By dint of imbibing alcohol, his body shrunk up like the embryos displayed in glass jars in chemical laboratories.

When he approached a window you could see through his ribs, so skinny had he become.

Those who knew his age, only forty years just gone, shuddered when he passed by, bent and unsteady, looking as old as the streets themselves.

And the trembling of his hands increased, the right one danced to such an extent, that sometimes he had to take his glass between both fists to carry it to his lips.

Oh! that cursed trembling! It was the only thing that worried his addled brains.
You could hear him growling ferocious insults against those hands of his.
This last summer, during which Nana usually came home to spend her nights, after she had finished knocking about, was especially bad for Coupeau.