INORGANIC SALTS, STIMULANTS, AND CONDIMENTS. 929 



carbohydrates and fats, experiments have been made in which the 

 individual was brought into nitrogen equilibrium on a mixed diet. 

 Then for a given period a portion of the carbohydrate was omitted 

 and alcohol in isodynamic amounts was substituted. The result 

 was an increase in the nitrogen excretion, showing that the alcohol 

 did not protect fully the protein tissue. In a third period the 

 first diet was resumed, and after nitrogen equilibrium had again 

 been established the same proportion of carbohydrate was omitted 

 from the diet, but this time alcohol was not substituted. If the 

 diet was poor in protein it was found that less protein was lost from 

 the body when the alcohol was omitted than when it was used. 

 Hence alcohol not only did not take the place of the carbohydrate 

 in protecting the protein, but it actually caused an increased pro- 

 tein consumption.* Other observers (Neumann, Rosemann f) have 

 found that, although the effect just described may occur in the first 

 few days, yet if the alcohol diet is maintained the injurious effect 

 exercised by it disappears, the body ceases to lose its protein tissue, 

 and may even lay on protein. These results, taken with those 

 given above, indicate, therefore, that the alcohol may actually 

 take the place physiologically of fat or carbohydrates as a source 

 of energy and as a protector of protein metabolism. J Under these 

 circumstances, therefore, it acts as a true foodstuff. It is perhaps 

 scarcely necessary to emphasize the fact that this scientific con- 

 clusion does not mean that alcohol can be regarded as a prac- 

 tical food. Its expensiveness, its dangers when the dose is too 

 large, etc., prevent us from regarding it in this light. As Rosemann 

 says, however, it is possible that on account of its ready absorption 

 and palatableness it may form a useful substitute for the solid, 

 non-nitrogenous foodstuffs in sickness. This suggestion seems 

 to be supported by many reports of cases in which alcohol has served 

 as the sole or main nutriment during the critical periods of fevers 

 and in other conditions, but it needs to be tested more carefully by 

 direct experiments before it can be accepted generally for prac- 

 tical purposes. In line with this suggestion there are some 

 results upon diabetic patients (Benedict and Torok) which indi- 

 cate that in this condition alcohol used as a food diminishes the 

 production of acetone bodies and protects the protein. 



* See Miura, "Zeitschrift fur klin, Medicin," 20, 1892. 



t See Rosemann, "Archiv f. die gesammte Physiologic," 86, 307, 1901, and 

 100, 348, 1903, for discussion and literature. Also "Handbuch d. Biochemie," 

 4, 413, 1911. 



t See also Atwater and Benedict, "Memoirs of National Academy of 

 Sciences," 1902; and Atwater, "The Nutritive Value of Alcohol," in "Physi- 

 ological Aspects of the Liquor Problem," vol. ii., 1903. 



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