ust be ascribed
chiefly to alcohol.

It is not possible here to give all the evidence, but the following
items will serve to clarify these questions.

[Sidenote: Effect on Brain and Nervous System]

Kraepelin[10] and his pupils have contributed most extensively to our
knowledge on this subject. According to such authorities, a half to a
whole liter of beer is sufficient to lower intellectual power, to impair
memory, and to retard simple mental processes, such as the addition of
simple figures. Habitual association of ideas, and free association of
ideas are interfered with.

As far back as 1895, Smith demonstrated the influence of small doses of
alcohol in impairing memory, and these results have been confirmed by
Kraepelin and quite recently by Vogt[11] in experiments on his own
person--15 cc. (about 4 teaspoonfuls) of whisky on an empty stomach, or
25 cc. with food, being sufficient to distinctly impair the power to
memorize.

Careful and exact experiments have shown the influence of moderate doses
of alcohol in lessening the amount of work performed by printing
compositors. There has also been shown a disturbance in the sequence of
ideas. The time that elapses between an irritation and the beginning of
a responsive movement can be measured within one one-thousandth of a
second. According to Aschaffenburg,[12] under the influence of even very
small doses of alcohol this reaction period is disturbed and shortened.
It is below the normal, the acceleration being attained at the expense
of precision and reliability. Indeed, the reaction is often premature,
and constitutes a false reaction--"the judgment of the reason comes
limping along after the hasty action."

It is now conceded that alcohol is not a real brain stimulant, but acts
by narrowing the field of consciousness. By gradually overcoming the
higher brain elements the activities of the lower ones are released,
hence the so-called stimulation and the lack of judgment and common
sense often shown by those even slightly under the influence of alcohol.
The man who wakes up under alcohol is really going to sleep, as far as
his judgment and reason are concerned. Complete abolition of
consciousness is brought about by sufficient doses as when ether or
chloroform is taken.

Under moderate doses, muscular efficiency is at first increased a little
and then lowered, the total effect being a loss in working power, as
shown by the experiments of Dubois, Schnyder,[13]