94 Life and Health 



as the oxidation of starch and sugar in the body yields 

 v energy ; but the result to the body is quite different from 

 that of the oxidation of foods. The energy yielded by 

 foods makes the body warmer, while that gained from 

 alcohol may be more than counterbalanced by the greater 

 loss of heat resulting from the dilatation of the cutaneous 

 blood vessels from the effect of the alcohol upon the nerves 

 in the skin. 



In brief, the oxidation of ordinary food makes the 

 body better able to work and keep warm ; the oxidation 

 of alcohol makes the body less able -to work and keep 

 warm. Repeated test experiments have shown that alcohol 

 decreases the amount of muscular work and lowers the 

 quality of mental work done within the period of its influ- 

 ence. Its action is, therefore, antagonistic to the true 

 purpose of food, while it is in harmony with the action 

 of poisons. 



145. Alcohol not a Food. Because alcohol in small quan- 

 tities is oxidized within the body and supplies energy, it by 

 no means follows that it is a food in the ordinarily accepted 

 sense in which the word "food" is used. Under these 

 conditions many harmful substances, as ether, chloroform, 

 and morphine, would be classed as foods, for they are 

 oxidized within the body and furnish a certain amount of 

 energy. From a purely scientific and technical point of 

 view alcohol may, therefore, liberate its energy within the 

 body ; but as this is at the expense of other essential 

 requirements of a food, there are clearly no logical grounds 

 for calling it a food in the ordinary and accepted meaning of 

 i the term. An actor is not a king because for a brief hour he 

 walks the stage in royal dress and speaks majestic words. 



Definitions of the word "food " are not always expressed 

 in the same terms, but all definitions substantially accepted 



