ELIMINATION OF ALCOHOL. 389 



larger amounts have an opposite effect as regards the 

 appetite, and greatly increase the cardiac beats. 



Anstie and Dupre showed that if closes of alcohol 

 sufficiently large to produce narcotic effects are taken, 

 alcohol escapes in the secretions, but when taken in 

 smaller quantities it is not to be detected. This 

 may be the true explanation of the fact that alcohol 

 in certain cases cannot be detected in any of the 

 secretions at all. It is certain that the quantity 

 required to produce narcosis varies greatly in different 

 individuals, and perhaps this may account for the 

 different results obtained in the course of experiment. 



Dr. Dupre has quite recently proved that, of the 

 alcohol taken in moderate doses (48 to 68 grammes 

 of absolute alcohol), only a minute fraction is excreted 

 as alcohol, while by far the larger proportion is dis- 

 posed of in the system in some other" manner.* 

 Dupre's observations show that this alcohol is not 

 stored up in the system as alcohol, and slowly evolved 

 in the form of alcohol. He remarks that, the amount 

 of alcohol eliminated per day does not increase with 

 the continuance of the alcohol diet, and that there- 

 fore, all the alcohol taken daily must be disposed of 

 daily, and converted into some other substance in the 

 system/)" 



We must, therefore, conclude that, of the alcohol 



* Proceedings of the Royal Society, January 25, 1872. 



+ Dr. Dupre has discovered in the urine and in the breath a substance, 

 which, though not alcohol, gives the ordinary reactions relied upon for 

 detecting that substance. It yields acetic acid by oxidation, and gives 

 2 D 



