222 PHYSIOLOGY. 



let me tell you it is no such thing, and if necessary I could 

 pile up a mountain of evidence to prove it. The records 

 show most conclusively that it is the men who totally 

 abstain from the use of spirits as a beverage who last 

 longest, have the least sickness, and do the most and best 

 work. As a general rule, an energetic brandy drinker in 

 the ju-ngle is not worth his salt, and as a companion in a 

 serious undertaking, is not even to be regarded as a pos- 

 sible candidate." These statements are made, with no 

 thought of sermonizing, simply as practical advice to 

 collectors. 



[HALLIBURTON, Text-Book of Chemical Physiology and Pathology.} 



" Alcohol. Small quantities of the alcohol taken leave 

 the body by the breath and urine as such, the greater 

 amount is decomposed into simpler products (acetic, oxalic, 

 carbonic acids, and water); the formation of these must 

 give rise to a certain amount of bodily heat. It has been 

 calculated that a man can burn off in his body two ounces 

 of absolute alcohol daily. Alcohol is thus, within narrow 

 limits, a food. It, however, lessens proteid metabolism by 

 about six per cent, and thus ultimately leads to a diminution 

 of the heat produced in the body. It is, moreover, a very 

 uneconomical food ; much more nutriment would have 

 been obtainable from the barley or the grapes from which 

 it was made. The value of alcohol used within moderate 

 limits is not as a food, but as a stimulant not only to 

 digestion, but to the heart and brain." 



[M'KKNDRICK, Text-Book of Physiology.} 



"With regard to alcohol, its exact influence, when taken 

 in moderation by those who use it as an article of diet, 

 cannot be precisely stated. It has been asserted by 

 several observers that alcohol is eliminated from the body 



