THE GENERAL NATURE OF DIET 163 



to ward off fatigue, proportionally more strongly than does coffee. In 

 some persons, in ordinary quantity, the effect is somnolent rather than 

 stimulating to increased wakefulness. The only danger from an exces- 

 sive use of cocoa is that of indigestion, which comes from the large pro- 

 portion of fat it contains. Many persons quickly tire of cocoa, unfor- 

 tunately, when they consume it frequently and regularly. That this 

 tendency may be readily overcome, however, may be seen from its great 

 and almost universal use in France, for example, where in concentrated 

 solution it is nearly half of the common breakfast. 



Mate and Guarana are beverages similar to these three used in South 

 America to some extent. They are said to depend for their stimulative 

 effect on the same alkaloids nearly as do coffee, tea, and cocoa, but in the 

 strengths used by the natives generally they are weaker. All stimulants 

 of this class are rich in inorganic salts (especially soluble compounds 

 of iron, soda, and potassium), of value to the organism. 



Alcohol. From natural products as various as honey, grains, and 

 cocoa-nuts, and from scores of others alcoholic beverages have been 

 prepared in all times and by all sorts and conditions of men, by the most 

 civilized as well as by the most savage and depraved. In America and 

 Europe at the present time the alcoholic beverages are largely of three 

 classes liquors, wines, and beers. The first are made by distillation 

 from a large variety of fermented substances all containing sugar; the 

 second from grapes by fermentation; and the last by the brewing of 

 malted grains. The proportion of alcohol in various beverages is approx- 

 imately as follows : In absolute alcohol, 99.5 to 100 per cent., and in the 

 alcohol official in the United States, 94 per cent. In whiskey there is 

 from 35 to 50 per cent, by weight of alcohol; in brandy, from 25 to 55 per 

 cent. ; in gin, 30 to 45 per cent. ; and in rum, from 25 to 45 per cent. Red 

 wines and champagne have of alcohol from 9 to 12 per cent., bordeaux 

 being somewhat the weakest, and burgundy the strongest. White wines 

 contain from 10 to 14 per cent, of alcohol, and sparkling and sweet wines 

 about the same proportion. Of the fortified wines with alcohol-content 

 varying from 16 to 23 per cent., malaga is the weakest and sherry 

 the strongest. Ale has from 4 to 8 per cent, of alcohol, and cider 

 about the same proportion unless fresh from the press, while domestic 

 (American) beers have from 2 to 6 per cent, of it. Koumis has in 

 it, except when very fresh, about 2 per cent, of alcohol, and kephyr 

 (similar to koumis, only made from cows' milk instead of from that of the 

 mare) has in it 1 per cent, of alcohol. The popular bitters and other 

 patent medicines are practically beverages of the most insidious sort, and 

 often contain percentages of alcohol up to that of the strongest alcoholic 

 liquors. The physiological effects of alcohol for purposes of descrip- 

 tion may be divided into influences on the neuromuscular mechanism, 

 on the mental process, on digestion and nutrition (including metabo- 

 lism and body-heat), and on the circulation. 



On the nervous system and the muscular machines so closely connected 

 with it alcohol exerts an effect all too familiar to everybody. In general 



