Even in the case of hard work that must be speedily done, alcohol does not help, but hinders its execution. The tired man who does not understand the effects of alcohol often supposes that it increases his strength, when in fact it only deadens his sense of fatigue by paralyzing his nerves. When put to the test he is surprised at his self-deception. Full intoxication produces, by its peculiar depression of the brain and nervous system, an artificial and temporary paralysis of the muscles, as is obvious in the pitifully helpless condition of a man fully intoxicated. But even partial approach to intoxication involves its proportionate impairment of nervous integrity, and therefore just so much diminution of muscular force. All athletes recognize this fact, as while training for a contest, rigid abstinence is the rule, both from liquors and tobacco. This muscular weakness is shown also in the unsteady hand, the trembling limbs of the inebriate, his thick speech, wandering eye, and lolling head. 78. Destructive Effect of Alcoholic Liquors upon Muscular Tissue. Alcoholic liquors retard the natural chemical changes so essential to good health, by which is meant the oxidation of the nutritious elements of food. Careful demonstration has proved also that the amount of carbon dioxide escaping from the lungs of intoxicated persons is from thirty to fifty per cent less than normal. This shut-in carbon stifles the nervous energy, and cuts off the power that controls muscular force. This lost force is in close ratio to the retained carbon: so much perverted chemical change, so much loss of muscular power. Not only the strength but the fine delicacy of muscular action is lost, the power of nice control of the hand and fingers, as in neat penmanship, or the use of musical instruments. To this perverted chemical action is also due the fatty degeneration so common in inebriates, affecting the muscles, the heart, and the liver. These organs are encroached upon by globules of fat (a hydrocarbon), which, while very good in their proper place and quantity, become a source of disorder and even of death when they abnormally invade vital structures. Other poisons, as phosphorus, produce this fatty decay more rapidly; but alcohol causes it in a much more general way. This is proved by the microscope, which plainly shows the condition mentioned, and the difference between the healthy tissues and those thus diseased. Illustration: Fig. 38.—Principal Muscles on the Left Side of Neck.