150 ALIMENTATION 



administer it in some form, until its proportion in the organism shall 

 have reached the proper standard. 



It is hardly necessary even to enumerate the other inorganic ali- 

 mentary substances, as nearly all are in such intimate association with 

 nitrogenous matters that they may be regarded as part of their substance. 

 Suffice it to say, that all inorganic matters existing in the organism are 

 found in food. That these are essential to nutrition can not be doubted ; 

 but it is evident that by themselves they are incapable of supporting 

 life, as they can not be converted into either nitrogenous or non-nitroge- 

 nous organic matters. 



Alcohol. All distilled and fermented liquors and wines contain a 

 greater or less proportion of alcohol. As these are so commonly used 

 as beverages and as the effects of their excessive use are so serious, the 

 influence of alcohol on the organism must be regarded as one of the 

 most important questions connected with alimentation. Some alcoholic 

 beverages influence the functions solely through the alcohol which they 

 contain ; while others, as beer and porter, with a comparatively small 

 proportion of alcohol, contain a considerable quantity of solid matter. 



Alcohol (C 2 H 6 O), from its composition, is to be classed with the non- 

 nitrogenous substances. It has already been stated that sugar and fat 

 are essential to proper nutrition and that they undergo important 

 changes in the organism. Alcohol is absorbed and taken into the 

 blood ; and it becomes a question of importance to determine whether 

 it be consumed in the economy or discharged unchanged by the various 

 emunctories. 



Alcohol has long since been recognized in the expired air after it has 

 been taken into the stomach ; and late researches have confirmed the 

 earlier observations in regard to its elimination in its original form, and 

 have shown, also, that after it has been taken in quantity, it exists in the 

 blood and all the tissues and organs, particularly the liver and nervous 

 system. Lallemand and Perrin and Duroy have stated, also, that there 

 is a considerable elimination of alcohol by the lungs, skin and kidneys ; 

 but the accuracy of the experiments by which these results were arrived 

 at has been questioned. The observations of Anstie and of Dupre 

 have, indeed, thrown doubt on the chromic-acid test for alcohol, which 

 was employed by the French observers above mentioned. Neverthe- 

 less, when alcohol has been taken in narcotic doses, there is some 

 alcoholic elimination in the urine, as was shown long ago by Percy. It 

 is certain that most of the alcohol taken in quantities not sufficient to 

 produce alcoholic intoxication is consumed in the organism, and but a 

 trivial quantity is thrown off, either in the urine, the feces, the breath 

 or the cutaneous transpiration. This question is of importance in regard 



