ALCOHOL. 177 



and all conditions which favor the vigorous nutrition and development of 

 the organism physiologically increase, rather than diminish, the quantity of 

 the excretions, correspondingly increase the demand for food, and if contin- 

 ued, are of permanent benefit. Alcohol, on the other hand, diminishes the 

 activity of nutrition. If its use be long continued, the assimilative powers 

 of the system become so weakened that the proper quantity of food can not 

 be appropriated, and alcohol is craved to supply a self-engendered want. 

 The organism may, in many instances, be restored to its physiological condi- 

 tion by discontinuing the use of alcohol ; but it is generally some time before 

 the nutritive powers become active, and alcohol, meanwhile, seems absolutely 

 necessary to existence. 



Under ordinary conditions, when the organism can be adequately supplied 

 with food, alcohol is undoubtedly injurious. When the quantity of food is 

 insufficient, alcohol may supply the want for a time and temporarily restore 

 the powers of the body ; but the effects of its continued use, conjoined with 

 insufficient nourishment, show that it can not take the place of other assimi- 

 lable matters. These effects are too well known to the physician, particularly 

 in hospital-practice, to need farther comment. Notwithstanding these un- 

 doubted physiological facts, alcohol, in some form, is used by almost every 

 people on the face of the earth, civilized or savage. Whether this be in order 

 to meet some want occasionally felt by and peculiar to the human organism, 

 is a question upon which physiologists have found it impossible to agree. 

 That alcohol, at certain times, taken in moderation, soothes and tranquillizes 

 the nervous system and relieves exhaustion dependent upon unusually severe 

 mental or physical exertion, can not be doubted. It is by far too material a 

 view to take of existence, to suppose that the highest condition of man is 

 that in which the functions, possessed in common with the lower animals, are 

 most perfectly performed. Inasmuch as temporary insufficiency of food, great 

 exhaustion of the nervous system, and various conditions in which alcohol 

 seems to be useful, must of necessity often occur, it is hardly proper that this 

 agent should be absolutely condemned ; but it is the article, par excellence, 

 which is liable to abuse, and the effects of which on the mind and body, when 

 taken constantly in excess, are most serious. 



Although alcohol imparts a certain warmth when the system is suffering 

 from excessive cold, it is not proved that it enables men to endure a very low 

 temperature for a great length of time. This end can be effectually attained 

 only by an increased quantity of food. The testimony of Dr. Hayes, the Arc- 

 tic explorer, is very strong upon this point. He says : " W^hile fresh animal 

 food, and especially fat, is absolutely essential to the inhabitants and travellers 

 in Arctic countries, alcohol is, in almost any shape, not only completely use- 

 less but positively injurious .... Circumstances may occur under which its 

 administration seems necessary ; such, for instance, as great prostration from 

 long-continued exposure and exertion, or from getting wet; but then it 

 should be avoided, if possible, for the succeeding reaction is always to be 

 dreaded ; and, if a place of safety is not near at hand, the immediate danger 

 is only temporarily guarded against, and becomes, finally, greatly augmented 



