First Book In Physiology And Hygiene Part 15

3. To keep the brain and nerves in good health, we must take good care of the stomach and all other important organs of the body.

4. There are many things which we may do to keep the brain and nerves strong and well.

5. The brain needs pure blood, and so we must be careful to breathe pure air.

6. The brain gets strength by exercise, just as the muscles do. Hence, study is healthful, and makes the brain strong.

7. A good memory is very necessary, but we should not try to remember everything.

8. It is very important that we learn how to observe things closely.

9. Exercise in the open air rests and clears the brain by helping the blood to circulate.

10. Plenty of wholesome and simple food is necessary to keep the brain and nerves in good health. Spices, condiments, and rich foods in general are stimulating and harmful.

11. Plenty of sleep is needed to rest the brain and nerves.

12. It is dangerous as well as wicked to become very angry.

13. We should be careful to avoid forming bad habits of any sort, as they are hard to break, and often adhere to one through life.

CHAPTER XXIV.

BAD EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL UPON THE BRAIN AND NERVES.

~1. Drunkenness.~--Did you ever see a man who was drunk? If you live in a city it is very likely that you have. How did the drunken man behave?

Perhaps he was noisy and silly. Perhaps he was angry and tried to pick a quarrel with some one.

~2.~ What made the man drunk? You say whiskey, but it may have been wine, or beer, or hard cider that he drank. Anything that contains alcohol will make a man drunk, for it is the alcohol which does all the mischief.

~3. The Whiskey Flush.~--You can almost always tell when a man has been drinking, even when he has not taken enough to make him drunk. You know by his flushed face and red eyes. When a man's face blushes from the use of alcohol, his whole body blushes at the same time. His muscles, his lungs, and his liver blush; his brain and spinal cord blush also.

~4.~ When a man has taken just enough alcohol to make his face blush a little, the extra amount of blood in the brain makes him think and talk more lively, and he is very jolly and gay. This makes many people think that alcohol does them good. But if we notice what a man says when he is excited by alcohol, we shall find that his remarks are often silly and reckless. He says very unwise and foolish things, for which he feels sorry when he becomes sober.

~5. Alcohol Paralyzes.~--How does a drunken man walk? Let us see why he staggers. When a man takes a certain amount of alcohol his small brain and spinal cord become partly paralyzed, so that they cannot do their duty well; and so, when he tries to walk he reels and stumbles along, often falling down, and sometimes hurting himself very much. The fact is that the alcohol has put his spinal cord and small brain to sleep so that he cannot make his legs do what he wants them to do. Now, if still more alcohol is taken the whole brain becomes paralyzed, and then the man is so nearly dead that we say he is "dead drunk." It is exceedingly dangerous to become dead drunk, as the brain may be so completely paralyzed that it will not recover.

~6.~ A small amount of alcohol does not make a man dead drunk, but it poisons and paralyzes his brain and nerves just according to the quant.i.ty he takes.

~7.~ If a person holds a little alcohol in his mouth for a few moments, the tongue and cheeks feel numb. This is because the alcohol paralyzes them so that they cannot feel or taste. When taken into the stomach it has much the same kind of effect upon the nerves of the whole body.

~8. Alcohol a Deceiver.~--A hungry man takes a drink of whiskey and benumbs the nerves of his stomach so that he does not feel hungry.

Alcohol puts to sleep the sentinels which Nature has set in the body to warn us of danger. A man who is cold takes alcohol and feels warm, though he is really colder. He lies down in his false comfort and freezes to death. A tired man takes his gla.s.s of grog and feels rested and strong, though he is really weaker than before. A poor man gets drunk and feels so rich that he spends what little money he has. The alcohol paralyzes his judgment and steals away his good sense. Thus alcohol is always a deceiver.

~9. Delirium Tremens.~ (De-lir'-i-um Tre'-mens.)--When a man takes strong liquors regularly he very soon injures his brain and nerves so that they do not get quiet, as they should, at night, and he does not sleep well. He has frightful dreams. He sees all sorts of wild animals and horrid shapes in his dreams. Perhaps you have sometimes had such dreams from eating late suppers or indigestible food.

~10.~ Did you ever have a dream when you were awake? If a man drinks a great deal he is likely to have a terrible disease known as _delirium tremens_, in which he sees the same frightful things when he is wide awake that he dreams about when he is asleep. This is one of the terrible effects of alcohol upon the brain and nerves.

~11. Alcohol Paralysis.~--You have seen how a drunken man staggers when he walks. Did you ever see a man who walked just as though he were drunk when he was really sober? This is because a part of the brain or spinal cord has been permanently injured or paralyzed. Alcohol is not the only cause of this disease, and so you must not think every person who staggers is or has been a drunkard; but alcohol is a very frequent cause of paralysis.

~12. Effects of Alcohol upon the Mind and Character.~--When a man is under the influence of alcohol is his character good or bad? Is a man likely to be good, or to be bad, when he is drunk or excited by drink?

Most men behave badly when they are drunk, and after they have been drunk a great many times they often behave badly all the time. A great many of the men who are shut up in prisons would not have been sent there if they had never learned to drink.

~13. A Legacy.~--Do you know what a legacy is? If your father should die and leave to you a fine house or farm, or money in the bank, or books, or horses, or any other kind of property to have for your own, it would be a legacy. When a person gets anything in this way from a parent we say that he inherits it.

~14.~ We inherit a great many things besides houses and lands and other kinds of property. For instance, perhaps you remember hearing some one say that you have eyes and hair the same color as your mother's, and that your nose and chin are like your father's. So you have inherited the color of your hair and eyes from your mother and the shape of your chin and nose from your father.

~15. The Alcohol Legacy.~--The inside of a boy's head is just as much like his parents' as the outside of it. In other words, we inherit our brains just as we do our faces. So, if a man spoils his brain with alcohol and gets an alcohol appet.i.te, his children will be likely to have unhealthy brains and an appet.i.te for alcohol also, and may become drunkards. Is not that a dreadful kind of legacy to inherit?

~16.~ A child that has no mind is called an idiot. Such a child cannot talk, or read, or sing, and does not know enough to take proper care of itself. This is one of the bad legacies which drunken parents sometimes leave to their children.

~17. Effects of Tobacco on the Brain and Nerves.~--The effects of tobacco upon the brain and nerves are much the same as those of alcohol.

Tobacco, like alcohol, is a narcotic. It benumbs and paralyzes the nerves, and it is by this means that it obtains such an influence over those who use it.

~18.~ The hand of a man or boy who uses tobacco often becomes so unsteady that he can scarcely write. Do you know what makes it so unsteady? It is because the cells which send nerves to the muscles of the hand are diseased. When a person has a trembling hand you say he is nervous. If you feel his pulse you will find that it does not beat steadily and regularly as it ought to do. The heart is nervous and trembles just the same as the muscles do. This shows that the tobacco has poisoned the cells in the brain which regulate the heart.

~19.~ Wise physicians will tell you that one reason why tobacco is bad for boys is that it hurts their brains so that they cannot learn well, and do not become as useful and successful men as they might be.

~20.~ Students in the naval and military schools of this country are not allowed to use tobacco on account of its bad effects upon the mind. In France the use of tobacco is forbidden to all students in the public schools.

~21. Tobacco Leads to Vice.~--Boys who use tobacco are more liable to get into company with boys who have other bad habits, and so are apt to become bad in many other ways. The use of tobacco often makes men want strong drink, and thus leads to drunkenness. If you wish to grow up with a steady hand, a strong heart, and a good character you will never touch tobacco.

~22. Effects of Tea and Coffee on the Nerves.~--People who use strong tea and coffee are often inclined to be nervous. This shows that strong tea and coffee, like alcohol and tobacco, are very injurious to the nerves.

~23. Opium, Chloral, etc.~--There are several drugs which are given by physicians to relieve pain or to produce sleep. They are sometimes helpful, but their use is very dangerous. Opium and chloral belong to this cla.s.s of medicines. The danger is that, after a person has used the medicine a little while, he will continue to use it. If a person takes a poisonous drug every time he has a little pain, he will soon form the habit of using it, and may never break it off. There are many thousands of people who use opium all the time, and they are very much injured by it in mind and body. The mind becomes dull and stupid and the body weak and feeble. No medicine of this sort should ever be taken unless prescribed by a physician.

SUMMARY.

1. In order to be well and useful we must keep the brain and nerves healthy.

2. To keep the brain healthy we need plenty of pure air to breathe; proper exercise of the brain by study; sufficient exercise of the muscles in play and work; plenty of good food to make pure blood; a proper amount of rest and sleep.

3. There are several things we ought not to do. We should not read or study too much. We should not allow ourselves to become excited or angry. We should avoid learning bad habits.

4. Alcohol paralyzes the brain and nerves.

5. Alcohol deceives a person who takes it by making him feel strong when he is weak; warm when he is cold; rich when he is poor; well when he is sick.

6. Alcohol makes men wicked. Most men who commit crimes are men who use liquor.

7. The effects of tobacco upon the brain and nerves are much the same as those of alcohol. Tobacco is very injurious to the mind.

8. Tobacco-using often leads boys to drunkenness and other vices.

9. The use of opium and chloral produces even worse effects than the use of alcohol or tobacco.