PROFESSOR MILLER.
"In labour of the head, alcohol stimulates the brain to an increase
of function under the mental power, and so effects a concentrated
cerebral exhaustion, without being able to afford compensating
nutrition or repair. ....There is the same common fallacy here as in
the case of manual labour. The stimulus is felt--to do good. 'I could
not do my work without it.' But at what cost are you doing your work?
Premature and permanent exhaustion of the muscles is bad enough; but
premature and permanent exhaustion of brain is infinitely worse. And
when you come to a point where work must cease or the stimulus be
taken, do not hesitate as to the right alternative. Don't call for
your pate ale, your brandy, or your wine. Shut your book, close your
eyes, and go to sleep: or change your occupation, so as to give a
thorough shift to your brain; and then, after a time, spent, as the
case may be, either in repose or recreation, you will find yourself
fit to resume your former task of thought without loss or
detriment.... Look to the mental workers under alcohol. Take the best
of them. Would not their genius have burned not only with a steadier
and more enduring flame, but also with a less sickly and noxious
vapour to the moral health of all around them, had they been free from
the unnatural and unneeded stimulus? Take Burns, for example. Alcohol
did not make his genius, or even brighten it.
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