214 APPLIED PHYSIOLOGY 



oxygen and carbonic acid impeded. This effect may be 

 produced by continuous moderate drinking. 



367. Alcohol interferes with the respiration of the cells. 

 Alcohol is quickly absorbed from the stomach and intes- 

 tine and as quickly disappears. After it is taken, little 

 or no alcohol, or any substance like alcohol, or any sub- 

 stance containing so little oxygen as alcohol, can be found 

 in any waste of the body. Hence the inference is that it 

 must be oxidized, although the exact point and the manner 

 of its oxidation may not be known. But the evidence for 

 its oxidation is the same as that for the oxidation of sugar. 



Every ounce of alcohol requires nearly two ounces of 

 oxygen to oxidize it fully. Taking twenty-five ounces of 

 oxygen gas as the amount used in a day, there will be only 

 one ounce used in an hour. So to oxidize an ounce of 

 alcohol takes an amount of oxygen equal to the whole 

 supply of the body for two hours. Three or four drinks 

 of whisky contain this ounce of alcohol. If this amount 

 is drunk, there will soon be a lessened action and a nar- 

 cotic effect throughout the body, due mainly to the lack 

 of oxygen. A noticeable degree of uncertain action is 

 called intoxication. 



Using alcohol in the body is like burning kerosene in 

 a coal stove. By taking great care a little kerosene can 

 be made to give out some heat from the stove, but the 

 operation is dangerous. Some people seem to oxidize 

 alcohol within the body with but little harm ; but they 

 run great risks of doing themselves harm, and the result 

 is not nearly so good as if they had used proper food. 



368. Poisons produced by alcohol. When too little oxy- 

 gen enters the draft of the stove, the wood is burned imper- 

 fectly, and there are clouds of smoke and irritating gases. 

 So, if oxygen goes to the alcohol and too little reaches 



