ABSORPTION OF ALCOHOL FROM THE STOMACH. 165 



4. Fat protection in the alcohol rations was very slightly dif- 

 ferent from that with the ordinary rations ; in other words, the 

 alcohol was practically as efficient in the protection of body fat from 

 consumption as the fats or carbohydrates of the food which it re- 

 placed. 



5. The power of alcohol to protect the protein of food or body 

 tissue, or both, from consumption is clearly demonstrated. Its 

 action in this respect appears to be similar to that of the carbo- 

 hydrates and fats ; that is to say, in its oxidation it yields energy 

 needed by the body, and thus saves other substances from oxidation. 



6. Alcohol appears to exert at times a special action as a drug. 

 In large quantities it is positively toxic and may retard or even 

 prevent metabolism in general, and proteid metabolism in particular. 

 In small doses it seems at times to increase the disintegration of 

 protein. The only justification for calling alcohol a proteid poison 

 is found in this disintegrating tendency. 



7. In some of the experiments alcohol was administered with 

 coffee, in others with water. There was no direct evidence that 

 the coffee interfered with the action of the alcohol ; if any effect 

 was produced, it was to increase rather than retard proteid met- 

 abolism. 



8. When 72 grams of alcohol, given in six doses and furnishing 

 500 calories of energy, replaced the isodynamic amounts of fats and 

 carbohydrates, the alcohol caused no considerable increase in the 

 amount of heat radiated from the body. If the alcohol had all 

 been taken at one dose, it might have caused the cutaneous vessels 

 to dilate, possibly stimulated the sweat-glands, increased the cir- 

 culation, and thus increased the heat radiation. If enough alcohol 

 had been taken to induce the comatose condition called " dead 

 drunk/' and if the men experimented upon had been exposed at 

 the same time to severe cold, the production of heat in the body 

 might have been retarded and the radiation increased so as to lower 

 the body temperature by several degrees. 



9. In the experiments alcohol was not suddenly or rapidly 

 oxidized, or if there was such rapid oxidation, there was a correspond- 

 ing decrease in the oxidation of carbohydrates, fats, or protein. 

 The alcohol, carbohydrates, and fats replace one another as sources 

 of energy ; as either was oxidixed, the others were proportionately 

 spared. 



10. In all the test experiments alcohol was certainly, and in the 

 work experiments it was in all probability, a source of heat for the 

 body. 



11. The hypothesis that alcohol contributed its share of energy 

 for muscular work is natural and extremely probable, but not ab- 

 solutely proved. Even with the small doses in these experiments 

 there were indications that the subjects worked to slightly better 

 advantage with the ordinary rations than with the alcohol. The 



