ture. I am not so obstinate as to deny this
argument, There are times in the life of man when the heart is
oppressed, when the resistance to its motion is excessive, and when
blood flows languidly to the centres of life, nervous and muscular. In
these moments alcohol cheers. It lets loose the heart from its
oppression; it lets flow a brisker current of blood into the failing
organs; it aids nutritive changes, and altogether is of temporary
service to man. So far, alcohol may be good, and if its use could be
limited to this one action, this one purpose, it would be amongst the
most excellent of the gifts of science to mankind. Unhappily, the border
line between this use and the abuse of it, the temptation to extend
beyond the use, the habit to apply the use when it is not wanted as
readily as when it is wanted, overbalance, in the multitude of men, the
temporary value that attaches truly to alcohol as a physiological agent.
Hence alcohol becomes a dangerous instrument even in the hands of the
strong and wise, a murderous instrument in the hands of the foolish and
weak. Used too frequently, used too excessively, this agent, which in
moderation cheers the failing body, relaxes its vessels too extremely;
spoils vital organs; makes the force of the circulation slow, imperfect,
irregular; suggests the call for more stimulation; tempts to renewal of
the evil, and ruins the mechanism of the healthy animal before its hour
for ruin, by natural decay, should be at all near.

It is assumed by most persons that alcohol gives strength, and we hear
feeble persons saying daily that they are being 'kept up by stimulants.'
This means actually that they are being kept down; but the sensation
they derive from the immediate action of the stimulant deceives them and
leads them to attribute passing good to what, in the large majority of
cases, is persistent evil. The evidence is all-perfect that alcohol
gives no potential power to brain or muscle. During the first stage of
action it may enable a wearied or a feeble organism to do brisk work for
a short time; it may make the mind briefly brilliant; it may excite
muscle to quick action, but it does nothing substantially, and fills up
nothing it has destroyed, as it leads to destruction. A fire makes a
brilliant sight, but leaves a desolation. It is the same with alcohol.

On the muscular force the very slightest excess of alcoholic influence
is injurious. I find by measuring the power of muscle