142 



Alcohol — is it a Food, 



tion of carbonic acid and water as represented by the 

 reaction : 



Alcohol. Carbonic acid. Water. 



C2 H« O + 0^ = 2 C 02 + 3 H^O 

 or passively with the formation of aldehyde and acetic 

 acid as in the manufacture of vinegar, thus : 



Alcohol. Aldehyde. Water. 



(1) C2 + = H4 + 0. 



Aldehyde. Acetic acid. 



(2) + = 01 



Now while either of these changes, and perhaps others, 

 may take place, it must after all be admitted that up to the 

 present we know very little of the actual processes by which 

 alcohol is decomposed in the system and that the trans- 

 formations which it undergoes must be more complicated 

 than shown in these reaction, because none of the products 

 given in either can be found to exist in appreciable or in- 

 creased quantities in the excretions. The subject is one 

 which is now being investigated by experimenters and on" 

 which at present we possess but little reliable information, 

 but it seems more rational to suppose that the aldehyde 

 and acetic acid might escape notice or assume other forms 

 than that the carbonic acid which would be formed in 

 large quantity^ in the first case, could be eliminated from 

 the system unnoticed or enter into other combinations. 



But secondly, as regards the physical results, we are to 

 note that in the case of rapid oxidation either heat or force 

 must be generated, while in the event of passive oxidation 

 but little heat is engendered and therefore but little force 

 evolved. We have seen that alcohol lessens the tempera- 

 ture : now does it impart force or strength — does it enable 

 the body to do a greater amount of work ? We hear it 

 said, and this is substantially the ground taken in the paper 

 to which reference has been made, that alcohol not only 



^ One ounce of alcohol oy its combustion furnishes lJ-=,th cubic feet of 

 carbonic acid gas. 



