New-York daily tribune., 1855-08-24
, a manner % peculiar to it.sIf that it ia pr.o.

ia manner 90 peculiar TO itsslf that 1t 10 prso-
tica]y OF much lees valus than gunpewder saf
cannot replsce it. But suppose we desired to
hberats force in an active bat steady msuner
srder q steam boiler So ss 60 mike il Available
for mecbsaical purpose, BY me aus Of the engine,
IL 10 obvious that guncotton is not st all adapted
to produce the effect 1t woald not give odt
its force in ibe manDer Of fuel aad therefore
could not be thus employed. Woody fiber, on
the contrary, if burned under the ste,ubotier
would oc uce constant aud su -tained effect, but
would be ,rthless either 10 ace Of guo-cotton
TO generate ex plosive force, or in place otsigar
to generate vital force Ia the living mechanism.
But sugar when eaten. will generate c-lor'hc
force in such q wsy that it cannot be reslaced
either by guu-cotsOn or woody hber. Nov, TO
attempt TO copfound these force roducsrs to-
ceth. T, and obterate the fund aneutai di tine
tiops which are universally recognized BY the
terms "food," "fael," and explosive CON-
pounds" on the ground thst they are all
force, would be simply nonsensical. The Re-
yiewerssy food is force, alcohol is force, aad
"therefsre alcohol must necessarily he food"
But is it not equally proper to say "the explo-
"sives are force, wood and coal are force, and
"tberefore wood and coal aIs necessarily ex-
"plosiye." Or to make the absurdlty more
comp etc, food is force, gan-co't N is force,
"and therefore suD-cotton mutt necessarily
abe food" The Reviewer labo's to break
down the distinction between different kinds
of force in the living system, foe the sake OF
elevating alcohol to the rank of q uutritse SUBJ
stance; but this cannot be permitted
No phys illogical fact is better established.
and the Reviewer fully recognizes it-thsn that
foods themselves are divsible into tTo classes
in respect to the kind of force they generate 10
the body and the way they produce it. The
plastic, ntrogepized compounds of vegetation
alcne 60 to the formation of animal tissue.
They OF " are asslmilated, incorporated or woven
into tie structure. Now this appropriation OF
matter to the form ,ton of tissue constitutes nu-
triton The plastic principles are hence the
true and only nutriments When the muscles
are called into pay, and muscular force is
developed, there is decomposition of muscular
tis, ue, and that which renews and replaces the
waste is Dutriment, plastic, nitrogeuized, mus
II
nerve. force, nerve.tissue is destroyed, and
modification of plastic matter affects its re-
newal and repair which is the nutrition of the
nerves. Now in the light of those tenets 1t is
preposterous to assume that all food is indis-
criminately nutritious, or capable of generating
nutritial force Neither sugar, starch, gum nor
oil are nutritive; they do not contain the chemical
material necessary to make fber-they lack nitro
gen, the essential basis of tissue. For the sane
reason alcohol is not nutritious, and, therefore,
Cannot generate nutritige force. The very poss-
bity of such thing is forbidden by it's chemical
composition. Liebig speaks positively upon this
point In the last edition of his letters, he says !:
We can prove with mathematical certainty, that
as much -four or meal as can lie on the point Of
a tabe-knife is more nutritious than five mea-
" sures (abOut eight or ten quarts) of the best
a,arian beer" The force produced by alcohol,
then, whatever it may be, is not nutritious force
what it is we shall show on another occasion.