ALCOH01 



CHAPTER LII 



L IN RELATION TO BIOLOGY 

 Vocabulary 



Magnitude, size or importance. 

 Detriment, harm. 

 Acceleration, speeding up action. 

 Excessive, too great. 

 Morbid, abnormal. 

 Pre-disposition, tendency toward. 

 Potent, powerful. 

 Therapeutics, curative medicine. 



The chemist would say that " alcohol " is one of a number of 

 similar compounds, containing carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen in 

 the proportions C2H tt O and would insist that we call it " ethyl 

 alcohol " or " grain alcohol " to distinguish it from wood alcohol, 

 glycerine, and many other similar forms. The physiologist or 

 physician would tell us that it is a narcotic poison in its action on 

 the tissues, disturbing especially the nervous system. 



The reason that this substance demands a chapter in a biology 

 text is that man, from the earliest times, has used this drug be- 

 cause of its intoxicant effects, until now its bearing upon the 

 development of the human race has become one of the greatest 

 biological problems. 



Alcoholic beverages may be classed roughly in three groups: 



1. Beer (2-5 per cent alcohol) made from fermented barley. 



2. Wine (15-20 per cent alcohol) from fermented fruit juices. 



3. Whiskey (30-50 per cent alcohol) from either source, but 

 distilled to increase its strength. 



In ancient times before modern methods of malting and dis- 

 tilling were invented, wine was a rare and comparatively unim- 



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