400 FAT METABOLISM. OBESITY 



always lost about one-fourth of their energy value in passing 

 from the intestine to the fat depots, in which, according to 

 the findings of N. Zuntz and Eubner, not only the work of di- 

 gestion but also the heat abstraction which takes place in 

 the passage of carbohydrate into fat, are included. 



"The most favorable substance is fat" says Carl von 

 Noorden. "This requires but little expenditure of force 

 on the part of the digestive organs and is deposited as fat 

 with almost no loss of energy. Practical medicine still hesi- 

 tates to make effective use of fat as a fattening medium, and 

 generally gives preference to the carbohydrates. I have 

 often pointed out that this should be abandoned, and that 

 large, and even enormous amounts of fat (neglecting here 

 certain pathological changes of the stomach and intestines) 

 are excellently borne, and bring about results which can 

 scarcely be equalled, not to say surpassed, by extra adminis- 

 tration of carbohydrates. " 



Alcohol, too, may find a place among the adjuvants in 

 fattening, because of the large energy-value it possesses, and 

 because its combustion serves to protect other material. 

 However, because of its toxic features it can be considered 

 only in very limited sense as a food material; and is, of 

 course, in no wise indispensable (as has been thoroughly 

 established). The writer is, however, not so naive as to 

 fancy that the many fellow beings whom alcohol serves as a 

 fattening agent in an empiric way not worthy of imitation 

 will allow themselves to be at all disturbed in the use of this 

 substance by considerations of a physiological-chemical 

 nature. 



Now and then we realize to our surprise that practice 

 does not always direct its measures as theory believes is 

 right. 



This holds good, unfortunately, not only for alcohol, but 

 also for many other measures looking to the advance of 

 human culture. 



