552 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



couple of glasses of wine. The actual amount of food absorbed 

 from the alimentary tract is scarcely changed definitely in either 

 direction. But however variable the reaction of the individual 

 stomach to small quantities of alcohol may be, there is only one 

 response when larger quantities are taken, and that is dis- 

 organisation of the whole process. And while the usefulness 

 of alcohol in treating some digestive disorders may still be 

 uncontroverted, Binz's dictum, that the healthy stomach needs 

 no stomachic, and therefore no alcohol, must be the standpoint 

 of the physician to-day. 



But it may be argued that while the absolutely normal 

 stomach is capable of digesting thoroughly and extracting the 

 whole of the nutriment from the food offered to it, the artificial 

 conditions under which most of us live necessitate measures 

 which are unnecessary in a more healthful environment. Does 

 not the jaded appetite demand exceptional measures, and may 

 not wine be used to render food palatable and promote gastric 

 secretion and digestion just as other condiments are employed ? 

 Shall he who seasons his food with wine be condemned, 

 while he who substitutes mustard may be regarded as of 

 upright life and conversation ? The objection to the habitual 

 use of alcoholic beverages " for the stomach's sake," in the 

 scriptural phrase, does not arise from its effects on the 

 digestion, but from the tendency towards the habit being formed 

 and from its action on the brain. 



In regard to the second phase of the question of alcohol 

 on nutrition — its food value — the last few years have witnessed 

 experiments performed with such meticulous care that there 

 can be but one opinion in the minds of those who have studied 

 the subject. Over 95 per cent, of the alcohol ingested undergoes 

 combustion in the tissues and is utilised by them as a source 

 of energy. As regards its fate in the body, in fact, alcohol is 

 strictly comparable to sugar, which is also an alcohol, though 

 of a more complex nature than the substance under discussion. 

 Like sugar, it is capable of supplying energy, which may be 

 utilised in heat formation and mechanical work, and it may lead 

 to the deposit of fat and to economy of the precious nitrogenous 

 stores of the tissues. In fact, the more closely the metabolism 

 under alcohol is examined, the more closely is it found to 

 conform to that under an equivalent amount of carbohydrate, 

 and it seems to me that the protagonists in the fight against 



