HOW NARCOTICS AND STIMULANTS AFFECT THE BRAIN AND NERVES
=What Narcotics and Stimulants Are.=--A _narcotic_ is something which
when taken into the body makes the organs do their work more slowly
and tends to cause sleepiness. Alcoholic drinks, tobacco, opium,
soothing sirups, and pain killers are narcotics.
A _stimulant_ is a substance which makes the organs of the body do
more and quicker work and does not later make the organs work more
slowly. Coffee and tea are stimulants. Beer, wine, and whisky were
once thought to be stimulants, but experiments have shown them to be
narcotics. They urge the brain to faster work for a few minutes, but a
half hour later they make it act slower than usual.
=Alcohol hurts the Brain.=--Within five minutes after a drink of beer
or whisky has been swallowed, part of the alcohol has reached the
blood. Within fifteen minutes much of the alcohol has gone from the
stomach directly into the blood. In a minute after entering the blood
vessels it reaches the brain.
If much strong drink is taken, the cells of the brain become so numbed
that they cannot give the right orders to the muscles to move the
limbs. The person then staggers about and is said to be drunk. Much
whisky taken will make the nerve cells so numb that a man cannot move,
and he will then lie down as if in a deep sleep.
A tablespoonful of whisky will make a child drunk and twice that
amount may make him very sick. Much use of strong drink sometimes
gives to the brain a terrible disease called _delirium tremens_. In
this sickness the man thinks he sees horned animals, hissing snakes,
and other creatures which annoy him.
=Alcohol injures the Thinking Part of the Brain.=--It was once thought
that wine or whisky would make a man think better. Now we know that
either of these drinks makes his thoughts slower and also causes him
to make mistakes.
Two doctors in Europe made many tests with men to learn how alcohol
affected their thinking. They found that when using wine the men could
do about one tenth less work in adding numbers than when they took no
strong drink. These doctors also tested the effect of alcohol on
memory and discovered that the use of even small quantities of liquor
caused their pupils to learn their lessons more slowly.
When persons have taken only a very little drink, they often say and
do very foolish things. They sometimes tell secrets, for which they
are very sorry when they get sober. Often they become angry at the
least cause and strike or even shoot any person who seems to speak or
work against them in any way.
=Alcohol makes People Steal and Kill.=--The alcohol in strong drink,
when often used, appears to deaden that part of the brain which helps
the mind know right from wrong. In one year the courts of Suffolk
County in Massachusetts found 17,000 persons guilty of doing some
wickedness and in over 12,000 of these cases alcohol was found to be
the cause of doing the wrong for which they were arrested.
Some time ago there were collected the records of 30,000 prisoners,
and among these over 12,000 had done their wicked acts while alcohol
was numbing the brain. Lately another careful record of over 13,000
prisoners in twelve different states has been studied. In over 4000 of
these men the use of strong drink was the first cause of their crimes.
=Alcohol makes the Mind Sick.=--Since the mind depends upon certain
parts of the brain, whatever hurts the brain is quite sure to hurt the
mind. When the mind cannot reason rightly, the person is said to be
_insane_. A study of 2000 insane men in New York State showed that the
use of alcoholic drink was the cause of the mind sickness in over 500
of them. Of 687 persons in Massachusetts who were so insane that they
had to be cared for daily by others, more than 200 of them were
brought to this sad condition by alcohol.
=Brain of the Young easily overcome by Alcohol.=--No one expects to
become a drunkard or a criminal when he first begins to drink. The
continued use of alcohol, however, soon numbs the brain and weakens
the mind, so that the person's will power is lost. He is then not able
to quit drinking even though he wants to stop. He has become a slave
to alcohol.
_The brain of a young person is injured much more quickly by alcohol
than that of an older person and he_ is much more likely to become a
slave than one who begins the use of drink late in life. Doctor
Lambert, of New York, studied the cases of 259 slaves to alcohol. He
learned that four began to drink before six years of age; thirteen
between six and twelve years of age; sixty, between twelve and sixteen
years; 102 between sixteen and twenty-one years; seventy-one, between
twenty-one and thirty years; and only eight after thirty years of age.
These facts teach that it is dangerous for the young to take strong
drink at any time.
=Laws against Alcohol.=--The men who make laws for the good of the
people are learning that alcohol is injuring the mind and body of many
persons every year. For this reason laws have lately been passed
forbidding the sale of strong drink in several entire states and in
large parts of many other states.
=Tobacco makes the Brain work Slower.=--An examination of the age and
habits of hundreds of the students entering a large university in New
England showed that those who smoked required more than a year longer
than those who did not use tobacco, to learn enough to enter the first
classes in this school. Moreover, out of every hundred of those who
took the highest rank in their work in the university, ninety-five did
not use tobacco. It is likely that tobacco makes the mind work slower
by preventing the full amount of blood from going to the brain. It
does this by making the blood vessels smaller.
So far as known tobacco has but little effect upon the brains of older
persons.
Superintendent Ogg of Indiana reports that the occasional users of
cigarettes are a year, and the regular users two years, behind those
who do not smoke. The conduct and honesty of the smokers were also
found to be lower than among those who did not smoke.
=Opium, Morphine, and Cocaine.=--All of these harmful drugs are widely
used in our country. They act on the brain in a strange way. All of
them deaden pain. When a person first begins their use, only a small
amount is required to produce the effect wanted on the body. Later
the doses must be increased. After a few months' use the person
becomes a slave to the habit of using them, and he cannot stop their
use without the help of a doctor. It is therefore dangerous to use
these drugs at any time.
Powders used for colds in the nose, also paregoric and laudanum,
contain these harmful drugs.
=Pain Killers and Soothing Sirups.=--All pain killers contain opium or
morphine or other harmful drugs. They are therefore dangerous to use.
Pain is useful in telling us that some organ is out of order and needs
care. Killing the pain does not help the sick organ, and it may let
the organ get so sick as to cause death.
One use of the nerves is to tell us when any part of the body is hurt
or sick. Pain is nature's warning, and to numb the nerves which tell
us about it is as foolish as to kill a person because he brings us bad
news. _No medicine should ever be given children to make them sleep or
stop their crying except by the advice of the physician._
=Powders and Pills.=--If you get sick, do not try to cure yourself
with pills or powders bought at the store. Some of these medicines
contain poisons which hurt the heart or other organs. A number of
persons have been killed by taking such medicines. When you are sick,
go to a good doctor who understands how the organs should work, and he
will find which one is out of order and tell you exactly what
medicine you need and what to eat in order to get well quickly.
=Tea and Coffee.=--These drinks usually wake up the brain and make it
work better for a time. If too much of them is used, they may excite
the brain in such a way as to make persons nervous. If taken for
supper, they may prevent sleep. Children should not use either tea or
coffee. Tea sometimes disturbs digestion, and coffee may injure both
the stomach and the heart.
PRACTICAL QUESTIONS
1. What is a narcotic?
2. Name some narcotics.
3. What is a stimulant?
4. Name some stimulants.
5. How long before alcohol taken reaches the brain?
6. What effect does strong drink have on the brain?
7. Does alcohol help us think better?
8. What facts show that alcohol sends men to prison?
9. What shows that alcohol makes the mind sick?
10. Why is it dangerous for the young to take strong drink?
11. What shows that tobacco makes the brain work slower?
12. Why should you not use opium or morphine?
13. What do pain killers contain?