102 ' ALIMENTATION. 



France eau de Seltz, is a very common drink, and its excel- 

 lence depends on the thoroughness with which the gas has 

 been washed and freed from impurities. Sea-water may be 

 rendered fit for drinking by distillation and agitation with 

 air. Apparatus for thus supplying pure water is generally 

 found in well-appointed sea-going vessels. 



The demand on the part of the system for water is reg- 

 ulated, to a certain extent, by the quantity discharged from 

 the organism, and this is subject to great variations. The 

 quantity taken as drink also depends very much on the con- 

 stitution of the food as regards the water which enters into 

 its composition. 



Alcohol. 



All distilled and fermented liquors and wines contain a 

 greater or less proportion of alcohol. As these are so gener- 

 ally used as beverages, and as the effects of their excessive 

 use are so serious, the influence of alcohol upon the organ- 

 ism has become one of the most important questions con- 

 nected with alimentation. In the discussion of this subject 

 it is not proposed to enter into the great moral questions 

 involved, but to consider, from a purely physiological point 

 of view, the immediate and remote influences of the various 

 alcoholic beverages upon nutrition and the animal functions. 

 Some alcoholic beverages influence the functions solely 

 through the alcohol which they contain; while others, as 

 beer and porter, with a comparatively small proportion of al- 

 cohol, contain a considerable quantity of solid matters which 

 may act as alimentary principles. 



Alcohol (C 4 H 6 2 ), from its composition, is to be classed with 

 the non-nitrogenized principles, more especially the fats, in 

 which the hydrogen and oxygen do not exist in the proportion 

 to form water. We have seen that sugar and fat are essen- 

 tial to proper nutrition and undergo in the organism impor- 

 tant changes. Alcohol is capable of being absorbed and 

 taken into the blood ; and it becomes a question of great 



