THE DIGESTIVE APPARATUS AND NUTRITION 245 



and introduced in sufficient amount into a liquid in a 

 state of vinous fermentation it destroys the power of the 

 yeast plant to multiply, while in smaller quantities it 

 retards the growth of the living cells in direct proportion 

 to its amount. When by the decomposition of sugar in 

 vinous fermentation the amount of alcohol produced has 

 reached 14 per cent, no further growth of the yeast takes 

 place. That proportion of alcohol destroys the vitality 

 of the living cells. It is thus useful as an antiseptic. 

 Brought in contact with food elements outside the body, 

 alcohol is found to harden them by abstracting the water 

 which they contain, and to coagulate the albumin, which 

 is thus rendered insoluble. 



357. Is Alcohol a Food ? Alcohol contributes nothing to 

 the formation of tissue, and cannot, therefore, be classed 

 in the first division of foods, according to the definition 

 given in 289. As it is now proved that when taken 

 into the stomach in dilute form and in small quantities 

 it may be fully oxidized, producing energy, it must be 

 reckoned in the second class of foods, as a force generator. 

 For its stimulating effect it must also be included among 

 the force regulators. It acts upon the digestive glands, 

 causing them to pour out their special products more 

 rapidly, and so seems sometimes to assist digestion. 



But, although alcoholic drinks in very small amounts 

 are found to come, strictly speaking, under the definition 

 of food, in that they may and do develop or regulate 

 force, they possess at the same time properties so peculiar 

 and so dangerous that it is wise to exclude them wholly 

 from our dietary, and use them, if at all, only under the 

 advice of a skillful physician in case of illness. In cer- 

 tain abnormal conditions of the system, when ordinary 

 food cannot be digested, it has sometimes been found that 



