MEMOIKS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



2S!5 



It appears thai in the more directly comparable experiments the energy of material oxidized 

 averaged the same where the subjects were at rest. Imt was about 1 percent larger with the 

 alcohol when they were at work. In the less directly comparable experiments, in all of which 

 the subjects were at rest, the average was larger by about 2 per cent with the alcohol diet. This 

 is perhaps qo more than was to be expected with the slight differences in the conditions of the 

 experiments. 



In this method of comparison by amounts of material and energy oxidized, as in the previous 

 method, the differences were too small to be taken into account in individual experiments, hut 

 appearing as they do in the average of a number of experiments they are not without significance. 

 The conclusion is that the energy of the uleohol diet was slightly less economically used than that 

 of the ordinary diet, especially in the work experiments. This implies that the energy of the 

 aleohol itself was less economically utilized than that of the fats and carbohydrates, hut the 

 differences are so small as to be of little or no practical consequence. 



Iu /'/fir- effit etwi /" ss of alcohol < xpr< sst <l in /<< ret ntag< s. — In the work experiments of Group I 

 3,664 calories were metabolized with the ordinary, and 3,694 with the alcohol ration. The 

 relative costs of maintaining the body with the two rations were thus 3,664 : 3,694= 100 : 100.8 

 or !»'.». 2 : 100; the difference of 30 calories being 0.8 percent. Assuming the difference to he due 

 wholly to the inferiority of the alcohol ration, its effectiveness, calorie for calorie, would he 99.2 

 per cent of that of the ordinary ration, so far as the energy is concerned. 



The aleohol supplied .".on calories of energy, of which the 30 calories would represent 6 per 

 cent. If we charge the deficit wholly to the alcohol, the latter would he, calorie for calorie, 

 • i per cent less effective than the fats and carbohydrates it replaced. In other words, the effect- 

 iveness of the alcohol as a source of energy in the ration for muscular work in this case would 

 he '-'4 per cent of that of the isodynamic amounts of carbohydrates and fats. 



Calculated in these ways the effectiveness of the alcohol ration as compared with the ordinary 

 ration, and that of the alcohol as compared with carbohydrates and fats in the experiments of 

 Groups I- III. would he as follows : 



Perct nlagt s "/ efft ctivt m ss of < nergy. 



Experiments. 



Groups. 



Classification. 



Energy of alco- 

 hol ration :i* 

 I compared with 

 [ energy of ordi- 

 nary ration. 



I 



II 



III 



I 

 I 



More directly comparable 

 Less directly comparable. 



Average of I and II 



Best experiments 



Work experiments 



Per cent. 

 99. 5 

 1*7. 7 

 99.0 

 100.0 

 99.2 



Energy of alco- 

 hol as com- 

 pared with en- 

 ergy of carbo- 

 hydrates and 

 fats. 



/'. r ct ut. 



97.0 

 89.2 

 94.4 

 99.8 

 94.0 



Summary. — The conditions and results of these experiments and the inferences here drawn 

 from them regarding alcohol as a source of muscular energy may he briefly summarized: 



1. Wc have here experiments with ordinary diet compared with other experiments in which 

 the conditions were similar except that carbohydrates and fats sufficient to supply 500 calories 

 of energy of the 2,200-3,600 calories in the daily ration were replaced by the isodynamic amount 

 (about 72 grams) of alcohol, the latter being taken in six doses. The conditions of work and 

 rest were very nearly the same in the corresponding experiments, with and without alcohol. 



2. The amounts of material and energy transformed in the experiments with alcohol were 

 very nearly the same as in the corresponding ones without alcohol. Where the ration was 

 insufficient to meet the needs of the body, and it had to draw upon its store of fat and protein to 

 supply the lacking energy, the drafts were practically the same with the ordinary as with the 

 alcohol diet, so far as concerns the energy of the body material drawn upon. 



:;. The utilization of the energy of the whole ration was slightly less economical with the 

 alcohol than with the ordinary diet, especially when the subjects were at hard muscular work. 



