304 THE HUMAN BODY, 



There is, therefore, a scientific foundation for the common 

 belief that the crust of a loaf is more digestible than the 

 crumb, and toast than ordinary bread. 



Alcohol. There are perhaps no common articles of diet 

 concerning which more contradictory statements have been 

 made than alcoholic drinks. This depends upon their pe- 

 culiar position: according to circumstances alcohol may 

 be a poison or be useful; when useful it may be regarded 

 either as a force regulator or a force generator. It is some- 

 times a valuable medicine, but it does no good to the healthy 

 body. If not more than two ounces (which would be con- 

 tained in about four ounces of whiskey or two quarts of 

 lager -beer) are taken in the twenty -four hours, they 

 are completely oxidized in the Body and excreted as water 

 and carbon dioxide. In this oxidation energy is of course 

 liberated and can be utilized. Commonly, however, alco- 

 hol is not taken for this purpose but as a force regulator, 

 for its influence on the nervous system or digestive organs, 

 and it is in this capacity that it becomes dangerous. For 

 not only may it be taken in quantities so great that it is 

 not all oxidized in the Body but is passed through it as alco- 

 hol, or even that it acts as a narcotic poison instead of a 

 stimulant, but when taken in what is called moderation 

 there can be no doubt that the constant "whipping up" of 

 the flagging organs, if continued, must be dangerous to 

 their integrity. Hence the daily use of alcohol merely in 

 such quantities as to produce slight exhilaration or to facili- 

 tate work is by no means safe; though in disease when the 

 system wants rousing to make some special effort, the phy- 

 sician cannot dispense with it or some other similarly act- 

 ing substance. In fact, as a force generator alcohol may be 

 advantageously replaced by other foods in nearly all cases; 

 and there is no evidence that it helps in the construction 

 of the working tissues, though its excessive use often leads 

 to an abnormal accumulation of fat. Its proper use is as 

 a " whip," and one has no more right to use it to the 

 healthy Body than the lash to overdrive a willing horse. 

 The physician is the proper person to determine whether it 

 Is wanted under any given circumstances. 



