Alcohol — is it a Food. 



131 



What else becomes of it? It is probably converted into 

 some one or more of the proximate constituents of the body; 

 and I am among those who believe that it may, through 

 the agency of the vital forces, and in the presence of or- 

 ganized nitrogenous matter, be converted into any one 

 or all of these constituents, exceptijig only the mineral." 



it is easy to build up theories to support mere opinions, 

 but such labor is worse than useless because it does no 

 good and leads into error. Pray note the querj, " What 

 else becomes of it" for it illustrates a style of reasoning 

 which, it must be acknowledged, too frequently obtains in 

 medical works. Why should we ascrihe to the vital forces, — 

 forces, of which if any exist distinct from atomic and mole- 

 cular forces recognized as chemical and physical, we know 

 nothing, — all those changes which, going on within our 

 bodies, seem beyond our comprehension. Such as these 

 are the most futile of hypotheses because they are based 

 upon nothiiig but ignorance. 



It would be a w^aste of time to enter upon a discussion 

 of this question. It would subserve no good purpose to 

 point out those writers who have held an opinion based 

 only upon an absence of proof. Not only have all attempts 

 to show that alcohol may be assimilated, or rather, con- 

 verted into assimilable substances, failed, but we may go 

 further and assert that there are many facts which go to 

 prove that it positivel}' interferes with the processes of 

 nutrition. Dr. Beaumont's experiments upon St. Martin, — 

 that t^iingular man who, as the result of accident, lived for 

 many years with a perforation in his side opening into his 

 stomach, through which its interior might be observed and 

 the processes of digestion studied, — proved that " the free 

 use of ardent spirits, wine, beer or any intoxicating liquor, 

 when continued for some days, invariably produced morbid 

 changes," ^ — changes which be described at length. 



* Beaumont, The Physiology of Digestion, Burlington, 1847, p. 254. 



