104 HUMAN BIOLOGY 



hydrogen of the proteins and fats. No rules as to the amount 

 can be given, since it varies so much with temperature and 

 the amount of muscular activity; but the habit of drinking 

 no water between meals and but little at the table, in spite 

 of popular opinion on the subject, is to be deprecated. . . . 



" Undue emphasis has been laid upon the danger of drink- 

 ing water with meals. The reasons given — ■ that such water 

 unduly dilutes the gastric juice or takes the place of a normal 

 secretion of saliva — are questionable. As a matter of fact, 

 the water thus taken is soon discharged into the intestine and 

 absorbed. It is true, however, that the use of too much 

 fluid with the meals is apt to lead to insufficient mastication 

 because it makes it easier to swallow the food; and from 

 this point of view caution is advisable. It is probably also 

 true that much drinking with meals tends to overeating, 

 by facilitating rapid eating." — Hough and Sedgwick's 

 "Human Mechanism." 



147. Effects of alcoholic drinks on the organs of diges- 

 tion. — • Alcohol, unlike most of the substances taken into 

 the alimentary canal, requires no digestion. It can, there- 

 fore, be absorbed very rapidly by the blood, and hence alcohol 

 is possibly sometimes of great value when administered by 

 physicians, in cases when ordinary food cannot be digested. 

 In health, however; alcohoUc drinks must be regarded as an 

 expensive and extremely dangerous source of energy. 



According to the best authorities, small quantities of 

 alcohol (when sufficiently diluted) seem for an adult to 

 stimulate an increased flow of saliva and gastric juice, but 

 even this is doubtful. The time required for the digestion 

 of food, when alcohol is present in these small quantities, 

 does not seem to be increased. Entirely different effects 

 follow, however, when strong distilled liquors are taken, 



