SUMMARY OP CONCLUSIONS CONCERNING ALCOHOL 85 



should make sure that their medicine list includes none of 

 these liquors in disguise, since their use may fasten upon 

 one a habit difficult to overcome and dangerous in the 

 extreme. 



Nutritive value of alcoholic beverages. — The action of 

 alcoholic beverages is infiuenced by two factors, first, the 

 alcohol contained; second, the presence of extractives. It 

 is undoubtedly true that in certain cases the character of 

 the extractives may add to the harmful effects of the 

 beverage, but careful experiment has demonstrated that 

 in ordinary liquors this action of the extractives may be 

 neglected, and the harmful effect of the beverage may be 

 stated to be directly proportional to the amount of alcohol 

 which it contains. 



Summary of conclusions concerning alcohol. — All inves- 

 tigators agree that while alcohol may be used in small 

 amounts by certain individuals, without necessarily caus- 

 ing harm, the amount varies so much with the individual 

 that it is impossible to fix a universally safe limit. 



Because of its tendency to form habits of use, drinks 

 containing alcohol are much more dangerous for young 

 people to use than for adults. 



Statistics from business corporations, life insurance com- 

 panies, and insane asylums all show that the use of alcohol, 

 except as prescribed in cases of sickness, is dangerous. In 

 other words, while inefficiency, insanity, pauperism, and 

 ill health may result from other causes, so marked is the 

 tendency of the use of alcohol to result in one or more of 

 these evils that its use is recognized in the business world 

 as a risk. For example, all corporations emplojang labor- 

 ers guard against it by stringent rules, and life insurance 

 companies increase the premiums on life insurance policies 



