BEVERAGES IN WAR-TIME 63 



is deposited as a store. The tendency to hoard fat 

 when alcohol is taken in quantity is, of course, a 

 familiar enough observation. 



As regards the proteins or meat-stuffs, alcohol can- 

 not supplant these, because the proteins contain nitro- 

 gen, while alcohol is free from it. Now nitrogen is a 

 necessary constituent of the food. The nitrogenous 

 compounds serve to replace the waste of the human 

 machine, and they also are available as a source of 

 energy for heat and work. In their first function of 

 replacing the waste the proteins cannot be substituted 

 by either alcohol or sugar, but as a fuel for the body 

 either alcohol or sugar may serve instead of the pro- 

 teins in equal measure. It is true that in some ex- 

 periments it has appeared that alcohol was not equiva- 

 lent to sugar in reducing protein waste; but this has 

 been satisfactorily explained by the fact that a sudden 

 change to alcohol or other substitute for bread-stuffs 

 disturbs the digestion at first, and thus interferes 

 with the assimilation. As soon as that wonderfully 

 adaptable mechanism, the human body, has recovered 

 from its surprise at this new kind of food, it utilizes 

 it in the same way as it previously consumed its 

 ration of sugar. And here it may be added that the 

 alcohol is burned in the tissues more rapidly when 

 they are accustomed to it: the habitual user of alcohol 

 is able to make use of its energy much more quickly 

 than the abstainer. The moral for those proposing to 

 draw a whisky ration instead of a sugar one would 

 seem to be: "Drink deep or not at all from the 

 alcohol spring". Unfortunately, while the utiliza- 

 tion of alcohol by the individual is improved by 

 consistent drinking, the utility of the individual to 

 the community deteriorates in equal or in greater 

 measure. 



Alcohol is thus a food-stuff comparable to sugar 



