioxide. Instead of this, the red corpuscles do not take oxygen so plentifully, and leave carbon dioxide and waste tissues which have gathered together. As most passes through the kindneys, they are harmed by alcohol also. They retain, instead of letting, waste material, while valuable material is allowed to pass out. They shrink and become hard, not allowing the blood to pass through them, as well as becoming clogged with filth. As alcohol takes hold of the system, a very painful disease, known as Bright’s Disease, which in time causes death, is brought about. Being a centre of the nervous system, the brain is one of the chief organs that is affected by alcoholic beverages. Alcohol goes to the brain very quickly when taken in large quantities. As it is a narcotic, a s'upor is commenced, which, if allowed to continue, slowly saps up the brain, until the person over whom it has succeeded dies. Half the criminals in the prisons of England were influenced by alcohol when they committed the crime for which they received imprisonment. Thus alcohol has an effect on a man’s character which is of the most degrading form. A man’s real life is revealed when he has had too much intoxicating drink. His home is a mere hovel, which has no signs of comfort or neatness. That is how a man is lowered so much as to be practically insane. Alcohol began this bad life, and brings poverty and misery into a formerly good man.

NGAERK SCHOOL, STANDARD 111. (Jack Fougere.) Temperance really means being moderate in everything, but the word has come to mean abstaining from the use of alcoholic drinis, such as rum, whisky, brandy, and beer. Alcohol is not a food as milk is. In fact, it is a poison. In beer there is 5 or C per cent, of al r ohol, in wine about 23 per cent., and in spirits from 50 to 60 per cent.

If a young man drinks alcohol to excess, he will not be so well grown and strong as if he drank no alcohol. Men who have to undergo great strain or hardship find that alcohol weakens them, so they do not dr.nk it much. Water is the best, and also the cheapest, drink. It do- s not cause a desire for more, as alcoholic drinks do. Alcohol also wastes a good deal of money, for insurance companies require higher premiums from even moderate drinkers than from people who do not drink at all. People used to think that alcohol strengthened them, but now they do not think so. They used to call alcohol “Strong water,” and “Water of life,” until a (lever doctor found it was a poison. About two-th rds of all crime committed is caused through drink, as all Judges and Magistrates will say. Alcohol lowers the power of the body to resist disease, and thus drunkards catch many diseases, such as cancer, heart disease, and liver disease. If alcohol is taken in small quantities it is a stimulant, but a healthy person does not need a stimulant.