144 



Alcohol — is it a Food. 



expedition. * * * * it may be noticed that the testi- 

 mony of the whole ship's company — doctors and officers 

 included — is unanimous aud conclusive against the serving 

 out of stimulants during the day. They emphatically state 

 that no work can be done upon grog." ^ 



Mr. Colvin's experience in the Adirondacks as stated in 

 his First and Second Beports on the Topographical Survey of 

 the Adirondack Wilderness of New York is entirely in accord 

 with that of Captain Nares. " ]S"ot a particle of alcohol or 

 fermented liquor of any kind," he says in hi^ First Report, 

 " was used by any member of the party. The result has 

 been subordination, steady work, health and success." ^ 

 And in his Second Report he states: " As during previous 

 seasons, the use of alcoholic or fermented liquor of any kind, 

 was prohibited to any one connected with the survey, and 

 neither while engaged in the laborious climbing of the 

 mountains, nor while encountering bitterest storms, or the 

 severity of winter's snows, was any stimulant used or 

 carried. The result has been steady and persistent work 

 and men who had believed stimulants absolutely necessary 

 have expressed a change of opinion. But for the stern 

 and strict enforcement of this rule, fatal accidents might 

 have occurred in the mountain climbing."^ 



Does not then this molecular theory, if I may so call it, 

 fall to the ground if it can neither be shown that alcohol 

 is capable of direct oxidation within the system, nor that 

 it imparts strength to the frame by maintaining th evital 

 processes ? Of course these terms are vague and it is diffi- 

 cult to estimate results into which they enter, but so long 

 as alcohol cannot replace assimilable food and does not 

 as we believe, enable man the better to withstand fatigue, 



^ Boston Journal of Chemistry, Feb., 1877, p. 94. 

 ' Op. cit., p. 43. 

 ' Op. cit.,v 162. 



