It makes them so stupid that
they cannot understand what the brain says to them, and they do not carry
the right messages back to it. For instance: when the nerves of the stomach
are poisoned by the alcohol in beer, wine, etc., they do not feel the pain
of hunger as much as they otherwise would, and they let the brain think the
stomach is satisfied and does not need any more food, when it is only
stupefied by these liquors.
Again, it is the work of some nerves to tell the muscles of the small
arteries to tighten, or contract, when too much blood is coming into them.
Alcohol so paralyzes these nerves that they do not carry their message; the
arteries let in the blood, and become swollen and enlarged. They tell the
mischief done to them, by causing the skin to be red or flushed. If people
drink much of any intoxicating liquor, and often, their skin is always a
bad color, or, as grown folks say, becomes permanently discolored. All this
because the nerves have been made unfit to do their duty by alcohol poison.
The nerves also lose power over the muscles of the limbs. This is plainly
seen in the trembling of the hands and the unsteady walking of the
drunkard; but is equally true of those who drink only a little now and
then.
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