FOODS AND THE THEORY OF DIGESTION 129 



it has been shown that alcohol when introduced into the 

 body in small quantities and in a greatly diluted form, is 

 nearly all oxidized, yielding energy as does fat or sugar. 

 If no harmful effects attended the use of alcohol, it might 

 on this account be classed as a food. But alcohol is known 

 to be harmful to the body. When used in large quantities, 

 it injures nearly all of the tissues, and when taken habit- 

 ually, even in small doses, it leads to the formation of the 

 alcohol, habit which is now recognized and treated as a 

 disease. This and other facts show that alcohol is not 

 adapted to the body plan of taking on and using new 

 material (Chapter XI), and no substance lacking in this re- 

 spect can properly be classed as a food. 1 Instead of class- 

 ing alcohol as a food, it should be placed in that long list 

 of substances which are introduced into the body for spe- 

 cial purposes and which are known by the general name of 

 Drugs. Drugs act strongly upon the body and tend to 

 bring about unusual and unnatural results. Their use 

 should in noway be confused with that of foods. If taken 

 in health, they tend to disturb the physiological balance of 

 the body by unduly increasing or diminishing the action 

 of the different organs. In disease where this balance is 

 already disturbed, they may be administered for their coun- 

 teractive effects, but always under the advice and direction 

 of a physician. Knowing the nature of the disturbance 

 which the drug produces, the physician can administer it 

 to advantage, should the body be out of physiological 



1 While alcohol cannot be classed as a food, it is believed by some authorities 

 to contain food value and, in the hands of the physician, to be a substance capable 

 of rendering an actual service in the treatment of certain diseases. It might, for 

 example, be used where one's power of digestion is greatly impaired, since alcohol 

 requires no digestion. But upon this point there is a decided difference of opinion. 

 Certain it is that no one should attempt to use alcohol as food or medicine except 

 under the advice and direction of his physician. 



