just five minutes. The
alcohol did not touch the plant, because the jar was only wet with the
alcohol on the inside. When he took the plant out, he found that it
could not catch flies, and that its digestion was spoiled so that it
could not even digest very tender bits of meat which were placed on its
leaves. The plant was drunk.

~26.~ Mr. Darwin tried a great many experiments with various poisons,
and found that the plants were affected in much the same way by ether
and chloroform, and also by nicotine, the poisonous oil of tobacco.
Sugar, milk, and other foods had no such effect. This does not look much
as though alcohol would help digestion; does it?

~27. Effects of Alcohol on Digestion.~--Dr. Roberts, a very eminent
English scientist, made many experiments, a few years ago, to ascertain
positively about the effect of alcohol upon digestion. He concluded that
alcohol, even in small doses, delays digestion. This is quite contrary
to the belief of very many people, who suppose that wine, cider, or
stronger liquors aid digestion. The use of alcohol in the form of beer
or other alcoholic drinks is often a cause of serious disease of the
stomach and other digestive organs.

~28. Effects of Alcohol on Animal Heat.~--A large part of the food we
eat is used in keeping our bodies warm. Most of the starch, sugar, and
fat in our food serves the body as a sort of fuel. It is by this means
that the body is kept always at about the same temperature, which is
just a little less than one hundred degrees. This is why we need more
food in very cold weather than in very warm weather.

~29.~ When a person takes alcohol, it is found that instead of being
made warmer by it, he is not so warm as before. He feels warmer, but if
his temperature be ascertained by means of a thermometer placed in his
mouth, it is found that he is really colder. The more alcohol a person
takes the colder he becomes. If alcohol were good food would we expect
this to be the case? It is probably true that the alcohol does make a
little heat, but at the same time it causes us to lose much more heat
than it makes. The outside of the body is not so warm as the inside.
This is because the warm blood in the blood-vessels of the skin is
cooled more rapidly than the blood in the interior of the body. The
effect of alcohol is to cause the blood-vessels of the outside of the
body to become much enlarged. This is why the face becomes flushed. A
larger amount of warm b