184 Alcohol — is it a Food, 



verted into fat, of which it contains all the elements, and 

 may not this fat be stored up and afterwards by its com- 

 bustion furnish heat and force. Such a view of the sub- 

 ject is at first sight plausible, and the results of certain 

 physiological experiments would seem to show that such 

 a change might take place, but let us remember that those 

 liquors which are, by common consent, the most fattening, 

 are those which contain sugar and starchy matter in 

 the greatest abundance. Beer drinkers may become 

 bloated; spirit drinkers seldom. Let us also remember 

 that the sleepy quiet induced by excessive potations may 

 contribute towards the deposition of fat. True it is that 

 in certain cases of confirmed inebriates a deposition of 

 fatty matter does take place around and about the viscera, 

 and that frequently vital organs themselves undergo a 

 fatty change, but I need not remark that it is by no means 

 to be desired that this substance, useful enough no doubt 

 in its place, should be interlarded with the muscular fibres 

 of our hearts, or disseminated through our livers and kid- 

 neys. Such depositions and changes of structure are de- 

 generative and abnormal, and take place moreover in those 

 wdio entirely abstain from alcoholic drinks. Dr. Richard- 

 son of London, whose recently printed " Cantor Lectures " 

 On Alcohol have attracted much attention, asserts ^ that 

 there is " no obvious chemical fact which supports the 

 hypothesis'' that alcohol may be transformed into fat. We 

 believe that within the body sugar may be so transformed 

 and we know also that it may be converted into alcohol, 

 but as yet see no way by which alcohol may be changed 

 back to sugar or directly into fat. We hold that neither 

 by physiological experiments nor logical deduction from 

 observed facts can it be shown that alcohol is a fattening 

 agent. 



^ Ricliardson, op. cit. p. 61. 



