FOODS AND DIETARIES 291 



nitrogenous foods, fat and carbohydrates. Another matter must 

 be emphasized, and it is that the form in which alcohol is taken is 

 of importance. Port wine, for instance, has more influence on the 

 amount of uric acid secreted than an equivalent amount of alcohol 

 has in some other form. To conclude : as an adjunct to the ordi- 

 nary daily diet of the healthy man alcohol cannot be considered 

 as playing the part of a true nonnitrogenous food." Quoted in 

 American Journal of Inebriety, Winter, 1906. 



Effect of Alcohol on Living Matter. If we examine raw white 

 of egg, we find a protein which closely resembles protoplasm in 

 its chemical composition ; it is called albumen. Add to a little 

 albumen in a test tube some 95 per cent alcohol and notice what 

 happens. As soon as the alcohol touches the albumen the latter 

 coagulates and becomes hard like boiled white of egg. Shake the 

 alcohol with the albumen and the entire mass soon becomes a 

 solid. This is because the alcohol draws the water out of the 

 albumen. It has been shown that albumen is somewhat like 

 protoplasm in structure and chemical composition. Strong al- 

 cohol acts in a similar manner on living matter when it is ab- 

 sorbed by the living body cells. It draws water from them and 

 hardens them. It has a chemical and physical action upon living 

 matter. 



Alcohol a Poison. But alcohol is also in certain quantities a 

 poison. 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. 



It is a matter of common knowledge that alcohol taken in small 

 quantities does not do any apparent harm. But if we examine the 

 vital records of life insurance companies, we find a large number of 

 deaths directly due to alcohol and a still greater number due in 

 part to its use. In the United States every year there are a third 

 more deaths from alcoholism and cirrhosis of the liver (a disease 

 directly caused by alcohol) than there are from typhoid fever. The 

 poisonous effect is not found in small doses, but it ultimately shows 

 its harmful effect. Hardening of the arteries, an old-age disease, 

 is rapidly becoming in this country a disease of the middle aged. 



