130 OUR BODIES AND HOW WE LIVE 



Many experiments have been made by drawing off the 

 contents of the stomach with a siphon, during various stages 

 of digestion. When alcohol had been taken it was found 

 that the strong drink suspended the digestion of food for 

 some time while it remained in the stomach, and that only 

 after the alcohol left the stomach did digestion go on at 

 a fair rate. 1 



1 Under the influence of alcohol, the acidity of the gastric juice and 

 the quantity of hydrochloric acid, as well as the digestive power of the 

 gastric juice, is diminished. This enfeebling of the digestion is especially 

 pronounced in persons accustomed to the use of alcohol. PROFESSOR 

 KOCHLAKOFF, St. Petersburg. 



When constantly irritated by the direct action of alcoholic drinks, the 

 stomach gradually undergoes lasting structural changes. Its vessels remain 

 dilated and congested, its connective tissue becomes excessive, and its 

 power of secreting gastric juice diminishes. H. NEWELL MARTIN, M.D. 



At last the alcohol enters the stomach. Wherever it touches it causes 

 irritation, then paralysis of the nerves and congestion of the mucous mem- 

 branes. It mixes with the gastric juice and diminishes its digestive power. 

 At length it comes to pass that the stomach can no longer fulfill its normal 

 functions. It becomes flabby and inert ; digestion becomes slow and diffi- 

 cult ; the appetite is lost. Soon after, the mucous membrane, losing its 

 resisting power, corrodes, small ulcers appear, and the condition becomes 

 worse. DR. BIENFAIT, Liege. 



Further serious disturbances of the digestive organs are found not infre- 

 quently among children, consequent upon the use of alcohol ; but it is still 

 more common to find slight digestive troubles noticeably increased by giving 

 children alcohol to cure them. ADOLF FRICK, M.D., Zurich. 



Sir Henry Thompson, in a recent work on Diet in Relation to Health, 

 gives the result of some personal experience in the use of alcohol with 

 meals. Thirty-two years ago, at the age of fifty-two, he gave up the use 

 of alcohol. Five or six years ago, for the sake of the experiment, he tried 

 the effect of a claret glass of good wine at dinner every day for two months. 

 Sick headaches and pains in the joints, from which he had suffered in 

 early life, came back until he again abstained. After abandoning alcohol 

 the joints gradually lost their stiffness and ultimately became as supple 

 and mobile as they were in youth and continue absolutely so to this day. 

 Dr. Thompson says he is not an exception, and he claims that a large class 

 of active men possess a more or less similar temperament. 



