382 THE MOEAL STATUS OF ALCOHOL. 



some diversity of opinion. That alcohol does not conduce to 

 the nutrient function of vitality, might have been inferred 

 from a consideration of its components, being wholly devoid 

 of nitrogen. Its stimulative power over the nervous system 

 is undoubted ; hence the only question open to debate relative 

 to the immediate functions of alcohol is, whether it does or 

 does not conduce to respiration. This is a matter still un- 

 determined. Having conclusively admitted that alcohol does 

 not conduce to nourishment, the question will arise, wherefore 

 it happens that the practice of dram -drinking lessens the 

 appetite, and in this way diminishes the consumption of nutri- 

 tive food ? This, as physiologists believe, is wholly attributable 

 to a lowering of the rapidity of digestion. According to 

 them, alcohol diminishes the pain of hunger without giving 

 a nutritive equivalent ; and in this manner alleviates many a 

 pang. In denying to alcohol any quality of nutrition, it must 

 be evident enough, that the remark only applies to those 

 mixtures of alcohol and water, w r ith a little colouring matter 

 occasionally, of which our domestic drinking spirits are com- 

 posed. As for pure or absolute alcohol, it does not belong to 

 the drinking repertory. Rectified spirit of wine is a very near 

 approach to it ; but even rectified spirit of wine holds some 

 portion of water. What we call ' proof spirit ' is a mixture 

 of pure alcohol with water in equal parts. Everybody knows 

 that alcohol in certain states of combination, but more espe- 

 cially in the form of malt liquor, has a tendency not to fatten 

 merely, but that it can also contribute to the formation of 

 flesh. These results are not due to the alcohol, but to 

 certain saccharine and nitrogenous principles with which it 

 is associated. 



Though the active principle of all intoxicating liquors be 

 alcohol, yet the effects of the latter are modified by combina- 

 tion and alliance to an extraordinary degree. Medical men ? 

 before whom cases revealing the effects of drunkenness pro- 

 fessionally come, are often able to pronounce, within the 



