: FIG. 72.--Stopping the flow of blood from an artery.]

If a large artery is cut, a bandage twisted tight with a stick around
the limb on the side of the wound next to the heart will stop the
bleeding. If a vein is cut, the bandage should be placed on the side
of the cut away from the heart.

=Alcoholic Drinks weaken the Blood.=--It has been noticed for some
years that when a user of beer or whisky is attacked with fever, the
disease is more severe than in one not using alcohol. The reason for
this has lately been explained by a well-known scientist working in
Paris. He put certain disease germs in rabbits, but they did not
become sick. When he gave them a little alcohol and put the same
amount of disease germs in them as before, they became sick and died.
By careful study he learned that the white blood cells had in the
first case killed the germs. In the second experiment the blood cells
were made so weak and lazy by the alcohol that they did not put up
such a strong fight against the germs.

=Tobacco and the Blood.=--Any one who chews or smokes tobacco
regularly gets much of the poison into the blood. The vessels in the
mouth and throat drink in some of the juice and also the poison from
the smoke. How much this poison affects the blood cells is not known,
but it is likely to do them some harm because it makes the growing
cells of the body less active.

=How Beer weakens the Heart.=--Whisky was at one time thought to
strengthen the heart, but doctors generally agree now that it weakens
the heart. It may make the heart beat a little stronger for a few
minutes, but after that the beating is weaker than usual.

Much use of beer is known to make fat collect around the heart and
also cause some of the heart muscle itself to change into fat. In this
way the heart becomes so weak that it can no longer do its work, and
death results. The reports from Germany show that hundreds of persons
die every year from weakened hearts made so by the use of much beer.

=Alcohol hurts the Blood Vessels.=--Careful examination of the blood
vessels of drunkards after death shows that in many cases the alcohol
has caused the walls of the vessels to become thick and sometimes
hard. The thickening of the wall makes the channel of the tube
smaller. The heart must then work much harder to get the blood through
to feed the tissues.

=Tobacco and the Heart.=--Many boys who use tobacco regularly do not
have a steady heart beat. This is spec