DIGESTION AND ABSORPTION 



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it calls the blood to the digestive organs at a time when it should be 

 more active in other parts of the body. 



Effect of Alcohol on Digestion. — It is a well-known fact that 

 alcohol extracts water from tissues with which it is in contact. 

 This fact works much harm to the interior surface of the food tube, 

 especially the walls of the stomach, which in the case of a hard 

 drinker are likely to become irritated and much toughened. In 

 very small amounts alcohol stimulates the secretion of the sali- 

 vary and gastric glands, and thus appears to aid in digestion. 

 ' The following results of experiments on dogs, published in the 

 American Journal of Physiology, Vol. I, Professor Chittenden of 

 Yale University gives as '' strictly comparable," because " they 

 were carried out in succession on the same day." They show 

 that alcohol retards rather than aids in digestion : — 



As a result of his experiments, Professor Chittenden remarks: 

 *' We believe that the results obtained justify the conclusion that 

 gastric digestion as a whole is not materially modified by the 

 introduction of alcoholic fluids with the food. In other words, 

 the unquestionable acceleration of gastric secretion which follows 

 the ingestion of alcoholic beverages is, as a rule, counterbalanced 

 by the inhibitory effect of the alcoholic fluids upon the chemical 



