358 DIETETIC VALUE 



yielding abundance of energy at little cost to the tissues, 

 and it is in general use in fevers, although it is by no means 

 an indispensable remedy (Mitchell Bruce). 



The dietetic value of alcohol has been the subject of much 

 controversy. Its consumption in great part within the body 

 explains how men and animals kept on somewhat deficient 

 diet, on which weight would be lost, nevertheless maintain 

 their weight, when receiving, in addition, daily small doses 

 of alcohol. But for ordinary nutrition it is a food which, 

 although quickly assimilated, is rapidly used up, and, unless 

 carefully employed, has the disadvantage of impairing 

 oxidation and excretion. For permanent repair of waste, 

 and maintenance of strength during severe continued 

 exertion, it cannot compare with suitable food. This was 

 strikingly illustrated in the Ashantee War, when soldiers, 

 on exhausting marches, who received rations of rum, 

 although temporarily improved in vigour soon flagged again ; 

 while those receiving beef-tea were equally refreshed in the 

 first instance, and did not experience the secondary depres- 

 sion which overtook those who preferred the alcohol. 



Different classes of animals are somewhat differently 

 affected by alcohol. Man, whose intellectual centres are 

 about eight times larger than his motor centres, has his 

 intelligence quickly acted on by doses which are insufficient 

 to impair his motor functions. Amounts corresponding to 

 0'4 to the 1000 of the total weight of the body disturb 

 human intelligence ; while 2*40 per 1000 of weight are needed 

 to impair motor functions. In dogs the cerebral are about 

 five times the weight of the motor centres. Alcohol has 

 no notable effect until 1*5 to the 1000 of body weight is 

 taken, and the prominent results then occurring are dis- 

 turbance not of intelligence, but of motor function. Horses 

 and cattle receiving full doses exhibit excitement and 

 perversion of motor function ; they prance, strike with the 

 feet, are unsteady in their gait, and drag the hind limbs. 

 Muscular twitching and convulsions occasionally occur. 



Toxic ACTIONS. Large doses paralyse the nerve-centres 

 in the inverse order of their development, the cerebral 

 (judgment and volition) being first affected, the respiratory 

 and cardiac (vital centres) last. Thus alcohol affords an 



