s _whisky_ and
_brandy_. Whisky is one half alcohol. It is more harmful than wine or
beer.

=74. Habit.=--Some strong drinks have only a little alcohol and some
have a great deal. No one begins to drink the strong liquors. He
begins with wine or beer. When he has once learned, he has a hard time
to stop drinking. It is dangerous to drink even weak drinks.

=75. Strong drink and thirst.=--When a man is thirsty, water will
satisfy him but strong drink will not. Sometimes the mouth is dry and
dirty and then a man feels thirsty. Rinsing the mouth with water, and
rubbing the tongue and teeth clean will help the dryness and stop the
thirst. At any rate, strong drink will only make the mouth dryer.

Some men drink only when they are tired. Then a cup of strong and hot
tea or coffee will make them feel much better than a glass of strong
drink, and will not harm them so much.

When strong drink is swallowed, its alcohol takes water from the
mouth. When your mouth is dry, you feel thirsty. Strong drink makes
the mouth dry, and so a drink makes a man more thirsty. The alcohol
also makes the mouth smart. Men need another drink to cool the mouth
after the first one. So one drink leads to another. All the while a
person drinks water with the alcohol until he has too much water. But
his mouth is dry and he feels as thirsty as ever.

=76. Effect of alcohol upon the stomach.=--When strong drink is
swallowed it makes the stomach smart just as it does the mouth. So the
stomach feels warm, but it is really no warmer. This harms the stomach
and keeps it from working well.

Alcohol also keeps the gastric juice from changing albumin to a
liquid. Alcohol keeps flesh from decaying in a museum. In the same way
it may hinder the digestion of food in the stomach.

When alcohol is used for only a short time, the stomach can get well;
but if it is used for months and years, the stomach will stay weak.
Then the drinker can hardly eat at all.

=77. What becomes of alcohol.=--In the stomach a great deal of gastric
juice is mixed with the alcohol. So it is very weak when it reaches
the intestine. Alcohol needs only a little digesting. It soon soaks
into the blood from the intestine along with the other food. The blood
flows fast and washes the alcohol away as soon as it leaves the
intestine. Too little gets into the blood at once to harm it much.

Alcohol goes to the liver, and is there destroyed; but it still does
great harm. The liver has t