386 PROBABLE ACTION OF ALCOHOL. 



require a little more ; but when in the country, and 

 taking plenty of exercise, I feel very well and con- 

 tented without any stimulants whatever. The expe- 

 rience of some members of my family who have lived 

 to be old, and that of many persons of whom I have 

 inquired, accords with my own. In old age, I believe, 

 stimulants are really necessary, and sometimes are 

 even more important than food itself. I feel sure the 

 life of many old people is prolonged by the judicious 

 use of alcohol, and I think that some who have been 

 very careful all through life, take far too little stimu- 

 lant when they grow old. 



Of the Prolable Action of Alcohol in the Body. 



But we may now very briefly consider the influence 

 of alcohol upon the organism, and its probable opera- 

 tion as an article of diet. What becomes of alcohol 

 when it is taken into the stomach ? There is no 

 dcubt that if the spirit is strong when introduced, it 

 is much diluted by the pouring out of fluid from the 

 vessels and glands of the stomach, and that it is 

 quickly absorbed, in its diluted state, into the blood. 

 That this is so .is proved by the familiar fact that 

 the smell of alcohol is often very perceptible in the 

 breath. Moreover, as is well known, alcohol has been 

 detected by chemical tests in the breath, in the sweat, 

 in the urine, and in the other secretions, by a number 

 of observers. Alcohol has also been proved to exist 



