The mental and emotional exhilaration accompanying the indulgence in alcohol or other poisonous stimulants is produced in a similar manner as the apparent increase of physical strength under the influence of these agents.  Here, also, the temporary stimulation and seeming increase of power are effected by paralysis of the governing and restraining faculties of mind and soul:  of reason, modesty, reserve, caution, reverence, etc.

The moral, mental and emotional capacities and powers of the human entity are governed by the same principle of dual action that controls physical activity.  We have on the one hand the motor or driving impulses, and on the other hand the restraining and inhibiting influences.

In these higher realms appetite, passion, imagination and desire correspond to the motor nervous system in the physical organism, and the power of the will and the reasoning faculties represent the inhibitory nervous system.

The exhilarating and stimulating influence of alcohol and narcotics such as opiates or hashish upon the animal spirits and the emotional and imaginative faculties is caused by the benumbing and paralyzing effect of these stimulants upon the powers of will, reason and self-control, the brakes on the lower appetites, passions and desires which fire the emotional nature and the imagination.  However, what is gained in feeling and imagination, is lost in judgment and logic.

Alcohol, nicotine, caffein, theobromine, lupulin (the bitter principle of hops), opium, cocaine, morphine, etc., when given in certain doses, all affect the human organism in a similar manner.

In small quantities they seemingly stimulate and animate; in larger amounts they depress and stupefy.  In reality, they are paralyzers from the beginning in every instance, and their apparent, temporary tonic effect is deceptive.  They benumb and paralyze not only the physical organism, but also the higher and highest mental and moral qualities, capacities and powers.

These higher and finer qualities are located in the front part of the brain.  In the evolution of the species from lower to higher, the brain gradually developed and enlarged in a forward direction.  Thus we find in the lowest order of fishes that all they possess of brain matter is a small protuberance at the end of the spinal cord.  As the species and families rose in the scale of evolution, the brain developed proportionately from behind forward and became differentiated into three distinct divisions:  the medulla oblongata, the cerebellum, and the cerebrum.

The medulla oblongata, situated at the base of the brain where it joins the spinal cord, contains those brain centers that control the purely vegetative, vital functions:  the circulation of the blood, the respiration, regulation of animal heat, etc.

The cerebellum, in front of and above the medulla, is the seat of the centers for the coordination of muscular activities and for maintaining the equilibrium of the body.