740 
likewise all the excretory products given off from 
the body, are measured and analyzed. Hven 
the air before and after it is breathed is thus 
treated. This gives the exact income and the 
outgo of matter of the body. Furthermore, 
the energy which is latent in the material sup- 
plied tothe body, and in the excretory products 
given off from the body, is carefully deter- 
mined; while the energy that is transformed 
by the body and given off in the form of heat 
and external muscular work is very accurately 
measured by the calorimeter. We thus have 
an exact measure of the income and outgo of 
energy. By thus striking the balance of in- 
come and outgo of both matter and energy, it is 
possible to learn with great accuracy just how 
the body utilizes the different materials supplied 
to itin food and drink. 
When results had shown what quantities of 
food ingredients were required for the mainte- 
nance of the man’s body when he was at rest, 
and how much more was necessary to enable 
him to perform a measured amount of muscular 
work, the experiments were repeated, but with 
this variation: A certain amount of the fuel 
ingredients of the food—sugar, starch and fat 
—which the body uses to furnish heat for 
warmth and energy for work, was taken out, 
and a chemically equivalent amount of alcohol 
was substituted for them ; that is, an amount of 
alcohol which contained the same quantity of 
potential energy as the ingredients which it was 
to replace. As a matter of fact, the, amount 
actually used was 23 ounces of absolute alcohol 
per day—about as much as would be contained 
in three average glasses of whisky, or in a bottle 
of claret or Rhine wine. This alcohol was 
given in six nearly equal parts, three with 
meals and three between meals, the object be- 
ing to avoid any especial influence of the 
alcohol. upon the nerves, and thus to test its 
action as food under normal bodily conditions. 
In the experiments in which the man did no 
muscular work, this amount of alcohol furnished 
about one-fifth of the total energy of the food ; 
but in those with hard muscular work more 
food was given, so that the alcohol supplied 
only about one-seventh of the energy. 
As regards the special action of alcohol three 
important results were observed in these ex- 
SCIENCE. 
[N. 8. Vou. X. No. 255. 
periments: (1) Extremely little of the alcohol 
was given off from the body unconsumed, in 
the breath or otherwise. The alcohol was oxi- 
dized, 7. e., burned, as completely as bread, 
meat, and other ordinary foods, in the body and 
in the same way. (2) In the oxidation all of 
the potential energy of the alcohol burned was 
transformed into heat or muscular energy. In 
other words, the body transformed the energy 
of the alcohol just as it did that of sugar, starch 
and fat. (8) Thealcohol protected the material 
of the body from consumption just as effectively 
as the corresponding amounts of sugar, starch 
and fat. That is, whether the body was at rest 
or at work, it held its own just as well when al- 
cohol formed a part of the diet as it did with a 
diet without alcohol. 
Besides the six experiments reported in 
Bulletin No. 69, the final result of thirteen 
later ones are ready for publication. Of these 
eight were with a diet including alcohol. In 
some of them pure alcohol was given, in others 
it was in the form of whisky or brandy. The 
two alcohol experiments in Bulletin No. 69, 
and ten of the later ones, were with the same 
subject, a Swede by birth who had lived some 
time in this country and had been accustomed 
from his youth to the use of small quantities of 
alcohol. For atime previous to the period of 
the experiments he abstained from all use of 
alcohol, and during that period he used only 
what was needed for the experiment. The 
subject of the other three experiments was a 
native American who had always been a total 
abstainer. The results of all these later experi- 
ments are practically the same as those de- 
scribed in Bulletin No. 69. No difference has 
been found with different forms of alcohol or 
with different subjects. 
In unauthorized statements regarding these 
experiments, which have been widely dissemi- 
nated, much more has been claimed for them 
than they legitimately cover. The fact is that 
these are purely scientific experiments of lim- 
ited scope, in which small quantities of alcohol 
were consumed for brief periods of time. They 
do not show the effects of habitual or excessive 
use of alcohol as a beverage. Their purpose 
and nature are such that they give no evidence 
regarding its pathological or toxic action. 
