THE PHYSIOLOGY OF ALCOHOL, 599 



a considerable retardation of growth, over half as much as ten 

 times the amount in one hundredth of one per cent, and about 

 one fifth as much as the retardation caused by one hundred times 

 as much alcohol, one tenth of one per cent. That is to say, we 

 find a truly j)hysiological curve, of practically the same form as 

 that obtained from the fatigue of a muscle fiber or a nerve 

 cell. This is not so remarkable, since in all such experiments 

 we are touching, in final analysis, the vital activities of living 

 cells, and in muscle or nerve one of the prime factors in causa- 

 tion of fatigue is accumulation of the waste products of active 

 metabolism. 



In the right-hand diagram in Fig. 1 and in Fig. 2 the same fact 

 is expressed as a race a competitive effort in which the culture 

 containing no alcohol is seen to win, the others falling behind. 

 In general, retardation of growth is directly proportional to 

 amount of alcohol. This is the unmistakable result of the entire 

 series of experiments, fifteen in number. In Fig. 2, however, it 

 may be noted that the cultures containing one per cent have 

 grown somewhat better than those of 01 and O'Ol per cent. This 

 is clearly due to difiiculties in uniformly " seeding" the cultures, 

 and when these were overcome perfectly consistent results, as 

 seen in Fig. }, were obtained.* 



Too great caution can not be used in interpreting the above 

 results. While the physiology of the yeast cell and that of the 

 cells of the human body may be at ground similar, in certain par- 

 ticulars they may be widely different. The yeast cell has not the 

 power to oxidize alcohol. The cells of the body, or some of them 

 at least, are most certainly able to bring about this reaction. 

 Furthermore, if we had experimented with Mycoderma aceti the 

 normal food of which alcohol seems to be we should have doubt- 

 less obtained a diametrically opposite result. 



On the other hand, ethyl alcohol is found in minute qua.ntities 

 in the fresh tissues of man and animals where no alcohol has been 

 given as a constant normal constituent. It has been distilled off 

 from the brain, muscle, and liver, f Whether it exists as a food 

 in process of transformation or as a waste product, as in case of 

 the yeast cell ; whether it is a waste product from the activity of 



* S. cerevuice, obtained in pure culture from Fleischmann's compressed yeast, was used 

 throughout these experiments. The chief difficulty encountered consisted in breaking 

 up the large clusters, composed of hundreds of torulae, so as to get a uniform seeding sus- 

 pension. This was finally done by churning the culture from which it was desired to seed 

 with a wad of sterilized absorbent cotton. The liquid squeezed out of the cotton contained 

 only single torulae. The seeding was always done from fresh stock solution i, e., it was 

 free from alcohol. 



f Kajewski. Pfliiger's Archiv, Bd. ii, S. 122. Hoppe-Seyler. Handbuch der cheraischen 

 Analyse, Berlin, 1893, S. 40 and 41. 



