106 ALIMENTATION. 



have been made by Dr. Hammond, which bear more particu- 

 larly on the influence of this agent on nutrition. It is well 

 known that by carefully regulating the diet, exercise, etc., the 

 weight of the body, in a healthy man, can be maintained for 

 a time at a standard which may be taken as normal. Under 

 these conditions the mind is clear, the appetite good, the 

 food is relished, and every function appears to be in normal 

 operation. Dr. Hammond after a number of experiments 

 in which he established, in his own person, the conditions 

 which would maintain the weight at a fixed point, and hav- 

 ing noted the exact quantities of the excretions and the ex- 

 halations from the lungs took at breakfast, luncheon, and 

 dinner four drachms of alcohol diluted with an equal quan- 

 tity of water, and continued this for five days. The results 

 we give in his own words : 



" Thus, after the use of sixty drachms of alcohol in five 

 days, my weight is seen to have increased from an average 

 of 226*40 pounds to an average of 226*85 pounds, being *45 

 of a pound difference. The carbonic acid and vapor of water 

 in the expired air had respectively decreased 1,324*50 and 

 196*51 grains; the fssces, 1*22 ounces ; the urine, 3*43 ounces; 

 the urea, 87*19 grains ; the chlorine, 37*59 grains ; the phos- 

 phoric acid, 24*47 grains, and the sulphuric acid, 13*40 grains. 

 The free acid and uric acid, especially the former, were so 

 slightly affected as to render it probable that the alcohol 

 had exercised no influence upon them." 1 During this time 

 there was some disturbance of the general health. The 

 pulse was increased in frequency, there was headache, and 

 the mental faculties were not so clear as on the days when 

 no alcohol was taken. 



The second series of experiments was for the purpose of 

 ascertaining the influence of alcohol w T hen the body was 

 losing weight from an insufficiency of food. It w T as found 

 that by reducing the daily quantity of meat from sixteen to 



1 HAMMOND, The Physiological Effects of Alcohol and Tobacco upon the Hu- 

 man System. Physiological Memoirs, Philadelphia, 1863, p. 48. 



