62 BIOLOGICAL PROBLEMS 



(or proteins). Can we utilize alcohol to replace these 

 in the supply of fuel? This is the crucial question in 

 the estimate of the food value of alcohol, and it has 

 long been a subject of investigation and a battle- 

 ground for the supporters and denouncers of the use 

 of alcohol. There is no longer room for doubt, how- 

 ever, that alcohol can replace a certain amount of 

 bread-stuffs as a source of heat and work in the 

 human body ; about one-fifth of the total energy 

 required can be supplied by alcohol. And if alcohol 

 is taken, not as a substitute for part of the bread- 

 stuffs, but in addition to the ordinary dietary, it is 

 utilized for heat and work while the bread-stuffs are 

 stored up in the tissues for future use: the body be- 

 comes a hoarder. And here we find the chief differ- 

 ence between the behaviour of alcohol and sugar in 

 the role of food-stuffs. Sugar, which is chemically a 

 not very distant relative of alcohol itself, and which, 

 on the other hand, may be taken as the type of the 

 starches and bread-stuffs in general, can be stored as 

 a reserve in the body, while alcohol cannot be laid 

 up in this way, but must be consumed. An analogy 

 may be drawn with the household economy, in which 

 flour and cereals in general can be stored better than 

 potatoes, and we are therefore urged to use the latter 

 and spare the stock of cereals for a time when there 

 may be a scarcity. In the same way the body cannot 

 store alcohol, and uses it for heat and work, and stores 

 its sugar for future use. The final result is much the 

 same in either case: when sugar is taken it is utilized 

 as a source of work, and part of it may be stored; 

 while when alcohol is taken it is utilized for work 

 and the sugar is stored, or the reserve of sugar 

 already present is not drawn upon. Alcohol may 

 likewise be utilized instead of fats in the body, and, 

 if it is taken in addition to the ordinary diet, fat 



