FOODS 327 



While, therefore, it must be classed technically as a food, it is in many 

 respects an unsuitable food, and its place can be taken with great advan- 

 tage by other substances." — Kendrick, Physiology (Glasgow, 1889), 

 Vol. II, page 19. 



"Alcohol is thus, within narrow limits, a food. ... It is, moreover, a 

 very uneconomical food. Much more nutriment would have been obtained 

 from the barley or curds from which it was made. The value of alcohol 

 within narrow limits is not as a food, but as a stimulant, not only to diges- 

 tion, but to the heart and brain." — Halliburton, Text-hook of Chemical 

 and Pathological Physiology, 1891, page 600. 



" According to Dupre, one grain of alcohol oxidized in the body evolves 

 7134 units of heat, while the same amount of lean beef gives off only 1482 

 units of heat. It has been estimated that 9.5 ounces of lean beef (equal 

 to about 2 ounces of alcohol) will supply the force necessary to maintain 

 the circulation and respiration for one day. That is, four ounces of strong 

 spirit will suffice for this purpose. These considerations warrant the 

 statement that, in a certain sense, alcohol is a food, i.e. that it is capable 

 of being used for the purpose of the organism." — H. C. Wood, Therapeu- 

 tics. 



''Alcohol in small doses is of great use in conditions of temporary want or 

 where food is taken in insufficient quantity. When alcohol is taken regu- 

 larly, more especially in large doses, it affects the nervous system and 

 undermines the physical and corporal faculties, partly by the action of 

 the impurities which it may contain, such as fusel oil, which has a poisonous 

 effect on the nervous system; partly by its direct effects, such as catarrh 

 and inflammation of the digestive organs, which it produces; and lastly 

 by its effects on the normal metabolism." — Landois & Sterling, Text- 

 hook on Human Physiology (London, 1891), page 437. 



On the other hand, we know that although alcohol may techni- 

 cally be considered as a food, it is a very unsatisfactory food. In 

 large doses, it is, undoubtedly, poisonous. A commonly accepted 

 definition of a poison is that it is any substance which, when taken 

 into the body, tends to cause serious detriment to health or the death 

 of the organism. 



That alcohol may do this is well known by scientists. The 

 following quotations show that a large number of very eminent 

 professors and physicians have this belief. 



" From an exhaustive definition we shall have to class every substance as 

 a poison which, on becoming mixed with the blood, causes a disturbance 

 in the function of any organ. That alcohol is such a poison cannot be 

 doubted. . . . Very appropriately has the English language named the 



