STIMULANTS AND NARCOTICS 67 



conditions, but is also attended with bad hygienic effects. 

 Every one should be informed of their nature and of the 

 dangers attending their use." HOUGH and SEDGWICK, " The 

 Human Mechanism." 



84. Alcohol as a possible food. Like the carbohydrates 

 and fat, alcohol is composed of carbon, hydrogen, and 

 oxygen. Since it contains no nitrogen, it has no value in 

 the processes of growth and repair; in other words, it can- 

 not be made into protoplasm. It cannot, therefore, like 

 meat, milk, and eggs answer as a complete food. 



Alcohol we know may be burned in lamps for the produc- 

 tion of heat, and in engines for the generation of power. 

 Professor Atwater has shown that alcohol also, if used in 

 sufficiently small amounts, may produce within the human 

 body a certain amount of heat and muscular power. Indeed, 

 in some cases of extreme weakness, especially in diseases, 

 alcohol is regarded by some eminent physicians as necessary 

 for saving life, though even for this purpose it is now being 

 used to a less extent in medical practice. 



85. Alcohol as a stimulant and a narcotic. On account 

 of the amount imbibed, however, alcohol, as ordinarily used 

 in beverages, is practically always either a stimulant or a 

 narcotic. In later sections we shall discuss the effects of 

 alcohol on various organs of the body. One fact should, how- 

 ever, be continually emphasized; namely, that even if it 

 should be taken for granted that alcohol, when used by 

 adults in moderation, may generate a certain amount of energy, 

 still this is an exceedingly dangerous compound to introduce 

 in any form into the diet of a boy or girl. In the first place, 

 it interferes with the healthy growth of protoplasm ; and 

 in the second place, the use of liquors in moderation by a 

 great many people, both young and old, is absolutely im- 



