is a depressant and not a stimulant. Most of the texts have stated
 that fact, but not all have explained that the feeling of exhiliration
 that follows a drink is due to the "taking off the brakes." One
 feels relaxed and at ease because his higher brain centers have been
 anesthetized and his judgment and self-criticism are lessened. He
 feels better than he is. It is well to explain this semblance of
 stimulation to high school students.

 6. Confusion of terms The scientific studies in alcohol are
 new, and the use of terms has not been fully established. The use of
 the term narcotic with relation to alcohol is one of these. Dr. Howard
 W. Haggard (2) of Yale, one of the foremost scientists in the subject,
 thinks that alcohol is an anesthetic. "An anesthetic, is a volatile
 substance which, when inhaled, depresses and abolishes the functions
 of the brain in descending order." The general term, depressant, may
 be the better one to use.

 Howard E. Hamlin (3) says in Alcohol Talks from the Laboratory,
"MR. ALCOHOL: .........I am often called a narcotic, but recent
interpretation would classify me more accurately as an ANESTHETIC.
Narcotics, strictly speaking, are chemicals for which the body develops
a 'tolerance.' In other words, they are chemicals for which the body
makes an adjustment that later necessitates larger and larger doses
as one becomes more and more addicted to them. For example, if you
were to take a grain of morphine now it would kill you, but after
additction to it, even 10 would not kill.

 "On the contrary I act as an anesthetic like ether which is made
 from me. The only difference between our effects is that ether works
 faster and its effects are more thorough. We both produce the same
 kind of intoxication but not of the same degree. Anesthetics affect
 the brain in a descending course. This means that I affect the
 cerebrum first and the medulla last, or in the reverse order of their
 evolutionary'dcvelopment. The centers of thought, judgement, reason,
 self control, etc. are the first of your mental faculties to be
 impaired. The functions of breathing and circulation are the last
 to be modified, for they are controlled through the medulla.

 "Your body does'not develop a tolerance to me as it does to nar-
 cotics. For example, whether you are a novice or an habitual drinker
 you are affected the same by equal concentrations of alcohol in the
 blood. If it becomes 0.3% alcohol, you will stagger in your walk
 regardless of your experience or inexperience at drinking. When your
 blood is 0.5% alcohol you become unconscious. At 0.6 to 0.8% alcohol,
 death occurs, as this is the lethal concentration."

 Whichever term is used, anesthetic, depressant or narcotic, the
 effects are the same, We need not consume time in arguing such points
 while youth needs to receive information that is more vital to them.

 7. Too great emphasis on the phyieonr1- ffcT Wiln Uvr. tn


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