THE DIGESTIVE APPARATUS AND NUTRITION 247 



delicate organs. Let him take just a little more than the 

 exact amount which can be at once oxidized in the blood 

 or other tissue, and it is carried on through the system as 

 alcohol, to work its characteristic effects. In the stomach 

 the alcohol may harden the albumin of the food, and so 

 prevent its complete digestion. If strong enough, it may 

 attack the albumin in the cells of the lining of the stomach 

 itself. This is the reason for the well-known fact that 

 alcoholic drinks do less harm if taken after a meal than if 

 taken on an empty stomach. A large quantity of strong 

 drink taken at once seems to paralyze the nerves control- 

 ling the absorbents in the stomach, and often results in 

 sudden death. Passing into the circulation, alcohol, as we 

 have already seen in respect to yeast, acts directly upon 

 the vitality of the living cells, hindering their growth and, 

 when strong enough, wholly destroying their vital power. 

 Any excess beyond the amount which can be oxidized at 

 once interferes with normal cell activity, and works vari- 

 ous physiological evils, as pointed out in different chapters 

 of this book. All these are the actions of a poison. 



359. In the stomach alcoholic fluids of all sorts increase 

 very greatly the flow of gastric juice, and it would appear 

 that this stimulation might assist digestion. But since 

 the alcohol is found to disappear wholly from the alimen- 

 tary tract within half an hour, this direct influence upon 

 the secretion of gastric and other digestive juices can be 

 but slight. Moreover, excessive or abnormal stimulation 

 of any organ results ultimately in the weakening of its 

 functional power. In the healthy animal wholesome food 

 supplies all the stimulus needed by the various digestive 

 organs. 



In the intestines alcohol is rapidly absorbed into the 

 blood. By dilution with the juices of the mouth and the 



