Alcohol — is it a Food. 



145 



we submit that it rests with those who maintain this theory 

 to show in what manner this ' interior work' is performed. 



And now in conclusion if it he said, — is it then rational 

 to suppose that alcoholic liquors have no uses, save in a 

 medicinal sense; that they are utterly uncalled for, and 

 that the testimony in their favor of thousands upon thou- 

 sands who from time immemorial have made use of them 

 is to go for nothing, — we would say, no, they have uses; 

 such testimony should not hastily he refused consideration. 

 There is a physiological value which substances may have 

 apart from those grosser uses by which our bodies are 

 built up and our inner fires maintained ; a value which can- 

 not be estimated in pounds of flesh or degreesof bodily heat, 

 but finds expression in more subtile kinds of matter and 

 forces harder to be measured. That alcohol acts upon the 

 nervous system, stimulating it to action, there can be no 

 doubt, and do we not all believe that mental influences afifect 

 the bodily functions. Our only endeavor this evening has 

 been to show that it cannot logically be claimed as a food 

 in the ordinarily accepted sense in which that term is em- 

 ployed, but that it may have less material uses and produce 

 other and beneficial results we would not for a moment 

 deny. Peculiar idiosyncrasies have much to do with its 

 eftects and while there are those to whom even in small 

 quantities it is harmful, there are many others, who, using 

 it as the other good things of this life should be used, in 

 moderation, may receive no injury and perhaps derive 

 from it not only enjoyment but benefit. Let it be remem- 

 bered that even if in a state of perfect health the human 

 system has no need of stimulants, there are few, if any of 

 us who are in possession of so valuable a legacy; that no 

 one at present lives upon the simple fare which supported 

 his early ancestors, and that higly civilized beings require 

 a greater variety of substances for their sustenance than 

 brutes. We indulge in many luxuries which in themselves 



Trans. ix.'\ 19 



