The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1913-04-11
Effects of Alcohol on the Body.


BY Miss jamie Il
For years scientists have know
that the red blood corpuscles are tn
oxygen carriers of the body, but it i
only within recent years that the.
have known the true value Of thu
white blood corpuscles, the phago
cytes, a Greek word for devourer
Twas Prot Metchnikoff of the Pas
teur Institute of Paris who made thi!
! discovery. He pricked under the skin
of a healthy frog some cholera mi
crobes and watched the develop
ments. Immediately the white cor
puscles, or phagocytes, as We shall
call them, began to surround the
diseased microbes-ho however, it ISM
the microbes that produce the dis
ease, but the poison they give of
in multiplying If these germs were
small enough the phagocytes swal-
lowed them whole; but if too large
for that several encompassed one
and devoured it by degrees, Soon
and devoured it by degrees. Soon all
were destroyed and the frog felt no
i'll effects. The experiment was tried
on other animals with the same re-
suit.
Scientists have proven that if the
phagocytes are strong and vigorous
human beings are capable OF resist
ing the many infectious diseases
prevalent in the air If, however,
they are weakened the disease germs
overpOwer them and our bodies sub
nit to the foe Alcohol is a toxic
which will dull the phagocytes and
paralyze them utterly. Red corpus
cles are destroyed by large amount
of alcohol and white ones are weak
ened by moderate drinking. So he
who drinks health to his friends
drinks death to his bodyguard, the
phagocytes.
DR.. Adams of Glasgow found that
ninety-nine per cent of his cholera
patients died who were addicted to
strong drink, while he lost only nine
teen per cent of those who did not
indulge. A man and a boy were bit
ten almost at the same time by a
mad dog, the boy on the face and
head, the man on his hand, a less
serious place. They had identically
the same treatment and yet the boy
recovered while the man took hydro
phobia, the only difference being the
man was a victim of strong drink
while the boy was not. There are
one million people in the United
States suffering from alcoholic pois-
oning to such an extent as to affect
the health of the body.
Statistical studies show that the
average life of a moderate drinker is
fifty years and his descendants thirty
years. According to the school cen
sus of the educators of New York
city of the school children free from
the hereditary faint OF alcohol SO
per cent were proficient with four
per cent as billiards. Those with
this he editary faint of alcohol, %
per cent were proficient against II
per cent billiards. Committees OF
scientists and business men have been
performing experiments with those
who drink and those who do not,
many being willing to offer them
selves for the tests. In every in
stance they have proven that the
mind is clearer, keener, more capa-
Bile or reasoning and calculating; the
body sounder. stronger, with greater
power of endurance in those who
abstain than in those who drink even
moderately
Alcohol does not build up muscle,
blood. bone nor any tissue of the
body. because it is not food. The
great chemist, Liebig, said: "Nine
quarts of the best ale contain as
much nourishment as would lie on
the end of a table knife" 1t lessons
the desire for real food by deadening
the nerves that tell of the true need
of food. The strong desire for. drink
is much more quickly aroused in the
young than in those of maturer years.
On this account it is much more
dangerous for a boy to take drink
than for grown person. The sad
part is the desire increases with ev-
cry drink.
Psychologists have proven that ev-
cry organ of the body is seriously
handicapped by the continued use of
alcohol. Within three minutes after
whiskey is taken some of it is found