272 



MEMOIRS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



Elimination of nitrogen in presence and absena of coffee. 

 [Quantities per day.] 



This table comprises all of the experiments that are directly comparable. The experiments 

 in which the alcohol was given with coffee are averaged together and compared with the corre- 

 sponding nonalcohol experiments, and the figures in the third line of category I show the effects 

 of alcohol in presence of coffee. Under II a similar comparison is made of the experiments in 

 which no coffee was given, the third line of figures here showing the effects of alcohol when 

 taken alone. By subtracting the third line of figures under II from the corresponding figures 

 under I we obtain values which may lie taken as showing the influence of the coffee. A more 

 direct comparison of results with and without coffee is given under III, but the number of 

 experiments compared is necessarily smaller, and therefore individual variations have relatively 

 much greater weight. While the differences which could be attributed to the coffee are probably 

 within the limits of experimental error, it would seem that if there is any effect it is to increase 

 rather than to retard proteid metabolism. 



EFFECT OF ALCOHOL UPON THE RADIATION OF HEAT FROM THE BODY. 



A current theory maintain- that although alcohol supplies heat to the body it also increases 

 the radiation of heat from the body, so that much or all the energy it supplies is wasted. 



This theory is based upon two kinds of evidence, which are well attested and make it very 

 plausible. One is the distension of the blood vessels which cause the Hush of the skin when 

 alcohol is taken. The other is the lowering of the temperature of the body after the ingestion 

 of alcohol, which is shown by many of experiments and is explained by the loss of heat. 



Some writers even go so far as to claim that the extra heat radiation clue to the distension 

 of the peripheral vessels is greater than the heat supply from the oxidation of the alcohol. 

 According to this view, alcohol, instead of being a source of energy, is a cause of its loss to the 

 body. 



The difficultv with the theory is the exaggeration of the influence of small quantities of alcohol 

 in increasing heat radiation. While the temperature of the body has been found to fall consid- 

 erably after the ingestion of large doses of alcohol, and especially under exposure to great cold, 

 the effect of ordinary doses is slight and often imperceptible. 



In the experiments here described the determinations of body temperature were made with 

 an ordinary clinical thermometer in the mouth and axilla, as elsewhere stated. This method. 



