Object Lessons on the Human Body Part 21

You have already learned that the stomach hurries to drive out the alcohol into the liver; the liver sends it with the blood into the heart; the heart pours it into the lungs; the lungs breathe it out through the nose and mouth, and tell that some kind of alcoholic liquor has been taken into the stomach.

Remember, that the alcohol which comes out in the breath is a part of that which _went into the mouth_. It could not be changed. It did nothing but mischief in its journey, which shows that it is not food, but poison. G.o.d, who created the body, has not given any part of it power to change alcohol into blood.

People sometimes take ale or wine because they think it gives them an appet.i.te. This is a great mistake. When any alcoholic liquor goes into the stomach, there is such hard work to get it out that the pain of hunger is not felt; when it is out, the stomach is tired and does not tell the brain that it is hungry. When alcohol is poured into it, day after day, it loses its desire for good, wholesome food, _and wants more and more alcoholic liquor_. It has an appet.i.te for alcohol.

Alcohol makes the stomach sore and full of disease; people who take much of it in liquors always suffer much from dyspepsia.

So, if the stomach could speak, it would say: "Don't pour any alcohol into me, though you mix it and call it ale, cider, wine, or any other name that makes folks think it will do me no harm. You cannot deceive me. I know alcohol as soon as it comes down, and it always makes me suffer."

BLACKBOARD OUTLINE.

ALCOHOL-- Burns or inflames the coats of the stomach.

Spoils the gastric juice.

Makes the food hard to be dissolved.

Makes the stomach tired and weak.

Takes away the appet.i.te for wholesome food.

Makes an appet.i.te for alcoholic liquors.

Causes disease in the stomach and other digestive organs.

QUESTION ON BLACKBOARD OUTLINE.

What harm does alcohol do in the stomach?

TO THE BONES, MUSCLES, AND SKIN.

_TO THE BONES._--You have already learned that the bones require to be supplied with good blood to make them strong and healthy, and that alcohol does not make good blood, so we need spend no time in deciding that alcoholic liquors do injury to the bones, and that the bones of those who drink these liquors are less likely to heal, when broken, than those of persons whose blood has not been poisoned by alcohol.

_TO THE MUSCLES._--The muscles, as you know, cover and move the bones; good blood makes them grow, and keeps them healthy and strong. People like to have plenty of good muscle, for this not only gives them strength, but makes them look plump and well.

Alcohol poisons the blood by killing many of the very little, round, red parts in it, called by a long name, which you can learn if you try. This hard name is _corpuscles_ [kor'pussls]; _corpuscle_ means _a little body_.

These little bodies float in the fluid portion of the blood, and go to every part of the body to help keep it alive and healthy. When alcohol hurts them, they turn into a poor kind of fat, like suet, and cannot do any good. They stay in different parts and do much harm. Sometimes they lodge between the muscles, and make a person look strong because plump; but he is not strong, for his muscles are filled with fat.

Sometimes the liver or the heart, which are only large muscles, become so heavy and soft with fat that they cannot do their work properly; they become weak and diseased, wear out, and cause the death of their owner, who has poisoned them with ale, wine, or other alcoholic drink.

_TO THE SKIN._--Alcohol hurts the skin also, by feeding it with poisoned blood, by giving the pores extra work in carrying off some of the alcohol in the perspiration, and by making the little blood-vessels larger than they should be in a way you will learn more about by and by. These little blood-vessels become very full of blood, and cause the red face and blue nose which mark the drinker of alcoholic liquors. This redness of the skin tells of the mischief which alcohol is doing inside of the body. It is the danger-signal which warns against the use of the fiery poison.

ALCOHOL HURTS THE BONES, THE MUSCLES, THE SKIN, By supplying them with By supplying them with By supplying it with bad blood. bad blood; bad blood; By loading them with By over-working the fat which makes them perspiratory pores.

weak.

TO THE BLOOD, THE LUNGS, AND THE HEART.

_TO THE BLOOD._--The wonderful fluid which is the life of the body consists of a water-like liquid in which floats millions of the very little, circle-shaped, red particles which you have been taught to call _corpuscles_. You have also been told that alcohol kills these little bodies, and thus takes some of the life out of the blood, and fills it with useless, suet-like fat.

The blood, you know, flows everywhere through the body, giving its goodness to make every part grow and live, and carrying away the worn-out particles it meets. Blood, when poisoned with alcohol, goes through the body, giving disease and death instead of health and life. So, if you want good, red blood, do not let alcohol get into it.

_TO THE HEART._--When alcohol comes with the blood from the liver, the heart begins to beat fast to get rid of the firewater; this makes it very tired, for it always has enough to do in carrying bad blood to the lungs, and pumping good blood into the arteries, without having the extra trouble of driving out alcohol. Wise people will not give it this extra work to do.

Besides, we told you, in the talk about the harm done by alcohol to the muscles, that the heart,--which is only a large muscle, or rather many muscles fastened together so as to make a pear-shaped organ about the size of your fist,--is hurt in another way by alcohol. It gets too much of the poor kind of fat from the blood, which fills between the muscles, and after awhile makes the walls of the heart so soft and weak, that we could almost push through them with a finger, if we could get at them.

Very often the tired, overworked, weakened heart suddenly stops beating, and the person who would keep on drinking beer, wine, brandy, or rum falls down dead. "Died from heart disease," people say, when the truth is, _died from drinking alcoholic liquors_.

_TO THE LUNGS._--What are the lungs?--"The breathing-machines of the body."

What do they throw out?--"Bad air." What do they take in?--"Fresh air." In pure air there is a good kind of gas which is necessary to keep us alive; this gas is called _oxygen_.

When air is taken into the lungs, the oxygen mixes with the blood in them and makes it pure. If alcohol is in the lungs, it hardens the walls of their air-cells, and keeps out the oxygen or good gas; at the same time it keeps in the impure gas, called _nitrogen_, which ought to come out through the nose and mouth into the air. Thus the blood in the lungs cannot be properly purified, and goes back to the heart impure blood which is unfit to be used.

The lungs are also obliged to work faster when alcohol is in them, because with the heart they are striving to drive out the enemy. This makes the lungs tired, sore, and inflamed. They are not as strong to do their work, and are more likely to breathe in any contagious disease than are the lungs of people who do not drink alcoholic liquors.

Some people go on drinking these poisons for many years, and seem not to be hurt by them; but at last they suffer from what is called Alcoholic Phthisis, a kind of consumption which doctors cannot cure.

HARM DONE BY ALCOHOL TO THE HEART. BLOOD-VESSELS. LUNGS.

Overworks it. Hurries the blood through Makes them work too Makes it tired. them. fast.

Loads it with fat. Stretches the small Heats and inflames Softens and destroys arteries and makes them them.

it. unfit to work. Hardens the walls of Poisons the blood in the their air-cells.

hair-like blood-vessels Keeps in the poisonous (capillaries). gas.

Keeps out the good gas (oxygen).

Weakens them and makes them diseased.

THE BLOOD ("The life ... is in the blood")

Consists of A colorless liquid (plasma), and Little, red, circle-shaped bodies (corpuscles).

ALCOHOL (a blood-poison)

Mixes with the colorless liquid, and takes away some of its goodness.

Makes some of the corpuscles Smaller.

Change shape.

Lose color.

Lose oxygen.

Die, and change into useless fat

TO THE BRAIN AND NERVES.