What harm do alcoholic liquors do to the heart?—“They make it
tired, and sometimes wear it out.” In what way do they make it
tired?—“They make it beat too fast.” Why does it beat too
fast?—“Because it is hurrying to drive the alcohol out of the
body.” In what other way do alcoholic liquors hurt the
heart?—“They produce disease in it.” Tell one way by which the
heart becomes diseased through alcoholic liquors?—“Alcohol
softens the fibres of the muscles of the heart, and fills them
with fat.” What harm does this do to the heart?—“It makes it too
weak to do its work, which is to pump the blood through the
body.” What sometimes happens when the heart is thus
weakened?—“It stops beating, which causes sudden death.” What
harm does alcohol do to the blood?—“It uses up the water of the
blood; it destroys the goodness of the red part; it makes the
blood thin, impure, and unfit to do its work.” See Appendices on
Alcohol and Tobacco. * * * * * [Illustration: THE LUNGS.] 1, 2,
the larynx, the upper part of the windpipe.