200. Other Results from the Use of Intoxicants. Other disastrous consequences follow the use of intoxicants, and these upon the blood. When any alcohol is present in the circulation, its greed for water induces the absorption of moisture from the red globules of the blood, the oxygen-carriers. In consequence they contract and harden, thus becoming unable to absorb, as theretofore, the oxygen in the lungs. Then, in turn, the oxidation of the waste matter in the tissues is prevented; thus the corpuscles cannot convey carbon dioxid from the capillaries, and this fact means that some portion of refuse material, not being thus changed and eliminated, must remain in the blood, rendering it impure and unfit for its proper use in nutrition. Thus, step by step, the use of alcoholics impairs the functions of the blood corpuscles, perverts nutrition, and slowly poisons the blood. Illustration: Fig. 82.—The Right Axillary and Brachial Arteries, with Some of their Main Branches. Note. “Destroy or paralyze the inhibitory nerve center, and instantly its controlling effect on the heart mechanism is lost, and the accelerating agent, being no longer under its normal restraint, runs riot. The heart’s action is increased, the pulse is quickened, an excess of blood is forced into the vessels, and from their becoming engorged and dilated the face gets flushed, all the usual concomitants of a general engorgement of the circulation being the result.”—Dr. George Harley, F.R.S., an eminent English medical author. “The habitual use of alcohol produces a deleterious influence upon the whole economy. The digestive powers are weakened, the appetite is impaired, and the muscular system is enfeebled. The blood is impoverished, and nutrition is imperfect and disordered, as shown by the flabbiness of the skin and muscles, emaciation, or an abnormal accumulation of fat.”—Dr. Austin Flint, Senior, formerly Professor of the Practice of Medicine in Bellevue Medical College, and author of many standard medical works. “The immoderate use of the strong kind of tobacco, which soldiers affect, is often very injurious to them, especially to very young soldiers. It renders them nervous and shaky, gives rise to palpitation, and is a factor in the production of the irritable or so-called “trotting-heart” and tends to impair the appetite and digestion.”—London _Lancet_. “I never smoke because I have seen the most efficient proofs of the injurious effects of tobacco on the nervous system.”—Dr. Brown-Sequard, the eminent French physiologist. “Tobacco, and especially cigarettes, being a depressant upon the heart, should be positively forbidden.”—Dr. J. M. Keating, on “Physical Development,” in _Cyclopœdia of the Diseases of Children_.