INFLUENCE OF ALCOHOL UPON GASTRIC DIGESTION. 159 



nourish the body, renew the materials consumed in producing 

 those forms of energy called vital. " Chapman's Human Physi- 

 ology. 



" The use of food is to repair the waste of the tissues, and 

 through combustion in the economy to liberate energy." Ibid. 



These quotations might be increased indefinitely, but those 

 given will answer our purpose. A food serves one or more of four 

 purposes: 1. To build up normal structure; 2. To dimmish the 

 waste of tissue ; 3. To supply the waste of tissue ; 4. Through 

 combustion (oxidation) to liberate energy. Any substance, there- 

 fore, which performs any one or more of these four offices is a 

 food. It may do it to a considerable extent, and consequently 

 have great food-value ; or it may do it to but a slight extent, and 

 have but little food-value ; but in so far as it does it at all it is a 

 food. 



Influence of Alcohol upon Secretion of Saliva. When 

 strong alcohol or an alcoholic beverage is taken into the mouth 

 there is produced an increase in the secretion of saliva, not only 

 as to volume, but also as to its organic and inorganic constituents. 

 The same effect is produced by vinegar, ether-vapor, and other 

 similar substances. This stimulating effect, however, lasts only 

 while the liquid is in the mouth. Alcohol in the stomach has no 

 effect upon the secretion of saliva. 



Influence of Alcohol upon Secretion of Gastric 

 Juice. The evidence is overwhelming that alcohol, whether 

 taken as alcohol or in the form of alcoholic beverages, such as 

 whiskey, wine, or beer, increases the amount of gastric juice se- 

 creted, and that this is more acid and contains more of its normal 

 constituents. The action of this gastric juice upon proteids is 

 also very pronounced. That this is not entirely due to direct 

 stimulation of the glands of the stomach by the alcohol is shown 

 by the fact that when alcohol is introduced into the small intes- 

 tine, and then this latter is ligated so that none of the alcohol 

 can enter the stomach, an increased secretion of gastric juice is 

 still produced. It is as yet not determined just how this is 

 brought about, whether by action on the cells of the gastric glands 

 through the medium of the blood, or upon secretory nerve-fibers. 



It is to be borne in mind that other constituents than alcohol 

 are to be found in wines and malted liquors ; and experiments 

 show that these, especially the organic acids, produce also a stimu- 

 lating effect upon the gastric glands, so that the alcohol is not the 

 only factor concerned in causing increased secretion and acidity. 



Influence of Alcohol upon Gastric Digestion. In a 

 paper on " Influence of Alcoholic Drinks upon Digestion,"^ by 

 Chittenden, Mendel, and Jackson, published in the American 

 Journal of Physiology, and to which we are indebted for much 

 information, is a synopsis of the opinions and results of experiments 



