ALCOHOL. 305 



If alcohol is used as a daily article of diet it should be 

 borne in mind that when concentrated it coagulates the 

 proteids of the cells of the stomach with which it comes in 

 contact, in the same sort of way, though of course to a 

 much less degree, as it shrivels and dries up an animal pre- 

 served in it. Dilute alcoholic drinks, such as claret and beer, 

 are therefore far less baneful than whiskey or brandy, and 

 these are worst of all in the almost undiluted form of most 

 " mixed drinks." For the same reason alcohol is far more 

 injurious on an empty stomach than after a meal, When 

 the stomach is full it is diluted, is more slowly absorbed, 

 and, moreover, is largely used up in coagulating the proteids 

 of the food instead of those of the lining membrane of the 

 stomach. The old "three bottle" men who drank their 

 port-wine after a heavy dinner, got off far more safely than 

 the modern tippler who is taking "nips" all day long, 

 although the latter may imbibe a smaller quantity of alco 

 hoi in the twenty-four hours. By far the best way, how- 

 ever, is to avoid alcohol altogether in health. If the facts 

 lead us to conclude, against the extremists, that it is to a 

 certain extent a food, it is nevertheless a dangerous one; 

 even in what we may call "physiological " quantities, or 

 such amounts as can be totally oxidized in the Body. 



The Advantage of a Mixed Diet. The necessary quan- 

 tity of daily food depends upon that of the material daily 

 lost from the Body, and this vane? both in kind and 

 amount with the energy expended and the organs most 

 used. In children a certain excess beyond this is required 

 to furnish materials for growth. Although it is impossible 

 to lay down with perfect accuracy how much daily food any 

 individual requires, still the average quantity may be de- 

 rived from the table of daily losses given on page 278, 

 which shows that a healthy man needs daily in assimilable 

 forms about 274 grams (4220 grains) of carbon and 19 

 grams (292 grains) of nitrogen. The daily loss of hydrogen . 

 which is very great (352 grams or 5428 grains), is nearly all 

 that contained in water which has been drunk and, so to 

 speak, merely filtered through the Body, after having 

 assisted in the solution, and transference through it of other 



