O'SHEA — ASPECTS OF MENTAL ECONOMY. 



115 



§3. The Influence of Alcohol in Wine, Beer, and Other Bev- 

 erages in the Production and Expenditure of Force. — We come 

 now to discuss a group of articles demanding particular con- 

 sideration, — those containing alcohol in combination with va- 

 rious other ingredients, as found in beer, wine, whiskey, and 

 the like. It was not thought necessary nor perhaps desirable 

 to try to find out in our questionnaire how extensively these 

 are used by our own students ; but it is well known, of course, 

 that to some extent here, as elsewhere, alcoholic beverages are 

 indulged in. The composition of beer and wine, the beverages 

 most commonly drunk, reveals at the outset the fact that they 

 cannot be regarded as foods in the proper sense. The following 

 is the list of the chief compounds known to occur in beer •} 



1. Alcohol, or spirits of wine, from 8 to 3 per cent. 



2. Dextrin, about 4.5 per cent. 



3. Albuminoids, about 0.5 per cent. 



4. Sugar, about 0.5 per cent. 



5. Acetic, Lactic, and Succinic Acids, about 0.3 per cent. 



6. Glycerin, about .22 per cent. 



7. Carbonic Acid Gas, about 0.22 per cent. 



8. Mineral matter, about 0.3 per cent. 



The following table shows the quantities of alcohol and other 

 elements contained in fair average samples of one imperial pint 

 each of eight different kinds of wines commonly consumed in our 

 region : 2 



Name of wine. 



Hock 



Claret 



Champagne 

 Burgundy. . 

 Carlowitz. . 



Sherry 



Madeira .. . 

 Port 



Alcohol 

 (absolute) 



Oz. Or, 



219 

 306 

 313 

 18 

 35 

 147 

 218 

 218 



Tartar- 

 ic and 

 other 

 fixed 

 acids. 



Or. 



39 



31 



20 



24 



36 



24 



26 



23 



Acetic 

 acid. 



Gr. 

 18 

 18 

 10 

 17 

 19 

 12 

 18 

 12 



Sugar. 



Oz. Gr. 

 None. 

 None. 

 1 120 

 10 

 None. 

 236 

 175 

 359 



Ethers. 



Gr. 



e 



5 



6 

 5 

 4 

 5 

 6 



Miner- 

 al mat- 

 ter. 



Gr. 



16 



18 



20 



18 



16 



38 



33 



20 



The principal constituent, aside from water, of whiskey, rum, 

 and brandy, like wine, is alcohol, which indeed is the princi- 



1 Church, op. cit., p. 190. 

 'Idem., p. 194. 



